Ryvangen Memorial Park

[1] On 29 August 1943, when the Danish cooperation with Germany broke down, the German occupying forces seized the army and naval facilities in all of Denmark including Ryvangen.

[1] The Comrades' Relief Fund writes that, on 5 May, members of the resistance discovered 202 graves in Ryvangen and that the minister for ecclesiastical affairs had the remains exhumed for identification.

[3] On 29 August 1945, two years after the German occupiers had dissolved the Danish army and navy, 106 hearses thus drove from the Christiansborg Riding Grounds through Copenhagen to the memorial park in Ryvangen with the flags in the city flying half-mast.

[1][3] Bishop Hans Fuglsang-Damgaard inaugurated the park as a cemetery with the Danish royal family, the government and representatives from the resistance movement present at the funerals.

[1] In the center of the grave field lies a memorial stone for the 91 resistance members who were exhumed in Ryvangen and buried in a cemetery closer to home.

[3] The sculptor Axel Poulsen created the monument For Denmark / The mother with the slain son (For Danmark / Moderen med den dræbte søn) located centrally in the park.