On March 21, 1945, Ingrid woke up to a normal day in her apartment on Carl Bernhards Vej in Frederiksberg. She was 5 years old and Denmark was occupied by the Germans. Just before 11:16 am, she saw planes flying very low over her apartment building and was rushed to the basement by her parents.
Little did they know what had happened….
The war was drawing towards the end, but the Nazis were still here and very much active. They had chosen the Shell Building as their headquarters and were preparing a big blow against the Danish Resistance. The United Kingdom decided to do something about it and prepared an incredibly dangerous Air Force operation. It involved flying very low and targeting just one building. Unfortunately, a human error made one plane bomb the wrong building, the French School in peaceful and sleepy Frederiksberg, the independant city within the city of Copenhagen. 82 children were killed, but not necessarily from the bombs, but from drowning when the pipes in the basement burst.
Ingrid is the mother of one of my best friends whom I have known since 6th grade. I went to see the heartbreaking, but fantastic movie “In the Shadow of my Eye” with her and could not help noticing that she, just like me, had tears running down her cheeks. She later explained to me that she knew so many of the children whose names were mentioned at the end of the movie In Memoriam. We decided to meet up at the statue that has been erected where the school used to be, 5 minutes away from my apartment on Carl Bernhards Vej!
I did not realize that every year, RAF Veterans, Danish Veterans, the Mayor of Frederiksberg, the British Embassy and people either remembering or honoring the horrific accident gather in this spot. I felt it was important to document this, as less and less people will after 76 years, but also as a reminder of what war does to a peaceful nation and how long the ripples last, especially now as we seem to potentially face a much greater danger with a country that is going amok trying to repeat history.
Ingrid and I sat down for a warm drink afterwards and she also told me about the building where I currently live which is right next to her childhood home. I did not know, but it used to be a factory which was taken over by the Germans during the Occupation. It was blown up by the Resistance and all the windows in Ingrid’s building right next door were blown out. I had no idea!
Below you can see Ingrid’s childhood building and mine where the factory once stood:
