When the Nazis invaded and occupied Denmark in 1940, the Danes faced a choice: obey or resist. In an article in The Nation earlier this month, Sarah Sophie Flicker details the Danes’ everyday acts of disobedience in the face of the fascist regime. As the organizer and artist explains, the people of Denmark followed “Ten Commandments for Danes”—a set of moral instructions created by 17-year-old Arne Sejr. The guidance was simple and included such rules as “don’t work for the Nazis or support their businesses,” “work slowly or do a bad job when you must work for the Germans,” and “protect anyone who is ‘chased’ by Nazis.”

Following the commandments wasn’t without risk. Some people had their electricity or water cut off; others were beaten, deported to camps, or killed. But their collective actions helped to change the mindsets of some of the Germans occupying Denmark, including one official who leaked a plan to deport the country’s 8,000 Jews to concentration camps. Because of that leak, the Danes were able to protect 99 percent of Danish Jews, many of whom were ferried to and welcomed in Sweden. Flicker writes that the country also emerged from World War II “with a stronger sense of community, buoying its unparalleled social policies.” She argues that Americans today would be wise to follow in their footsteps.