The Danish American Cultural Retreat (DACR) is an annual opportunity to learn about topics related to Denmark and other Nordic countries. A true Pacific Northwest tradition, DACR has been held every year for more than 40 years at the Menucha Retreat and Conference Center overlooking the Columbia River Gorge.
DACR offers:
- A rich program to illustrate the significance of Denmark on the global stage
- An annual opportunity to learn about Denmark and its links to the United States, today and in the past
Save the Date!
Danish American Cultural Retreat at the Menucha Retreat and Conference Center September 12, 13, and 14, 2025
Couldn’t Come to DACR? Register to get the Videos After the Event!
All talks were recorded and will be available to attendees and anyone who registers for access after the event. (Typically within a month of the event ending.)
As part of your registration for 2024 video access, gain access to all the 2023 DACR talk recordings right now! A link will be included in your registration confirmation email. Get two years of presentation videos for one price!
A registration perk is access to all the DACR 2023 talk videos. Access will be linked in your registration confirmation email.
Still not sure? You can view Katia Johansen’s 2023 talk Working with Royal Dress: Royal Danish Collections at Rosenborg Castle:
DACR 2024
The 2024 conference was September 20th through 22nd.
2024 Program Overview
- Danish Folketing (Parliament) – Willie McDonal Latham, Denmark (Friday)
- Bringing Danish Sustainable Infrastructure to the PNW – Ted Sturdevant (Friday)
- What’s the Deal With Harald Bluetooth? – Terri Barnes, Portland State University (Saturday)
- Myth Busters: Viking Edition – Terri Barnes, Portland State University (Saturday)
- Hour of Need: the Daring Escape of the Danish Jews During World War II (a Graphic Novel) – Ralph Shayne (Saturday)
- Freedom of Speech in Denmark – Morten Larsen, University of Washington (Saturday)
- Private Schools in Denmark: A Glimpse into KonTiki Children’s School – Ane Larsen and Karen Eisenhut, Denmark (Sunday)
- Denmark’s Forgotten Holocaust: My Family History in Letters – Bodil Jelhof Jensen, Quebec, Canada (Sunday)
- Saturday Night Entertainment by Danish Troubadour, Flemming Behrend
2024 Program Abstracts
Danish Folketing (Parliament) – Willie McDonal Latham, Denmark Willie Latham will provide an overview of the current composition of the Danish Folketing and how it is elected and the process of establishing a government with a Prime Minister and his/her cabinet. There will be time for a Q&A after the presentation.
Bringing Danish Sustainable Infrastructure to the PNW – Ted Sturdevant In 2017, staff from the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure (CSI), based in Olympia, Washington, toured examples of sustainable infrastructure in Denmark for the first time. The trip, funded by the Scan Design Foundation, who promotes Danish-American relations, introduced us and several Washington legislators to Kalundborg, DK and the practice of “industrial symbiosis” – where industries share wastes, byproducts, materials and energy between them. Industrial symbiosis replaces waste, inefficiency and pollution with circular, more sustainable practices that create greater value, reduce costs and avoid unintended consequences of industry. Excited by what we witnessed, we at CSI – and the democratic and republican lawmakers we traveled with – came home with a passion for importing this brilliant take on industrial development first to the Pacific Northwest, and then to the rest of the United States. After several years of more bipartisan legislative tours of Denmark, pilot projects at home, and corresponding wins at the legislature, Washington now boasts the first Industrial Symbiosis program in the US with multi-million-dollar public investment, and Oregon lawmakers recently returned from Denmark and are already developing legislative proposals to follow suit. Can industrial development and climate solutions go hand in hand? Can we unite politically behind an approach that grows industry, reduces waste and pollution, and avoids unwanted consequences? Industrial symbiosis challenges old notions of economy vs. environment and offers a new, less divisive – though also more complex – path to a shared future of low-carbon prosperity.
What’s the Deal With Harald Bluetooth? – Terri Barnes, Portland State University, Portland, OR If you have traveled in Denmark and gone to any museums or sites related to Viking history, you might have noticed that King Harald “Bluetooth” is everywhere. The Danes tout him as a founder of sorts, and even the current royal family traces their lineage back to him. But Harald is actually the most well-known king that perhaps we know the least about. Who was he? What did he accomplish, and why is he still so famous? In this session you’ll learn some history about this legendary Viking Age Danish ruler..
Myth Busters: Viking Edition – Terri Barnes, Portland State University, Portland, OR Vikings and myths about them are everywhere in pop culture, but how much do we really know about them? Can we separate fact from fiction? Historian Terri Barnes will discuss eight of the most popular conceptions about those intrepid Nordic people we call “Vikings,” and she’ll set the record straight with the most up-to-date research and information available. Perhaps you’ll never see Vikings in the same way again.
Hour of Need: the Daring Escape of the Danish Jews During World War II (a Graphic Novel) – Ralph Shayne In the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, legend had it that should danger ever come to Denmark, the mighty warrior Holger Danske promised to wake from his centuries-long slumber to protect its citizens. When the Nazis move to round up young Mette and her fellow Danish Jews in a surprise raid in 1943 after years of letting Denmark rule its people, her father must make life and death decisions to save his family. Overnight, they have become refugees at the mercy of the complete strangers they meet during their escape. The mythical Holger Danske’s promise to the Danish people manifests in the compassion and bravery of a school teacher turned resistance leader and other ordinary citizens who bravely defy the Nazi regime to come to her rescue in her hour of need. Told from the point of view of Mette returning to Denmark years later with her grandchildren, Hour of Need tells the story of how the people of an occupied nation–from king to fisherman–risked their lives to evacuate their Jewish countrymen to Sweden in small fishing boats. Hour of Need is a tribute to the heroes that saved the Danish Jews and how humanity triumphs in the darkest hours. Developed in partnership with the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. Find out more at ilholocaustmuseum.org.
Freedom of Speech in Denmark – Morten Larsen, University of Washington On December 7th, 2023, Danish Parliament passed a law prohibiting any “improper treatment of a document with significant religious importance to a recognized religious community.” Paradoxically, it was only in 2017 when the parliament decided to revoke §140, which prohibited blasphemy. Whereas the old blasphemy paragraph was found under the section Crimes Against Public Order the new law is found under Crimes Against the State’s sovereignty and Security, marking a shift of the interests protected by the law. As the legislation sought to counteract series of protests directed at Danish Islamic communities, in which copies of the Koran repeatedly was burnt and kicked around, the new law quickly got the nickname “the Koran Law.” The debate surrounding the legislation threw Denmark into a predicament; was the freedom of speech absolute or could national security concerns outweigh such right? In 2017, despite the waring from the National Security and Intelligence Service, Danish parliament maintained that freedom of speech outweighed security concerns. Six years later that argument shifted. Furthermore, the law seemed at odds with the held belief that no religion should be exempted from critique and ridicule in Denmark. The newly passed law ignites the often heated discussion of the content and limitations of freedom of speech in a global-oriented, multicultural society such as Denmark.
Private Schools in Denmark: A Glimpse into KonTiki Children’s School – Ane Larsen and Karen Eisenhut, Denmark In Denmark, there is compulsory education, not compulsory schooling. This has given the parents the right to take responsibility for their children’s education by either sending them to public school (aka Folkeskolen), by attending private schools (aka privatskoler and friskoler); or through homeschooling. We will look at how the friskole movement emerged in Denmark and how parents have been coming together to create their own schools, like KonTiki Children’s School, in Hillerød, northern Sjælland. What principles are friskoler like these founded on, what freedoms do they represent and how do their educational practices differ from the public schools and also schools over in the USA.
Denmark’s Forgotten Holocaust: My Family History in Letters – Bodil Jelhof Jensen, Canada In October 1943, Max and Rose Hartwig walked into Theresienstadt along with 200 other Jewish Danes. Billed in Nazi propaganda as a model ghetto to resettle European Jews, Theresienstadt was in fact a transit-stop for the death camps and was itself a death camp housing a crematorium with four ovens. While Max and Rose languished in the camp, their seven children and their families found refuge in Sweden. From there, they did everything possible to free Max and Rose, sending letters, money and care packages. When Max left the camp on a Red Cross bus in April 1945, he smuggled out these letters of love and encouragement. Against all odds, most survived the intervening years. The actual letters are reproduced in the forthcoming book (expected release, December 2024) in their entirety as originally handwritten in German with translations to Danish and English. The family history is completed with letters written before and after the war, family photos and official documents. Created as events unfolded by the people who were there, this historical record gives a unique insight into the Holocaust. The book presents a story of love and hope, and for most, survival. A touching story of courage about one family in World War II Denmark.
A typical year at DACR:
DACR is typically held in person in Oregon each year. DACR is now held in September.
Program Features:
The rich DACR program has included presentations by CEOs, presidents, or other representatives from key players in the Danish American community, such as:
- Museum of Danish America
- Nordic Museum
- Scan Design Foundation
- Embassy of Denmark, USA
- Novo Nordisk
- WWII and the Danish Resistance Movement -Author Nathaniel Hong\
- Hans Christian Andersen -Dr. Marianne Stecher, UW Scandinavian Studies Professor and Head of UW Danish Program
- The Golden Era of Danish Silent Films -Kristian Næsby, UW Scandinavian Studies Visiting Danish lecturer
- Vikings in Denmark -Author William Sullivan
- Falck: Danish Emergency Services -Peter Jorna, Falck USA
- Danish Cheeses -Dr. Lisbeth Goddik, OSU Dairy Processing Extension Specialist and Associate Professor in Food Science
- Nimbus Motorcycles –Nimbus Motorcycle Club, USA
- Danish Defense Policies –Niels Ulrik Olsen, Royal Danish Embassy
- The Greenland Ice Sheet and Climate Change -Dr. Christina Hulbe, Portland State University
Learn or Practice Danish. DACR offers optional classes for those who would like to learn some Danish at the retreat! Many Danish speakers attend DACR allowing ample opportunities to speak the language.
Nature Walks
Experience waterfalls and lush green surroundings at DACR. We take a field trip to one of the waterfalls each year and to the nearby vista house with spectacular views of the Columbia river.
Evening Entertainment
Each year we have evening entertainment for guests to enjoy before ‘Kro Aften’. On Friday we celebrate Sankt Hans with snobrød and traditional Danish midsommer songs around the fire.
Kro Aften
To wind down from all the daily activities, guests are invited to join us in the ‘Kro’ each evening for beer, wine, and bar snacks.
Conference Schedule
Friday check-in: Begins at 11:00 am followed by Menucha orientation and then lunch at 12:00 pm.
Friday programs: 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Saturday: 8:00 am to 10:00 pm
Sunday: 8:00 am to 9:30 am
The Menucha Retreat and Conference Center
DACR is held at the Menucha Retreat and Conference Center in Corbett, Oregon. Menucha Retreat offers a variety of amenities and lodging options. Lodging options include rooms that are private, semi-private, or dormitory style.
The beautiful grounds at Menucha have so much to offer, including:
- Panoramic views
- A swimming pool and courts for a variety of sports
- Hiking trails, fire pits, and much more
Getting to DACR
The Menucha Retreat and Conference Center in Corbett is located right on the Washington-Oregon state border.
Approximate travel times:
- From Seattle: Less than 4 hours by car
- From Portland: 30 minutes by car
For those who need a ride from Seattle or Portland, we can help arrange carpools. Guests can also fly in to Portland International Airport. We can help arrange rides from the airport, if needed.
Watch for mailed postcards, website information, The Little Mermaid, and e-bulletin announcements with updates! To receive the most up to date information on DACR and other NWDA programs, events, and activities, sign up for our e-bulletin mailing list.