Israel's President Reuven Rivlin visited the attic of a Danish church where Jews were hidden as part of commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of their rescue from the Nazis.

The German representative in occupied Denmark was ordered by Adolf Hitler in September 1943 to begin rounding up the country's Jewish population for deportation to concentration camps.

But local people rallied to help nearly 8,000 Jews escape across the Øresund strait to neutral Sweden.

Three Danish Holocaust survivors – Tove Udsholt, Hanna Skop and Ib Katznelson – who were rescued in the operation had the opportunity to meet President Rivlin during his visit on Thursday.

FULL STORY: How Denmark defied Hitler 75 years ago to rescue its Jewish population

He was joined by Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen for a ceremony at the church in Gilleleje, where 86 Jews were hidden in the attic for 11 hours while local people brought them food and blankets.

But their fate was sealed when their hiding place was given away and they were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.

“The rescue of the Jews of Denmark is a remarkable event in the history of the Holocaust. A bright light in the darkest time in human history,” Mr Rivlin said during the ceremony.

“The courage, the bravery, the humanity and the solidarity of so many Danish people and the Danish resistance stood as a firm wall between the Jews of Denmark and the Nazi death machine.”

After the ceremony, the President and the Prime Minister went up to the attic to pay their respects.

Mr Rasmussen said: “As a Dane, it is heartwarming to visit Israel, to experience the gratitude for the rescue of the Danish Jews. I felt this very strongly when I was in Israel two years ago.”