Skæring Hede (Skæring Heath) or Skæring Mindelund (Skæring Memorial) is a forest and memorial park in

Skæring Skæring is a suburb of Aarhus in Denmark. It is situated some 10 km. north-east of Aarhus C and is one of the wealthier suburbs. Skæring Parish had a population of 4977 as of (2006) of which 4.402 were members of the Church of Denmark. Skæring i ...

, the northernmost suburb of

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Skæring Hede was originally a large

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

but today only a fraction of it remains as encroaching suburbs and areas with

summer house A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden ...

s have gradually taken over much of the natural land in the area, through the 70s and 80s. The remaining area of are mainly forest, although some heath do remain, and is managed as a public forest park by

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality ( da, Aarhus Kommune), known as Århus Municipality ( da, Århus Kommune) until 2011, is a municipality in Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area ...

. Today Skæring Hede is one of only a few public forests in Skæring and the northernmost park in Aarhus. The forest is mainly mixed

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

and

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

forest with a number of walking paths crossing through it and it is home to a

World War II 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 ...

memorial. Skæring Hede is well known as the place where five Danish resistance fighters were executed during the Second World War in one of the first mass executions during the war. Parking facilities on ''Åstrup Strandvej''. The forest has a ''Grejbase'' (Equipment base), an equipment locker which can be rented by teachers and other educators on excursions. The base in Skæring Hede is focused on

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...

due to the proximity to the coast and shallow, rocky beach. The forest today is a recreational space in Skæring and an important local landmark.

History

The heath at

was a relatively remote and unused area up to the 1940s when it was still some 10–15 km. outside the city. When the German army occupied Denmark it also eventually took possession of the heath and by 1943 had turned it into a shooting range. On 17 November 1943 the Danish resistance blew up 3 bridges at

Langå Langå, is a railway town in central Denmark with a population of 2.811 (2022), located in Randers municipality in Region Midtjylland in Jutland. It was the site of the municipal council of the now former Langå municipality, until 1 January 2007. ...

, severing the railroad between Aarhus and

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

had to be stopped or redirected. However, the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

quickly started tracking down the resistance members and 4 men from

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Kai Hannibal Hoff, the leader of the operation, was arrested on 30 November and moved to Randers Barracks where he was killed trying to escape. Seven people were arrested in all, 5 were sentenced to death and two were given life in prison. On 2 December 1943 early in the morning in Skæring Hede, the five death sentences were carried out by shooting. The bodies of the five executed men and the body of another resistance fighter were subsequently buried in secret at ''Husbjerg Klit'', a remote military training ground in south-west Jutland. The memorial on Skæring Hede has a connection to another Danish World War II memorial in Allerstrupgård Skov. It is located at the meadow codenamed "Mustard Point" where the

Hvidsten Group The Hvidsten Group (Danish: ''Hvidstengruppen'') was a Danish resistance group during World War II named after the Hvidsten Inn between Randers and Mariager in Jutland where it was formed. History The Hvidsten Group became connected to the res ...

received supplies from the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

during the war. The 8 members of the group were arrested March 1944 and executed 9 June 1944 in

Ryvangen Ryvangen or Ryvangskvarteret (English language, English: The Ryvang neighbourhood) is a neighbourhood of single-family detached homes in the northern part of Østerbro, on the border with Hellerup, in Copenhagen, Denmark. History The name Ryvangen ...

. After the war the bodies were exhumed and brought back to the village ''Hvidsten'' where the "Mustard Point" meadow was donated by the town as a cemetery and memorial which was inaugurated 18 July 1945. It was the Hvidsten Group that supplied the explosives that made it possible to bomb the

bridges.

Memorial

The memorial is in a clearing close to the water and in view of the

Bay of Aarhus The Bay of Aarhus, or Aarhus Bay, is a Danish waterway by Aarhus in eastern Jutland. The Bay of Aarhus is bounded by Kalø Vig in the north, Sletterhage and Helgenæs in the east, Samsø and Tunø to the south and the east Jutland coast to the wes ...

and

Helgenæs Helgenæs is a peninsula, approximately twenty square kilometres in size, stretching out from Mols in Denmark. Mols is itself part of the large peninsula of Djursland, in the middle of the Kattegat sea between Denmark and Sweden. West of H ...

. The main component is a massive granite boulder with text inscriptions listing the men who were executed there and a short poem by

Kaj Munk Kaj Harald Leininger Munk (commonly called Kaj Munk) (13 January 1898 – 4 January 1944) was a Danish playwright and Lutheranism, Lutheran pastor, known for his cultural engagement and his martyrdom during the Occupation of Denmark of World ...

. The memorial is dedicated to the five men who were executed there and Kaj Munk. In addition there is one

oak tree An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably '' ...

which was planted for each of the five men killed there.

Executed resistance fighters

* Anders W. Andersen (from

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Vejle Vejle () is a city in Denmark, in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula at the head of Vejle Fjord, where the Vejle River and Grejs River and their valleys converge. It is the site of the councils of Vejle Municipality ('' kommune'') and the R ...

14 September 1921) * Otto Manley Christiansen (from

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

10 June 1923) * Oluf Kroer, Oluf Akselbo Kroer (from