Jenny Kammersgaard

Jenny Marie Ingeborg Kammersgaard (1918-1997) was a Danish female professional long-distance swimmer who rose to fame in the 1930s. Here she swam across inner Danish waters and from Denmark to Germany. Because of her results she was invited by Adolf Hitler to Germany. She was used in the Nazi propaganda as an example of the "aryan" ideal person. After the war she helped refugees getting out of Europe through Sweden. From 1950 she returned to swimming.

Youth and sea swimming

Jenny Kammersgaard was born in 1918 and grew up in the Jutland town of Horsens a daughter of blacksmith Jens Peter Hansen Kammersgaard and Hedvig Kristine Jensen. She started swimming at age 15 and, in 1934, became a member of the local swimming club. She was not a good competition swimmer but excelled in endurance swimming, which had become popular after World War I.