Halfdan Wedel Rasmussen (29 January 1915 in Copenhagen – 2 March 2002) was a Danish poet. He was known for his literary nonsense verse for children and his serious adult writings about social issues and human rights. He was awarded with the Ministry of Culture's children book prize (Kulturministeriets Børnebogspris) in 1965.
Rasmussen was a resistance fighter during the German occupation. In the summer of 1942 he rented a cottage at Engestofte from future Danish Resistance hero Monica Wichfeld, sharing it with journalist Hilmar Wulff and his new wife, teacher Karen Inga Petersen.[1]
He became very well known and respected as a poet, nearly becoming a national poet of Denmark.
One of his poems, Ikke Bødlen, was featured as one of the best poems on Human Rights on a 1979 book published by Amnesty International Denmark, and would be later translated into the first verse of Roger Waters' song Each Small Candle.[2]
Rasmussen joined the anarcho-syndicalist movement at an early age, and from his 20s and on-wards he contributed to the syndicalist weekly Arbejdet ("Work"). In the early 60s, he helped edit and publish the memoirs of revolutionary syndicalist Christian Christensen. Later on Rasmussen was also active in the Danish anti-nuclear movement, the campaigns against EU membership, and in Amnesty International.[3]
