(JTA) — A ceremony held in a Copenhagen synagogue marked the 70th anniversary of the rescue of most of Denmark’s Jews from the hands of the Nazis.

Sunday’s ceremony marked the October 1943 operation in which more than 7,000 Jews were sent by boat to Sweden after they were ordered deported to Nazi concentration camps, the Associated Press reported.

A German official who knew about the deportation orders told Danish lawmakers, who passed the information to Danish Jewish leaders.

The nearly 500 sick and elderly Danish Jews who did not escape were deported to a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.

On Tuesday night, the Öresund Bridge linking Copenhagen and Malmö will be lit up with 700 lanterns in commemoration of the Jews’ escape from Denmark to Sweden, The Local. se reported.

The Elisabeth K571, one of the few boats that are still in existence from the secret evacuation, reportedly will take part in the memorial activities, according to The Local.