Secrets revealed: TV programme explores Hasseris villa’s dramatic past

A house in Hasseris was hiding far more than quirky carpentry. When museum curator Thor Bæch Pedersen from Aalborg Historical Museum delved into the villa’s past, he found traces of dramatic events from the German occupation of Denmark.

The story of resistance fighter Poul Ib Gjessing is a central part of the DR programme “Houses with Secrets”, which premieres with a new season on Sunday, 20 September, when the story of the remarkable house in Aalborg will be revealed.

The couple discovered secrets

When Line Hjardemaal and Christoffer Søgaard took over their distinctive villa from 1933 in Hasseris, they knew the house must have an exciting history.

During the couple’s extensive renovation, hidden cupboard spaces and hollow wall structures with enough room to hide a person were uncovered.

The villa is located on Egevej in Hasseris and was used as a hiding place for a resistance group and their activities during the occupation. The programme investigating the story premieres on Sunday, 20 September.

Suddenly, questions arose: Who had needed to hide in the house – and why?

Those were the questions TV host Ane Cortzen set out to answer in DR’s successful programme “Houses with Secrets”.

To uncover the house’s past, she received help from museum curator Thor Bæch Pedersen from Aalborg Historical Museum, who searched through the museum’s archives and historical sources.

A heroic story with a tragic ending

The investigation took Thor back to some of the most dramatic years in Aalborg’s history.

In October 1943, resistance fighter Poul Ib Gjessing moved to Hasseris into a house closely connected to Line and Christoffer’s villa.

It became a centre for resistance fighters in North Jutland.

His house served as a weapons depot, and in the basement, Gjessing established what has been described as probably Denmark’s oldest illegal workshop.

Here, Gjessing and other members of the Aalborg resistance movement produced, among other things, hand grenades made from steel pipes and British explosives. They also experimented with a rocket weapon intended for use against German buildings.

In February 1944, Gjessing was arrested by the feared German secret police, the Gestapo, and on 19 June he was sentenced to death. A few days later, on 23 June 1944, he was executed at Ryvangen together with seven other resistance fighters.

It is this dramatic story that Thor Bæch Pedersen has helped uncover and connect to the house and its former residents in the TV programme.

“It has given us the opportunity to delve into a number of dramatic stories from Aalborg during the occupation. They bear witness to the city’s central role during the occupation and the far-reaching consequences of the events.

Among them is the story of Poul Ib Gjessing, who played an important role in the early resistance movement and ultimately paid the highest price in the fight for Denmark,” says Thor Bæch Pedersen.

The story of a house becomes the story of Denmark

For the programme’s host, Ane Cortzen, it was precisely the connection between the individual house and the wider history that made the work so special.

“The house in Hasseris certainly holds secrets that are quite literally hidden within its walls. It has been truly fascinating to follow Line and Christoffer’s careful renovation while museum curator Thor Bæch uncovered the house’s dramatic past.

History is brought to life and made tangible through skilled communicators like Thor – and suddenly, a memorial stone in the back garden takes on a profound and shocking significance,” says Ane Cortzen.

Not just something you read about

The programme series “Houses with Secrets” investigates the stories hidden inside Danish homes. According to DR’s story editor, Jytte Bergmann Moll, the ambition is precisely to make history tangible and relatable.

“Our shared history is right outside our front door – in buildings, streets and the traces left behind by previous generations. With ‘Houses with Secrets’, it becomes very tangible, so history is not just something we read about, but something we can relate to our own lives,” says Jytte Bergmann Moll.

She also points out that the stories of individual houses together tell a larger story about Denmark.

“Our ambition with ‘Houses with Secrets’ is to spark curiosity and show how our different houses across the country collectively tell us something about Denmark. When Ane Cortzen opens the door to a home, she also opens the door to larger stories about our communities and what has shaped us.”

For homeowners Line and Christoffer, learning about the history of their house has given their home an entirely new meaning.

“I am deeply moved after learning about these secrets. I love our house and our city even more now because we know about the significant events that took place here during the occupation.

These are actually events that have shaped not only the city’s history, but the history of the entire country – and therefore the history of all of us,” says Line Hjardemaal.

“Houses with Secrets”, featuring the story of the Hasseris villa, will air on Sunday, 20 September 2026, on DRTV and DR2 at 21:00.