The Communist Law or The Law on Prohibition Against Communist Associations and Communist Activities was an unconstitutional piece of

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

legislation passed under

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

on 22 August 1941 which banned the

Communist Party of Denmark The Communist Party of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti, DKP) is a communist party in Denmark. The DKP was founded on 9 November 1919 as the Left-Socialist Party of Denmark (, VSP), through a merger of the Socialist Youth League and ...

and other communist parties and organisations in Denmark. The Communist Law was a Danish adoption of the international

Anti-Comintern Pact The Anti-Comintern Pact, officially the Agreement against the Communist International was an anti-Communist pact concluded between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan on 25 November 1936 and was directed against the Communist International (C ...

Prehistory

The communist party was allowed to continue its activities after German troops had

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

Denmark on 9 April 1940. Prior to the occupation, Danish secret police had registered active communists. After the occupation these registries was turned over to the German authorities. On 22 June 1941

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

declared war on the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and the German occupation authorities in Denmark demanded the arrest of leading Danish communists. The names of those communists came from the registries that had been handed over by Danish police. The police arrested 295 communists including communist members of parliament. There was no warrant for these arrests in Danish law and on 22 August 1941 the Communist Law was passed unanimously in parliament and signed by king

Christian X Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was List of Danish monarchs, King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only List of rulers of Iceland, King of Iceland as ...

with retroactive effect.

Constitutionality

The Communist Law was a violation of several parts of the

Constitution of Denmark The Constitutional Act of the Realm of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Riges Grundlov), also known as the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply the Constitution ( da, Grundloven, fo, Grundlógin, kl, Tunngaviusumik inatsit), is the c ...

, hereunder the freedom of speech,

freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline mem ...

, the inviolability of parliament and the demand for a jury in political trials. In the 1953 constitutional reform, a new section was added to the Danish constitution which explicitly forbids incarceration on grounds of political views alone and thus a new Communist Law.

Cultural references

The novel ''Frydenholm'' by Hans Scherfig tells a fictionalised account of the incarcerated communists.

Sources

* Kaarsted, Tage (1977). ''De Danske Ministerier 1929–1953'', Copenhagen. pp. 173 ff. . * {{cite web, url=http://www.folkedrab.dk/sw52375.asp, title=Kommunistlejren he Communist Camp, website=Folkedrab.dk, date=23 September 2015 , publisher=

Danish Institute for International Studies The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) is a public institute for independent research and analysis of international affairs, financed primarily by the Danish state. DIIS conducts and communicates multidisciplinary research on global ...

(DIIS) , language=Danish, accessdate=1 March 2016 1941 in Denmark Politics of World War II 20th century in Denmark Anti-communism Legal history of Denmark

Prehistory

Constitutionality

Cultural references

See also

Sources