Thanks again guys. *deep bow*
Yesterday, Jørn and I went to The Co-operative Village Nyvang.
I had seen on their homepage that they had set up an arrangement to illustrate the german occupation of Denmark in 1940, the war years, and the liberation of Denmark in 1945 in the villages and small towns of Denmark, and so of course I wanted to go.
I talked it over with Jørn, who agreed to go, although he was VERY wary about going.
He was worried that the co-operative village-guys had set something of a show up, that would cheapen the whole war thing just to make some money, y'know: kinda Disneyland-style.
Fortunately it wasn't so.
We arrived in the afternoon after a nice motorcycle ride on the motorway from Ballerup to Holbæk - 59 km's, so it wasn't very far away.
When we arrived, we bought the tickets and got some booklets with the program about the weekend's WW2 arrangements and other things.
The weather was a little cool but sunny, clear blue skies, and a little wind, so it was perfect motorcycle weather.
When we walked into the village, we were first greeted by the german guards by the road checkpoint - and yes, they WERE real germans, except for the young gentleman to the left:
Most transport in the countryside here in Denmark during the war years was by either horse, carriage or motorcycle - the latter only if you were fortunate enough to be able to get gasoline, that were rationed very strictly.
People who had to use a truck or a motorcycle for their shop and/or business had to have gasoline, and so many many people had to set their car aside during the five years that the war lasted, and go by foot, bicycle, train or bus.
When we got into the village, I have to admit that I just had to pull myself together - the sight of people with guns in the street and on the lawns is so unusual to me, that my own reaction amused me.
I almost jumped at the sight, even though I did expect it from the start.
And of course I had to photograph that Zündapp thoroughly.
And one of the guys let me photograph him and his uniform.
The village is a really nice place - calm, quiet, with lots of old houses and shops, and the horse carriages only makes it a lot better.
There's nothing like the calm sound of a horse walking slowly.
Here, the local butcher is closing down for the day. And yes, it is a real butcher's shop, where you can buy meat and old-fashioned made meat products. Yum!
There's also a small radio museum:
And a bicycle repairman's workshop:
Then there were the cars....oooh, the cars!
The ambulance:
The brewery's truck, which were used when the re-enactors showed how the resistance fighters picked up the local snitches; the beech branches have been put on the truck as a sign of celebration of the liberation of Denmark:
The Telephone Company truck:
The local big farmer's car:
One of the local haulage boss' truck:
And of course the local road workers had their steamroller:
Getting ready to roll:
It sure didn't go very fast.
And of course the german troops were there, too: