Danish fishing boat that saved Jews during Holocaust arrives in downtown St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG — As cars whizzed by and construction workers hammered away at building projects in downtown St. Petersburg, an 80-year-old Danish fishing boat was hauled through the streets on Tuesday. The odd sight stopped in front of the Florida Holocaust Museum on Fifth Avenue S, where it will soon be on display.

The boat’s remarkable story started in 1943, when Germans decided to deport Jewish people from Nazi-occupied Denmark. With just a few hours notice, a flotilla of 300 Danish boats — everything from kayaks and rowboats to cargo vessels and fishermen — showed up on the docks to rescue Jews and take them to neutral Sweden. In about three weeks, the Danes ferried more than 7,000 Jews and close to 700 of their non-Jewish relatives to Sweden.

Irene Weiss, facing camera, gets a hug from her friend Helen Levine, as they watch a boat named Thor, one of the fishing boats used to rescue Danish Jews from the Nazi regime in 1943, as it prepares to be installed in its new permanent home at The Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. Weiss, whose parents were rescued by a Danish fishing boat during the Holocaust, helped to arrange to have Thor shipped from Denmark. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

A boat named Thor, one of the fishing boats used to rescue Danish Jews from the Nazi regime in 1943, is moved into the building in preparation to be installed in its new permanent home at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

The Germans intercepted a few, and seized about 500 Jews in Denmark and deported them to a ghetto in Bohemia. But the vigor of Danish protests perhaps prevented their deportation to the killing centers in occupied Poland, historians say.

The 34-foot, 10-ton wooden vessel that will be on display in the museum is named “Thor,” and it was purchased from a boat broker who obtained it from the family of the fisherman in Denmark.

Irene Weiss, left, smiles through her tears along with Robin Warren as they watch a boat named Thor, one of the fishing boats used to rescue Danish Jews from the Nazi regime in 1943, which included her parents.
It is being moved into the building to be installed in its new permanent home at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. — Irene Weiss, left, smiles through her tears along with Robin Warren as they watch a boat named Thor, one of the fishing boats used to rescue Danish Jews from the Nazi regime in 1943, which included her parents. It is being moved into the building to be installed in its new permanent home at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

“We talk a lot, rightfully so, that the Holocaust showed the worst in people, but it also showed the best in humanity and this story is one of them,” said Mike Ingle, the interim CEO of the Florida Holocaust Museum and chairman emeritus of its board.

The primary donors for the project, Irene Weiss of Palm Harbor and Margot Benstock, both had parents who were among those ferried from Denmark on a fishing boat. Weiss, 71, was there as the boat arrived in downtown St. Petersburg on Tuesday, and she marveled at the symbolism.

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When you multiply by generations, she said, the “ripple effect” is that her family of 18 kids and grandkids and fellow donor Benstock’s family of 17 “would not be here but for the acts of these people.”

The refugees were stowed at the bottom of the ship, and sometimes the fishermen would put fish down on top of them to hide them in case Nazis were patrolling the water, historians say. The journey was a few hours between the two countries.

“It’s a wonderful story,” Weiss said. “If they can touch this boat, they can see and feel that they can go out and make a difference in the world one person at a time.”

The museum is undergoing extensive renovations and in early 2025 will reopen to showcase the boat alongside its longstanding exhibit of a railroad boxcar, one of the few remaining types used by the Nazis to transport Jews and other prisoners.