NordenBladet — A new museum has opened in the Danish town Oksboel, built to recognize the contribution refugees have made across Denmark. The museum celebrates the refugees who have made Denmark their home, including the quarter of a million Germans that fled the Red Army to Denmark during World War II.

The museum is also committed to highlighting present-day refugees, including those from Vietnam, Chile, Bosnia, Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Across large screens erected in the museum, visitors can hear the refugees’ stories in their own words.

One video showcases Sawsan Gharib Dall, a stateless Palestinian who was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon and lived there until she fled and arrived in Denmark in 1985. “Being a refugee is not something one decides. It is not one’s personal choice, it is something that happens,’’ explains Dall.

The museum is built at the site of a former refugee camp in Oksboel, a town near Denmark’s west coast.