Iowa I Opener: Danish Immigrant Museum

Danish Immigrant Museum, Iowa.

"There were giants in the earth in those days." Genesis 6:4.

After limping out of Omaha's Mormon Trail Center with my tendinitis-inflamed leg, I hopped in my car and drove east on Interstate 80 until I reached the exit for Elk Horn, Iowa and the Danish Immigrant Museum. I found this museum visit much more enjoyable than my Omaha experience.

 Many small-scale museums are housed in quarters that were built for other purposes--such as a store, or a factory. Not so the Danish Immigrant Museum. Its present structure, built in a Danish architectural-style, was built in 1994--to be a museum.

You're almost there!

The Shelby County village is where the Elk Horn Højskole was founded in 1878; its presence attracted Danish immigrants to the small town, and Danes dominated the area until the middle of the 20th century.

I was greeted with a hearty "Velkommen" and some other Danish words from the elderly volunteer at the museum's front desk, who assumed, because of my slimness (Sorry, my fellow Americans, we tend to be heavy) and very fair skin, that I was Danish. It's not unusual for me to be taken as a non-Amercan. After 15 years of marriage to a northern European, I've picked up some subtle Euro-mannerisms. Besides, being of Irish descent, I have more than a few drops of Danish Viking blood flowing in my veins.

The embarrassed greeter was put at ease when I explained my situation.

The museum has an amassed an astonishing collections of 35,000 artifacts. Of course, not all of them are on display. Memorabilia from Danish-American clubs make up a chunk of what I saw, as well as quite a bit about Denmark itself, including its valiant resistance to tyranny during World War II.

Nazi Germany invaded Denmark in 1940, the overmatched Danes surrendered two hours later. Although for the first three years the Danish government was collaborationist, it operated somewhat normally until 1943 when the Nazis dissolved it. Its popular king, Christian X, became a symbol of Danish hope during the war--it was common to see the king on horseback in Copenhagen without a bodyguard until a riding accident prevented him from doing so.

After the fall of the Danish government, the Germans attempted to deport its tiny Jewish population to concentration camps. But these great Danes secretly transported almost all of them to neutral Sweden. At this time the king declared himself a prisoner of war. Although the king did not wear the yellow Star of David in support of his Jewish subjects, as is commonly believed, he did remark "perhaps then we should all wear it." There were giants in the earth in those days.

Jens Dixen Home

Contemporary Denmark is a battleground in the clash of cultures. On display in the museum is a copy of Koranen og profeten Muhammeds liv, in English it translates into The Koran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad. After it was reported that its author had trouble finding an artist to illustrate the book--including an image of Muhammad, the Jutland-based Jyllands-Posten newspaper asked 12 Danish artists in 2005 to draw the Prophet to make a statement decrying censorship, which led imams to travel throughout the Middle East the following year to stir up anger against Denmark and the West. This led to riots in the Muslim world--over 100 people died. But the Danes did not cave--they refused to apologize for the cartoons.

The dozen Muhammad depictions are not displayed in the museum.

Denmark may have had a small Jewish population at the start of World War II, but one of them, Victor Borge, the Clown Prince of classical music, was probably the most famous Dane of the 20th century. In the museum you'll find one of his pianos.

On the right is a North Dakota homesteader cabin that belonged to Danish immigrant Jens Dixen. On the lower right is the tiny Morning Star Chapel, a home church of sorts built by then 83-year-old Charles Johann Walensky in 1951; he was a Danish immigrant living in Waterloo, Iowa.

And yes, there are Legos there.

Next: Danish windmill

Earlier posts:

Morning Star Chapel

• Omaha's Mormon Trail Center
• Loess Hills
• Jesse James' first train robbery
• A Madison County bridge and some Cold Turkey
• John Wayne's birthplace
• Grinnell's Louis Sullivan Jewel Box
• Amana Refrigeration
• Amana cemeteries
• Amana Millrace and the woolen mill
• Amana Colonies overview
• Anamosa State Penitentiary Cemetery
• More about Stone City and Grant Wood
• Stone City and Grant Wood
• Where North Avenue ends
• Field of Dreams
• Guttenberg and its pool
• A final look at Effigy Mounds National Monument
• More Effigy Mounds
• Effigy Mounds National Monument
• Freedom Rock and Veterans Day
• Pikes Peak
• Buffalo Bill