Guido Leo John Christmas Møller, usually known as Christmas Møller (3 April 1894 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

– 13 April 1948 in

) was a Danish politician representing the Conservative People's Party.

Life

Møller was elected as a Conservative member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

and in 1928 became leader of his party, a role he still held at the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the German

occupation of Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral. For most of the war, the country was a protectorate and then an occupied territory of Germany. The decision to occupy Denmark was taken in Berlin on 17 December ...

, he joined a

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

cabinet, but in October 1940, following German pressure, he was forced to resign from the government, as the German authorities felt he was too negative towards them. Three months later, in 1941, he was forced to abandon his seat in

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

altogether for the same reason. He was then instrumental in founding the

underground newspaper The terms underground press or clandestine press refer to periodicals and publications that are produced without official approval, illegally or against the wishes of a dominant (governmental, religious, or institutional) group. In specific rec ...

''Frit Danmark''. In 1942, Møller fled with his family to England, where he hoped to become part of a Danish

government in exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile us ...

. However, his most important role in

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proved to be as a broadcaster for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

Danish language Danish (; , ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are also found in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and the northern German region of Southern Schles ...

service aimed at occupied Denmark. He spoke out against the Danish government's collaborative stance towards the Germans and encouraged

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

and other resistance activities, becoming enormously popular as a result. On 2 October 1943, an article by Christmas Møller appeared in ''Frit Danmark'' which urged all Danes to do what they could to help their Jewish fellow citizens who had gone into hiding from the Nazis' planned roundup. Møde (6045292539) (2)

In April 1945, Møller's son was killed in action while serving in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

. After the war Møller briefly became

foreign minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

in the provisional government of May to November 1945. After the election of 1945 he resumed his old role as leader of the Conservative Party. He lost the election in 1947 and then resigned as party leader, partly because of the Southern Schleswig issue. He died the following year, a week after resigning his membership of the Conservative Party. His

great niece In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of the subject's sibling or sibling-in-law. The converse relationship, the relationship from the niece or nephew's perspective, is that of an ...

Pia Christmas-Møller Pia Christmas-Møller (born 21 January 1961) is a Danish politician, a member of parliament from 1987 until 2011. She represented the Conservative People's Party from 1987 until 2007 and led her party between 1998 and 1999. From 2007 until 2011 s ...

, was a member of

between 1987 and 2011.

References

Bibliography

* Harold Flender, ''Rescue in Denmark'', Simon and Schuster, New York, 1963

Life

References

Bibliography

Further reading