PARDONS

Denmark formally abolished the death penalty in 1930; though the last execution (a beheading) in fact occurred way back in 1892. However, after the trauma of the German occupation during the second world war, Parliament reintroduced the death penalty in 1945, and with retrospective effect. 78 Danish citizens were sentenced to death; yet 32 were later pardoned. Why?

The short answer is that there was no rhyme or reason behind the different actions. Three different Justice Ministers were involved, two from the right and one from the left. Two of the 78 were women, and they were both pardoned, even though their crimes were much worse than those of many of the men who were executed (Denmark doesn't kill women). Seriousness of crime, or personal status (single, married, with or without children) seemed to have no effect. The result was random.

That seems to be "not very good". Little wonder that Danes are reluctant to talk about the "occupation".

Walter Blotscher