For years and years I've been 'out' about my Danish ancestry (grandson of an immigrant, the rest mostly German/English as befits someone born in Michigan) because I thought being a Pirate was pretty cool (Arrgh) and I don't want to defend the fact that I'm whiter than white, though following the "one drop" principle I'm no better than a no-maj muggle mud blood.

In fact most Danes aren't pure Saxons as the country itself is mostly a great flat muddy spot good for cows, milk, and butter at the mouth of the Baltic (deserving of the name Sea because it is saltier than Baikal or the Great Lakes) that has been contested by Scandinavians and Germans for millennia.

"My Grammy never gave me presents. She was too busy being raped by Cossacks."

Today's myth is the Yellow Star.

It is true enough that Denmark, having no military to speak of and certainly not any capable of withstanding the Werhmacht, kind of stacked their rifles as they watched the Panzers roll North for which act of pragmatism they were awarded "model protectorate" status and mostly left alone. In 1943 the Nazis, in response to increased resistance, decided they had a "Jewish Problem" and in addition to several other unpopular actions proposed "resettlement" to death camps as a solution.

It wasn't that the Danish liked the Jews as much as they hated the Nazis so they smuggled (the Danes are great smugglers) over 8,000 of them to Sweden (a much tougher Scandinavian nut to crack because they were and still are bloody minded nationalists and control strategic resources). The few principled martyrs that remained mostly survived as symbolic appeasement to the humanitarian impulse that motivates us just as much as our darker desires.

What is not true is that King Christian X and the rest of the Danish populace woke one day and in this brilliant Sparticist/V moment flooded Copenhagen with everyone sporting Yellow Stars. In fact the going rate for an extended trip to Sweden was 1,000 Kroner or about 2 months pay, most of which was born by the traveler with contributions from wealthy benefactors and collective charities.

Not that the Danes don't deserve their "Righteous among the nations" status, they did better than most including the United States and punched way above their weight.

I'm a member of die Weiße Rose and expect and accept my fate.

I hope you will find your brilliant moment.

(Of course it's cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette and DocuDharma)