An exhibition in Sweden highlighting the escape of thousands of Jews from Nazi-occupied Denmark has been inaugurated by Crown Princess Victoria.
The exhibition, titled Flykten 43, opened on 29 May 2026 in Landskrona and focuses on the mass flight of Danish Jews across the Øresund strait to Sweden in 1943, as Nazi persecution intensified across occupied Europe.
Crown Princess Victoria formally opened the exhibition during a ceremony attended by survivors, descendants of survivors, and representatives of Jewish communities from both Sweden and Denmark.
The exhibition presents personal testimonies, archival documents and historical objects that illustrate both the rescue operations themselves and the experiences of Jewish refugees who found safety in Sweden during the Second World War.
During the Nazi occupation of Denmark, Sweden maintained a policy of neutrality while becoming a key refuge for those fleeing persecution. In October 1943, following the German crackdown on Danish Jews, an estimated 8,000 people crossed the Øresund to Sweden in a largely coordinated rescue effort.
The operation is widely regarded as one of the most successful mass rescues of Jews during the Holocaust, with the vast majority of Denmark’s Jewish population surviving the war as a result. Many of today’s Danish Jewish community are descended from families who took refuge in Sweden during this period.
Sweden also became a destination for other persecuted groups during the war, including Norwegian Jews. In total, tens of thousands of Jewish refugees are believed to have crossed into Sweden during the Nazi occupation of neighbouring countries.
The Swedish royal family has longstanding historical associations with wartime rescue efforts. Count Folke Bernadotte, a relative of King Oscar II and vice-president of the Swedish Red Cross, played a significant role in humanitarian operations during the final stages of the war.
In 1945, the Red Cross-led “White Buses” operation, supported by the Swedish government, rescued an estimated 15,500 prisoners from Nazi concentration camps. While initially intended to repatriate Scandinavian detainees, the mission ultimately saved thousands of people of more than 20 nationalities, including many Jews.
The Flykten 43 exhibition seeks to preserve and document this chapter of wartime history, bringing together survivors’ testimonies and archival material to illustrate both the scale of the rescue and the experiences of those who fled across the Baltic Sea in search of safety.
