See LAN R5679 - Grønhøj - 2014. See also the article in Danish with photos by editor Birgitte Brøgger Dyrberg, KARUP WEEKLY (UGE-AVISEN KARUP).

Speech in Grønhøj on 4 May

Tonight we are gathered here to commemorate the evening 69 years ago when it was announced on the radio that the occupation forces had surrendered after
the 5 cursed years of occupation.

Only a few of us tonight remember that evening, but we know the pictures of happy Danes taking to the streets, thousands of flags being found and the hated
blackout curtains that were used to light bonfires.

It breaks our hearts to think back to that night and all the destinies of people that had been changed by the course of the war over Europe. It was one of the
darkest times in the history of Denmark, and we must say that the destiny of Denmark was not in our own hands then. We were not masters in our own house.

Therefore our thoughts must go to those who gave their lives for this country, so that Denmark could be free again.

There were men and women in the Danish resistance movement who put their lives at risk for what they believed in. They were ready to fight for our country.

Something that really impresses me about that fight is the unity that appeared across political barriers. Minor political differences went into the background for
the benefit of the common cause.

My own grandfather was a good Social Democrat in Nørresundby, and before the war members of Young Conservatives were not his best friends. Actually,
sometimes I think that there were corporal clashes, but when Denmark was occupied they found together in the fight of resistance. Now what bound them
together was more important than the differences that were there.

Scouts, Social Democrats, Conservatives and other associations gathering young people found together and were a great part of the fight of resistance.
Formerly they had distrustfully regarded each other as red Socialists, brown Conservatives and hypocritical Scouts. Now they had united for the same cause.
They were Danes who fought for freedom and for their country.

My grandfather kept his political conviction all of his life, but starting from the war he also had a deep respect for his political adversaries who had joined the
same fight for Denmark and for democracy.

There are many stories of heroic deeds, about people who have overcome their fear to make an effort. Here we are standing at the Memorial stone to the crew
of the Lancaster that ended their lives here near Grønhøj. 7 young men who ended their lives in a foreign country to fight against nazism and for a free Europe.
We have lit 7 torches to remember them.

7 young men whose tragic death affected their families deeply and made a long trail in time. And there are thousands, even millions of stories all over the world
of families who have lost one of their loved ones in World War II and in later wars.

The 7 young men have had their memorial stone here in a country that they barely knew. To their families it was a great day when the stone was erected here
last year. Then their sacrifice has not been forgotten, we remember them and thank them.

The losses that their families have had to live with were not in vain and have not been forgotten. And this stone has also underlined the strong bonds between
Great Britain and Denmark.

It is so easy for us to forget, to let history be something that is only found in books and that does not concern our everyday lives. But we need to remember
our heroes and what they have given us.

As in the film Saving Private Ryan. After the invasion in northern France in 1944 an American platoon was sent behind enemy lines to save just one soldier, Ryan, because his mother has already lost three sons in the war. She is not to lose him, too. The despatched platoon is led by Captain Miller. He is tired of war and
fed up with all of the fights, but he is also conscious of his responsibility. He has to get his men unhurt through the rest of the war. The assignment seemed totally
wrong to him, to risk the lives of twenty men for just one miserable life.

But he undertook the assignment and they found Ryan. The two men fight side by side and in the end the Captain gives his life to save Ryan. His last words to
Ryan are, "Earn it" meaning make yourself worthy of this. Earn this sacrifice that so many men have given for you. Live a life showing that you were worth the
sacrifice. So in that way Ryan has his life as a gift but also as a huge assignment. He has to live his life so that it counterbalances the costs. Then you cannot
waste your life and be careless about it. Then you have to value it and use it fully.

I also think that all of us can learn something from all the heroes about making sacrifices. And they can remind us what we have been given, because others have
made a sacrifice for us.

Then we owe it to them to remember them by commemorating this day and by guarding the freedom that they fought for.

Today we also send Danish soldiers to hot spots of the world. Danish soldiers are putting their lives at risk to serve Denmark. Also that fight has cost lives. We also
owe it to them to value their effort.

We are to guard the memory of our heroes.

Tonight lights are lit in many windows across the country. Lights shining in an evening of spring, lights stating that the night is not dangerous.

After five years when it was banned to let darkness be broken by light people in Denmark could again have light in their windowsills.

Let the lights that we lit remind us that liberty is not to be taken for granted and let them remind us of the men and women who fought so that Denmark became free again.

We will remember them.