The congress for cultural freedom in Denmark

Abstract

The Danish section of the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was established in 1953 by Arne Sejr, a former wartime resistance leader. The Society for Freedom and Culture was formed as a part of Sejr's private anti-communist intelligence network, called the Firm. But Sejr did not understand the methods or goals of the CCF's work, since he was more concerned with political propaganda and information rather than cultural issues. During its early years the special circumstances of the Danish branch were ignored by the Congress HQ, but in 1957 Jorgen Schleimann, a Danish employee at the Congress office in Paris, set out to reform the Danish Society's work. Denmark's experience with the CCF provides a good example of the tension that could exist between the universal agenda of the Congress and particular national conditions. It also demonstrates the limitations of the CCF's purpose and therefore also the ‘boundaries’ to Cold War cultural manipulation in the West.