Petersen Robert & Gertrud

Petersen, Robert Petersen, Gertrud Robert and Gertrud Petersen, both in their thirties, were living in Copenhagen with their two children. Robert made a modest living manufacturing lampshades. In September 1943, when reports of the planned deportation of the Jews were leaked to various Danish circles, 31-year-old Isak Paikin turned to his friends, the Petersens, for help. Even though the Petersens had a small home with three bedrooms, they understood the danger and immediately agreed at least temporarily to take into their home 14 members of the extended Paikin family: Isak himself, his wife and their son Henning, his parents, two unmarried sisters, a third one with her husband and their son, Torben Saposchinikow, the unmarried brother of his wife, Avraham Kviatkowsky, another brother with his wife and their daughter Laila. And all this, while Gertrud Petersen was in the fifth month of her pregnancy with her third child. Two days after the Paikins’ arrival, Robert Petersen traveled to Koege, a neighboring town on the coast. At a local café pension, he managed to convince the owner to prepare a room for the Paikins, while awaiting their crossing to Sweden, after curfew and under the darkness of night. He then finalized arrangements with some fishermen to take the Paikins to Sweden. The next day, all the Paikins made it to Koege and waited from their room at the café. However, the owner of the boat that was to be rented changed his mind and was no longer willing to cooperate. On the spot, Petersen gave the fishermen money and convinced them to get the owner of the boat drunk and take the keys. And so they did. That night all the Paikins safely reached Sweden. After their departure, the Petersens took care of the Paikins’ home, so that when they returned after the war, they could pick up again where they had left off. On May 1, 2001, Yad Vashem recognized Robert and Gertrud Petersen as Righteous Among the Nations.