Jenny Marie Ingeborg Kammersgaard (1918-1997) was a Danish female professional long-distance swimmer who rose to fame in the 1930s. Here she swam across inner Danish waters and from Denmark to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Because of her results she was invited by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

to Germany. She was used in the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

propaganda as an example of the "

aryan ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''), Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood ...

" ideal person. After the war she helped refugees getting out of Europe through

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. From 1950 she returned to swimming.

Youth and sea swimming

Jenny Kammersgaard was born in 1918 and grew up in the

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

town of

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of the Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 64,418 (1 January 2025) and the municipality's population is 97,921 (), making it the List of cities and ...

a daughter of

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

Jens Peter Hansen Kammersgaard and Hedvig Kristine Jensen. She started swimming at age 15 and, in 1934, became a member of the local swimming club. She was not a good competition swimmer but excelled in endurance swimming, which had become popular after World War I. At the age of 17, she swam 18 km on open sea from Snaptun to Horsens in Horsens Fjord and later the same year 25 km from

Langeland Langeland (, ) is a Danish island located between the Great Belt and Bay of Kiel. The island measures 285 km2 (c. 110 square miles) and, as of 1 January 2018, has a population of 12,446.

to Korsør. Her talent was discovered and a Danish

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

sponsored her for a number of long distance swimmings. At the time she was working at a

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

but decided to take on new challenges. The first goal was a swim of 42 km across the

Kattegat The Kattegat (; ; ) is a sea area bounded by the peninsula of Jutland in the west, the Danish straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the Swedish provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Scania in Swede ...

from Gniben to Grenaa in the Danish part of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, the longest any woman had swum at the time. She had to quit this attempt on advice from the doctor in the supporting vehicle. The next month she succeeded though after having changed medical advisor.

Meeting with Nazism

After her crossing of Kattegat in 1937 she was celebrated in Denmark and songs were written in her honor. While in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

she received a

telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

of congratulation from the German chancellor Adolf Hitler which stated: ”Please accept my warm congratulations for your unique sports performance.” This was the beginning of a charm offensive from the Nazi regime, which saw Jenny Kammersgaard and her merits as an example of the perfection of the aryan race. She was invited to Berlin as guest of reichsportsführer

Hans von Tschammer und Osten Hans von Tschammer und Osten (25 October 1887 – 25 March 1943) was a German sport official, SA leader and a member of the '' Reichstag'' for the Nazi Party of Nazi Germany. He was married to Sophie Margarethe von Carlowitz. Hans von Tschamme ...

and greeted by people in the streets of Berlin. Between 27 and 29 July 1938 she swam the 52 km from Gedser in Denmark to the German coast city

Warnemünde (, literally ''Mouth of the Warnow'') is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow (river ...

. It took 40 hours and 30 minutes. Again she received congratulations from Hitler and was praised in the Nazi paper

Völkischer Beobachter The ''Völkischer Beobachter'' (; "'' Völkisch'' Observer") was the newspaper of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 25 December 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from 8 February 1923. For twenty-four years it formed part of the official pub ...

. Again she was invited to Berlin and met by a big crowd. Next year she repeated the performance by swimming the same route in the opposite direction. Up till World War II she was used in the nazi racial

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

as an ideal. She also expressed warm feelings against the Nazi regime herself.

World War II

In June 1940, (after Denmark had been occupied by Germany) Jenny Kammersgaard went to Berlin to start an education at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität as a sports instructor. May 1942 she returned to Denmark. August 28–29, 1943 she broke the European record in fresh water swimming by swimming 75 km in Gudenåen the biggest Danish river. During summer 1944 she several times secretly swam across the

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; ; ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Denmark–Sweden border, Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width var ...

strait between Denmark and Sweden. She was questioned by

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

who suspected her of being a

courier A courier is a person or organization that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are ...

for the Danish resistance based in Sweden. They issued an arrest order for her which made her flee (by boat) to the Swedish island of

Hven Ven (, older Swedish spelling ''Hven''), is a Swedish island in the Öresund strait laying between Scania, Sweden and Zealand, Denmark. A part of Landskrona Municipality, Skåne County, the island has an area of and 371 inhabitants as of 2020. ...

in Øresund. She was here from August 15, 1944, till the end of the war May 1945.

After the war

After the war she maintained her friendship with her Danish manager Henrik Ludvig Jørgensen/Hagensborg, who had been arrested under suspicion of collaboration with the German occupation force during the war. She gave a favorable

character witness Character evidence is a term used in the law of evidence to describe any testimony or document submitted for the purpose of proving that a person acted in a particular way on a particular occasion based on the character or disposition of that per ...

testimony for Hagensborg, though he ended being sentenced to five years in prison. In August 1947 Jenny Kammersgaard together with her boyfriend helped Baltic refugees in Denmark getting to Sweden. After Balticum had been occupied by

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

they were afraid of being

extradited In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

and felt safer in Sweden. From here it was possible to get out of Europe. She and her boyfriend did this illegally (and for a pay) and were both sentenced to 40 days of prison. She continued long-distance swimming and in both 1950 and 1951 she crossed the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. Later she tried breaking records in icy water swimming and swam 400 m in 12 minutes and 54 seconds in 1976. Jenny Kammersgaards has a mixed legacy because of her contact with Nazi Germany on the one hand and her swimming on the other. She maintained that in the time of Nazism she was young and had no interest in politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kammersgaard, Jenny 1918 births 1997 deaths Sportspeople from Horsens Open water swimming English Channel swimmers Nazi propaganda Propaganda in Denmark Danish people of World War II Danish female long-distance swimmers

Youth and sea swimming

Meeting with Nazism

World War II

After the war

See also

References