| Hvidsten group | |
|---|---|
| Hvidstengruppen | |
| Leaders | Marius Fiil |
| Dates of operation | 1943 – March 1944 |
| Headquarters | Hvidsten Inn |
| Active regions | Between Randers and Mariager |
| Size | circa 16 |
| Part of | Danish resistance movement |
| Opponents |  German Occupying Forces |
The Whitestone Group (Danish: Hvidstengruppen) was a Danish resistance group during World War II named after the Hvidsten Inn, between Randers and Mariager in Jutland, where it was formed.
The Hvidsten Group became connected to the resistance movement through Ole Giesler, a captain of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) who helped organise British weapons drops for the Danish Resistance. Marius Fiil, owner of the Hvidsten Inn and leader of the Hvidsten Group, met with Giesler on 12 March 1943 following an SOE drop the night before on Trinderup Heath east of Mariager that had delivered 12 to 14 containers of explosives and weapons to supply the resistance in Jutland. That evening, Fiil, with the help of his neighbour Andreas Stenz, retrieved the weapons and eventually brought them to Mustard Point, which was chosen by the Hvidsten Group as a receiving site and became one of its most reliable during the resistance effort.[ citation needed ]
The Hvidsten Group received many drops during the resistance signalled via "greetings" at the end of the BBC news broadcasts with the encoded message "Greetings to Elias - Listen again" and delivered via British Halifax planes. The Hvidsten group was responsible for pick-up at Allestrupgårds Heath and delivery of explosives to resistance groups like BOPA and Holger Danske to be used for sabotage of railways, locomotive sheds, bridges and factories in use by the German occupation forces. [1]
The activities of the Hvidsten Group and several other resistance groups were revealed to the Gestapo by Jacob Jensen, a British Army paratrooper employed by the SOE, after he was captured on 13 December 1943 in Aarhus and interrogated under torture. On 11 March 1944, in the early morning, the Gestapo surrounded the Hvidsten Inn and the majority of the group were arrested. Their arrest was reported by the resistance newspaper De frie Danske on 18 March 1944. [2]
The following month De frie Danske reported that several arrestees from Hvidsten, including Marius Fiil, had been transferred from Randers to the Vestre Fængsel prison. [3]
Eight of its members were sentenced to death on 26 June and executed by firing squad in Ryvangen on 29 June 1944, three weeks after D-day. [4] [5]
On 15 July 1944, De frie Danske reported on the execution of Fiil, his son and son-in-law, the life sentence imposed on his older daughter and the two-year sentence imposed on his younger daughter, and compared Fiil to historical national heroes, Svend Gønge and Niels Ebbesen, while lamenting the profound loss experienced by Fiil's widow. [6] News of the executions contributed to an escalation of general strikes in Copenhagen. Six months later, the January 1945 issue of the resistance newspaper Frit Danmark (Free Denmark) reported that on 29 June the previous year Fiil and seven other named members of the Hvidsten group had been executed. [7]
The following are the eight members of Hvidsten Group who were executed:
The following members were sentenced to life in prison:
The following members were given a prison sentence of four years:
The following members were given a prison sentence of two years:
Other members:
Affiliates
The bodies of the eight executed members of Hvidsten Group were found in Ryvangen, and in the summer of 1945 their remains were taken home to Hvidsten and buried 100 meters north of Hvidsten Inn, where there is now a memorial grove and a monument with the following inscription, roughly translated:
Deed for Denmark brought this day.
Bravely acted, true until death.
Let light shine in the red of morning,
They gave their lives for Denmark's cause.
S. P. KRISTENSEN * 20. 8. 1887
ALBERT IVERSEN * 28. 9. 1896
NIELS N. KJÆR * 2. 4. 1903
JOH KJÆR HANSEN * 2. 4. 1907
HENNING ANDERSEN * 16. 7. 1917
MARIUS FIIL * 21. 6. 1893
PETER SØRENSEN * 8. 6. 1919
NIELS FIIL * 12. 6. 1920
1944 on the 29 June
They fell before German bullets
Precious is their memory to Denmark
Erected in the year 1945
The Hvidsten Group is portrayed in the 2012 Danish drama film Hvidsten Gruppen ( This Life ). [12]
The Danish resistance movements were an underground insurgency to resist the German occupation of Denmark during World War II. Due to the initially lenient arrangements, in which the Nazi occupation authority allowed the democratic government to stay in power, the resistance movement was slower to develop effective tactics on a wide scale than in some other countries.
Georg Quistgaard was one of 102 members of the Danish resistance to the German occupation of Denmark in World War II who were executed following a court-martial.
Jørgen Kieler was a Danish physician, remembered primarily for his participation in resistance activities under the German occupation of Denmark in the early 1940s. He was captured and was placed in a prison and Nazi concentration camps. Saved by the White Buses of the Bernadotte rescue, Kieler was treated for tuberculosis for two years after his release.
Marius Fiil was the inn keeper at Hvidsten Inn and a member of the Danish resistance executed by the German occupying power.
This Life is a 2012 Danish drama film based on the activities of the Hvidsten Group, a Danish resistance group in World War II.
Peder Bergenhammer Sørensen was a member of the Danish resistance executed by the German occupying power.
Niels Fiil was a member of the Danish resistance executed by the German occupying power.
Johan Kjær Hansen was a member of the Danish resistance executed by the German occupying power.
Niels Nielsen Kjær was a member of the Danish resistance executed by the German occupying power.
Søren Peter Kristensen was a member of the Danish resistance executed by the German occupying power.
Henning Andersen was a member of the Danish resistance executed by the German occupying power.
Albert Carlo Iversen was a member of the Danish resistance executed by the German occupying power.
Hvidsten Inn is a historic, listed inn, formerly a coaching inn located in Hvidsten between Randers and Mariager.
Gudrun Fiil was inn keeper at Hvidsten Inn and member of the Danish resistance, whose husband, son and son-in-law were executed by the German occupying power.
Kirstine Fiil was a convicted member of the Danish resistance as part of the Hvidsten Group, whose husband, father and brother were executed by the German occupying power.
Gerda Søvang Fiil was a convicted member of the Danish resistance, whose father and brother were executed by the German occupying power.
Fiil may refer to:
Skæring Hede or Skæring Mindelund is a forest and memorial park in Skæring, the northernmost suburb of Aarhus, Denmark. Skæring Hede was originally a large heath but today only a fraction of it remains as encroaching suburbs and areas with summer houses have gradually taken over much of the natural land in the area, through the 70s and 80s. The remaining area of 8.5 hectares are mainly forest, although some heath do remain, and is managed as a public forest park by Aarhus Municipality. Today Skæring Hede is one of only a few public forests in Skæring and the northernmost park in Aarhus. The forest is mainly mixed pine and birch forest with a number of walking paths crossing through it and it is home to a World War II memorial. Skæring Hede is well known as the place where five Danish resistance fighters were executed during the Second World War in one of the first mass executions during the war. Parking facilities on Åstrup Strandvej.
Edith Bonnesen née Andersen (1911–1992) was a Danish civil servant who, under the German occupation of Denmark in World War II, became a member of the Danish resistance. She contributed to the illegal newspaper De frie Danske, worked for the Danish-Swedish Refugee Service and joined the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Arrested but released on several occasions, she made a dramatic escape from Copenhagen's Gestapo headquarters in August 1944.
Jens Lillelund was a Danish resistance leader and fighter during World War II (1939–1945), including working with the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret British organization. His activities included contributing to a resistance publication, sabotage, rescuing Jews, managing logistics, and military training. He was a founder of the Holger Danske resistance organization. The size of the group fluctuated as some were killed or arrested, and the remaining resistance fighters went into hiding. It grew to have more than 300 members. He developed alliances with other Danish resistance groups and the British military which provided a means to obtain weapons and explosives.
Kroejer Marius Fiil med flere fra Hvidsten er blevet overført fra Randers til Vestre
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