In Padborg, near the Danish-German border, the Danish Red Cross established a quarantine station in anticipation of the possible evacuation of Scandinavian prisoners and concentration camp prisoners to Sweden. The rescue of Scandinavian prisoners had been made possible thanks to negotiations between Count Folke Bernadotte, vice-president of the Swedish Red Cross, and Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. On 20 April 1945, over 4,000 Danish and Norwegian prisoners were taken from the Neuengamme concentration camp to Denmark on the “White Buses” of the Red Cross. Their first stop was Padborg, where they were given medical treatment, new clothes and something to eat before they continued on to Sweden.
The Swedish Red Cross was subsequently able to rescue at least 10,000 more concentration camp prisoners, including over 7,000 women from the Ravensbrück concentration camp and around 2,000 women from satellite camps of the Neuengamme concentration camp. All of them were first cared for in Padborg before finally being taken out of German territory and into neutral Sweden.
April-Mai 1945
15000
From motorway (Autobahn) A7/E 45 in the direction of Kolding, take the Padborg exit right after the German-Danish border; the memorial is signposted from there.
The Frøslevlejrens museum on the site of the former Frøslev camp has a permanent exhibition featuring numerous original documents and photographs as well as other artefacts (including an original "White Bus”) that explain the Danish-Swedish rescue campaign in early 1945.
Opening hours:
January closed
February: Tue.-Sun. 10 am-15pm
March-June: Tue.-Sun. 10am-4pm
July-August: Mon.-Sun. 10am-4pm
September-October: Tues.-Sun. 10am-4pm
November: Tues.-Sun. 10 am - 3 pm
December closed.
Frøslevlejrens Museum
Lejrvej 83
6330 Padborg
Dänemark
Tel.: +45 (0) 7467 – 6 55 7
Website: https://natmus.dk/museer-og-slotte/froeslevlejrens-museum/