Churchill-klubben

Churchill-klubben or the Churchill Club was a group of eight teenage schoolboys from the Cathedral School at Aalborg in the north of Jutland who performed acts of sabotage against the Germans during the occupation of Denmark in the Second World War.

The Churchill Club was probably the earliest resistance group to be formed in Denmark. Under the leadership of 17-year-old Knud Petersen, their activities began at the end of 1941 when they began to target the German occupation forces in Aalborg as a result of the German treatment of occupied Norway. They succeeded in carrying out 25 acts of sabotage before they were arrested by the police in May 1942. [Per Eilstrup, Lars Lindeberg, De så de ske under Besættelsen. Gå til modstand. Forlaget Union. Copenhagen. 1969.] Even after imprisonment, they managed to escape at night to continue their sabotage activities. [ [http://www.skole-it.dk/laeringMedIT/human/historie/besat/dkbesat/ck/ckstart.htm Fængselstiden from Churchill-klubben website] . Retrieved 23 April 2008.]

Knud Pedersen has written four books about the Churchill Club. "Churchillklubben" (1946), "Breve fra fængslet" (1964),"Sidste krigsår" (1966) and "Sagen om Churchillklubben fortalt gennemkilder" (1979).

The popular 1991 movie "The Boys From St. Petri" or "Drengene Fra Sankt Petri" is based on the Churchill Club but goes beyond the facts of the case. [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/144763/The-Boys-From-St-Petri/overview The Boys From St Petri, New York Times] . Retrieved 23 april 2008. ]

External links

* Knud Pedersen, the leader of the group, gives a short overview of the Churchill Club with photographs in a video presentation (in Danish). [ [http://stream.emu.dk/uniplayer.aspx?ClipId=807 Et medlem af Churchill-klubben] . Retrieved 23 April 2008.]

References

* Pedersen, Knud. "Bogen om Churchill-klubben : Churchill-klubben, Breve fra fængslet, Sidste krigsår, Sagen om Churchill-klubben". Lindhardt og Ringhof, Copenhagen, 2005. 627 pages.