Asger was a prisoner of war for one and a half years and lost 75 pounds (37.5 kg) before returning to Denmark.
From the Fårhus Camp, he was transferred to the detention facility in Terndrup. He was sentenced to one and a half years in prison.
Asger did not feel that he should humiliate himself by applying for a pardon, “because I had not committed any crime.” Nevertheless, he applied for a pardon in 1947 and was released at Midsummer (St. Hans) that year.
The prison warden was a decent fellow. One day he asked Asger:
“Were you involved in many major battles?”
To this, Asger replied:
“Yes, but they were mostly setbacks.”
He was imprisoned together with Count Schimmelmann from the Lindenborg estate. Schimmelmann was an ardent Nazi and had, for example, hosted Hermann Göring on hunting trips on his land in Store Vildmose.
The prison warden’s wife felt that the count should not have to eat ordinary prison food, so she prepared roast pork for him.
Back to Civilian Life
It was not easy for people with a background like Asger’s to find work after the war—especially if they had volunteered for service on the Eastern Front.
However, Asger found employment with Nelly’s brother, Herman Nielsen, who was a master mason. There, he worked for several years as a construction laborer, but later earned his journeyman’s certificate as a bricklayer.
He gained the confidence to start his own business and built many houses. He was hardworking and conscientious, and he could be proud of the houses he built.
Alongside this work, he performed as a musician, while Nelly sewed clothes for people.
They bought a building plot, and Asger built his own house.
He was a member of the “Rascal Orchestra” (Slyngelorkestret), which consisted of 30–40 older musicians. They rehearsed once a month.
The orchestra performed in Vienna, Austria, for the Vienna children who had been cared for in Denmark during and after the First World War. The elderly women could still speak Danish.
The profits from the concerts were donated to a Danish girl studying music in Vienna.
The orchestra also traveled to Israel twice. They flew there with their wives on chartered flights.
In Israel, Asger developed a good friendship with a Jewish pen pal. (No, he was not aware of Asger’s past in the SS.)
However, the connection with Israel has since faded away.
Asger died on January 31, 2009.
I visited him regularly and gathered this information, which is a modest contribution to Danish history.
Whatever others may think, Asger was a genuinely kind-hearted person. I found that he was a great animal lover and that he had a strong sense of duty toward both Nelly and his children.
He never tried to hide his past, and at one point his story was even the subject of a front-page article in the local newspaper.
We are all prisoners of the times into which we are born. Asger’s youth was spent in a poor Denmark, where people worked hard and saw little prospect of a better future.
Seen from Himmerland, it appeared that Germany had found the solution—that things simply worked there.After he had enlisted, his brother also wanted to volunteer, but by that time Asger had become somewhat wiser, and he warned his brother and thus prevented him from going.