After their daring escape, Niels Skov and his two companions were free men. But they weren’t out of danger yet. Far from it. Their striped prisoner uniforms and distinctive shaved heads marked them as prisoners. They couldn’t rely on local people to help them. After all, they were in Germany, where young and old were required to turn prisoners in.

Not only that, it was cold. They were poorly clothed, hungry, and weak. Niels summed it up: “We needed to get warm and to rest. Above all, we needed to hide.”

The three Danes cautiously approached a farm with a large barn at the edge of a village. A barking dog could be a deadly giveaway. Squeezing inside, they found only a few piles of old, moldy hay, but by lying close they managed to stop shivering uncontrollably. It was, they knew, a precarious freedom. But the Americans must be close. Perhaps their best hope was to lie low and keep watch on the road.

The next morning, their worst fears were nearly realized. As they were moving from one part of the loft to another, the door opened. Perched in the open, they looked down at a soldier who had come inside to clean his machine gun. They stood, unseen, frozen on a plank above his head, trying to hold their emaciated muscles tight, trying not to breathe. Cleaning that machine gun probably took the soldier twenty minutes, Niels guessed, but it felt like a lifetime.

They took turns resting and keeping watch on the road from a small window in the loft. Suddenly Benjamin whispered, “ ‘Hey, they’re coming!’ ”

Niels spotted a column of six tanks. As one came close to the barn, he recognized it as American. When they hailed the crew, the American sergeant said to his crew, “ ‘Well, lookit them.’ ” For the first time in his life, Niels was able to practice the English he had studied in school.

The Americans advised the group to head for a nearby town where US military headquarters was being set up. After sharing some rations with the three Danes, they left. Niels and his friends felt more hopeful, but nothing was certain. The situation on the ground was confused and chaotic. Since they were clearly identified as prisoners, they still ran the risk of being shot. Niels decided to opt for a bold approach.

They headed to the largest farmhouse and demanded to speak with the owner. The farmer was not there, but his wife was. Niels informed her that the Americans had appointed him the supervisor of the village, and her farm was to be the headquarters. They toured the farm with her, pretending to be taking notes on conditions for the benefit of what was, in reality, “our imaginative military authorities.”

The farm was large, but only four horses and a few cows remained. There were still stockpiles of grain and feed. Niels ordered beds made up for them and, when the woman had gone, the three Danish men burst into laughter. Then they headed straight for the kitchen. Although doctors recommend a special diet for emaciated individuals, they devoured bacon and eggs, bread, cheese, and sausage with no ill effects. After their feast they made cocoa, then heated water on the stove, threw their old clothes in the fire, and took baths. And then they went to sleep in real beds.

The next morning, they decided to head for Eisleben. Niels had two of the horses hitched up to a wagon, and they set off. Once in the town, Benjamin found a truck convoy heading for Paris and decided to go there, hoping to make his way back to Denmark.

In the meantime, Niels encountered a young American officer who didn’t speak German. Nor did the local people speak English. Niels stepped forward, offering to help translate English orders into German for the townspeople who would now be under American jurisdiction.

“The American rapidly fired orders right and left…. My English held up fairly well, but my school vocabulary had frequent holes,” recalled Niels. “We learned that President Roosevelt had died the day before and sensed the momentous importance of losing him, yet hardly turned from what we were doing to contemplate or discuss the event. Among soldiers at war interest vanishes in anything unrelated to the task immediately at hand.”

The date was April 13, 1945. The day before, across the Atlantic, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died of a cerebral hemorrhage, and Harry S. Truman became president. On May 1, they learned that Hitler had committed suicide the previous day. On May 2, at 3:00 p.m., the guns fell silent. Germany surrendered on May 8.

Niels and Thies were given American uniforms to wear and became unofficial US Army volunteers as part of the effort to collect firearms from people and arrest Nazi officials in the neighboring villages and towns. While still attached to the US military government as an interpreter, work that Niels continued to do off and on until the following year, Thies and Niels obtained permission to return to Denmark for a week to see their families.

Riding in a jeep with an American soldier, they made their way north, taking a ferry to Korsør, a port town on the west coast of Zealand. Once there, Thies was able to call his mother and asked her to let Niels’s mother know they were safe.

“Our hearts singing, we streaked across Zealand on an empty highway, every hill and curve familiar and friendly, through Roskilde with its cathedral’s green copper spires gleaming in the spring sun, on through the Copenhagen suburbs where flags fluttered from gardens and balconies, and on to the apartment block … where my mother lived,” remembered Niels.

It had been a long time since that day in April 1940 when Niels had rushed home to see his mother and listen to the news about the occupation on the radio. Now, once again, he was in a hurry.

“I bolted up the stairs, but she was already halfway down to meet me…. I was home.”

(Preceding image) Niels Skov.

Niels Skov would leave that home for the United States a few years later, where he became a successful businessman, then earned a doctorate from Oregon State University before joining the faculty at The Evergreen State College in Olympia in 1972. Given his energy and determination to succeed, it’s not surprising that the Niels Skov Scholarship at The Evergreen State College is awarded to students with a passion for entrepreneurship.