Ryvangen
At the end of August 1943, the Germans declared a state of emergency in Denmark, the danish government was dismissed and its army disarmed. The state of emergency also meant that Danish citizens were more likely to be arrested, deported or even executed for their possible association with the Danish resistance movement. In Copenhagen, an execution site was set up on a pistol-shooting range adjacent to barracks belonging to engineer troops in Ryvangen. The execution site was later moved to another location in the same area. The bodies were also buried at Ryvangen. Between September, 1943 and May, 1945, about 200 Danes were shot in Ryvangen. For instance, members of the resistance groups Hvidstensgruppen and Holger Danske. Many of the executed had been imprisoned in Copenhagen’s Western Prison.
Current status: Monument (2015).
Address: Tuborgvej 33, 2900 Hellerup.
Get there: Commuter train to Hellerup station.
Follow up in books: Holm, Axel: Hvidsten gruppen (2012).
Ryvangen is a memorial park with regular opening hours and can not be visited outside these. The exception is the former pistol shooting range located outside the memorial park. In addition to the monuments at the execution sites, a memorial garden has been established for Danish citizens who died in German concentration camps, a memorial wall for missing (presumed dead) Danes and a monument at the grave site of the executed. The monuments are linked by small roads surrounded by greenery and there are also information boards in the area.