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“Yesterday Mr. Aigil Andersen came to see me. He had been living for many years with Grethe Thomsen, the widow of inn-keeper Thomsen. Mr. Andersen showed me a letter that you have received from Yad Vashem, asking for information on Mr. and Mrs. Thomsen’s activity on behalf of Denmark’s Jews…..
Mr. Thomsen joined the Danish resistance movement at an early stage, and participated in smuggling to Sweden long before the beginning of the persecution of the Danish Jews by the Germans. When the Germans began the hunt of Jews in October 1943, Thomsen immediately joined the task of transporting the Jews to Sweden.
For the refugees it was much too dangerous to stay at the inn. Mostly they went to my home nearby, and I would make sure that they would find lodging in private homes until the trip was prepared. Mrs. Thomsen cooked for many of the refugees and made sure that food would be sent from the inn to the houses that hid the people.
As soon as a group large enough to fill a fishing boat gathered, Henry Thomsen would arrange the trip with the boat’s owner. When the number of refugees surpassed the transport capacity, Thomsen himself bought a boat and made several trips to Sweden.
The Gestapo would often come to the inn and Mr. Thomsen would play a dangerous double game, pretending he was friendly to the Germans, while he was actually working against them. Soon the Gestapo became suspicious and arrested him, but they had to let him go for lack of proof. Nevertheless Thomsen continued his illegal activity and his contact with the Germans. This enabled him to obtain information and saved my life because he had warned me a few hours before the Gestapo came to take me.”