1. South Schleswig at Crisis Points: Identity Change in a Border Region Eurocorecode CRP-workshop, Alba Iulia, 8-9 March 2013 Martin Klatt, ph.d., Dept. of Border Region Studies

2. Schleswig (-Holstein) identity  Border zone  Regional distinctiveness (neither part of Denmark nor core- Germany, separate institutions)  Cultural affinity to German culture (but that can be applied to all pre-1940 Denmark)

3. Topographical divide: Marsh Geest Hill-lands (W to E)

4. Language, 1840 Danish spoken language on the retreat – German as standard language of elementary education, and exclusive in higher education and administration

5. 1920-Plebiscite – Region or nation? Schleswig-Holstein=GermanyDenmark: no regional symbols

7. Longue Durée perspective  Era of the Region: Schleswig (-Holstein) as a region since the 1100’s  Region within the conglomerate state (empire?)  Post 1800: From region to nation?

8. Identity Crisis – the region’s last stand? 1.Crisis of 1929-35  Economic crisis, especially in agriculture 2.Crisis of 1945-50  Post WWII ”Zusammenbruch”

9. Crisis of democracy – attraction of the far right  Rural areas  Protestant  Petty bourgeoisie  Schleswig-Holstein: the smaller the town, the higher the share of NSDAP-votes (Heberle)  Agrarian crisis – peasants become apolitical, oppose the “system”

10. Reichstag-elections in South Schleswig* 31 July 19326 November 19325 March 1933 NSDAP115,83961.9 %96,80756.3 %116,16463.1 % DNVP15,7098.4 %19,87511.6 %23,01612.6 % Other German parties 54,24129.0 %52,45930.7 %43,55423.8 % Den slesvigske Forening 1,3670.7 %1,5440.9 %Not allowed to candidate *Counties of Südtondern, Flensburg Land, Flensburg Stadt, Husum, Eiderstedt, Schleswig

11. Schleswig-Holstein counties with liberal majority in 1919 and NSDAP-majority later* CountiesDDPLandesp artei TogetherNSDAP 1919 192819301932 I Flensburg17.344.862.11.721.870.0 Schleswig33.826.860.63.835.670.2 Husum39.123.562.61.936.868.6 South Tondern 46.612.258.81.225.264.5 Average SH 27.27.234.44.027.051.0 Heberle, p. 43. NB that all the counties are in South Schleswig!

12. NSDAP-votes, topographical regions towns less than 2,000 inh. (Heberle, p. 97)  Strongest in the Danish Dialect area!  Parallel to Masuria in East Prussia  But: Dithmarscher Geest higher than ”Danish-speaking” Geest 19281930July 1032 Marsh7.9 %41.2 %61.6 % Geest15.9 %45.9 %78.7 % Hill-lands2.0 %24.3 %57.1 %

13. Danish as home language, 1932

14. Regional?  The role of regional identity difficult to assess – apparently not important  Social crisis resulted in certain voting patterns  But: Lack of deeply rooted national-cultural values leading to political extremes?

15. Post WW II – we want to be Danish  Expectations from post WW I experience  German surrender  Geneology  A better future

16. ”Heimat” – movement under the Danish flag in South Schleswig Election posters SSW, 1950

17. Nazis becoming Danish? Municipalities in Flensburg County with the highest share of Danish votes in 1947 and their far right votes in July 1932 MunicipalitySSF in 1947NSDAP+DNVP July 1932 Sünderup70.4 %48.8 % Harrislee56.5 %36.3 % Weding52.8 %75.8 % Tarup46.3 %56.5 % Gottrupel41.5 %79.0 % Grossenwiehe41.0 %95.8 % Jarplund40.0 %50.0 % All Flensburg County18.1 % (1948)79.6 % NB: except for Grossenwiehe, all other municipalities border Flensburg city

18. Identity change?  Minority larger in numbers: 50,000 today, 10,000 interwar years  Identity is a continuous process influenced by many factors  National frames of identification remain strong: identity change was from German to Danish, regional identity remains a secondary category

19. References Rudolf Heberle (1963): Landbevölkerung und Nationalsozialismus. Eine soziologische Untersuchung der politischen Willensbildung in Schleswig-Holstein 1918-1932, Stuttgart Martin Klatt (2004): Nationalsozialismus und dänische Minderheit. Versuch einer Annäherung an einen zeitgenössischen Erklärungsversuch des nationalen Gesinnungswechsels in Südschleswig nach 1945, Demokratische Geschichte, 16, 171-177 Gerhard Stoltenberg (1962): Politische Strömungen im schleswig-holsteinischen Landvolk 1918- 1933. Ein Beitrag zur Meinungsbildung in der Weimarer Republik, Düsseldorf