Telegraph Herald Dubuque, Iowa
Ml 2fc
Chemist leads QUIETER LIFE WORKING HERE
Lived in Constant Dread
When Germans Moved
Into ^Denmark
America is a hafcpy, permanent home for Mogen E. Christiansen, 1392 Main street, who came to this country from Denmark in the spring of 1940, after the Nazis had inverted that little country.
Tall, 30-year-old Mr. Christiansen - everyone calls him "Moe"- is chemical engineer at the Dubuque plant of General Dry Batteries Inc. This means that he has overall supervision of the quality of the products, inspection, and laboratory research.
Moe has a big place in his heart for the United States and for that part of it which is called Dubuque.
"I have found after being in most of the bigger cities like New York, Cleveland, and Chicago that for a stranger, it is much easier to break the ice in Dubuque," he observed. "I feel that the people in this city are particularly hospitable and friendly."
Still Likes Denmark Moe's six years in this country have not dimmed his interest in his native land. He is in constant communication with the home folks at Copenhagen, who have informed him that Denmark has made the quickest recovery of any nation occupied by the Nazis.
Moe's two brothers took an active part in the Danish underground. One, Erik, was in charge of receiving the weapons which the allies dropped by parachute and of distributing them among his co-workers. The other, Fred wrote and printed an underground newspaper, Free Denmark, and operated a secret radio service between the underground and the al lies.
Erik was the object of a persistent hunt by the Gestapo. They finally found out where his head quarters were, by grilling one of hi3 co-workers whom they had captured, and staged an attack. Erik managed to make a getaway-through the back door, but as he lid so, a shot pierced his shoulder and shattered his collarbone. Darting down an alley, he took refuge in an attic.
Rescued
Four days later-May 5, 1945 -the British liberated the city, and Erik, hungry and weary, came down from the attic.
At one time brother Fred was put behind bars because the Nazis had confused him with Erik. He was finally freed through the interceseion of his father.
How Moe was able to come to America, avoiding the horrors and frenzy of the Nazi occupation, makes an interesting story.
The story begins in December, 1939, when Moe was presented a scholarship from the Danish Industrial Chamber of Commerce, entitling him to visit this country for a study of its industries. The scholarship was to be used in 1940.
When he 'applied for his visa, the American consul advised him, in view of the gathering war clouds, to take out an immigration type visa, which would permit him to remain in the United States. Moe is glad that he took the consul's advice.
The Germans goosestepped into Denmark in,April, 1940. Thousands of Danes, especially Jews, tried to took passage out of the country, iufc permission was given only to hose whose arrangements to leave' ntedated the invasion. Moe was one of 200 lucky persons who got permission.
Assigned to Oubuque He arrived in New York harbor June 10, 1940, armed with letters of introduction to several dry battery companies. After receiving his master's degree from the University of Denmark-a master's rather than a bachelor's degree is equired for graduation in that nation-he had worked for one year with a dry cell manufacture* in Copenhagen.
Visiting the main office of General Dry Batteries at Cleveland, Mr. Christiansen received a job assignment to the Dubuque plant. In January, 1942, the company reassigned him to Carrollton, O., where he organized a new plant for the production of chemical manganese ore. He stayed there unai August of that year. During the next 12 months, he
LEFT DENMARK
Mogens E. Christiansen, 1392
Main street, chemical engin who left Denmark in 1940 a the German invasion, is happy; America and will make it his manent home. All his relat are in Denmark, and his br ers, Erik and Fred, were am
the leading workers in the Danish underground.
er, ter
th-ng
was works manager'it ttfe firm's Gloversville, N. Y., plfnt, Jind later lid research at the niain'office at Cleveland before returning to the Dubuque plant in February, 1944.
Moe took out his U. S. citizenship papers in September, 1945.
Tall, light-haired Moe is a snappy dresser, and the most distinctive part of his dress is his bow tie. His favorite sport is golf. Ac-live in several local clubs, he. was one of the leading spirits in the re-activat'on of the Dubuque Junior Chamber of Commerce, and will be chairman of that organization's centennial button sales campaign.
Scholarly and thoughtful, Mae has given deep consideration to the world, he says, "I think they are beginning to realize more than ever before that they simply must take -a part in international affairs." He added, however, that iti is not enough to think in Americans these term**-the hin i n in mimi BIT Hi these terms
