Dorthe Emilie Røssell

Dorthe Emilie Røssell (born 12 January 1934, née Christiansen) is a Danish author who, as a child, was a member of the Danish resistance during the Second World War. Her parents were members of the Studenternes Efterretningstjeneste and Røssell helped them, infiltrating German arms warehouses, carrying messages and transporting weapons and propaganda. Her parents were arrested by the Gestapo on Christmas Eve 1944. Røssell's father was tortured in Røssell's presence to try to get him to betray the resistance and was afterwards sent to Neuengamme concentration camp. He survived the war. Røssell's parents made her promise never to speak of her actions during the war, a promise she kept until 2007 when, prompted by an account of her father in another work, she released a memoir entitled Jeg brød et løfte (I Broke a Promise). She has since written a number of other works.