Terp, Holger: Danish Peace History - Det danske Fredsakademi

While Germany was busy rearming and preparing for the Second World War, the War
Resisters’ International held its international conference in Copenhagen in July
1937 118 .
After the congress the Dutchman Bart de Ligt (1883-1938) published The Conquest of
Violence in English and Fight without Weapons 119 was published in Denmark a
volume of which professor Gene Sharp later made good use of 120 . Sharp wrote, ”that
Lindberg attempted, and appealed for, a comparative evaluation on practical grounds
of the advances, disadvantages and consequences of non-violent action, military
resistance, terrorist resistance and guerrilla war” 121 .
While responsible politicians declared ‘peace in our time’ the year following, informed
pacifists, journalists and refugees knew better. Ellen Hørup established the
international news agency: Journal des Archives, 1938-1939, in Geneva to
communicate analyses of the current political situation in Europe to the rest of the
world. It was described as “Service of international documentation. – Correspondents
in London, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Copenhagen and Chicago. Monthly Bulletin in three
editions: English, French and German. Documents on political, economical and
financial questions. Reproduction authorised and gratis, on condition of stating the
source of origin and sending voucher numbers”. There is a copy of the English version
at the Royal Library in Copenhagen.
Because of criticism against the Swiss restricted policy towards German political
émigrés, on February 2, 1939 the chief of the Swiss Police féderale des étrangers
118
Four Days in Denmark: Triennial Conference, 1937. In: The War Resister, 1937. No. 43 pp. 1-48.
Hørup, Ellen: Disarmament or Rearmament. 1937. – 14 pp. Lansbury, George: My Quest for Peace.
London 1938. Conscientious objectors speak. In:
Prasad, Devi: War is a crime against humanity: The Story of the War Resisters' International.
- London: WRI, 2005. pp. 186-189.
In August 1979, WRI held its second triennial conference in Sønderborg, Denmark.
119
Kamp uden Vaaben: Ikke-Vold som Kampmiddel mod Krig og Undertrykkelse / Niels Lindberg ;
Gammelgaard Jacobsen ; Karl Erlich. 1937.
120
Sharp, Gene: The Politics of Nonviolent Action. Boston, 1973.
121
Sharp, Gene: The Dynamics of Nonviolent Action p. 569.