Denmark's First Murder Unit Reveals Hidden Cases
Newly published investigation into Rejseholdet's early decades uncovers the poet-priest killing and nine other murders that shaped Danish criminal justice
Danish author Peer Kaae's new book *Rejseholdet: De første drabssager* (Special Unit: The First Murder Cases) pulls back the curtain on a century-old institution that fundamentally changed how Denmark investigated serious crimes. Published in September 2024, the 187-page work documents ten murder cases handled by Rejseholdet between its establishment in 1927 and 1948—drawing on original police reports that Kaae discovered in the Danish National Archives.
Rejseholdet, originally called the Rigspolitichefens Rejseafdeling (Chief of National Police's Travel Department), was created to support local police forces in particularly serious cases. Initially focused on economic crimes, the unit gradually specialized in murders with unknown perpetrators, becoming the country's de facto homicide investigation team.
Among the cases examined in the book is one of Denmark's most significant historical crimes: the 1944 murder of Kaj Munk, a celebrated poet-priest whose work had won international acclaim. Munk's killing occurred during Germany's occupation of Denmark and is characterized in the book as a "cynical liquidation." Rejseholdet's chief Otto Himmelstrup led the investigation into Munk's death, and Kaae's book contains previously unreleased information about how the case was ultimately resolved—details that have remained buried in archives until now.
