Frihedsmuseet

Frihedsmuseet or ‘The Museum of Danish Resistance’ is a museum in Copenhagen dedicated to the Danish Resistance movement against Nazi occupation from 1940 to 1945.

History of Frihedsmuseet

The Danish Resistance Movement were an underground insurgency to resist the German occupation of Denmark during the Second World War. Members of the group were involved in a number of underground activities such as producing illegal publications, spying, and sabotage.

Resistance agents killed an estimated 400 Danish Nazis, informers, and collaborators until 1944. Post-war, the resistance movement was widely supported by Danish politicians.

The museum is part of the Danish National Museum, which was established in 1807, and has greatly expanded its exhibits as more recent history has unfolded. Frihedsmuseet aims to educate generations to come about the wide-ranging and still tangible effects of war.

Frihedsmuseet Today

Starting with an original armoured car belonging to the resistance displayed outside its entrance, Frihedsmuseet creates a compelling narrative of the events of the war and the efforts of this movement.

From home-made weapons and photographs of resistance fighters who died for their cause, Frihedsmuseet explores the events of the Resistance through original artefacts, documents, and films.

There is also an exhibition relating to how the Resistance undertook the covert evacuation of Denmark’s Jewish population to Sweden and, conversely, another exhibit about Denmark’s cooperation with the Germans.

Many of the exhibits are highly interactive. You’ll be given the opportunity to print illegal magazines, tap phone conversations, and decode the phones of Germans.

All of the exhibits in Frihedsmuseet’s chronological display are available in Danish and in English. This site features as one of our most recommended visitor attractions in Denmark.

Getting to Frihedsmuseet 

From the centre of Copenhagen, the museum is reachable in around 10 minutes by car via the Nørre Voldgade and Øster Voldgade roads. There are also a number of public transport options which stop at Østerport Station, from where the station is a 10 minute walk. By foot, the museum is reachable from the centre in around half an hour via the Strøget and O2 roads.