Nicolai Thomsen Svendsen

Nicolai Thomsen Svendsen (born August 10, 1873 in Hjemstedt in the parish of Scherrebek ; † July 14, 1966 in Tondern ) was a Schleswig-Holstein editor and border politician.

Live and act

Nicolai Thomsen Svendsen was the son of Peter Andersen Svendsen (* 1832 in Hjemstedt; ibid) and his wife Reading Margarethe, née Beck (1837-1913). The family came from the west coast of North Schleswig .

Svendsen graduated from the teachers' seminar in Tondern and taught at several schools from 1894, including in Brodersby and in Sande . In 1896 he moved briefly to the German School St. Petri in Copenhagen and studied at the local college for teachers. In 1899 Hans Peter Hanssen brought him to his newspaper Hejmdal in Aabenraa . From 1904 he headed the Modersmaalet newspaper in Hadersleben .

During the referendum in Schleswig , Svendsen was mayor of Hadersleben. He followed the moderate demands of his former employer Hanssen for the separation of North Schleswig from the German Empire and its annexation to Denmark. After the vote, Svendsen worked as a local school consultant in Tondern. He helped to a significant extent in integrating the German into the Danish school administration. This went here with fewer problems than in other places in the region.

After the end of World War II , Svendsen took a moderate position during the legal settlement with the German minority living there.

Svendsen was married to Gyge Knudsen (born February 11, 1878 in Wiesby Heedegard ; † 1948).

literature

• Harboe Kardel: Svendsen, Nicolai Thomsen . in: Schleswig-Holstein Biographical Lexicon . Volume 2. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1971, pp. -104