The plebiscites were held on 10 February and 14 March 1920, and the result was that the larger northern portion (Zone I) voted to join Denmark, which occurred 15 June 1920, while the smaller southern portion (Zone II) voted to remain part of Germany.
Background
Areas of historic settlementsMap of Schleswig / South Jutland before the plebiscites.
The Duchy of Schleswig had been a fiefdom of the Danish crown since the Middle Ages, but it, along with the Danish-ruled German provinces of Holstein and Lauenburg, which had both been part of the Holy Roman Empire, was conquered by Prussia and Austria in the 1864 Second War of Schleswig. Between 1864 and 1866, Prussia and Austria ruled the entire region as a condominium, and they formalised this arrangement in the 1865 Gastein Convention. The condominium was terminated due to the Austro-Prussian War in 1866.
Article 5 of the Austro-Prussian Peace of Prague (1866) stipulated that a plebiscite should be held within the ensuing six years in order to give the people of the northern part of Schleswig the possibility of voting for the region's future allegiance by allowing regions voting for Danish rule to be restored to Danish administration.
The idea of a plebiscite had been presented earlier. During the early phases of the First Schleswig War, the secessionist government of Schleswig-Holstein had unsuccessfully suggested a plebiscite in parts of Schleswig, but this had been rejected by the Danish government,[1] and during the 1863 London Conference's attempts to defuse the Second Schleswig War, one of the suggestions of Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck was a plebiscite in North Schleswig.[2] Bismarck's initiative was not adopted by the conference, primarily since the option had not been included in the instruction to the Danish delegation. The inclusion of the promise of a plebiscite in the 1866 Austro-Prussian Peace of Prague was a diplomatic concession to Austria, but was not implemented. The reference to it was subsequently dropped in 1877 by Austria and Germany. The 1864 border was confirmed in the 1907 German-Danish Optant Treaty, but Danish North Schleswigers continued to argue for a plebiscite citing the 1866 Peace of Prague.
Danes campaigning for implementation of the plebiscite promise, in the hope that it would result in the area being restored to Danish rule, often made a comparison with the French demand for return of Alsace-Lorraine. This comparison was regarded sympathetically by French public opinion and, although Denmark had not taken part in the First World War, there was considerable backing in France for taking up the Danish claims as part of the post-war settlement.
After Germany's defeat in 1918, the Danish government asked the Allied Powers and the Versailles Conference of 1919 to include a plebiscite in the disputed North Schleswig region based on Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points as part of the Allied Powers' peace settlement with Germany, and this request was granted by the Allies.
Defining the plebiscite boundaries
The three zones in Schleswig/Slesvig
The plebiscites were held on 10 February and 14 March 1920 in two zones that had been defined according to the wishes of the Danish government,[3] and based on lines drawn in the 1890s by Danish historian Hans Victor Clausen[de].[4] During the 1880s and 1890s, Clausen had travelled extensively on both sides of a possible future Dano-German border, for which he published two suggestions. Clausen's first line delineated a coherent territory that he expected would vote Danish in a future plebiscite, and the second line (about 10–20km or 6–12 miles further south) included a thinly-populated rural region in Central Schleswig, which Clausen believed had potential for assimilation into Denmark, as the population of Central Schleswig was pro-German in allegiance, but also Danish-speaking.
In 1918, Clausen published a pamphlet "Før Afgørelsen" (Before the Decision) in which he strongly advocated that Denmark annex the zone delineated by his northernmost ("first") line, arguing that the territory north of this line was indisputably pro-Danish and should be considered indivisible.[5] At the same time, he effectively abandoned his second line, as the population of Central Schleswig remained pro-German, and as he considered it vital that the future border should be based on the self-determination of the local populace.[5]:16 In the 1920 plebiscites, Clausen's first line was closely imitated in what became the plebiscite's Zone I, while his second line became the basis of Zone II, although the plebiscite zone was extended to include the city of Flensburg and the town of Glücksburg. Clausen had excluded both from his two lines.[5]:24–25
Zone I was based on Clausen's estimations of the local population's national self-identification. When in doubt, Clausen primarily relied on the wishes of the rural communities, which he considered autochtone (indigenous), in contrast with the North Schleswig towns, which he considered largely irrelevant due to their smallness and their less-autochtone population, notably the demographics of the town of Sønderborg (Sonderburg) which had become strongly influenced by the presence of a large German naval base. In addition, Clausen believed that it would minimize the risk of future conflict if the future border in the marshy West Schleswig followed either the Vidå river or a dyke. This caused resentment on the German side, as this implied that the town of Tønder (Tondern) would be included in Zone I.
In 1918 and early 1919, the leading Danish political parties argued that the future allegiance of North Schleswig should be decided by a plebiscite, in which the entire region should be counted as one indivisible unit, i.e. vote en bloc. This wish was conveyed to the Paris Peace Conference in Versailles, and became the basis for the plebiscite's Zone I.
During 1919, political wishes in Denmark grew for the extension of the plebiscite area, and the issue became a topic of confrontation between the Social Liberal government and its parliamentary support, the Social Democrats, both parties opposing an extension the area, versus the Liberal and Conservative opposition which both supported an extension of the plebiscite area. As a compromise, it was decided to request the Allied Powers to extend the plebiscite until Clausen's second line, which was adapted to include Flensburg and Glücksburg. In this smaller Zone II, each town – or, in the rural areas, each parish – was to decide its own allegiance. Two other requests were made, which were only partially followed by the Allied Powers. Firstly, Denmark requested that the plebiscite area's German civil administration be replaced by an international administration. The Allied Powers replaced the German garrisons with a small international force, of 400 French soldiers disembarked from the cruiser La Marseillaise,[6] but the civil administration was only partially replaced in Zone I, and not at all in Zone II. Secondly, Denmark had requested that persons previously expelled from the region should be allowed to vote in the plebiscite. This was intended to allow previously expelled "optants" to vote, i.e. the families of locals who had opted to retain their Danish citizenship and who had consequently been expelled from the area by Prussian authorities. The Allied Powers granted this request but extended it, consequently entitling anyone who had previously lived in the region to vote in the plebiscite. Since a large number of German officials (notably railway officials) had been temporarily stationed in the area, this extension implied that these officials as well as their wives and any children of legal age were entitled to vote in the plebiscite. Since many of the expelled pro-Danish "optants" had emigrated to the United States, the net result of this extension was a slight increase for the German results, and it was much more likely for a pro-German emigrant living in Germany to return to the region for the plebiscite than for a pro-Danish expellee who had emigrated to the United States to do the same.
Plebiscite voting and results
On 10 February 1920 the plebiscite was held in Zone I, the later Northern Schleswig, where 74.9% (75,431 votes) voted to become Danish, while 25.1% (25,329 votes) voted to stay German. In three of the four major towns, especially in the southern region directly at the border with Zone II, German majorities existed, with a German majority as large as 70 to 80 percent in and around Tønder (plus southerly Udbjerg) and Højer. It was mostly this area that caused controversy after the voting, especially as these towns had been included north of Clausen's first line. Although Clausen correctly estimated Tønder to be vastly pro-German, he considered the town to be economically dependent on its pro-Danish rural uplands, and placed both the town and its uplands north of his first line.
Local majorities for Germany also existed elsewhere: In the small town of Tinglev, in the city of Sønderborg, site of a substantial German navy base, and the city of Aabenraa. Like Tønder and Højer, Tinglev directly bordered Zone II. Both the latter cities, however, lay kind of "isolated" in pro-Danish surroundings.
The vote in Central Schleswig (Zone II) took place on 14 March 1920, where 80.2% (51,742 votes) voted to stay German, while 19.8% (12,800) voted to become Danish. Since a Danish majority in this zone was produced in only three small villages on the island of Föhr, none of which were near the coming border, the Commission Internationale de Surveillance du Plébiscite au Slesvig decided on a line almost identical to the border between the two zones. The poor result for Denmark in Central Schleswig, particularly in Flensburg, Schleswig's largest city, triggered Denmark's 1920 Easter Crisis.
A plebiscite was not held in the southernmost third of the province (Zone III which included the region south of Zone II until the Schlei, Danevirke, and the city of Schleswig) as the population was almost exclusively pro-German. The Allied Powers had offered to include this region in the plebiscite, but the Danish government had expressly asked for Zone III to be excluded. The small part of the historical province located south of Zone III was not included in plebiscite plans among the Allied Powers, and the same applied in Denmark, since the extreme south of the former duchy was considered to be a completely pro-German area.
Selected results in detail:
Heat map of plebiscite results in Schleswig, with bluer shades indicating Denmark and pinker shades indicating Germany.Plebiscite results in Zone I, by parish (figures correspond to% vote for Denmark). Based on the official map from Denmark's Ministry of South Jutland Affairs.
Directly after the announcement of the results from Zone I, an alternative draft for the frontier was made by the German administrator Johannes Tiedje. The proposed frontier would have incorporated Tønder/Tondern, Højer/Hoyer, Tinglev/Tingleff and neighbouring areas and also some parts north from Flensburg – the so-called Tiedje Belt[7] – and would have created almost equal minorities on both sides of the frontier instead of 30,000 to 35,000 Germans in Denmark and 6,000 to 8,000 Danes in Germany.[8]
Tiedje's Line was strongly criticised in Denmark, as it would have transferred a large number of pro-Danish communities south of the future border, and was refused by all parties in the Danish parliament. The plebiscite's entire Zone I was transferred to Denmark on 15 June 1920,[9][10] and the territory was officially named the South Jutlandic districts, more commonly Southern Jutland, although the latter name is also the historiographical name for the entire Schleswig region.
Gallery
A pro-German campaign poster. "We have been Schleswigers for 1,000 years. We will remain Schleswigers. That's why we vote for Germany."
A pro-Danish campaign poster in North Frisian "Should we leave this land to the Prussian?"
Pro-Danish post card. Mother Denmark greets South Jutland
Memorial in Stevning. "Reunification 1920. By 314 to 7 we voted ourselves home to Denmark".
Memorial in Øster Lindet. "10 February 1920, 96% of the population of this parish voted for Denmark".
Memorial in Wyk, Föhr, Germany. A reinterpretation of the Deutschlandlied. "... Only in misfortune, will the love [of your country] show if it is strong and true."
Painting of Danish soldiers returning to Northern part of Schleswig
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig. Its capital city is Kiel; other notable cities are Lübeck and Flensburg.
Southern Schleswig is the southern half of the former Duchy of Schleswig in Germany on the Jutland Peninsula. The geographical area today covers the large area between the Eider river in the south and the Flensburg Fjord in the north, where it borders Denmark. Northern Schleswig, congruent with the former South Jutland County, forms the southernmost part of Denmark. The area belonged to the Crown of Denmark until Prussia and Austria declared war on Denmark in 1864. Denmark wanted to give away the German-speaking Holsten and set the new border at the small river Ejderen. Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck concluded that this justified a war, and even proclaimed it a "holy war". He also turned to the Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph I of Austria for help. A similar war in 1848 had gone poorly for the Prussians. With Prussia's modern weapons and the help from both the Austrians and General Moltke, the Danish army was destroyed or forced to make a disorderly retreat. The Prussian-Danish border was then moved from the Elbe up in Jutland to the Kongeåen creek.
The Duchy of Schleswig was a duchy in Southern Jutland covering the area between about 60 km north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany. The region is also called Sleswick in English.
Flensburg is an independent town in the far north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest town in Schleswig-Holstein.
South Jutland County is a former county on the south-central portion of the Jutland Peninsula in southern Denmark.
Tinglev is a town with a population of 2,738 in Aabenraa Municipality in Region of Southern Denmark on the Jutland peninsula in south Denmark. Tinglev is a base for German minority institutions in Southern Jutland, the minority Schleswig Party receiving 18.0% of the town's vote in the municipal elections of 2021.
The history of Schleswig-Holstein consists of the corpus of facts since the pre-history times until the modern establishing of the Schleswig-Holstein state.
The Danish ethnic minority in Southern Schleswig, Germany, has existed by this name since 1920, when the Schleswig Plebiscite split German-ruled Schleswig into two parts: Northern Schleswig with a Danish majority and a German minority was united with Denmark, while Southern Schleswig remained a part of Germany and had a German majority and Danish and Frisian minority populations. Their historic roots go back to the beginning of Danish settlement after the emigration of the Angles. One of the most common names they use to describe themselves is danske sydslesvigere.
The Second Schleswig War, also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War, was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. The war began on 1 February 1864, when Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border into the Danish fief Schleswig. Denmark fought troops of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire representing the German Confederation.
The Schleswig–Holstein question was a complex set of diplomatic and other issues arising in the 19th century from the relations of two duchies, Schleswig and Holstein, to the Danish Crown, to the German Confederation, and to each other.
The Province of Schleswig-Holstein was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia.
Tønder County is a former province in Denmark, located the south-western part of Southern Jutland. Tønder County was established in 1920 following the reunification of Denmark with South Jutland following the Schleswig Plebiscites. It was dissolved in 1970 when the bulk of the county merged with three other counties to form South Jutland County. Tønder County corresponded geographically to the northern part of the former Prussian Kreis Tondern except for Hviding Herred, which had been part of Kreis Hadersleben. Kreis Tondern had in turn been established in 1867 in order to simplify the intricate administrative structures of the Duchy of Schleswig, and was formed from regions belonging to Ribe County and Løgumkloster County.
Aabenraa County is a former province in Denmark, located on the east-central region of Southern Jutland. Aabenraa County was established in 1920 following the reunification of Denmark and South Jutland following the Schleswig Plebiscites. It was dissolved in 1970 when it merged with three other counties to form South Jutland County. Aabenraa County corresponded geographically to the former Prussian Kreis Apenrade combined with the larger part of Bov Parish and Frøslev municipality. Both were transferred from Kreis Flensburg with the establishment of the current Danish-German border. Aabenraa County and Sønderborg County merged in 1932, forming Aabenraa-Sønderborg County.
Tønder is a town in the Region of Southern Denmark. With a population of 7,574, it is the main town and the administrative seat of the Tønder Municipality.
The Marsh Railway is a main line in the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany that links the stations of Elmshorn in the south and Westerland on the island of Sylt in the north. It is part of 237 km (147 mi) long route from Hamburg-Altona to Westerland (Sylt) and is listed in the Deutsche Bahn timetables as Kursbuchstrecke 130. The first part of it was opened in 1845 and is one of the oldest lines in Germany.
Approximately 15,000 people in Denmark belong to an autochthonous ethnic German minority traditionally referred to as hjemmetyskere meaning "domestic Germans" in Danish, and as Nordschleswiger in German. This minority of Germans hold Danish citizenship and self-identify as ethnic Germans. They generally speak Low Saxon alongside South Jutlandic dialect of Danish as their home languages. Furthermore, there are also several thousand German immigrants residing in Denmark with no historical connection to this group.
Padborg station is a railway station in the Danish town of Padborg in the southern part of Jutland. The station is located on the Fredericia–Flensburg railway line and is the last Danish train station before the border with Germany which lies immediately south of the station. To the west, Tønder in Denmark on the route to Niebull is a further border station.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Holstein, Schleswig-Holstein, Schleswig and incidentally Lauenberg. Separate stamps were issued for Holstein (1850), Schleswig (1864-1867), Holstein (1864-1866), Schleswig-Holstein (1865) and Schleswig (1920).
During the First World War (1914–1918), Denmark maintained its neutrality. The position of neutrality was agreed to by all the major political parties.
The capture of the North Frisian Islands and Rømø in July 1864 was the last military operation of the Second Schleswig War between Denmark on the one hand and Prussia and the Austrian Empire on the other hand around the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which belonged to Denmark. It ended with the occupation of the North Frisian Islands and Rømø by Austrian troops.
1 2 3 Clausen, Hans Victor (September 28, 1918). Før Afgørelsen[Before the Decision]. Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel Nordisk Forlag. p.23 – via Google Books.
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