Hannibal

Operation Hannibal was a German evacuation operation at the end of World War II. Over 250.000 refugees, mainly civilians, were brought from war zones to Denmark. The arrival of refugees put an enormous strain on Denmark's resources and created tensions within the population. Many suffered from lack of food, shelter, and healthcare. After the war, there were up to 36,000 German refugees in the Oksbøl camp. Life in the camp was marked by the trauma of flight and uncertainty about the future. But it was also life in a city behind barbed wire, where a city council, theater, cinema, and school helped provide content and diversion for people whose lives had been turned upside down. The last refugees left Oksbøl in 1949