DMA member Flemming Heilmann will discuss his recently released translation of Halfdan Lefevre’s book entitled The Men in Denmark’s Freedom Council. This seminal work, first published in Danish in 1945, is the story of Denmark’s resistance leaders, their underground movement during Nazi occupation and how they coordinated the nation’s freedom fighters to mount military confrontation of the enemy. Their 11-member Freedom Council went on to form a government-in-waiting in anticipation of liberation to run the country pending restoration of democratic elections. Each member’s family background and career are vividly depicted. Lefevre, from the start of World War II, had documented the genesis and evolution of the resistance movement and its struggle against Nazi occupation since April 1940. He was the recording scribe for the underground Freedom Council and author of illegal leaflets and news communiques distributed by the resistance. His scholarly account offers details of the German invasion, the government’s quick surrender, and then the emergence of the resistance movement, which led to the establishment of the crucial Freedom Council. Flemming has carefully translated this book into English so a broader audience can appreciate the sacrifices these brave men made for their country.
Fleming was born in Malaysia to Danish parents and studied at Cambridge University, where he graduated with degrees in economics and law. He has since held executive and CEO positions in the manufacturing sector focused on the consumer goods packaging industry, mainly public companies listed on the Johannesburg, Toronto and New York stock exchanges, and has most recently been associated with investment in and management of buy-outs of distressed businesses, with multiple directorships in public and private companies in South Africa, Western Europe, Canada and the United States.
In 2017 Flemming published Odyssey Uncharted, a memoir of World War II childhood and education on four continents, set in mid-20th century history, and in 2019 published his second book, The Unacceptable Face, charting a career on three continents under apartheid, extreme socialism and disparate iterations of capitalism. His translation of Halfdan Lefevre’s The Men in Denmark’s Freedom Council was published in February 2022 by Telemachus Press.
Arranged by Tom Igoe
Bobbi Phelps Chapman will speak to us on her latest book, Darien Waters, which describes historical facts and dramatic details of the ‘40s, ‘50s and early ‘60s. In her narrative of growing up in Darien, she writes of wealth, secrets, schemes, and intrigue in our beautiful waterside town.
Jonathan Olmsted will speak to us about the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 – 1903). This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the man known as the “Father of American Landscape Architecture.” He and his family firm were arguably the most influential landscape architects in the United States with over 500 commissions that included 100 public parks, 200 private estates, and 40 campuses for colleges and secondary schools. These include Central Park in New York (1857), the Buffalo Park System (1868), the Boston Park System (1870), the United States Capitol (1874), the Chicago World’s Fair (1893) and the Biltmore Estate (1895) in Asheville, North Carolina.