Flag used by the Danish minority's political party, SSW

The Danish minority in Southern Schleswig, Germany has existed by this name since 1920, when the Schleswig Plebiscite split the German-ruled Schleswig into Northern Schleswig, with a clear Danish majority which became part of Denmark, and Southern Schleswig which remained a part of Germany, leaving a small number of Danes in Germany. Image File history File links Bandera_danesos_Slesvig_Sud. ... Image File history File links Bandera_danesos_Slesvig_Sud. ... The South Schleswig Voter Federation (German: Südschleswigscher Wählerverband, Danish: Sydslesvigsk Vælgerforening, Frisian: Söödschlaswiksche WäälerferbÃ¥nd) is a minor political party in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. ... Southern Schleswig is a name for the geographical area covering the 30-40 most northern kilometers of Germany where Germany borders to Denmark. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... The region of Schleswig (former English name: Sleswick, Danish: Sønderjylland or Slesvig, Low German: Sleswig, North Frisian: Slaswik or Sleesweg) covers the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark. ... Sønderjyllands Amt (English: South Jutland County) is a county in southern Denmark, on the peninsula of Jutland. ...

Denmark has continued to support the minority financially. Danish schools and clubs have been run in the region, until 1926 in Flensburg only , and thereafter throughout the region. Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar). ... Flensburg (Danish: Flensborg, Low Saxon: Flensborg, North Frisian: Flansborj) is an independent town in the North of the German state Schleswig-Holstein. ...

Membership in the Danish minority has always been fluid, as there are no objective criteria to distinguish a German Schleswigian from a Danish. While over 12,000 of the population of South Schleswig voted for Denmark in the 1920-plebiscite, only about 3,000 were organised in the Danish cultural association by the end of the Nazi dictatorship. National Socialism redirects here. ...

After World War II, many people chose to join the Danish minority in hopes of joining the much more prosperous Denmark. This was partly caused by a wish to live in a free and democratic country and a rediscovery of Danish family roots, as many Schleswigians are of Danish or mixed extraction. Social hardships in the aftermath of the war probably played another distinctive role, as a high proportion of the 'new Danes' had a lower class background, while only very few of the old elite changed nationality. (As the Danish government provided food aid to the minority from 1945–49 this contingent became derogatively known as "Speckdänen", ie. "ham Danes"). At the end of 1946, the minority had thus reached a membership of 62,000. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

However, the Danish government did not allow South Schleswig to join the kingdom, and in 1953 the so-called Programm Nord (Northern Programme) was set up by the Schleswig-Holstein state government to help the area economically. This caused the Danish minority to decline until the 1970s. Since then, the minority has slowly been gaining size, and these days numbers around 50,000. 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the 16 Bundesländer in Germany. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...

See also

• Karelian question in Finnish politics

Areas ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union. ...

External links

• The danish minority (Danish)
• Informations about the danish minority (German)