The story of Helge Welling
In 1943 a German deserter named Walter Pruess came by my brother Søren's place and asked for shelter. This was serious. The punishment for sheltering deserters was death. We let him live in Søren's attic and work in the orchard, which was sheltered from view. He only went outdoors at night.
Escape
When we heard that German troops would be billeted on neighbouring farms, we knew Walter had to escape from Denmark. My brother Jens would take him to Sweden. It was a risky proposition, with German guards and checkpoints everywhere.
On January 31, 1944 Walter and Jens were ready to start for Copenhagen. Walter had false papers and both men were disguised as deaf-mutes. They weren't detected, even when they passed Walter's former company of German troops.
They stayed with underground contacts in Copenhagen for several days, then managed to get to Sweden by boat. In Sweden, Jens and Walter were separated––in fact, Walter was placed in detention––but both were safe.
New Identity
In Sweden, Jens exchanged papers with Niels, a fellow Dane. Niels wanted to return to Denmark but was wanted by the Germans.
He had shot the German driver of a truck carrying Jews to German concentration camps (death camps). Then Niels had driven the truck and passengers onto a fishing-vessel bound for Sweden. He saved many lives that day.
We heard via the underground that Jens was safe in Sweden and would stay there. But Niels was captured on returning to Denmark. The Germans examined his false papers and tried to verify that Niels was really Jens. Luckily, their questioning did not reveal that Niels made up the names of Jens' siblings and the names were wrong.
Just think––if the Germans had checked more carefully, I may never have lived to tell this story.
Adapted from the 2007 Heritage Book,with permission from the Federation of Danish Associations in Canada
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