The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club

Brothers Alf and Kaj as well as Knud Hornbo, still at King Hans Gades Jail, are using the dummy bar to escape every night. They conduct sabotage, destroying German vehicles, afterward eating dinner with Alf and Kaj’s family. By day, they are seen by the jailers sleeping, reading, and playing chess. One day, they become too comfortable with escaping and accidentally go out while it is still daylight. They duck into a movie theater to find that it is full of German soldiers watching newsreels of the war.

The men escape nineteen nights in a row. One night, they are walking the streets when sirens go off, a signal that everyone must go into a shelter. The man cannot, since showing an identification card is required for entry, and they duck into a doorway. A policeman who notices them acting suspiciously catches them. Germany insists on handling the case, accusing the Danish authorities of complicity in the men’s nightly escapes. Each man receives a sentence of more than ten years in a German prison.

At Nyborg State Prison, the boys are separated and strip-searched. Their heads are shaved, and each is assigned a number to replace his name. They are subject to “countless rules,” are watched constantly, and follow a “harsh daily routine” (124).