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Helsingborg and Helsingør face each other across the narrowest point of the Øresund strait -- four kilometers of water, crossed by ferry in twenty minutes, a passage that has been one of the most strategically important in northern Europe since the medieval period. The Danish King Eric of Pomerania introduced the Sound Dues in 1429, charging a toll on every vessel that passed between the two shores, and the income from that levy financed the fortifications on both sides. Helsingborg was Danish until 1658, changed hands multiple times in subsequent wars, and was finally and violently made Swedish at the Battle of Helsingborg in 1710. The Kärnan, the medieval tower that survives from the original fortress, has watched all of this from the hill above the harbor.

The city's most remarkable historical moment came in October 1943, when the German occupation of Denmark prompted the deportation of Danish Jews.

Over ten days, fishing boats, ferries, and private vessels carried more than 7,200 Jewish Danes across the four kilometers to Helsingborg and safety. The city received them quietly and completely. The crossing was short but the courage on both shores was considerable. A memorial and documentation of the rescue exists at the local museum.