Danish populists revive Schleswig-Holstein question

[Syt]

We really are regressing into the 19th century aren't we?

http://www.thelocal.dk/20170223/danish-populists-call-for-a-denmark-to-the-eider

Danish populists irk Germany with 'Denmark to the Eider' call

The populist Danish People's Party has thrown the border with Germany into question after nearly 100 years, suggesting that Denmark may one day recover parts of Schleswig.

"We would like a Denmark to the Eider. This is a hope and a dream at the same time," the party's deputy chairman Søren Espersen said in a TV interview,  the Nordschleswiger newspaper reported.

In the interview Espersen said his ambition was shared by Danish speakers in the north of Germany.

"This must also be the idea of ​​the Danish minority [in Germany] otherwise I do not understand anything," he said.

"Of course, I don't expect a tank war in the border country. I don't want that."

As the story was picked up by the German's Die Welt newspaper and DPA newswire, Espersen pulled back, stressed that the comments, made in a TV interview, had only been partially serious.

The story was "nonsense", he told the Ritzau news agency: "I'm pretty sure you understand the twinkle in my eye."

In the interview with the DK4 TV channel, Espersen argued that Denmark had missed an opportunity to recover its lost province at the end of the Second World War.

"After 1945, however, we would have been able to get the whole of Schleswig back for Denmark barely lifting a finger," he said. "The English and the French were ready to do it, because they wanted to smash Germany as much as possible, but we Danes had said 'no' to a border change."

From the 11th century to the Napoleonic era, the river Eider marked the southern border of Denmark. The river, which cuts across northern Germany from Tønning in the North Sea to Kiel in the Baltic, lies roughly 60km south of where the Danish border now stands.

During the 19th century, the province came under dispute for reasons so complex that British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston is reported to have said that no one really understood them.

"Only three people have ever really understood the Schleswig-Holstein business," he said.  "The Prince Consort, who is dead, a German professor, who has gone mad, and I, who have forgotten all about it."

In the Treaty of Versailles which followed the First World War, Germany and Denmark agreed to hold referenda, and in 1920 Central Schleswig voted to become part of Germany, and northern Schleswig part of Denmark.

In his interview, Espersen said he didn't believe the border was finally settled, even if it might take fifteen generations to see a change.

"Nothing in history is static," he said. "It would be something entirely new if borders remained unchanged." 

Here is a map of the border as it was in 1864. The blue border line starting at Tønning follows the Eider river.

Denmark's current border cuts across the Jutland peninsular 7km north of Flensburg.

And that just after I've put Tom Buk-Swienty's "1864: The forgotten war that shaped modern Europe" on my to-read-list.

[Duque de Bragança]

Unpossible! Danes won't risk ending their supply of cheap beer at Flensburg for that.

[Archy]

"The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten all about it."

North Schleswig has go back to Germany 

[Jacob]

That was all there from the beginning for DF. They've always been Paradox EU forum nationalists in spirit.

[mongers]

Look on bright side, maybe a decent TV series will come out of it in 2021?

[Valmy]

Austria will send zombie Tegetthof to deal with them. They still have a navy right?

[Drakken]

The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, and the only three men in Europe have ever understood it are all dead.

When is Germany reviving the Königsberg question, now that Russia is the adversary again?

[HVC]

The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, the only three men in Europe have ever understood it are all dead.

guy who digs up dead people beat you to it.

[Drakken]

guy who digs up dead people beat you to it.

He merely brought up a known quote. I updated it to post-truth age, so I win. 

[garbon]

guy who digs up dead people beat you to it.

He merely brought up a known quote. I updated it to post-truth age, so I win. 

Sure you do, sweetie.

[Syt]

guy who digs up dead people beat you to it.

He merely brought up a known quote. I updated it to post-truth age, so I win. 

A quote that was in the original article, I might add, so you are both late.

[Barrister]

Is there actually a danish-speaking majority in that region any longer?

[Valmy]

Is there actually a danish-speaking majority in that region any longer?

Where? Holstein? I don't think there ever was a danish-speaking majority there.

[Barrister]

Is there actually a danish-speaking majority in that region any longer?

Where? Holstein? I don't think there ever was a danish-speaking majority there.

Well not in all of Holstein, but the region these guys are talking about - up to the Eider River.

[Syt]

Is there actually a danish-speaking majority in that region any longer?

There's just this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_minority_of_Southern_Schleswig