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A day in the life of a Danish forensic pathologist (information.dk)
80 points by bookofjoe on Oct 26, 2019 | hide | past | favorite | 10 comments



The "Information" domain might sound modern, but this interesting newspaper is one of the newest one in Denmark. It started as an illegal underground newspaper during the Nazi Occupation (with the King being one of its 1000 subscribers).

On the night before Denmark was declared officially free on 5/5/1945, the editor of the illegal newspaper together with other freedom fighters stormed the offices of the nazi "Fatherland" newspaper, machine guns in hand (a Husqvuarna brand -- they mostly produce lawn mowers now; quite a pivot from their original product -- muskets).

The offices were empty, but the editors of the nazi newspaper left behind a note: "Please water the flowers; they have harmed no one".

The group went on to produce the first free copy of "Information", and used that office ever since. As some the Germans who were yet to surrender were still roaming the street and shooting into windows, occasionally the journalists had to hide under their desks.


Sorry for the off topic, but I just have to get this of my chest:

> "Please water the flowers; they have harmed no one"

It always surprises me how quickly Nazis could switch from murderers to normal innocent people. It is almost as if they all had some split personality disorder.

Go read the semi-biography of Hess, he could within two sentences switch from "by using a higher concentration of chemicals we can now process 10.000 more units per day" to "my wife is so beautiful, I love her so much" (not actual quotes from the book, but you get the idea)

(Units = Jews being killed, he didn't call them humans).


A fascinating, (and goulish) read.

One of the most interesting sentences: "...homicide in the criminal world only makes up 7%." I would not have guessed.


Killing people,at least in western world,is becoming more and more difficult without being caught. Criminals aren't stupid either: it's far better to intimidate, threaten or blackmail people instead of killing them,as enormous amounts of resources usually being thrown at these cases,as opposed to an average policeman working a robbery case. Advancements in forensics makes it even worse.


> homicide in the criminal world only makes up 7%

In Denmark. Another way to see it could be that killing people in the criminal world is getting so efficient that many cases are not being identified as a crime. Is a possibility at least.


Netherlands? The article is about Denmark.


The comment has since been edited to show 'Denmark' instead.


My mistake, you are right. Fixed now, Thanks.


Surprisingly the murder solve rate has become a lot worse in the US.

Only ~64% of murder investigations are solved, down from 90% fifty years ago.

https://www.npr.org/2015/03/30/395069137/open-cases-why-one-...


I bet that's still 10 times higher than any other type of crime.




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