The municipal employee Svend Andreasen lived in Gilleleje on the Danish coast with his wife Ketty. Hundreds of Jews hid in this fishing village at the end of September 1943, waiting for an opportunity to cross to Sweden by boat to evade deportation. Svend Andreasen took food and clothing to the escaping Jews.
Andreasen suggested to Paula Warschaffsky Mortensen, who had fled Copenhagen, that her three-year-old daughter Tove could stay with him and his wife. Her mother agreed, and embarked on the dangerous journey to Sweden alone. Tove missed her mother a great deal, but the Andreasens took loving care of her.
After Denmark’s liberation in 1945, Paula Warschaffsky Mortensen took back her daughter, now aged five. The child no longer recognized her, and wanted to be with her foster parents. Tove visited the Andreasens in Gilleleje as often as possible. Seeing Tove suffering more and more from the separation, her mother eventually allowed her to return to Gilleleje. Sven and Ketty Andreasen took care of Tove Warschaffsky Mortensen until she grew up.
Tove and Paula Warschaffsky Mortensen with Tove’s foster parents Svend and Ketty Andreasen (left to right) in Gilleleje, 1950s. Source: Dansk Jødisk Museum, Kopenhagen, JDK207F348
Ketty and Svend Andreasen in Gilleleje, undated. Source: Dansk Jødisk Museum, Kopenhagen, JDK207F348
Tove with her foster parents Ketty and Svend Andreasen outside their house in Gilleleje, around 1944. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Tove Warschaffsky Mortensen with her foster parents Ketty and Svend Andreasen, around 1944. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
