The Danish-German Border Dispute - Aspects of Cultural and Demographic Politics 1815-2001 (Hardcover)

Considered one of the most intractable and complex border disputes in modern European history, the sixty mile border between a small kingdom and a growing, belligerent would - be world power caused several wars in the Bismarckian era and lead to several crises in the post World War I and post World War II eras. Professor Berdichevsky skillfully discusses this issue stressing the demographic, linguistic and cultural context of the 'kulturkampf"" between Germans and Danes, a war for cultural and linguistic domination that lasted well into the 1950s(and has since been settled within the context of the EU). Also discussed in depth is the Frisian population and language as a third player in this struggle for accepted borders and mutual respect. New information on British occupation policies (post 1945) and Frisian nationalism is included as well as new research on the role of the divided Social Democratic Party and the ""refugee vote"" in the 1940s and 1950s. Every well illustrated with rare photographs, posters, population and language distribution graphs.