Inger Koedt
{{Short description|Danish-born American resistance member (1915–2021)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Inger Koedt
| image = Inger circa 1968.jpg
| caption = Inger Koedt, rafting on the Snake River in the Tetons, {{circa}} 1968
| birth_date = January 15, 1915
| birth_place = Copenhagen, Denmark
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|08|16|1915|01|15}}
| death_place = Jackson Hole, Wyoming, United States
| nationality = American
| children = Bonnie Kreps, Anne Koedt, Peter Koedt
}}
Inger Koedt (January 15, 1915 – August 16, 2021) was a Danish-born American woman who rescued Danish Jews as part of the Danish resistance movement. She emigrated to the United States after World War 2, becoming a community fixture in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Personal life
Koedt was born in Copenhagen on January 15, 1915. When she was young, she married Bobs Koedt (born Andreas Peschcke-Koedt). Bobs was a Danish-American born in Riverside, California, and raised in a suburb of Copenhagen. Together they raised their three children in a suburb of Copenhagen until after World War 2. During the War, Bobs and Inger joined the Danish resistance to Nazism and harbored Danish Jews in the basement of their home. They smuggled over 30 Danish-Jewish families from their home in Charlottenlund to freedom in Sweden by boat. Bobs was arrested and interrogated by the Germans and sent to Nazi headquarters, but survived unharmed.{{Cite book |last=Levine |first=Ellen |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/41142979 |title=Darkness over Denmark : the Danish resistance and the rescue of the Jews |date=2000 |publisher=Holiday House |isbn=0-8234-1447-7 |location=New York |oclc=41142979}} Due to her husband's American citizenship, the Koedt family was able to easily immigrate to the United States and settled in San Francisco in 1951. A few years later, Inger and Bobs moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, becoming fixtures in the community. Suffering from depression and seizures, Bobs died by suicide shortly before his 80th birthday. Inger lived in Jackson Hole for over 60 years. Despite her nominally-Protestant upbringing, Koedt was not religious herself, and was closely involved with the Jackson Hole Jewish Community because she wanted to tell younger people what had really happened to the Jews in World War II.{{cite web|url=https://byuicomm.org/byuiscroll/105-year-old-teton-woman-overcomes-challenges-rockier-than-mountains/ |title=105-year-old Teton woman overcomes challenges rockier than mountains |publisher=Byuiscroll.org}}
An avid mountain climber, Koedt climbed the 14,000-foot Grand Teton at age 66 with her son, Peter Koedt.{{cite web|url=https://cowboystatedaily.com/2020/02/16/celebrating-wyoming-centenarians-at-105-woman-advises-eat-chocolate-drink-wine/ |title=Celebrating Wyoming Centenarians: At 105, Woman Advises Eat Chocolate & Drink Wine |publisher=Cowboy State Daily |accessdate=2021-12-07}}
She created the recipes for a cookbook titled "From Smorrebrod to Subs, Inger Koedt’s Recipes for the Mountains". The cookbook features Danish cuisine, local legends, and some of Koedt's family history.{{cite web|url=https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/scene/food/chef_notes/koedt-still-cooking-as-she-nears/article_c437145d-44fd-5049-a76f-f21d04ea6839.html |title=Koedt still cooking as she nears 104 |publisher=Jackson Hole News & Guide |accessdate=2021-12-07}}
Inger is the mother of the feminist writer Anne Koedt. Her daughter Bonnie Kreps is a feminist filmmaker.{{cite web|url=http://cinemacanada.athabascau.ca/index.php/cinema/article/viewFile/321/393 |title=Bonnie Kreps: Feminist Filmmaker |publisher=Cinema Canada |accessdate=2021-12-07}} In 1972, Bonnie made an independent documentary about Inger, "Portrait of My Mother."{{Cite web |title=Films of Bonnie Kreps – Transcenturyradio.com |url=http://transcenturyradio.com/films-of-bonnie-kreps/ |access-date=2022-03-20 |language=en-CA}}
Death
Koedt died in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on August 16, 2021, at the age of 106. She was the oldest resident of Teton County, Wyoming, upon her death.{{cite web|url=https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/features/inger-koedt-106-faced-down-nazis-to-save-jews/article_0ea8046e-acb5-5c00-9979-1d9d2c701d08.html |title=Inger Koedt, 106, faced down Nazis to save Jews |publisher=Jackson Hole News & Guide |accessdate=2021-12-07}}{{cite web|url=https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/valley/obituaries/longtime-jackson-resident-inger-koedt-dies-at-age-106/article_6aefdf76-36f7-5d91-92b5-62fc1cd6de53.html |title=Longtime Jackson resident, Inger Koedt, dies at age 106 |publisher=Jackson Hole News & Guide |accessdate=2021-12-07}}
References
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Category:Activists against antisemitism
Category:American women centenarians
Category:Danish women centenarians
Category:20th-century Danish women writers
Category:21st-century Danish women writers
Category:American anti-fascists
Category:American cookbook writers
Category:Danish emigrants to the United States
Category:Danish female resistance members
Category:Danish women activists
Category:People from Copenhagen
Category:People from Gentofte Municipality
Category:People from Jackson Hole, Wyoming