{{Short description|Danish resistance member (1927–1994)}} {{Infobox person | name = Gerda Fiil | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Gerda Søvang Fiil | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1927|1|30}}<ref name=natmus45087>{{cite web | url= http://modstand.natmus.dk/Person.aspx?45087 |title=Modstandsdatabasen |location=Copenhagen |publisher= Nationalmuseet |work=Gerda Fiil |trans-title=Resistance Database | access-date= 23 May 2015 |language= da}}</ref> | birth_place = Hvidsten, Denmark | spouse = Svend Jessen (married until 1994) | parents = {{plainlist| * Marius Fiil * Gudrun Fiil }} | relatives = {{plainlist| * Kirstine Fiil (sister) * Niels Fiil (brother) }} | children = | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1994|6|26|1927|1|30}} | death_place = Hvidsten, Denmark | death_cause = | resting_place= Spentrup cemetery | other_names = Gerda Søvang Jessen | occupation = Waitress<ref name=natmus45087/> | known_for = Convicted member of the Danish resistance movement<ref name=natmus45087/> | signature = | signature_alt = | website = {{cite web | url= http://modstand.natmus.dk/Person.aspx?45087 |title=Modstandsdatabasen |location= Copenhagen |publisher= Nationalmuseet |work= Gerda Fiil |trans-title=Resistance Database | accessdate= 23 May 2015 |language= da}} }} '''Gerda Søvang Fiil''' (30 January 1927 – 26 June 1994) was a convicted member of the Danish resistance, whose father and brother were executed by the German occupying power.
== Biography == During the later stage of the occupation the Fiil family and other locals formed a resistance group, the Hvidsten group. With the group, she helped the British Special Operations Executive parachute weapons and supplies into Denmark for distribution to the resistance.<ref name=natmus45087/>
In March 1944, the Gestapo made an "incredible number of arrests" including in the region of Randers herself, her father the "nationally known folklore collector and keeper of Hvidsten inn Marius Fiil", her brother Niels Fiil, her oldest sister Kirstine and her brother-in-law Peter Sørensen.<ref>{{cite news |title= Utrolig mange Arrestationer |trans-title=Incredibly many arrests |url= http://www.illegalpresse.dk/#/paper?paper=70&page=757 |newspaper=De frie Danske |date= 18 March 1944 |page= 10 | accessdate= 24 November 2014 |language=Danish}}</ref>
The following month De frie Danske reported on her father again, that he along with other arrestees from Hvidsten had been transferred from Randers to Vestre Fængsel.<ref>{{cite news |title= ARRESTEREDE |trans-title=ARRESTED |url= http://www.illegalpresse.dk/articles/show/id/28#/paper?paper=71&page=795 |newspaper=De frie Danske |date= 23 April 1944 |page= 10 | accessdate= 24 November 2014 |quote= Kroejer Marius Fiil med flere fra Hvidsten er blevet overført fra Randers til Vestre |language= da}}</ref>
In June 1944, a court martial sentenced Fiil to two years in a juvenile prison.<ref name=kvinfo658>{{cite web|url= http://www.kvinfo.dk/side/597/bio/658/origin/170/ |publisher= KVINFO |first= Anette |last= Warring |title= Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon - Kirstine Fiil |year= 2003 |accessdate= 23 May 2015 |language= da}}</ref>
On 29 June 1944, her father, brother and brother-in-law and five other members of the Hvidsten group were executed in Ryvangen.<ref name=fdk>{{cite news |title= 29. Juni - 8 Frihedskæmpere henrettet |trans-title=29 June - 8 freedom fighters executed |url= http://www.illegalpresse.dk/#/paper?paper=34&page=313 |newspaper= Frit Danmark |date= January 1945 |page= 9 |accessdate= 23 November 2014 |language= da}}</ref>
On 15 July 1944, ''De frie Danske'' reported on the executions, her two-year prison sentence and the life sentence of her sister Kirstine and compared her father to Svend Gønge and Niels Ebbesen.<ref name=fdk/>
Fiil and her sister were imprisoned separately in Germany, but she was soon after pardoned and returned to Denmark. In April 1945, Fiil was therefore able to join her mother in receiving her older sister in the Danish border town Padborg, to which Kirstine had been evacuated with the White Buses after also receiving a pardon.<ref name=kvinfo658/>
On 10 July 1945 her executed family members and the five other executed group members were cremated at Bispebjerg Cemetery.{{cn|date=July 2023}}
Gerda Fiil died in Hvidsten on 26 June 1994, survived by her husband Svend Jessen. They are both buried in Spentrup cemetery.{{cn|date=July 2023}}
==Portrayal in the media== * In the 2012 Danish drama film ''Hvidsten Gruppen'' (This Life) Gerda Fiil is portrayed by {{ill|Laura Winther Møller|af||da}}.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.dfi.dk/faktaomfilm/film/en/74686.aspx?id=74686 |title= This life / Hvidsten Gruppen - nogle må dø for at andre kan leve |website= dfi.dk |accessdate= 2016-12-04}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Fiil, Gerda}}
Category:1927 births Category:1994 deaths Category:Danish resistance members