2.2 kmKallesmærsk Hede
Same rugged heath area; provides a natural backdrop to the memorial’s solemn landscape.
The memorial stone is located at Mindelunden on Kallesmærsk Heath near Husbjerg Klit, on the outskirts of Oksby Plantation. This is not a large site, but rather a solemn point in the landscape: a stone, a memorial grove and a story that only became visible once the war was over.
The journey there is part of the experience. The site cannot be reached by car through the forest, so visiting it involves a short walk through the plantation and out towards the heath and dune landscape. This suits the tone of the memorial site: subdued, somewhat secluded and without much embellishment.
The memorial stone marks the place where six Danish resistance fighters were secretly buried after being executed for sabotage against the German occupying power. Their relatives did not know the location of the grave, and it was not marked in the terrain. Only after the liberation was the site identified, the coffins found and the dead taken home for burial in their hometowns.
The area is connected to the Oksbøl Shooting and Training Area. Parts of the grounds may be used recreationally when there are no exercises, but access may be restricted for safety reasons. Information boards at the access roads show the access conditions, and red balls on signal masts indicate periods when the area is closed. History is close at hand here, but the military landscape still sets the boundaries.
From the parking area by Blåvandvej, the route follows the forest road Nordkrogen. Inside the forest, turn right onto Kolonnevej and later left; along the way, the signs rather soberly point the way with the text “Mindesten”.
The stone marks the place where six Danish freedom fighters were found buried after the liberation. It was inaugurated on 4 May 1952 and had before then stood for about 600 years at the entrance to Varde Church.
Husbjerg Dune is a high vantage point by Kallesmærsk Heath. From here, the landscape opens out over a large heather-covered outwash plain with damp areas and small dunes.
The view also offers a look into an area shaped by windblown sand and the wind, where the sand was once blown up into migrating dunes toward the east. The heath has also been used for military shooting exercises since 1950, so the site's silence may come with very concrete access restrictions.
