The wave of border changes that swept over Europe after the end of the First World War also affected the very north of Germany, where the collapsed empire bordered on neutral Denmark. As in many other regions with a mixed population, on the initiative of the Entente, plebiscites took place in the border Schleswig on February 10 and March 14, 1920. Schleswig, which seceded from Denmark at the end of the 1864 War, voted predictable: the German-Danish border has moved to the south. The north of Schleswig decided to return to Denmark, and the southern regions chose to stay with Germany. This border remains unshakable to this day, although both sides had convenient moments to change it — both in 1940, when all of Denmark was captured by the Wehrmacht in a matter of hours, and in 1945, when Germany lost the world war again.
The plebiscites of 1920 were preceded by an agitation campaign. Studying Danish and German posters, we can conclude that the degree of mutual hatred between Germans and Danes did not reach the level that was observed between Germans and Poles in Upper Silesia a year later, in March 1921.
Left: “They brought us the existence of a frightened slave, they brought us hunger and the deprivation of wartime. With indignation in the heart, we erase these evil years from memory.”
Right: “They thought that a cordial bond could be broken, they thought that our right could be forgotten.”
Right: “Flensburg port earlier, now and in the future — after joining Denmark”.
Right: “Denmark calls on its children. German eagle, goodbye forever ".
The poster on the right confirms the absolute anonymity of the vote: «No one can see how you vote."
Left: “We want to be Germans, like our fathers were.”
Right: “Sows a German — will the Dane reap?”
Right: “Vote for returning home!”
Left: “I am German!”
Right: “Mom, think of me — choose Denmark”.
On the left, Denmark greets South Jutland.
Right: “It looks like a beautiful old fairy tale — the stolen daughter, mourned many times, escaped and returned home!”.
