Jutta Graae

Jutta Graae was born in Hillerød, Denmark, on 28 April 1906. She was the daughter of Peter Anton Alfred Hage, a merchant and politician, and his wife Frederikke Vilhelmine Faber. She graduated from the seminarieafdelingen at N. Zahle's School in 1889 and obtained a school principal diploma in 1891. She then co-managed Rosenvængets Privatskole with Elisabeth Gad for three years. ¹ Under the German occupation of Denmark in World War II, as the sister in law of the journalist Ebbe Munck who was involved in clandestine activities for British intelligence, Graae was able to collect information in her position at the savings bank. It was then forwarded by courier to Munck who was stationed in Stockholm, Sweden. Graee's home on Rosenstandsvej in Ordrup was also used by resistance members to deposit items to be sent to Stockholm. It was here in May 1943 that a key meeting took place between Mogens Fog, Erling Foss and Frode Jakobsen where they discussed how best to coordinate resistance work. ¹² When the Germans disbanded the Danish army and navy in August 1943, key members of the resistance had to go underground. As a result, together with Volmer Gyth and P.A. Mørch of the intelligence service, Graae moved to Stockholm where she acted as secretary and hostess. She became so knowledgeable of resistance activities that in October 1944 she was invited to London to advise Major-General R.H. Dewing who was planning operations in Denmark. The following January she was transferred to the Special Operations Executive which was responsible for coordinating illegal contacts with Denmark. ¹² She published her memoirs of her involvement in the Danish resistance in Værnepligt (1995). After the war, Graae moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked at the Danish embassy under Henrik Kauffmann. In 1947, she returned to Denmark to join the Defence Intelligence Service, where she became chief archivist in 1956 until her retirement in 1960. In December 1960, she married the estate owner Flemming Juncker (1904–2002) whom she had met while working in London. ¹² On 25 March 1997, Jutta Graae died in Havndal in the east of Jutland where she is buried in the local cemetery. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1947 and the Ebbe Munck-Prisen in 1991 for her contributions to the resistance and intelligence. ¹²