Armband with a royal coat of arms worn by Danish resistance fighter

Mogens Høirup was born in 1907 in Denmark. His father, Christian Hoirup, was the superintendent of Ranum College, a teacher training college in Limfjorden. Mogens became a history teacher. He and his wife Karen had two daughters. On April 9, 1940, Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany. The German occupation regime controlled Denmark’s foreign policy, but permitted the Danes to administer domestic affairs. In 1942, Mogens and Karen took over Grindsted Cost and Realskole, a private boarding school in Grindsted. The benign attitude of the German occupation regime began to change in 1943. The resistance movement had grown more active as Germany encountered military defeat in the Soviet Union. On August 28, the Danish government resigned, rather than agree to German demands to try saboteurs before German military courts. The next day, the Germany military commander declared martial law. In late September, news leaked of the German decision to deport all the Jews in Denmark to concentration camps. The Danish resistance, with widespread public support, organized a rescue operation that ferried over 7000 Jewish citizens and refugees to safety in Sweden in one month. The Germans deported nearly 500 Jews to Theresienstadt. Mogens became actively involved with the resistance movement around this time. In 1944, he was the leader of the underground network in Jutland. On October 6, he was arrested by the German authorities. He was held in Staldgarden prison in Kolding, and, on November 23, transferred to Froslevlejren internment camp. On January 1945, he was incarcerated in Neuengamme concentration camp in Germany. He was released in April 1945, due to a rescue operation organized by Count Folke Bernadotte, Vice President of the Swedish Red Cross. Bernadotte negotiated the release of nearly 15,000 Scandinavian and western European prisoners, including Jewish inmates, from German concentration camps. They were transported on white buses to hospitals in Sweden. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. After recuperating in a Swedish hospital, Mogens returned on May 17 to Grindsted. He resumed his position as headmaster. Mogens, 49, died in 1956. No restrictions on access Blue, red, and white armband with a medallion worn by Mogens Høirup, a Danish resistance fighter, after the war. This style of armband was issued by the Danish Freedom Council on May 4 and 5, 1945. The armbands, which appeared abruptly throughout Denmark, were issued by the Danish Freedom Council, Denmark's unofficial government-in-exile in England from July 1944 to May 1945. The armbands were meant to identify resistance members as legitimate combatants, rather than guerilla forces, to ensure they were protected under Geneva Convention rules defining combatants and how they should be treated by military forces. Denmark was occupied by Germany on April 9, 1940. The Danes were allowed to retain control of civil affairs, until the Germans declared martial law on August 29, 1943. The Danish Freedom Council was formed that September to coordinate the resistance movement. That month, news leaked of the German decision to deport all Jewish residents. The resistance organized a rescue operation that ferried over 7000 Jews to safety in Sweden in one month. By 1944, Mogens, a history teacher in Grindsted, was leader of the local resistance in Jutland. He was arrested on October 6, 1944, held in Staldgarden prison in Kolding, and then Froslevlejren internment camp. In January 1945, Mogens was deported to Neuengamme concentration camp in Germany. In April, he was released with a group of Scandinavian prisoners as part of an agreement negotiated by Count Folke Bernadotte, vice president of the Swedish Red Cross. Germany surrendered on May 7. After recuperating in a Swedish hospital, Mogens returned on May 17 to Grindsted.