When in the beginning of September 2019, Queen Margrethe II visited
Flensburg in Southern Schleswig as kick-off of the festivities of the
centennial for the drawing of the border and the reunification of Southern
Jutland and Denmark, she gave a speech in German. In the speech, she warmly
advocated for intercultural cooperation between Danes and Germans: Jahrzehnt
für Jahrzehnt sind wir Dänen und Deutsche – und die Minderheiten beiderseits
der Grenze – einander nähergekommen. Es gibt eine wichtige grenzüberschreitende
Zusammenarbeit – sowohl zwischen Institutionen als auch zwischen Menschen. Das
müssen wir schätzen und entwickeln. (Kongehuset 2019)
The Queen’s appearance differed significantly from King Christian X’s
highly symbolic crossing of the Danish-German border at Kongeåen in 1920. At
the time, the King resembled a lord of victory lord aloft on a white horse, the
same way as Napoleon in 1807 was riding through the Brandenburg Tor. While the
drawing of the border originally was a result of war conflicts, namely the
Schleswig War II which in 1864 ended with Denmark’s defeat and territorial
losses, and later World War I.
In our days, however, the border became a
project of peace and the symbol of good neighbourhood across Danish-German
national borders. Danmark’s reunification with the Southern Jutland parts of
the country, a result of the treaty of Versailles after World War I, took place
on July 9 1920 after a referendum in February the same year. This referendum
would determine the geopolitical shape of Denmark which has lasted until our
days. Referenda on territorial areas after the implosion of the German empire
and the end of World War I were in no way a specific Danish-German event.
People also voted on Vestpreussen, Posen (both whether the areas should belong
to Poland), Eupen and Malmedy, on the relation to Belgium and Elsass-Lothringen
on the relation to France (The Treaty of Versailles 1919, chapt. III).
Southern Jutland was reunificated with the rest of Denmark, nevertheless
Flensburg and Southern Schleswig remained German. At the same time, the new
location of the border resulted in the situation that many German-minded North
from the border lost the connection to their homeland. On both sides of the new
border emerged minorities who felt that they belonged to the country on the
other side of the border. Thus, the reunification of Southern Jutland with
Denmark did not appear to everyone involved as a success. This was also pointed
out by the former Danish prime minister Niels Neergaard in a speech at Dybbøl
Skanser on July 11, 1920: Men i genforeningsglæden må vi også tænke på dem, der
blev tilbage, der kæmpede så trofast og udholdende som nogen, og det kan jeg
sige på regeringens, ja, jeg tør sige på hele det danske folks vegne: De skal
ikke blive glemt! (Gerlow 1920, 28) The new border only existed for 20 years,
when it was removed by Hitler’s Wehrmacht who occupied Denmark in 1940. World
War II represented a big caesura of the Danish-German relation and created a
new situation in the border area, but also in the whole of Denmark. The Danish
conceived of the Germans, now more than ever, as a real threat, an occupying
power and old enemy images were revived and fixated. After the war, many years
should go by to change this image of the Germans and the mental climate of the
borderland was affected by prejudices and stereotypes. Generally, the
populations were very skeptical towards their neighbours who identified with
another nation than themselves.
After Denmark’s liberation, the border of 1920 was reinstated, but there
were voices in Denmark who advocated to move it more to the South. The fact
that the border was not moved after all, even though Germany had lost another
war, contributed to the fact that Denmark and the Federal Republic of Germany
(FRG) in 1955, in the declarations of Copenhagen and Bonn, were able of
officially acknowledging the minorities North and South of the border and to
securing their right of practicing their respective culture. This mutual
protection by both the Danish and German government could strengthen the
Danish-German relations, not only in the borderland, but also on a national
level.
The reunification can be regarded as an important momentum in the
Danish-German relationship, not only from a geopolitical perspective, but also
from a cultural one. This relationship which was developed through the course
of many centuries can be traced in numerous works of art, music and literature.
Intellectuals always moved across the borders; Georg Brandes introduced
Friedrich Nietzsche to the Danish public (Brandes 1901), Søren Kierkegaard
travelled to Berlin, where he studied by Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling
(Kierkegaard & Staubrand 2012), Bertolt Brecht lived several years near
Svendborg (Hecht, et al. 1984).
In recent years, the painter Emil Nolde – who lived for most of his life
in the border area – became the topic of much debate after it became
increasingly clear that he, in opposition to the image he had been giving his
surroundings, was a fanatic Nazi and anti-Semite during the period of the Third
Reich. Another famous German-Danish example is the cross-border writer
Siegfried Lenz who in his novel The German Lesson (1968), among others,
portrays a character with clear similarities with Nolde, depicting his old
image before the recent revelations (Bak, et al. 2009; Schlosser 2011). The
cultural transfer can also be traced on a concrete level in the borderland
where a number of lingual phenomena have emerged, e.g. Sydslesvigdansk, which
is a sort of dialect and variation of the Danish language (standard Danish)
characterised by a number of variations from the German language. There are
variations in vocabulary, phonetics and grammar (Christophersen 1996). In
addition, there can be observed other dialects and lingual creations which can
be traced back to the cultural and lingual meeting between Denmark and Germany.
Specifically for Flensburg and its surroundings the so called Petuh can be
mentioned. It is a mixt language of the regionally spoken languages German, Low
German, standard Danish and South-jutlandish. The last received its name after
the year card (”partout-billet”) for salon-ferries, which sailed on the fjord
of Flensburg between Denmark and Germany (Christiansen 2003).
By meeting across cultures and experiencing the differences of the
respective other and discovering cultural common denominators, relations,
solidarity and social cohesion can be strengthened. For this reason, several
concrete projects in the region take departure in the cultural meeting between
Denmark and Germany. Through several years, cultural meetings based on music
have enjoyed the interest of the population in the borderland; for instance
common church services in Danish and German and evenings with bilingual common
singing. The cultural and musical landscape of the borderland even reached
Christiansborg, where the former minister for culture, Bertel Haarder, in 2016
expressed thoughts about a fusion of the slesvig-holstensk symphonic orchestra
(Schleswig-Holsteinisches Sinfonieorchester) with the symphonic orchestra of
Southern Jutland – though with thoughts on saving in the back of the head
(Heltoft & Benner 2016).
Another bridge across the border was built within the media: The big
German broadcasting houses ZDF and ARD have among others discovered the interest
of Germans for and their fascination of the crime genre Nordic Noir and Danish
film culture. Since, there has been made several cooperation appointments
regarding the crime genre and entertainment series. In addition, film
productions, in these years, also receive economic from a bilateral cooperation
appointment between FFHSH (Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein) and DFI
(Dansk Filminstitut) with the aim of deepen the relations between North German
and Danish film producers (SH-Landtag 2018).
On a more general level, there are also economic relations and
cooperations, which were establish over time. The new border from 1920 resulted
among others in a flourishing border trade (”grænsehandel”) where after the war
Germans buyed butter and dairy products in Denmark and Danes today buy sweets,
soda and beer in large amounts.
In this issue of Akademisk kvarter the centenary of the reunification is
used as an occasion for an interdisciplinary view on the historical event
itself and the discourses which revolved around it. We invite for studies of
the borderland as well as studies on Danish-German cultural exchange more
generally. Contributions from the established border studies, history,
museology, Europe studies, literary studies and philologies within the field of
Danish-German cultural transfer, film and media studies and other disciplines
are invited. Contributions by MSC scholars are welcome. Departing by the
Southern Jutland reunification, the following topics can be included:
- The Danish-German referendum, e.g. in the context of other referenda in Europe
- Cultural exchange / cultural interactions before and after 1920
- Danis-German relations and the reunification in literature, art and film
- The minorities reflections on their own past
- The notion of minority, the intercultural meeting in the borderland and border culture
- Cooperations across the border aiming at strengthening culture and community across the border
- Economic relations between Denmark and Germany which were established or deepened after 1920
Timetable The first step is to submit a brief abstract in English or
Danish of about 150 words to be mailed to Liza Pank (pank@cgs.aau.dk) no later
than January 15, 2019. The editors will then review the abstracts and notify
the authors of their decisions soon after. Accepted articles – using the
Chicago System Style Sheet – should be
e-mailed to Liza Pank (pank@cgs.aau.dk) no later than March 15, 2019. Articles
will then be reviewed anonymously in a double, blind peer review process. The
articles should be around 15,000- 25,000 keystrokes (3,000-3,500 words), and
they can be written in English or in the Danish. Assuming that the articles are
accepted by the peer reviewers and the editors, they should be revised, and the
final version sent in by June 15, 2020. The issue is projected to be published
in August 2020. Academic Quarter is authorized by the Danish bibliometrical
system, and the journal is subsidized by Danish Council for Independent Research
Culture and Communication.
Submission of abstract: January 15th 2019
Submission of article (review): March 15th 2020
Final article: June 15th 2020
Publication: August 2020
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