Monica and Jorgen Wichfeld on their estate, Engestofte, September 1942.
Museum of Danish Resistance
A WOMAN CARRYING a large, heavy bag walked quietly onto a pier where a rowboat was tied, awaiting her use. It was past midnight, but the moon was bright and lit her way as she rowed silently through the still waters of the lake. On these quiet, moonlit nights, this lake reminded her of her childhood, when she used to create magical imaginary worlds with her beloved brother Jack on the lake of their beautiful estate in Northern Ireland.
She still couldn’t bear to speak Jack’s name aloud, even though he had been killed many years before, during World War I. That war had been started in part, as the current one had been, by the Germans, and she would never forgive them for the conflict that took her brother’s life. That is why Monica Wichfeld was now risking her life and safety by rowing the two miles across the lake with a bag full of explosives to be used by the Danish Resistance.
Monica owned the lake that she was now rowing across. She had met Jorgen Wichfeld, a wealthy, land-owning Dane, in London during World War I. She had traveled there from Northern Ireland in 1915 to support the British cause by working in a soldiers’ canteen. At that time she also became part of the wealthy young London society of which Jorgen was a part. They were married the following year.
A few years after the war ended, Monica and Jorgen moved onto Jorgen’s Danish estate. Named Engestofte, the property contained a mansion, a lake, and thousands of acres of farmland. Shortly after Monica’s arrival at Engestofte, a fire broke out, destroying much of the farmland and causing financial disaster for the Wichfelds. To save Engestofte, they would have to lease it to tenants and live elsewhere.
Monica took control of the family finances, starting her own jewelry and cosmetics business in London and Paris during the 1920s. She eventually situated herself and her family part of the time in Italy, where her own mother was living in modest comfort. During the 1930s, Monica’s European business travels allowed her to witness the rise of Hitler’s Nazi regime. She saw the hysterical Nazi rallies and watched France and England do nothing as Hitler defied the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and geared his country for war. Monica also saw many Jewish refugees desperately trying to flee Nazi Germany.
Monica was determined to do what she could to stop the Nazis’ progress. She began to gather information for British intelligence organizations regarding the Italian attitude toward the approaching war. Some of this material was broadcast by BBC radio, the London radio station that reported official Allied news. Monica’s espionage activities—and pro-Allied sympathies—soon came to the attention of the Italian authorities, and she began to be treated in a hostile manner. When a close friend of Monica’s was interrogated exclusively about Monica’s activities, Monica realized it was time to return to the safety of Denmark.
Denmark had already been occupied by Germany for over a year when Monica came back. The Germans allowed the Danish government to remain in control, made no laws against Denmark’s Jews, and treated the population with gentleness unheard of in any other Nazi-occupied country.
Many Danes felt relatively fortunate, but others, like Monica, were furious that the country was being occupied. She felt distinctly out of place among the other contented Danish landowners. She quickly tried to find others who were involved with the small but growing Danish Resistance movement.
Her opportunity came when she rented the cottage on her estate to Hilmar Wulff, a Communist, who had answered the ad only after being reassured that the lady of Engestofte was British by birth and openly pro-Allied. On her second visit to her new tenant, after they had been discussing books and politics, Monica suddenly turned to Wulff and asked him if he read Frit Danmark (Free Denmark), the most popular and influential underground Danish Resistance newspaper. He said that he did. She told him that she wanted to help the Resistance. He told her that she could begin collecting funds for a distribution network he was trying to establish for Frit Danmark and Land og folk (Country and People), the official paper of the Danish Communist Party.
An unlikely friendship developed between this communist, whose belief system involved the ultimate overthrow of private landownership, and Monica Wichfeld, the owner of a vast estate. But they were united in their desire to fight the Nazi occupation, and Monica not only began to raise funds for the distribution of Frit Danmark and Land og folk, she also began to occasionally distribute the papers herself.
Monica soon became involved with additional Resistance work. In 1943, she was introduced to Flemming Muus, a Dane who had been trained by the British SOE Resistance organization to strengthen the Danish Resistance, unify the Danes against the Germans, and cause them to embrace the Allied cause. (Flemming later married Monica’s daughter, Varinka, in June 1944.)
When Flemming first met Monica, he was amazed that some of her ideas were exactly those being discussed by the most brilliant men in the RAF (Royal Air Force) of Great Britain. She agreed to help build a network of Danish Resistance workers who would receive and distribute weapons and explosives being dropped into Denmark from Great Britain, as well as establish a series of safe houses for spies and others who were running from the Germans.
Monica used her estate, Engestofte, to hide explosives, often rowing them across the two-mile-wide lake in the middle of the night to the cottage where Hilmar Wulff lived. She also told her family that she wanted a new bedroom, one away from the rest of the family (who, with the exception of her daughter, Varinka, had no idea of her Resistance activities), so that she would not be disturbed while writing letters and sewing. Above her new room, she could hide several spies, saboteurs, and others who needed temporary shelter until safe transport to England could be arranged.
In late August 1943, a team of four men who had been trained by Flemming Muus blew up the Forum in Copenhagen, the largest public hall in the city. Four days later, the Germans gave the Danish government an ultimatum: control the Resistance, or else. When the Danish government refused to cooperate and resigned, the Germans took over.
Part of that takeover was a long-delayed movement against Denmark’s Jews. The leaders of the Danish Resistance had forbidden Monica to shelter Danish Jews, fearing it might lead to the collapse of the entire network and certain that there were plenty of Danes who would be willing to take in Jews. But when Monica was approached by Jewish people in need, she agreed to hide them and pass them off as her servants. During the mass rescue operation of Denmark’s Jews, Monica was also able to secure safe passage to Sweden for the Jews living with her.
In December 1943, Jacob Jensen, a Resistance worker whom Monica never completely trusted, ignored security precautions and made several long-distance calls, which were intercepted by the Gestapo. He and a radio operator were arrested and, in spite of his being armed, he surrendered without a fight. He told the Gestapo everything, handing over the names of 44 prominent Resistance members, including Monica and her group.
Monica was urged to flee Denmark before she was arrested. She refused, saying, “As I have joined the struggle for Denmark, I am willing to pay the price.” On January 13, 1944, Monica was woken by two heavily armed Gestapo agents who pointed their revolvers in her face and ordered her to get up immediately. As she dressed, she looked out the window and noticed German soldiers outside the window, pointing machine guns at the house.
Monica dressed slowly, then walked downstairs under the watchful eye of the Gestapo agents and ordered the cook to make breakfast. She turned to the Gestapo agents, who were now filling the room, and asked them calmly if she could get them tea or coffee. They declined. One of them found a pile of maps that had red circles around the cities that had been captured by the Allies.
“You are obviously pro-Allies?” he asked.
Monica laughed. “Two of my brothers are fighting in the British army; a third was killed on the Somme in the First World War. What do you expect me to be, pro-German?”
Monica was taken to the Vestre Faengsel, the West Prison, in the center of Copenhagen. There she was interrogated. Jacob Jensen had not only revealed names but also minute details of the whole operation; he ultimately was responsible for the arrests and deaths of over 100 Danish resisters. Because of the information Jensen had provided, the Gestapo was certain that Monica had tremendous stature in the Resistance, so they interrogated her night and day. She told them nothing. When they discovered that she was a smoker, they tempted her with a packet of cigarettes if she would talk. She flicked the packet away with contempt.
After four months of fruitless interrogation, Monica stood trial with 10 other members of the Danish Resistance. She was sentenced to death along with four of the men. Because she was well known and because she was a woman, Monica’s sentence sparked outrage. The threat of violence regarding her death sentence was so extensive that the Germans in Denmark, afraid that they would have to call in additional troops (which were desperately needed to battle the invading Allies) to quell a possible riot, promised Monica a life sentence if she would only ask for clemency (official forgiveness).
Monica refused. If the others who had been condemned to death wouldn’t be spared, why should she be? She was, however, finally convinced by her friends and family and wrote up a short defense of her case. In return, she received a sentence of life imprisonment. Her three Resistance colleagues were executed several days later.
Monica’s imprisonment was to take place in Germany, where conditions were surely going to be severe. Her reprieve obviously had been designed to stave off a violent Danish protest, not to spare her life. After enduring grueling prison conditions while simultaneously being a source of strength and inspiration to her fellow prisoners, Monica fell ill, and she died on February 27, 1945, a little over one year after her arrest and only months before the Allies defeated Germany. Her death was widely mourned in Denmark. Because of her Resistance efforts and her courageous refusal to give the Nazis any information, she became an inspiration and a symbol of the Danish Resistance.
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