Museum of Danish Resistance

About Museum of Danish Resistance

The Museum of Danish Resistance tells the story of how ordinary Danes fought back against the Nazi occupation of Denmark during World War II. Run by the National Museum of Denmark, it sits in the Churchillparken area of central Copenhagen, near the Kastellet fortress and Langelinie promenade where the Little Mermaid statue stands. The focus here is on the years between 1940 and 1945, and specifically on the people who chose to resist: printing illegal newspapers, carrying out sabotage, gathering intelligence, and organizing the escape routes that helped Denmark's Jewish population reach neutral Sweden in 1943.

The collection is built around personal objects rather than grand set pieces. You'll find weapons used by resistance fighters, homemade printing equipment, photographs, forged documents, and firsthand accounts that put names and faces to events. Because the museum tells its story through these smaller, human details, it reads less like a military history exhibit and more like a record of individual decisions made under occupation. The original building was destroyed by fire in 2013, and the museum reopened in a new home on the same site in 2020, so the displays and layout are relatively modern.

It's a compact museum, which means most people can work through it in around an hour to an hour and a half, though anyone reading closely could easily spend longer. Its location makes it easy to combine with a walk through Kastellet and along the harbor, and it's within reach of the city center on foot or by public transport. Admission is a paid, separate ticket. Exhibit labeling is provided in English as well as Danish, so non-Danish speakers can follow the full story without a guide.