Edith Bonnesen at the Gestapo HQ                 På dansk                     Updated:  20 MAR 2020

Back to the Danish memorial and stories of other prisoners in the Shell House.

Edith Bonnesen, called Lotte in the illegal circles, worked with radio traffic to London, helped allied airmen on their way to Sweden and had a number of other jobs in
the resistance movement. She was arrested 4 times by the Gestapo before she finally went to Sweden herself.

An interview with her on TV is printed in the book Mennesker på skærmen (People on the screen) by Lis Møller (1978). She was arrested in an illegal post office at
Nytorv filled with letters, parcels and codes. She was taken to the Shell House in a car.

"I came into the Shell House passing the big fat armed guard at the gate and went up to the 4th floor. Many Germans came to see what Lotte looked like, and they appeared to be thrilled - this is what she is like, finally we´ve got her! They behaved in a strange way, went to the cupboard, took a bottle and passed it on. It seemed
to me that they had been drinking before."

When she had been interrogated for a while a senior German, Bunke, came in. "What does she say?" "She says that she has not had anything to do with that." "Don´t waste more time on her. We have reports about her from the last 5 years. Take her to the basement!" Then he went out and slammed the door. - I was taken to the 2nd floor and placed in a large room. - The guard went to a back room and talked to a German in there. - I told myself, it is absolutely foolish to sit here and wait to go down
and be tortured. You don´t know how much you can stand! Unfortunately I knew a lot and could get a lot of people into the soup, so I decided to try to get out of the door.
- I came out on the staircase, no one there, if someone came I would say that I was looking for the toilet.

- I walked quietly, calmly and restrained down the stairs. When I had come down to the next floor, two civilian Germans with briefcases walked down the corridor. Then
I told myself, if one of them has been in to have a look at you on the 4th floor, then that´s it! They looked at me without interest and walked down the stairs. Something
told me this is your rescue, so I walked as closely behind them as I could without treading on their heels. Then came my next problem, the big guard who had just
before seen me being taken in between two Germans and with a submachine gun in my back. With only a few steps to go, I felt he was watching me. He came up to
me and walked down the last steps next to me, but he did not say anything, he didn´t ask.

Then my good fortune came. As we come to the main entrance the two Germans courteously step to either side saying Bitte schön! (Here you are) - and I say Danke
sehr (Thank you very much) and walk out! I walked across the bridge towards the Palace Theatre. That was the hardest thing, because I had to walk calmly and
restrained, where I felt more like running. - - - At last I came to Studiestræde around the corner. Then I realized that I had a chance. An ambulance was parked with a
man at the wheel. I told him about my situation and asked him to help me. No, he could not! "Thank you," I said, "you are one of the good ones!" Then I slammed the
door and ran as I have never run before, neither sooner nor later."

(The bridge from which the photo from 2008 was taken.) She was close to being liquidated by colleagues in the resistance. Could her story be true? It was!