The negotiation of national and regional identity during the Schleswig-plebiscite following the First World War

Abstract

After the First World War, five plebiscites were held to delineate the borders of Germany, Denmark, reestablished Poland, Austria, Hungary and newly established Yugoslavia. The territories subjugated for the plebiscites were border territories, where national identification had not been clear during the nineteenth century. Here, we analyse the German and Danish plebiscite campaign in the Schleswig region on the basis of visual material used of both sides. The focus lies on the iconic use of national and regional symbols to create a certain type of national identification. In the Schleswig case, it is evident that both sides used concepts of Heimat and region and tried to apply them to their national projects. There was a stronger focus on regional identity in the German campaign, though. It used the regional, Schleswig–Holstein heritage and symbols of the region's 1848 revolt against the Danish kingdom, but clearly tied it to a national, German identification in contrast to the factual historic context of the plebiscite area being a cultural and linguistic border zone between the evolving Danish and German national sphere. Thus, the plebiscite functioned as the final nationalizing measure in a hitherto transnational and transcultural border zone.