Elbe Danes

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elbe Danes was a propagandistic term in connection with the Schleswig-Holstein question from 1848 to 1864 .

background

Since the outbreak of the Schleswig-Holstein uprising , national liberals in the states of the German Confederation have assumed that influential nationalist circles in Denmark were pursuing the goal of expanding the kingdom to the Elbe , i.e. all of the duchies of Schleswig , Holstein and Lauenburg, which were called Elbe duchies on the German side to incorporate. The term thus (as an extension of the term of the Eider Danes ) became an enemy image of the national liberal German bourgeoisie. In fact, Holstein and Lauenburg were then member states of the German Confederation (fiefdom of the Roman-German Empire before 1806 ), but were ruled in personal union by the Danish king (in the capacity of duke). Schleswig, on the other hand, was a fiefdom of Denmark. In linguistic and cultural terms, Holstein and Lauenburg were influenced by (Low) German, while Schleswig was influenced by German, Danish and North Frisian. With increasing nationalization in the middle of the 19th century, Schleswig became the subject of controversy between German and Danish national liberals. At the same time as the emerging national conflict, a language change from Danish and Frisian to German took place in parts of southern and central Schleswig.

In the middle of the 19th century, Danish domestic politics was indeed shaped by a contradiction between national liberals and conservative nationals. While the Danish National Liberals wanted the creation of a Danish nation-state including Schleswig (and surrendering Holstein) ( → Eider Danes ), conservative forces clung to the multi-ethnic and paternalistic-conservative state as a whole (including Holstein). In order to react to the change of language in southern Schleswig, the Danish government had German replaced by Danish as the school language in the parts of southern Schleswig where Danish was still common (→ Sprachreskripte), which from the German side was an affront and expression a Danization was considered.

With the Danish defeat in the German-Danish War in 1864, the term became obsolete.

literature

  • Wilhelm Beseler : On the Schleswig-Holstein cause in August 1856 . Publishing house CA Schwetschke, Braunschweig 1856
  • Prussian House of Representatives : Stenographic reports on the negotiations of the two houses of the Landtag, convened by the Most High Ordinance of November 1, 1863 . Verlag W. Moeser, Berlin 1864
  • Tom Buk-Swienty: Slaughterhouse Düppel: April 18, 1864. The story of a battle . Osburg Verlag, 2011. ISBN 3940731722