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We are thrilled to announce the launch of an educational project based on Humanity in Action’s animated short film “Voices in the Void”.
The project is a cooperation between the Danish Embassy in Israel, the Danish Foreign Ministry, and the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum. In addition to the film, it includes an educational program which will be published in Israel, Denmark and other countries in 2023, marking the 80th anniversary of the rescue of the Danish Jews.
The launch event took place on December 13 at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffe in attendance of the Danish Ambassador Anne Dorte Riggelsen, First Lady of Israel Michal Herzog, Bent Melchior’s son and grandson Rabbis Michael and Jair Melchior and nearly all Danish Holocaust Survivors living in Israel today.
In her keynote speech, Mrs. Herzog said: “It has been said that ethics is obedience to that which cannot be enforced. The story of the rescue of Danish Jewry illustrates this very well. It highlights a simple but profound truth: that when we are left to reckon with what really matters, it is only the call of our own heart that stands between us and complicity with evil. In Denmark in 1943, in the most extreme circumstances imaginable, ordinary human beings—bishops and priests, fishermen and farmers—chose to hear their heart’s calling above the fearful cry of survival. They refused to accept that they were powerless and refused to believe that they had no choice. They knew that there is always a choice. And they made the choice, as people, to save people. It is a moral inheritance that we have received from them. And it is one that it is our duty to pass on.”
“Ethics is obedience to that which cannot be enforced. The story of the rescue of Danish Jewry illustrates this very well. It highlights a simple but profound truth: that when we are left to reckon with what really matters, it is only the call of our own heart that stands between us and complicity with evil.” Michal Herzog, First Lady of Israel
“Voices in the Void” was co-produced by our Executive Director Judith Goldstein and Irene Braam. It tells the story of the Melchior family in occupied Denmark and their escape to Sweden during October 1943. Thousands of Danes refused to turn their backs on their Jewish neighbors and despite extreme risks, Danish compatriots – particularly clergy and fishermen – assisted the Melchior family in their escape.
The film is narrated by the late Rabbi Bent Melchior, who was 14 years old during the rescue, and Danish actress Ina-Miriam Rosenbaum. Along the way, the audience witnesses instances of generosity and cruelty; beauty and evil; lightness and darkness. Seventy-five years after the fall of Nazi Germany, “Voices in the Void” is a moving story of resistance and resilience that promises to educate new generations about this important chapter of history.