In 1966, about 1,000 people gathered at Temple Israel in Creve Coeur to hear a Danish doctor explain how he helped save thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Nearly 60 years later, that story is being told again through a new pop-up display in the main lobby of the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum, which highlights both the Danish rescue effort and Dr. Karl Koster’s little-known connection to St. Louis.
Amy Moorman, the museum’s chief curator of archives and collections, said the opportunity came after the museum received a 2024 donation of materials connected to Koster’s visit, including photographs, news coverage and a recording of his Temple Israel speech.
“The story of the Danish occupation and rescue of their Jewish population is not well known enough in Holocaust history,” Moorman said. “This collection allowed us the opportunity to tell this story from a unique perspective.”
A doctor who chose to act
Koster was a surgeon at Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen when Nazi authorities moved to deport Denmark’s Jewish population in October 1943. Doctors, nurses and hospital staff helped hide Jewish families among patients and coordinate their escape to Sweden in what became one of the most successful rescue efforts of the Holocaust.
About 7,200 of Denmark’s roughly 7,800 Jews survived.
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His connection to St. Louis came years later through Dr. Herman Turner, a local physician who read about Koster’s role in the rescue and decided others here should hear his story.
A visit sparked by one decision
Turner worked with colleagues at Jewish Hospital to organize Koster’s 1966 visit, raising funds to bring the Danish doctor to St. Louis. During the trip, Koster met with local medical professionals and spoke publicly about his experiences.
At Temple Israel, hundreds of Holocaust survivors were among those who attended his talk. Jewish Hospital physicians presented Koster with a plaque honoring the staff of Bispebjerg Hospital for their role in helping save Jewish lives.
The visit mattered enough that it was later mentioned in Turner’s obituary as one of the meaningful moments of his life.
A story returns
The new display includes an audio recording of Koster’s 1966 remarks at Temple Israel, along with oral histories connected to the Danish rescue. Among them are accounts from a St. Louis woman who served as a nurse in Denmark during the war and a Jewish survivor who recalled being taken to safety in Sweden.
Moorman said the Danish rescue stands out because it depended on both individual decisions and a broader sense of responsibility across the country.
“Koster’s is a story of the power of an individual to enact change,” she said, “but also there are broader themes about the importance of community and belonging in the face of attempts to persecute and dehumanize one group of people.”
In St. Louis, that story might not have been told at all if Turner hadn’t decided it mattered enough to bring Koster here.
Nearly six decades later, the museum’s display ensures that decision continues to echo.
Sometimes history lasts because someone decides it should.
Exhibition Info
What: We are all Danes”: The Power of Resistance in the Rescue of Danish Jews
Where: Lobby of the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum
When: March 27 through July 26, 2026
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