Stumbling Blocks (Stolpersteine in German, Snublesten in Danish) in Frederikshavn Municipality
In November 2024 the first Stumbling Blocks in Frederikshavn Municipality were placed in Skagen, Frederikshavn and Sæby. Stumbling Blocks are small memorial stones the size of a cobblestone. They are meant to commemorate people who were persecuted and killed as a result of the German Nazi ideology and Hitler’s “Third Reich”. They are usually placed in the pavement near the victim’s home or place of work but always at the place where the person last stayed as a free person.
The Story of the Stumbling Blocks
Stumbling Blocks, or ”Stolpersteine” in German, are decentralized memorial stones, created in the German town Cologne in 1995 by the artist Günter Demning. Today more than 112,000 Stumbling Blocks are found in 32 European countries. About his work Denmig quotes from the Talmud “A person is not forgotten until his or her name is forgotten”. Each stone is made by the artist’s team in Germany. For more information see Stolpersteine.eu.
Map over Stumbling Blocks in Frederikshavn Municipality
Use the map to find the places of the Stumbling Blocks and to find information and pictures of the individual victims. Follow these links to find more Stumbling Blocks in the rest of Denmark:
Snublesten Danmark
Snublesten Fyn
Snublesten Fredericia
Biographies
Below are short biographies on the individual victims.
Viggo Hansen
Sct. Laurentiivej 32, Skagen
Viggo Hansen was born on June 15 1926 and lived with his parents at Sct. Laurentiivej 32 in Skagen. He was apprenticed as a shop assistant in Skagen Brugsforening and a member of the Non-Drinkers Association, where he played music in his spare time.
On the evening of October 13 1944 Viggo Hansen had been to the movies with some friends to watch a popular the colour film. On their way home they stopped at a hot-dog stand. Some of the boys started throwing stones at Karsten’s Hotel on the opposite side of the street. When some windows were smashed German soldiers came out from the hotel and started shooting. One of them came up to the hotdog stand and shot 18-years old Viggo Hansen at a distance of three metres. Hansen died in Skagen Hospital on October 14 1944 at 5.30 with his parents by his side. In 1995 the location where he was shot was named “Viggo Hansenøs Place”. Viggo Hansen died only 18 years old.
Børge Ernst Johannes Fedders
Gl. Kongevej 20, Frederikshavn
Børge Fedders was born on November 25 1921 in the parish of Flade as the son of Georg Fedders and Martine Thomsen. He attended Bangsbostrand School and then completed his apprenticeship as a shipbuilder. He got a job at Frederikshavn Shipyard and was a member of the Danish Communist Party. He lived at Gl. Kongevej 20 in Frederikshavn.
During the occupation was an active member of the resistance movement. This involved giving weapons instructions in his home. On March 27 1945 such an instruction lesson was interrupted by a German raid. In the dark of the night Børge Fedders tried to escape across the railway tracks behind his house, but his light-coloured jacket made him an easy target and he was shot. According to some sources he managed on his way to the hospital to give a friend a note that had to be destroyed. The note supposedly contained codes and names of members of the resistance movement. Therefore it was very important that the German Wehrmacht did not get it. Børge Fedders died at the age of 23.
Knud Thomsen
Danmarksgade 70, Frederikshavn
Knud Thomsen was born on June 1 1923 and grew up in Lendum. Later he became an apprentice in a haberdashery shop and lived above the shop where he was training – Danmarksgade 70 in Frederikshavn.
During the occupation Knud Thomsen became an active member of the resistance movement. He was part of “Stokholmkolonnen” – named after the farm Stokholm – where several members of the group lived. On May 1 1945 the group was assigned the task of collecting material from an airdropping. The dropping had taken place sometime earlier which caused a snitch to reveal the plan. German soldiers therefore surprised the group at Boleje (east of Lendum). This culminated in a gunfight between the resistance group and the Wehrmacht and meant that Knud Thomsen among others was shot and killed on the spot. He died 21 years old.
Oluf Henry Pedersen
Søndergade 65, Frederikshavn
Oluf Pedersen was born on January 10 1914. He became a trained jeweller and settled in Søndergade 65 in Frederikshavn.
During the occupation Oluf Pedersen became an active member of the resistance movement. He was part of “Stokholmkolonnen” – named after the farm Stokholm – where several members of the group lived. On May 1 1945 the group was assigned the task of collecting material from an airdropping. The dropping had taken place sometime earlier which caused a snitch to reveal the plan. German soldiers therefore surprised the group at Boleje (east of Lendum). The result was a heavy gunfight where Oluf Pedersen was wounded. He was placed in a makeshift hospital at Bangsbostrand School but he was not fatally wounded. He was, however, left with his wounds in the yard and without medical assistance which meant that he died on May5 1945, 31 years old.
Carl Vilhelm Røgild Nielsen
Havnegade 14, Frederikshavn
Carl Røgild was born on June 16 1913. He took an active part the local community in Frederikshavn and took part in establishing the local rowing club. He was a police officer with the coast guard and worked at Havnegade 14.
On September 19 1944 the German Wehrmacht started Operation Möwe. The Germans had lost their confidence in the Danish Police and arrested almost 2,000 policemen across the country. One of them was Carl Røgild who was sent to the concentration camp Mühlberg where he died from unknown causes. He was 31 years old.
Søren Christian Serup
Søndergade 1a, Sæby
Søren Seerup was born on July 12 1904 in Randers. He was a police officer in Frederikshavn, later he became a traffic police officer. He and his wife settled in Sæby at Søndergade 1a
Along with a group of colleagues he was active in the resistance movement. One colleague was Aage August Agersted who was Søren Seerups boss and the head of the illegal military organisation the P-Companies who prepared for the liberation of Denmark. On May 26 1944 Søren Seerup and Aage Agersted were arrested. They were sent to Frøslev and then to the concentration camp Neungamme. From here Søren Seerup was sent to Porta Westfalica where he died due to illness and hard labour on March 11 1945, 41 years old. He left a wife and three children behind.
Arnold Peter Christensen
Solvej 3, Sæby
Arnold Christensen was born on December 28 1914 and lived at Solvej 3 in Sæby.
Arnold Christensen was a resistance fighter and went to Århus in connection with the days of the liberation. In Århus there were often street fights between the resistance movement and the German soldiers who had not yet left the town. During one of these fights at Bispetorvet Arnold Christensen was hit by a shot in his head and was immediately taken to hospital. He was, however, dead on arrival. He was 31 years old.