Germans in Copenhagen

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Germans in Copenhagen played a role in the culture, administration and trade in the Danish capital Copenhagen , especially from the late Middle Ages to the 19th century . After the middle of the 19th century, Copenhageners with German roots became assimilated. No closed ethnic group developed with its own organization, in contrast to the German minority in North Schleswig .

Temporary waves of immigration from German-speaking countries formed Yiddish-speaking Jews in the period 1900–1920 and Jews and victims of the Nazi regime in the period 1933–39. During the German occupation 1940-45, the Danish-German Association ( Dansk-Tysk Forening ) played a role in the sometimes forced cooperation between the German armed forces and Danes within politics and business.

The German School St. Petri Copenhagen , which has existed since 1575, is now the oldest German school abroad. The Evangelical Lutheran St. Petri Church is linked to it . There are also German-language services in the German-Reformed congregation, whose Reformed Church also houses a French-speaking congregation, and in the Catholic Cathedral of Sankt Ansgar . Another cultural institution is the Goethe-Institut Copenhagen.

The Sankt Petri School and Church are the gathering point for some of the German expats ; however, some of the students are also Danes who are particularly interested in teaching. The church was restored in 1994–99 with funds from Denmark, Germany and private donors. The German-speaking congregation has been part of the Danish Volkskirche since 2000 and has grown a little larger again with almost 900 members. However, the vast majority of Germans living abroad in Copenhagen and in the rest of Denmark have no relationship with German organizations.

In 2020, German citizens will form the fifth largest group of foreigners in Denmark after Poles, Syrians, Romanians and Turks. There are 9687 German nationals in the capital region, 1738 in Zealand, 8601 in southern Denmark, 4597 in central Jutland and 1572 in northern Jutland. In Copenhagen (Copenhagen municipality and Frederiksberg) the number is 6393 and thus exceeds the number in South Jutland / North Schleswig (4670). Most of the German citizens in North Schleswig can be distinguished from the German minority, as the long-established German minority mostly has Danish citizenship.

history

In the 14th century at the latest, German craftsmen and civil servants settled in Danish cities, especially in Copenhagen. German-speaking families formed an essential part of the upper class and the cultural life of the capital in the 18th century, but did not see themselves as a national minority. There have been isolated examples of Copenhagen being seen as part of German-speaking Europe; however, this could apply to all areas where there was a knowledge of German or a German elite. The German poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock , for example, received support from the Danish King Friedrich V for decades and stayed in Denmark for decades. Other people from the 17th to 19th centuries can be assigned to both Danish and German cultural heritage. B. Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707) and Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840).

House Oldenburg

Already with Christoph III. 1440–1448 a native of the Palatinate occupied the Danish royal throne. The House of Oldenburg , which has been the Danish kings since the 15th century, does not originally come from Denmark, but from Oldenburg in what is now Lower Saxony. However, branch lines of the house are named after their roots in Schleswig and Holstein; The Danish royal family has belonged to the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg line since 1863 . Up until the 18th century, the Danish royals were often, but not always, brought up with a Low or High German mother tongue and often married members of princely families from the German Empire . However, the administration of the Danish-Norwegian Empire was always in Danish, except for the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which were administered in German from Copenhagen.

Power struggle for Christian VII.

Events in the late 18th century led to clashes between Germans and Danes. The Danish population was critical of the increasing influence of the German language or German civil servants. Intertwined with this was a scheming struggle for power, political goals and offices at the court in Copenhagen for the incapable of governing King Christian VII.

Struensee

One trigger was the trial of the reformer and royal personal physician Johann Friedrich Struensee , who took power as a dictator from 1770–1772 and decreed a very large number of reforms. Struensee and Queen Caroline Mathilde dominated the insane king and pushed other rulers and high officials aside. In 1772, the 34-year-old Struensee was executed for abuse of power and love affair with the queen. Struensee didn't speak Danish. He had been a doctor in Altona , which was part of the entire Danish state , but he was not a Holsteiner , he was born in Halle . His radical Enlightenment reforms met with great opposition, although some were later recognized as progressive. Since then it has been discussed to what extent the conflict over Struensee was political, social, personal or national.

Høegh-Guldberg and the indigenous law

Struensee's main opponent (and after his fall the most important ruler 1772-84) was Ove Høegh-Guldberg , politically conservative, advocates of absolutism and guardian of the Danish character of the actual kingdom (not including the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein). He introduced Danish as the only command language of the army in the actual kingdom. In 1776 he implemented the Indigenous Law . According to this, citizenship ( indfødsret = "native law") was a prerequisite for serving in the service of the Danish king. This citizenship was given to all residents of the Norwegian-Danish-Schleswig-Holstein state. This sparked general enthusiasm among the population. (Foreigners could be naturalized, e.g. after studying for two years at the University of Copenhagen or Kiel, or otherwise upon application.)

Gottorf question

In 1773 the Gottorf question was concluded with the Treaty of Tsarskoe Selo . The Dukes of Gottorf owned a small state within the Danish Empire that had long caused conflicts and had often allied itself with foreign powers, e.g. B. with the Danish archenemy Sweden. In 1742 this duchy had already been reduced in size when Duke Karl Peter Ullrich was appointed heir to the Russian throne. His territories in Holstein were then ruled from Russia. He eventually became Tsar in 1762 and ruled for six months, after which he was overthrown by his wife, Catherine the Great , and died shortly afterwards. Duke of Holstein-Gottorf was therefore the son, the later Tsar Paul I. He and Katharina agreed with Denmark on an exchange of the Gottorf territories with Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, which had been in personal union with Denmark since 1667. The Duchy of Gottorf was dissolved and all of Schleswig and Holstein were again placed under the Danish king. For Denmark a long-desired goal was achieved and a connection between the monarchy was established, but the incorporation of the Gottorf territories had an effect on the national balance; the German element of the monarchy was strengthened somewhat.

Norwegian, Danish and German patriotism

In 1772, Norwegian students founded the Norwegian Society in Copenhagen, a discussion and literature group that also cultivated Norwegian patriotism. You requested u. a. its own university in Christiania (Oslo) and the abolition of the Danish monopoly on Norway's grain imports. However, they did not question the Danish-Norwegian state or the royal power. Like some Danes of the time, they often described German as something foreign and artificial, against which one had to assert oneself. The national content, however, mixed with philosophical and literary ideals, since the members of the Norwegian society generally rejected the (German-born) Romanticism and preferred classicism as well as the French and English tradition.

In the entire Danish state one saw a growing up Danish, Norwegian and partly also German / Holstein national consciousness, whereby none of them was set up separatist. Initially, the only requirement was that these nationalities and languages ​​should be considered alongside one another and given equal rights.

Return from Bernstorff

In 1784, the Danish conservative Høegh-Guldberg himself fell victim to a coup when the 16-year-old Crown Prince Friedrich (VI) and Andreas Peter von Bernstorff took power. The circle of people around Høegh-Guldberg was put out of play, and the circle around the German-born Bernstorff returned. Bernstorff filled important posts with his relatives or supporters. In addition to personal and political aspects, his opponents were now able to mobilize the public against the "Germanness" around Bernstorff. The circle around Bernstorff was ascribed an outlawing of the Danish language and the Danish national character.

The German feud or Holger feud

As the first open Danish-German confrontation is considered a polemic 1789-90, as the Holger feud ( Holgerfejden ) or German feud ( tyskerfejden ) is called. In the feud, a discussion about the ideals and styles of rationalism / classicism and romanticism is mixed with the conflict between German and Danish, which has been smoldering for several years; however, topics such as folk and fine culture, personal conflicts and generational conflicts also play a role in the city's cultural life.

The occasion was the comic opera Holger Danske by the 28-year-old composer and German FL from Copenhagen . Kunzen and the 25-year-old Jens Baggesen , the most important Danish poet of the time. Based on the ideas of the Swiss aesthetician Johann Georg Sulzer, they tried to combine a classic, historical and romantic theme in one work. The opera was an experimental new creation on many levels: the first opera in the Danish language, the first romantic opera ever and also great and novel in terms of scenography.

The opera premiered on March 31, 1789 at the Royal Theater . It was initially successful and met with enthusiasm among the broad sections of the population in Copenhagen, but was so criticized by educated circles that it was only performed six times.

The opera genre was not particularly well established in Copenhagen at the time and was in a transition phase across Europe, where new ideas battled old conventions. Many still doubted the equality of opera with drama and ballet.

Both the legend of Holger Danske and the plot of the opera had an intertwined Danish-German-French and European cultural background. According to the Danish legend, Holger Danske is a sleeping hero who stays in Kronborg and is supposed to wake up from there and save Denmark if the country is threatened. The legendary hero was originally a Dane who fought against Charlemagne , then entered his service and saved the Frankish Empire by repelling attacks by the Spanish Saracens (Muslims). He is reported in the old French songs Chanson de geste and in the Roland song . In 1193 Philip II of France married the Danish king's daughter Ingeborg , after which the motif was taken up again by Holger Danske and is described in the epics Renaut de Montauban , La Chevalerie d'Ogier de Danemarche and Les Enfances Ogier . The opera is based more on the myth of the Elf King Oberon , which was treated by Goethe (inspired by the Danish folk song Elverskud / Erlkönig ) and later by Wieland . Wieland based his character on A Midsummer Night's Dream by Chaucer and Shakespeare, which in turn was also inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses ; Wieland also takes content from A Thousand and One Nights .

The Danish opera follows Wieland's model, but the main character Oberon is replaced with Holger Danske. The plot had little connection with the Chronicle of Holger Danske ( Kong Olger Danskis Krønicke ), which was published in Denmark in 1534 and has since been widely used as popular reading. So Baggesen renounced history and tradition, used the name of the Danish national fighter Holger Danske for an opera hero who travels to Babylon and wins a sultan's daughter there, then overcomes obstacles with the help of Oberon's magic horn and finally can marry his beloved, all under comic and mixed circumstances.

Even when Baggesen's libretto became known before it was first performed, voices criticized that the Danish national hero would be mocked by the opera as an "adventurous, enthusiastic boaster". Baggesen got into doubts and wanted to rename the title character Huon de Bordeaux , according to Wieland's poem and the French Oberon model. The actor Michael Rosing rejected the change because he wanted to play a Nordic hero. With him and with the general public, the Holger Danske motif was received positively, without objections to the strongly changed story.

First of all, Johann Clemens Tode wrote a very positive review. The leading theater critic Knud Lyhne Rahbek was a supporter of realistic drama with a bourgeois-moral content and rejected the fantastic operatic genre; He described Holger Danske as a harmful, ruinous and money-wasting idea. The satirist and critic PA Heiberg was an advocate of the French Enlightenment and an opponent of Romanticism. He too criticized the operatic genre in general and the awakening German romantic taste in literature.

The successful opera was then published in German translation by Kiel professor Carl Friedrich Cramer , who praised Baggesen's work in a foreword and criticized the Danish national poet Johannes Ewald , who had died eight years ago . This provoked many Danes of the Ewald generation, including PA Heiberg, who commented on this with the mockingly funny poem Holger Tydske ("Holger the German" instead of Holger Danske , which means "Holger the Dane"). Baggesen was also accused of not choosing a Nordic theme, but allegedly attempting to establish the "German" opera genre in Copenhagen.

In Denmark there was freedom of the press from 1770 to 1799 (except in the Høegh Guldberg period 1773–1784), which made several literary feuds possible. In this case, too, the discussion was characterized by factual and unobjective criticism, grandiose philosophizing, and personal, perfidious, sarcastic and petty attacks. In the many magazines of the capital, a wave of around 70 articles, pamphlets and texts by Rahbek, Heiberg, Cramer, Baggesen, Tode, Friederike Brun, Schack Staffeldt, Werner Hans Frederik Abrahamson and Christen Henriksen Pram followed. Danes also believed that the opera was a masterpiece and that national reproaches were an expression of envy. Kunzen's musical achievement was recognized by most.

In response to the feud, Baggesen began his trip to Europe, which is described in the main work The Labyrinth . Kunzen left Denmark, worked in Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Prague, but returned to Copenhagen in 1795 and worked there as Kapellmeister and professor until his death.

After 1789 the opera did not play again until 1941 and 1941 at the Royal Theater, where it was received as a national manifestation against the German occupation. Then only in 2000, when the new production incidentally also triggered diametrically divided reactions in the audience and among critics.

Danish literature and Germanness

Born in Norway, Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754) rarely spoke out directly against German influence, but purposefully developed a Danish literature that often also described the lower strata of society and was influenced by their language.

The most important Danish poets later in the 18th century were Johannes Ewald (1743–1781) and Jens Baggesen (1764–1826). They were friendly towards the German cultural area, and their translated works were popular there. Ewald briefly became a Prussian and Austrian soldier out of a thirst for adventure. Baggesen's main work, The Labyrinth or a Journey through Germany, Switzerland and France , appeared in 1792–93 and describes a journey in the revolutionary year of 1789, intertwined with philosophical and psychological considerations. No animosity against Germans can be felt in the work; In a scene on Brocken , the main character and his German companion embrace after a conversation with the conclusion that "we are Danes and German brothers". Baggesen originally published some of his works in German.

The following generation of Danish poets was passionately influenced by the Romantic era, who were brought from Berlin to Copenhagen in 1802-1804 with lectures by the Norwegian-Danish natural philosopher Heinrich Steffens. Steffens (1773–1843) grew up in Norway and Denmark, but came from a Holstein family. The Danish romantic poets were more often conscious advocates of Danish or Scandinavianism that stood in opposition to Germanism.

The national romantic poet Christian Wilster (1797–1840) describes Ludvig Holberg as the founder of Danish literature in a time when foreign languages ​​were otherwise considered finer. The content is still known today, but is often wrongly attributed to Holberg himself:

“Hver Mand, som med Kløgt gik i Lærdom til Bund,
Latin paa Papiret kun malte,
Med Fruerne Fransk, and Tydsk med sin Hund,
Og Dansk med sin Tjener han talte. (...)

Han lærte de Danske, at Dansken er fød,
At tale med Fædrenes Tunge,
Thi hiemmebrygt var jo den herlige Mjød,
Som styrkede Hjerte og Lunge. "

“ Any man who wisely immersed himself in teaching
just painted Latin on paper;
with the women French, and German with his dog,
and Danish with his servant he spoke. (...)

He taught the Danish that the Dane was born
to speak with the tongue of their fathers,
because the wonderful mead was home-
brewed and strengthened the heart and lungs. "

- Christian Wilster : Ludvig Holberg , 1827

Officials of the German chancellery

The officials at the German Chancellery established in 1523 formed a special group, called Schleswig-Holstein Chancellery from 1806 and from 1816-48 Schleswig-Holstein-Lauenburg Chancellery. This was the Copenhagen-based German-speaking administration of the Danish Duchy of Schleswig and the German Duchy of Holstein, both of which had the Danish king as their duke. The Danish Chancellery, on the other hand, administered the actual Kingdom of Denmark in Danish. The officials of the Schleswig-Holstein chancellery blocked the enforcement of decrees of Danish kings around 1800, which were supposed to introduce equal rights for the Danish language in the Duchy of Schleswig . In the coming decades, many of them supported Schleswig-Holsteinism . From 1822 to 1830, Uwe Jens Lornsen was a civil servant at the Schleswig-Holstein law firm in Copenhagen. Shortly after he was transferred to Sylt at his own request, he published his letter Ueber das Verfassungswerk in Schleswigholstein , which called for an independent state, "Schleswigholstein", in personal union with Denmark. With the uprising and the 1st Schleswig War in 1848, part of this upper class emigrated to Germany.

Assimilation in the late 19th century

Orla Lehmann , leader of the National Liberals, advocate of the reintegration of Schleswig in the kingdom, and probably the most important figure in the Danish nationalism and constitutional struggle of the time, had a German (Holstein) father and went to the German Sankt-Petri-Schule until she was 14, then to the Danish Borgerdydsskole. Many originally German-speaking families switched to Danish in the first half of the 19th century, while others emigrated. After the wars of 1848 and 1864, the German element no longer had any significance in public life in Copenhagen; the families were completely assimilated. However, German remained the first foreign language, and there was still a close connection to German culture and economy.

German surnames

Numerous family names in the Copenhagen upper middle class, e.g. B. in traditional civil servant families, point back to German or Holstein roots. German names are also common among the nobility, in commercial families, some craftsmen and Jewish families. However, German spellings (or older Danish spellings that are similar to German) can also be found in purely Danish names, e.g. B. Schou ( skov = "forest"), Bach ( bakke , Jutlandic bak = hill) as well as family names to which a von was added during the ennoblement (e.g. von Jensen ). The variant Schmidt is far more common than Smed , although both mean "blacksmith" and are in most cases of Danish origin. Names like Lange , Fischer (Danish Fisker ), Schütte (Danish Skytte or Low German for Schützen), Busch (Busk), Reuter (Danish røgter = feed master) etc. cannot be assessed without genealogical study as to whether they are originally German or Danish names are possible.

Genealogically , it was postulated that 8 percent of today's Danes have a German family name; whether this also includes German spellings of Danish names was not specified.

Organizations

Churches

The Evangelical Lutheran St. Petri Church was handed over to the German-speaking community of Copenhagen by King Friedrich II in 1585 and has been their parent church ever since. The St. Petri Church includes a monastery in which both men and women lived until the end of the 20th century, a school and a monastery which is currently inhabited by canon women. After the Second World War, many community members left the German-speaking community. The parish currently has around 1000 members.

In a religious sense, the Danish Reformed form a different group. The Reformed Church in Copenhagen was consecrated in 1689 and since then has hosted two parishes, a German / Dutch and a French, which also hold services in these languages. The Danish Queen Charlotte Amalie von Hessen-Kassel contributed significantly to the establishment of the Evangelical Reformed congregation. Today 300 people are members of the German Evangelical Reformed Congregation in Copenhagen. The pastors of the congregation are provided by the EKD .

In the 14th century, German speakers in Copenhagen probably used the Frauenkirche or a monastery church. In 1537 the German-speaking Catholic community disbanded due to the Reformation . In the 1960s, the "German-speaking Catholic Congregation Copenhagen" was formed. For the first time since the Reformation, there is a German-speaking Catholic community in Copenhagen. The St. Augustine's Church in Copenhagen is used for religious ceremonies.

schools

The German School St. Petri in Copenhagen has existed since 1575 . This makes it the oldest German school abroad. In the 19th century, several other German schools emerged. In the 20th century the schools were merged again. One of the best-known students at the German school is the diplomat's son Richard von Weizsäcker . The German School St. Petri in Copenhagen currently looks after approx. 500 students.

Germans with a relationship to Copenhagen or Copenhageners with German roots

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
There is no evidence for the individual persons; some have no German roots or no known German affiliation

Statesmen and politicians

Artists, writers and scholars

More well-known German Copenhageners

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Population by region, sex, age and citizenship , Statistics Denmark, accessed May 8, 2020
  2. ↑ Sven Lunn: Oberon Tryllehorn , DMT, Volume 19 (1944), No. 4, page 75-80;. reproduced on seismograf.org
  3. ^ Christian Wilster: Ludvig Holberg , in: Digtninger , CA Reitzels Forlag, Copenhagen, 1827, pages 63-66
  4. ↑ a b c d e Sankt-Petri-Kirche, Chronological overview of the historical background of the church
  5. ↑ Ulrich Alster Klug: [Slægtsforskning på internet https://books.google.dk/books?id=-lezVLbH8_UC&lpg=PA71&ots=eoimuNm6DZ&dq=danske%20efternavne%20tysk%20stavem%C3&A5de&hl71&vpg=C3&A5de&hl71&vpg=&hl71&vpg= false ] , Libris Media, 2004; Page 71
  6. ↑ Sankt-Petri-Kirche, building
  7. ^ German Reformed Church in Copenhagen, For the history of our congregation
  8. ^ German Reformed Church in Copenhagen, Who we are
  9. ^ German-speaking Catholic community in Copenhagen
  10. ↑ German Embassy Copenhagen - Bilateral Cultural Relations webapp. April 15, 2014, archived from the original on April 15, 2014 ; accessed on April 8, 2019 .
  11. ↑ St. Peter's School
  12. ↑ Sankt Petri School, number of students
  13. ↑ Sankt-Petri-Kirche, Chronological overview of the historical background of the church
  14. ↑ St. Petri Church, Ernst Henrich Berling (1708–1750)