I've read that in Denmark, it's a popular myth that the reason why the Danish Jews didn't wear yellow stars during WWII was because Christian X had said that if the Jews had to wear them, then he would wear one too (or something similar).
When the Danish government resigned in 1943, what happened? Did the Nazis take over or did a new Danish government take over? WWII is my stronger point in history, but I'm not very knowledgable about Danish history which is why I asked.
The story about Christian X saying he would want to wear the yellow star too if the Jews were ordered to do so is true. And Christian X's standing in the eyes of the public was so that it is certain that within a couple of day all Danes except the most die hard Nazis would have worn the yellow star as well. Because anyone who didn't would label themselves Nazi and in favor of deporting the Jews.
By the summer of 1943 the co-operation between the Danish government (and that was a by-partisan coalition government representing most of the political spectrum) and the Germans was getting more and more strained. The resistance reinforced by strikes here and there was getting annoying. the tide of war was changing and the Germans had overstayed their welcome, so to speak. The telegram-crisis didn't exactly help either! (*)
The government who always had an eye for the foreign political issue. i.e. not being seen as too co-operative with the Germans was pressured to impose harder sanctions of the population as a whole and on captured saboteurs in particular. Joining the pact against the Soviet Union was a difficult pill to swallow for Danes as well. But the final straw was that the Germans demanded that the death penalty being reintroduced for some captured saboteurs. The government flatly refused. (It would have been political suicide as well to have been responsible for the execution of Danes on behalf of a foreign power). So the government refused and the civil servants took over the administration of Denmark, directed by the German governor. I.e. a business ministry. (**)
Shortly after the Germans rounded up what was left of the Danish military leading to fightings around military barracks and installations all over the country, including at Amalienborg, where the Royal Lifeguard fought the Germans and in fact several bullets went into Christian X's office, one could have hit him had he been sitting at the table.
Around the same time an attempt was made to round up all the Jews, but as you know the vast majority got away.
Of course the German heavy handedness backfired, the resistance went up big time!
Interestingly there was an unofficial live and let live agreement between the Resistance and the German Wehrmacht. German soldiers could walk the streets safely armed with nothing more than a bayonet literally until the end of the war. In return German soldiers tended to be less than vigilant unless they had to. Because the soldiers were more safe in Denmark than even back in most of Germany and who would want to rock that boat?!?
But there were instead a lot of clashed between the resistance and German security services, i.e SD, Abwehr and Gestapo and first and foremost Danish collaborators who did most of the dirty work. With sabotage, liquidations and counter-liquidations being the order of the day and by the summer of 1944 there were indiscriminate shootings in the streets, where tings really got bad and when the Germans had to back down in the face of a civil uprising.
It was in many ways a completely surreal world! There is an account from a British airman who sat at a cafe in Copenhagen waiting to be shipped over to Sweden and at the table next to him sat basically unarmed German soldiers enjoying the latest American jazz music, (such degenerate music was strictly verboten back in Germany) eating strawberries with genuine cream (an almost forgotten luxury back in Germany)!
(*) The telegram-crisis started with Hitler sending Christian X a long telegram on the King's birthday praising the King to the skies. The King responded with three words: "Min bedste tak = My best thanks". The Germans were furious and the government had to smooth things out but the Danes loved their King for it.
(**) Constitutionally speaking that meant that all laws introduced after the summer of 1943 were invalid, unless okayed by a legally elected government after the war.
