Agnes Jelhof Jensen; holocaust survivor & writer
Hyfler/Rosner
May 8, 2007 Tuesday
Final Edition
Author who fled Nazis with her infant son never lost her
sense of humour or belief in fellow human beings
BYLINE: Don Retson, Journal Staff Writer
EDMONTON - Agnes Jelhof Jensen came from an Orthodox Jewish
home in Denmark, but was brought up to believe that being
morally upright -- not one's religion -- was what counted.
Mrs. Jensen passed on that great respect for other world
faiths to her own children.
"She was very ecumenical," Bodil Jelhof Jensen of Laval,
Que., said of her mother.
"She would be at home in any church anywhere. I remember in
our own home, every nationality, every faith came. And they
were welcome."
The author of 12 books and the winner of numerous awards and
honours, Agnes Jelhof Jensen died Feb. 26 at age 90. A
memorial service is being held at Temple Beth Ora today at 3
p.m.
The second youngest of seven children, Mrs. Jensen fled
Denmark in 1943 with her husband and eight-month-old son in
the Jewish evacuation to Sweden.
After the war, Mrs. Jensen, who had remarried, moved from
Copenhagen to Edmonton with her new husband and their two
young daughters. Except for a short stay in Toronto, Mrs.
Jensen was a resident of Edmonton since 1954.
Her daughter said that Jews in Denmark, unlike other
countries occupied by the Nazis, felt extremely secure.
When word came out via sympathizers within the German
hierarchy that a roundup of Jews was about to happen, some
people didn't believe it and didn't act. Sadly, Mrs.
Jensen's parents were among the captured Jewish Danes sent
to a concentration camp in then occupied Czechoslovakia.
The death of Mrs. Jensen's mother in the Theresienstadt
concentration camp not only shaped her views in life, but
also eventually led her to write Dilemma, an award-winning
novel about the rescue of a Jewish girl in Second World War
Denmark.
Dilemma is one of four of Mrs. Jensen's books available at
the Edmonton Public Library. Among the others, Old Age Can
Wait!, No One Must Know and Hello Canada, the latter is a
humourous, insightful account of Mrs. Jensen's first years
in Canada.
A library official said Monday that more of Mrs. Jensen's
works will be added soon.
Despite the tragedy she experienced, Mrs. Jensen had a
wonderful sense of humour, her daughter said.
"Her attitude was, you're either going to laugh or cry. So
let's laugh."
Mrs. Jensen, who was first published at age 15, founded her
own publishing house -- Danbooks -- after discovering how
little Canadian publishers pay their writers.
She was extremely proud to be Canadian, her daughter said.
"When I went to school, whenever I had a choice of who I
should study, she would say, 'OK, pick Stephen Leacock! He's
a Canadian,' " said Bodil Jelhof Jensen, who earned a
Master's degree in Canadian history before becoming a
lawyer.
In addition to her career as a writer, Mrs. Jensen
contributed widely as an executive member on many
organizations, including the Citizenship Council, a group
that assisted immigrants.
As president of the auxiliary for the Glenrose
Rehabilitation Hospital, Mrs. Jensen started many innovative
patient-care projects.
Following a heart operation in 2001, Mrs. Jensen provided
the seed money for the Seniors Driving Centre, a group of
volunteers who help hundreds of frail seniors throughout
Edmonton.
Among various awards for volunteer work, Mrs. Jensen
received a Queen's Golden Jubilee medal in 2002.
Besides her daughter in Quebec, Mrs. Jensen is survived by
daughter Bente Scarnati of Edmonton and son Kjeld Rothenberg
of Copenhagen.
An article Mrs. Jensen wrote, My Life Has Been Worth Living,
will be handed out at her memorial service today.
The piece says: "Tolerance is a big word and we learned that
from childhood. There had to be room for everyone
and we were put on Earth to help each other. It was that
simple."