North Schleswig Germans

Approximately 15,000 [1] persons in Denmark belong to an 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 continue to use German and South Jutlandic as their home languages. Furthermore there are also several thousand German citizens residing in Denmark with no historical connection to this group.

History

Results of the plebiscite

In 1920, in the aftermath of World War I, two Schleswig Plebiscites were held in the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein, the former Duchy of Schleswig. The plebiscites were held in two zones that were defined by Denmark^[1] according to the ideas of the Danish historian Hans Victor Clausen^[2]. The northern Zone I was dimensioned as far towards the South as possible, therefore changing the Clausen-Line southerly from Tondern instead of northerly, and had to vote en bloc, i.e. as a unit with the majority deciding, while in the following smaller central Zone II each municipality was to decide its own allegiance, this procedure allowing Denmark to gain further territory and put the frontier further southwards according to eventual majorities in northern municipalities.

The voters of the central zone voted to remain within the Weimar Republic. The northern zone voted to come to Denmark, which had controlled the territory prior to the Prussian-Danish War of 1864. No vote took place in the southern zone of Schleswig. So Schleswig was divided between Germany and Denmark.

In the northern part 25% of the population, i.e. around 40,000 people were ethnic German population, having their centres in the cities of Tønder, Aabenraa, Sønderborg and Haderslev, but also in the district between Tønder and Flensburg near the new border. The city Haderslev was in fact an ethnic enclave at the time of the Plebiscites,^{[citation needed]} whereas Tønder with a vaste German majority of almost 80%, Aabenraa and Sønderborg also with German majorities laid in the southern district of the zone near the new border.

References

1. ^ Abstimmungsgebiet, Plebiscite Zones and how they were defined (German), Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte (Society for History of Schleswig-Holstein)
2. ^ Clausen-linien, The Clausen-Line and its background (Danish), Grænseforeningen