Grenzfriedensbund

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The Grenzfriedensbund eV (GFB) is a cultural-political association in the Schleswig part of the country , which works on the German side for understanding and cooperation across the German-Danish border. In addition, the association does social work primarily for children and young people. The association, which was founded in Husum in 1950 , is based in Flensburg .

history

The Grenzfriedensbund was founded on March 11, 1950 as a union for German peace work . The background to this was the border war between Germans and Danes that flared up again after the end of the Second World War . It is true that the Schleswig-Holstein state government under Prime Minister Bruno Diekmann assured the national minorities extensive rights with the Kiel Declaration of 1949. The content of the Kiel Declaration was nevertheless opposed mainly by bourgeois German circles who continued to rely on a confrontation with the Danish movement. Diekmann's successors Walter Bartram and then Friedrich Wilhelm Lübke, as conservative minister-presidents, tightened the course of confrontation with the Danish side again ( policy of small pinpricks ).

In addition to the existing German border associations ( Deutscher Grenzverein , Schleswig-Holsteinischer Heimatbund , Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutsches Schleswig ) and the conservative German Grenzlandpresse ( Flensburger Tageblatt ), the state government initially viewed the newly founded Border Peace Association with great suspicion. It was feared that the forces involved in the German border work would be split up and were opposed to the conciliatory position of the new association. In addition, the German Schleswig Working Group saw the GFB as a direct competitor, as both associations worked on socio-political issues. The GFB's plea that Germans and Danes could live together constantly aroused old resentments. In addition, the association was predominantly supported by Social Democrats and thus also generated political mistrust among the other associations - especially since part of the SPD in the part of the country made a pact with the Danish organizations as the Social Democratic Party of Flensburg .

Nevertheless, the association managed to come to an understanding with the other German associations in 1952/53. Awareness of the GFB increased considerably when he hitherto Irregular Grenzfriedensbund letters by the quarterly expended Grenzfriedensbund books replaced. These were the first German publication in the border region in which Danish voices were also given their say. In the words of Jens Nydahl , at that time border area commissioner of the Schleswig-Holstein state government and founding member and chairman of the GFB, the magazine should "open up our eyes to the fruitful connections between the two peoples on this border". When the situation between German and Danish eased significantly from 1955 after the Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations , the position of the Grenzfriedensbund was also strengthened.

The main focus of social work was and is still today mainly youth work and the support of low-income families. Among other things, the GFB pays for children from low-income families to take part in school trips. Due to the close connection with the work of schools, numerous teaching institutions became members of the GFB.

The GFB was and is mainly perceived by the public through the Grenzfriedenshefte . Again and again the magazine brought critical debates with controversial and taboo topics in the border region on the way (including very early dealing with the long suppressed history of National Socialism in Schleswig-Holstein) and thus paved the way for important innovations. The Grenzfriedenshefte thus contributed significantly to the improvement of German-Danish understanding and the reduction of mutual prejudices.

Despite the estimated worked the Schleswig-Holstein state government withdrew the Grenzfriedensbund for 2008, the funding and the economic basis, which is why the association now a merger with especially as carriers of kindergartens profiled and country residential schools and the former border struggle for decades averted ADS received .

Chairperson

Web links

  • Homepage. ADS-Grenzfriedensbund, accessed on October 3, 2011 .

literature

  • Grenzfriedenshefte magazine , Flensburg 1953 ff. (Published quarterly from the beginning)
  • Tillmann Eysholdt: In the field of tension between nation and Europe. The Grenzfriedensbund 1950–1990 . Flensburg 1990
  • Matthias Schartl: "Not welcome as a troublemaker". The border peace association between the Kiel Declaration and conservative-bourgeois border associations . Grenzfriedenshefte 1, 2000. pp. 7-28.