Niels Martinus Lassen was born on 23 July 1920 in Gørding. He was the son of smallholder Niels Karl Larsen and his wife Johanne Sofie Kristensen. At the baptism, the priest apparently made a mistake, and when he was to enter Niels Larsen in the church records, he wrote Lassen instead. This was never corrected, but Niels nevertheless used the surname Larsen.
Niels came from a family of nine children. The family was extremely poor, and not only that—their smallholding burned down in 1921, after which the father had difficulty keeping control over the large group of children.
On 23 December 1926, the family was struck by another tragedy. Niels lost two of his brothers in one of the most talked-about and horrific accidents in the Gørding area.
The two boys, aged 14 and 16, had run away from home due to a conflict between the eldest son and their father about the eldest needing to find a job (an apprenticeship). The parents could not have the older boys staying at home, which resulted in the two boys leaving home around 1 December. They wandered around until they discovered an old fox den at Smedegård Krat near Bramminge, where they settled. There they made themselves a small shelter in the old fox den.
The younger boy had been home on 10 December to ask for money and tried to sell his bicycle. He was chased away with angry words, and, stubborn as always, he had to return empty-handed to the cave, where the elder brother was waiting for him.
On the night of 23 December it had rained heavily and the ground had become soft, and when it then began to freeze, the earth cracked and collapsed onto the two sleeping boys. When the bodies were recovered, it was assessed that the younger one had not noticed anything and had passed away peacefully, while the elder must have experienced some agonizing moments before he also died. From the position of the body it could be seen that he had tried to prop himself up on his elbow, and his facial features were contorted as in pain.
In the local newspaper one could read:
At home, no one had any idea where the boys were staying, and probably no real concern about it either. Karl Larsen and his wife are dull and tired people. The constant struggle for daily bread has dulled their minds, so they hardly sense or care about what is going on around them.
Only the old grandmother seems to have been struck by the tragedy. She is 80 years old, but is almost the only one in the family who has sound mental faculties. The old woman was deeply distraught over the tragic death of her grandsons, which she took very hard.
This afternoon the funeral of the deceased boys took place with great solemnity at Gørding cemetery. They were buried to: “To the heavens reaches Your mercy, O God.”
The father died on 16 July 1927, only 50 years old, leaving behind his wife and four unconfirmed children.
Niels enlisted in Frikorps Danmark at the beginning of July 1941 and left on 9 August 1941 for Langenhorn barracks in Hamburg to join the Frikorps’ 3rd company.
On 15 November 1941 he was sent for training at the SS Pioneer Replacement Battalion school in Dresden.
On 7 September 1942 the Frikorps departed for Denmark to go on leave. Niels travelled to his home region in good faith to visit his brother in Gørding, but he changed his mind, as he was driven away by his brother and told never to show himself there again in that outfit (military uniform).
When Frikorps Danmark was dissolved on 20 May 1943, Niels transferred to Regiment 24 Danmark. In April 1944 he was on leave in Denmark and overstayed his return date by three days, and was therefore arrested by the Gestapo and handed over to the Ergänzungsamt in Copenhagen for prosecution. However, he was exempted from punishment on the condition that he re-entered service.
On the journey to Gedser he deserted again and sought out his family in Gørding and Varde (where, according to him, he changed into civilian clothes) and travelled to Aarhus, but there he was once again arrested and later transferred to Vestre Prison and from there to a state prison near Hamburg. He was later sent to the Neuengamme camp and from there to Dachau, where he was held on 27 April 1945 when the camp was taken by the Allies.
He remained in Allied captivity until 30 June 1946, when he was handed over to the Danish authorities at the Danish-German border and taken to a Danish prison. He was sentenced to one year in prison, of which 90 days were credited as time already served in Allied captivity.
Niels died at the age of 67 and lived until his death in 1987 in Arlöv, Sweden.
Photo 1: this was taken during his stay in Mitau in 1942.
Photo 2: here Niels (third from the left) is seen on Christmas Eve 1941, together with his pioneer comrades at a Christmas event in Treskau.