Each year, people in Denmark place candles in their windows to mark the liberation of the country at the end of World War II. But why was the custom adopted?
On May 4th, 1945, Denmark was liberated from German occupation.
The exact moment Danes knew that they had been freed from the five-year occupation came at 8:35pm, as a BBC broadcast from London interrupted regular programs to announce the German capitulation as Allied troops marched towards the country.
The now-famous words:
At this moment it is announced that Montgomery has informed that the German troops in Holland, North-West Germany and in Denmark have surrendered. This is London. We repeat: Montgomery has at this moment announced that the German troops in Holland, Northwest Germany and Denmark have surrendered
came over the radio. A translation of the announcement follows:
“At this moment, it is being announced that Montgomery has stated that the German troops in the Netherlands, northwest Germany and Denmark have surrendered. This is London. We repeat: Montgomery has just now announced that the German troops in the Netherlands, northwest Germany and Denmark have surrendered.”
With those words, the BBC’s Danish presenter Johannes G. Sørensen cut into regular programming to inform the Danish people that British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery had just accepted the surrender of German forces at Lüneburg Heath, east of Hamburg.
Denmark would have to wait another 12 hours until the liberation officially took effect at 8am the following day, but the radio broadcast brought happy Danes out into the streets.
Some took the opportunity to burn the hated black window shades that had been used during bombing raids.
Today, the date is marked with the custom of lighting candles in windows on May 4th as a reminder of the five years when Danish cities spent their nights in total darkness.
In 1944, candle wax was in shortage, and it was in the years after the war that the tradition was established.
However, it is connected to the rejection of the blackout blinds and the ban on lights in homes and on streets at night during the occupation laws, enforced by Germany to prevent British aircraft from using the light for navigation.
In 2014, 41 percent of people asked in a survey said they still placed a candle on their window sill on May 4th, newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad wrote in 2016.
“The fact that the custom of placing a candle in windows still plays a role shows that the public still feels something for this period in history,” Michael Kjeldsen, an external history professor at Roskilde University, told the newspaper.
Denmark’s liberation is officially marked on May 5th, as this was the date on which the German capitulation took effect.
