Comments on: William O. Pederson: “What We Learned from World War II”

By: Bookslinger

Bookslinger — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:30:14 +0000

Wow. Sister Pedersen was 13 years older than Bro Pederson.

By: Researcher

Researcher — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:19:02 +0000

What a lovely article you’ve both linked to, Ardis and Steve, and what a nice connection to your own life, Ardis. : ) I’m looking forward to Mark’s review of In Harm’s Way — I’m interested to read his thoughts about the book.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 03:17:16 +0000

That story is also told in that book that I’ll write a review about someday–In Harm’s Way, about east German saints during World War II.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:30:43 +0000

Great minds and all that, Steve!

By: Steve C.

Steve C. — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:30:05 +0000

Ardis: You beat me to the punch on the article. Oh well, I just filled in a couple of details.

By: Steve C.

Steve C. — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:28:05 +0000

rk: I’ve read that story. The German soldier who visited the Copenhagen branch was Herbert Klopfer. When the war began, he was called as the acting mission president of the East German mission. He also was called up for military duty which after about a year or so took him from Berlin to France, Denmark and finally to the Eastern Front where shortly before the end of the war he lost his life. To quote Paul Harvey, “And now the rest of the story…” Brother Klopfer spoke to the congregation in December 1943 and Brother W.O. Pedersen translated it into Danish. You can read about this here http://lds.org/liahona/1991/02/enemy-soldier-at-the-pulpit?lang=eng&query=enemy+pulpit

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:24:21 +0000

Oh, criminy.

I knew about that story and just googled it for the link. Now that I’ve read the article again, I have to stay that there is a very particular reason why those who read this post ought to click through to that link and read it.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:22:20 +0000

rk, I can confirm that something very like it happened at Esbjerg. With as many Latter-day Saints as there were in Germany and their consequent service in the German army, it's possible that this kind of thing happened more than once, in various places, perhaps also in Copenhagen.

By: rk

rk — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:10:10 +0000

The chapel referred to in this writing would be none other than the Priorvej chapel which is now the Copenhagen temple.

I also heard a story about how one Sunday the Danish saints were holding a fast and testimony meeting at this chapel. A German soldier came in got up and bore his testimony in German and then left. I think this experience helped the members better understand how even our enemies are all our brothers and sisters. Unfortunately Ardis I don’t have any good sources to back up this story. Hopefully someone wrote it down.

By: Steve C.

Steve C. — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:11:12 +0000

I am always amazed when I read and study the LDS in occupied Europe during World War II.

Researcher: I listened to a program on NPR a week ago about a Danish Jewish family who escaped to Sweden. I was quite impressed.

Denmark certainly escaped the worst the Germans had to offer. Other countries didn’t fare so well. The Netherlands was pounded pretty hard. Some have suggested this was because the Dutch refused to take the missionaries in when World War II began, unlike the Danes who accepted them.

The missionaries evacuated to Denmark were put up for a while in the Copenhagen chapel. JF Smith spent a couple of weeks there and held daily devotionals with the evacuated missionaries in the chapel. So there’s a bit more World War II history associated with the Copenhagen Chapel.