The Danish-German Border: Making a Border and Marking Different Approaches to Minority Geographical Names Questions
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The Danish-German border: Making a border and marking different approaches to minority geographical names questions Peter GAMMELTOFT* The current German-Danish border was established in 1920-21 following a referendum, dividing the original duchy of Schleswig according to national adherence. This border was thus the first border, whose course was decided by the people living on either side of it. Nonetheless, there are national and linguistic minorities on either side of the border even today – about 50,000 Danes south of the border and some 20,000 Germans north of the border. Although both minorities, through the European Union’s Charter for Regional and National Minorities, have the right to have signposting and place-names in their own language, both minorities have chosen not to demand this. Elsewhere in the German- Scandinavian region, minorities have claimed this right. What is the reason behind the Danish and German minorities not having opted for onomastic equality? And how does the situation differ from other minority naming cases in this region? These questions, and some observations on how the minorities on the German-Danish border may be on their way to obtaining onomastic equality, will be discussed in this paper. INTRODUCTION Article 10.2.g. of the Council of Europe’s European Charter for Regional and National Minorities (ETS no. 148) calls for the possibility of public display of minority language place-names.1 This is in accordance with the Council of Europe’s Convention no. 157: Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. Here, the right for national minorities to use place-names is expressed in Article 11, in particular sub-article 3,2 which allows for the possibility of public display of traditional minority language * Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. 1 ETS Convention no. 148: http://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-conventions/rms/0900001680695175: Article 10 – Administrative authorities and public services: [...] 2. In respect of the local and regional authorities on whose territory the number of residents who are users of regional or minority languages is such as to justify the measures specified below, the Parties undertake to allow and/or encourage: [...] g) the use or adoption, if necessary in conjunction with the name in the official language(s), of traditional and correct forms of place-names in regional or minority languages. 2 ETS Charter no. 157: http://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/search-on-treaties/- /conventions/rms/090000168007cdac: Peter GAMMELTOFT 1 names, street names and other topographical and geographical features. In implementing this principle, States are entitled to take due account of the specific circumstances and the framework of their legal systems, including possible bilateral agreements with other States. If implemented, this provision does not, however, constitute an official recognition of place names in minority languages. The provision was formulated "flexibly" in order to ensure that those countries in which the coexistence of the majority and the national minority/minorities have not yet been adequately strengthened to allow for accession to the framework agreement. The article relates to areas traditionally inhabited by a considerable number of members of a national minority. The obligation under Article 10.2.g. is to make topographical references also in the minority if there is sufficient demand. The charter is implemented in Germany in the settlement areas of the Sorbs in Saxony and Brandenburg, as well as in the Frisian settlement area. With regard to the German Sinti and Roma, the requirements of ETS no. 148, Article 1, are not met due to a lack of a traditional settlement area.3 In Germany, the national Danish minority does not claim the right to bilingual sign- posting.4 The local governments in two towns in Schleswig-Holstein, Flensburg and Article 11: 1) The Parties undertake to recognise that every person belonging to a national minority has the right to use his or her surname (patronym) and first names in the minority language and the right to official recognition of them, according to modalities provided for in their legal system. 2) The Parties undertake to recognise that every person belonging to a national minority has the right to display in his or her minority language signs, inscriptions and other information of a private nature visible to the public. 3) In areas traditionally inhabited by substantial numbers of persons belonging to a national minority, the Parties shall endeavour, in the framework of their legal system, including, where appropriate, agreements with other States, and taking into account their specific conditions, to display traditional local names, street names and other topographical indications intended for the public also in the minority language when there is a sufficient demand for such indications. 3 Article 1 – Definitions: For the purposes of this Charter: a) "regional or minority languages" means languages that are: i) traditionally used within a given territory of a State by nationals of that State who form a group numerically smaller than the rest of the State's population; and ii) different from the official language(s) of that State; it does not include either dialects of the official language(s) of the State or the languages of migrants; b) "territory in which the regional or minority language is used" means the geographical area in which the said language is the mode of expression of a number of people justifying the adoption of the various protective and promotional measures provided for in this Charter; c) "non-territorial languages" means languages used by nationals of the State which differ from the language or languages used by the rest of the State's population but which, although traditionally used within the territory of the State, cannot be identified with a particular area thereof. 4 https://www.nationale-minderheiten.eu/ortsschilder-9430/: “… Die Regelung ist in Deutschland in den angestammten Siedlungsgebieten der Sorben (Wenden) in Sachsen und Brandenburg 2 SESSION IV Glücksburg have, however, implemented bilingual signposting in German (Flensburg, Glücksburg) and Danish (Flensborg, Lyksborg) since 2016 (see further below). In Denmark, on the other hand, no such implementation has hitherto been undertaken, in spite of local governments’ stated interest in the matter. Local opinion is still very vocally against implementing the charter on this point. With its ratification of the Charter, Denmark recognised the existence of one majority language (Danish), two regional languages (Faroese and Inuit in the Faroe Islands and Greenland, respectively), and one minority language – German in Southern Jutland.5 THE DANISH-GERMAN BORDER-A BRIEF HISTORICAL OUTLINE The border between Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark is hardly noticeable: many people speak German and Danish interchangeably without necessarily stating national adherence. About 50,000 people with German citizenship claim Danish national minority adherence, whereas in the region of 20,000 persons with Danish citizenship recon themselves to be part of the German national minority. The members of the Danish minority live mainly in the border town Flensburg, the districts of Nordfriesland and Schleswig-Flensburg as well as in the northern part of the district Rendsburg- Eckernförde. In Flensburg and some smaller towns, up to 20 per cent of the population belong to the Danish minority. The German minority mainly live in the Southern Jutish towns of Haderslev, Løgumkloster, Nordborg, Sønderborg, Tønder and Aabenraa and in the rural areas of Broager, Bylderup-Bov, Højer, Gråsten, Padborg, Rødekro and Tinglev. In addition, Frisian is also spoken in the eastern parts of the German side of the border region. At the outset, there was no border at all between Denmark and Germany, as the area was taken up by the former duchy of Schleswig-Holstein. This duchy was ruled by Danish kings from 1460 onwards, thus swaying the region’s political influence towards Denmark, why the founding-letter was issued in Ribe of 5. March 1460. Importantly, the letter stated that Schleswig and Holstein must ”ewich tosamend ungedelt” – forever together, undivided.6 For centuries, it remained so. Germans, Danes and Frisians lived peacefully side by side in the region in a multi-lingual society where Danish, Low German, High German and to some extent also Frisian were normal modes of communication for much of the population. 7 However, increasing nationalism in the nineteenth century, in which especially Copenhagen worked for integrating the duchy of Schleswig into the kingdom of Denmark, destroyed the good relationship between Germans and Danes. With this came a period of unrest and repeated provocations from both sides. The Schleswig- Holstein uprising in 1848, which ended with a Danish victory, which was however verwirklicht, ebenso im friesischen Siedlungsgebiet. Die nationale Minderheit der Dänen beansprucht keine zweisprachigen Ortstafeln.” 5 https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=22935. 6 Paludan, 1971, vol. 16, col. 216. 7 http://danmarkshistorien.dk/leksikon-og-kilder/vis/materiale/dansk-sprog-og-kulturpolitik-i- slesvig-1850-1864/. Peter GAMMELTOFT 3 swapped for a Danish defeat by the German Confederation a few years later in 1864. Following this defeat, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein became the province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866. The German defeat in WWI opened the way for a new decision. In 1920, a referendum decided the exact lineage of the border between Germany and Denmark, thus becoming the first ever border to be determined by popular vote.8 Since the border line was decided by majority vote, substantial national minorities have remained on both sides of the border. In spite of this, the border has not been questioned since the 1920- referendum, not even after the end of the Second World War. In the post-war years, first the Kiel Declaration of 1949 of the federal Schleswig-Holstein government and the Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations of 1955 created the basis for a continuous improvement of the German-Danish relationship.