European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1947, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The Nordentoft in Copenhagen an respected school teacher and member of parliament had a and in spite of Public indignation and protest she steadfastly maintained that she was right by Shirley Katzander Copenhagen the Little Man with the shining head pounded his fist on his desk until his Pince Nez off his nose and dangled on its Black in America it  he nor in England nor in Sweden nor in then he groaned not even in the rest of Denmark could it Only in the Little Man was Thorkild superintendent of Copen Hagen he was referring to the Case of miss Inger Merete Norden a forty Breeyear old Maiden schoolmistress and member of the danish it All began november 1945 when miss Nordentoft calmly announced at a meeting with her teachers that she would soon be needing a leave of she was going to have a baby in she the teachers sat Back miss Stocky Wear ing tailored pushed Back her Gray hair and be Gan a discussion of school a few Days Thorkild Jensen who insists on being called by his first name because there Are so Many Jensens in the danish school system telephoned miss their conversation was Brief and Jensen i understand you Are going to have a is this True miss Jensen Are you going to be married miss Jensen do you this is right miss there were the issues of the Battle that is still simmering in a respectable schoolmistress with an enviable record in her who had against the nazis during the had gone and got herself in her position was fur ther complicated by the fact that she was also an important National Polit ical having received the fifth highest number of votes in the election for Denmark postwar parliament she had no intention of nor was she planning to Slink off quietly to have her baby in returning with some vague tale of even though this would have been More convincing than is usual in such cases had already adopted one to add to her insult to she considered what she was doing quite As she tells her own the motives her Bald to Defiance of convention became i lived in a Home split by she when i was my father remarried and i lived with he was very Happy with his second i was not we lived in a Small in trusted in my father was a highly one Day a Young girl of a Good family came to she was the Man would not marry my father per formed an the girl and my farther was sent to it was a great disgrace to us nothing seemed to go right after she miss Nordentoft said she grew up with a sense of fearing the responsibility of marriage and yet i love she and so i became a it was when the nazis occupied Denmark that things began to she worked in the do ing that precarious Job at the same time she did her routine school at one she hid another anti nazi in her the Gestapo found him and an illegal and arrested both of miss Norden Toft spent five months in it was then that i noticed my comrades coming to me for help and for she and when i came out of things seemed different i did not expect love and marriage at my but i did want a so i applied to the authorities for permission to adopt a the authorities told her the i wait for a child would be the War was still on and so miss Nordentoft went Back to teaching school and to her Antinazi it was at that time she met the Man she fell in love with and whose child she subsequently he was from another she but i prefer not to discuss substantial Rumor in Copenhagen has it that her Lover was a norwegian underground worker who served As a Liason Man Between the two coun our happiness was she that it seemed perfectly natural to Bear his and i wanted my own didst they marry it is not a matter of the schoolmistress i am not opposed to marriage even though my personal experience in childhood was not a Happy it is simply that he lives in one country and i in he has his which he considers very and i have neither of us feels that we can give up either our work or our Homeland it is As simple As All my baby will know her lather and i think i will be Able to protect her from an false sense of shame when she grows i know i shall be Able to make her miss Nordentoft did not give this explanation to the Public that Fol Lowed her and later debated it in the weeks that followed Hei announcement to her the Story ran wild in and Sweden and was carried on every press service throughout the the determined miss Nordentoft was reviled and in and out of the she was the subject of sermons and debates before parliament and in meetings of the school she received letters from strangers All Over the world and her plight was sting in a parody of a popular two weeks after the Story was out the Copenhagen Parent teachers group met to consider the More than 1900 parents attended the the vote was 1258 in favor of treating the Nordentoft Case like that of any married which meant Grant ing her leave of absence and restoring her to her position once the baby was Only seven wanted to see her dismissed fro the school at the same an Independent group of parents organized to help her in her Thorkild Jensen was rapidly reaching the boiling he called a meeting of the Board of but before the he summoned the wayward principal to his i told Thorkild Jensen later this was not the first time an unmarried teacher had been in such a sitting in this very chair next to my there have been three of them pregnant and none of them married were helped by he and his face grew he none of them said she was this woman insists she is he calmed Down a i explained to miss he went that i could arrange a Little vacation for and that after it was All she could return to teaching and her i said that if she would publicly admit this thing was everything would be All he dropped his Palms on the she  do she  admit she was miss of the same earlier had said my children bring me such How could i say i am wrong after his Thorkild Jensen stomped off to the school Board meeting to demand the principal be dismissed he lost the Board voted six to three to retain her As when some of the parents who expected a summary dismissal of Miry Nordentoft heard the boards Deci they immediately organized a group to press for her and at the same the Copenhagen women teachers headed by miss Nordentoft for six turned against her and voted a Resolution demanding she be the Church then took up the cud denouncing her As but leaving a loophole for if she admitted this was the Church All would be other she was it was about this time that the letters from As far As new zealand came pouring some encouraged some denounced others were one letter came from an aunt who is a dentist in her aunt wrote to her in assuring her Niece that such a thing would never be tolerated in Phila her aunt wrote to All the family in Denmark advising them to ostracize miss Nordentoft an who is a High Lay Churchman in wrote an open letter to the press in which he not Only took up the Hue and cry against his Niece but publicly disavowed miss Nordentoft said with a All the Young people to my and my stood by through it All miss Nordentoft went quietly about her carrying on her parliamentary duties and pre paring for the birth of her she was in her seat in christians org which houses the danish Par until thirty six hours before her baby was shortly after the birth of the school Board extended her leave of absence while her Case went before parliament for her political foes demanded an investigation and the on whose ticket miss Nordentoft was went to her defense with other leftist elements in the miss Nordentoft remained silent in just before school re opened the school Board reviewed her Case once and again votes six to three to retain this time they gave a reason for it they said that miss Norden Tofts Case could not be considered As an individual but should be judged As part of a social problem for which the Law made Cial since the Danes prefer illegitimate children to abortions they have done their utmost to ease the situation of unwed if the Board were to exact economic reprisals from miss Nordentoft by depriving her of her Means of Liveli it would be setting an official precedent which could be used indiscriminately against future unmarried the statement the Board would retain miss Nordentoft As principal for the Sake of All the unwed mothers in the boards action came three Days before the scheduled opening of Over that weekend the hubbub in the press and on the radio reached a one group broadcast a manifesto calling on parents with children in miss Nordentoft school to keep them Home in protest fifteen minutes later another group answered this Challenge and urged All parents of children in her District to Send their youngsters to on monday miss Norden Toft breakfasted with her adopted then seventeen months she took one last peek at Kirsten who was then she put on her hat and walked the few Yards from her Home toward her As she reached the school a group of parents i and stepped Forward to meet her and broke into miss Nordentoft and walked up the Steps to her r the worst part of the Battle against of convention Over for the soft spoken but position to her has not yet Thorkild the outraged intendant of still presses the school aboard to dismiss but As Long As the present makeup of the Board remains the same it seems unlikely that the lady will lose her Job