Dansk Europamission, bibelsmugling og menneskerettigheder under den kolde krig

Resumé

This article addresses an issue that, until now, has attracted very little interest in the historical
literature: the smuggling of religious literature to Soviet Bloc countries. It makes
two claims. Firstly, that bible smuggling is a topic that historians ought to investigate.
There are indeed a number of reasons to presume that bible smuggling was a significant
Cold War phenomenon. In a Western context, it involved numerous groups and
individuals in many different countries, it led to the establishment of transnational networks
cooperating in terms of bible translation, production and distribution, and some
of these groups and networks got involved in broader human rights related issues, such
as the International Sakharov Hearings, 1975-1985. Bible smuggling also mattered in the
East, as is testified by the propaganda efforts of the Soviet authorities in denouncing this
activity. Documents from the Statsi archives indicate that East German authorities were
worried about the impact and the contacts established by the so-called Eastern Missions.
Secondly, the need for scholarly research in this field is illustrated by the case of the
Danish European Mission (DEM), established by Reverend Hans Kristian Neerskov in
1964. DEM was the only Danish group to specialise in bible smuggling to the East during
the Cold War. Impressive claims have been made in the Danish press concerning the
allegedly huge effort made by Neerskov (“the Soviet Union’s ideological enemy no. 1”)
and his group to help the religiously oppressed in the East. While this article does not
seek to tell ‘the real’ story of the Danish European Mission, it does try to introduce some
nuances into this ‘official’ story, demonstrating that some of the claims made on DEM’s
behalf are either wrong or at the very least unsubstantiated. The role and the impact of
bible smuggling has become yet another issue in the struggle about the Cold War, and
serious enquiries into this field are called for.