ing, central Copenhagen was inhabited by approximately 125,000 people, peaking in the census of 1870 (140,000); today the figure is around 25,000. In 1901, Copenhagen expanded further, incorporating communities with 40,000 people, and in the process making Frederiksberg an enclave within Copenhagen.
During World War II, Copenhagen was occupied by German troops along with the rest of the country from 9 April 1940 until 4 May 1945. The occupation was not a part of the Nazi German expansion, and in the first years German authorities wanted a kind of understanding with the Danish government. Even a general parliamentary election was granted in 1943, with only the Communist Party excluded. But in August 1943, when the government's collaboration with the occupation forces collapsed, several ships were scuttled in Copenhagen Harbour by the Royal Danish Navy to prevent their use by the Germans. Around that time the Nazis started to arrest Jews, although many managed to escape to Sweden.
After the Normandy invasion the Germans feared that the Danish police could become a problem, and in early September 1944 the entire Danish police force was meant to be arrested. But a majority of the Danish police managed to either hide or escape to Sweden. Out of 2,000 policemen captured and deported to Germany fewer than half returned after the war. During the last eight months of occupation Copenhagen suffered a high rate of common criminality.
Ole Lippman, the leader of the Danish resistance movement (SOE), asked for RAF assistance in attacking Nazi headquarters in Copenhagen. Accordingly, vice Air Marshall Sir Basil Embry drew the plans for a spectacular precision attack on the SD and Gestapo building, the former office of the Shell Oil Company. Political prisoners were kept in the attic to prevent an air raid, so the RAF had to bomb the lower levels of the building. The attack came on 22 March 1945, coming in three small waves. All six planes (carrying one bomb
