Blue armband with a red and white stripe worn by a Danish resistance fighter after his release from Neuengamme concentration camp

Blue armband with a red and white stripe 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 final days of the German occupation of Denmark. The armbands were intended to turn the underground fighters, who, by the Geneva Convention, could be considered guerillas and executed on the spot by the Germans, into a legitimate army, covered by different rules upon capture. Germany occupied Denmark on April 9, 1940, but during the early years, permitted the Danish government to control domestic affairs. The resistance movement grew increasingly active, and on August 29, 1943, the Germans declared martial law. In September, 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.