Schleswig Plebiscites

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Map of Schleswig / South Jutland before the plebiscites.

The Schleswig Plebiscites were two plebiscites, organized according to section XII, articles 109 to 114 of the Treaty of Versailles of June 28, 1919, in order to determine the future border between Denmark and Germany through the former duchy of Schleswig. The process was monitored by a commission with representatives from France, the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden.

The Danish Duchy of Schleswig had been conquered by Prussia and Austria in the 1864 Second War of Schleswig along with the Danish-ruled German provinces of Holstein and Lauenburg. Article 5 of the Austro-Prussian Peace of Prague stipulated that a plebiscite should be held within 6 years to give the people of Northern Schleswig the possibility of returning to Danish rule, a provision ignored by Prussia and later Imperial Germany. Only the defeat of Germany in World War I forced Germany to accept a plebiscite.

The first plebiscite was held in Northern Schleswig on February 14, 1920. Northern Schleswig (Zone I) voted en bloc (i.e. as a unit) and the result was three quarters of the population voting for a return to Danish rule, although a small German majority existed in several towns, and a large German majority existed in Tønder and Højer.

Central Schleswig (Zone II) voted on March 14, 1920 and this time, each municipality was to decide its own allegiance. Since a Danish majority in this zone was only produced in three small villages on the island of Föhr not aligned with the coming border, the Commission Internationale de Surveillance du Plébiscite Slésvig decided on a line almost completely identical to the border between the two zones. The poor result for Denmark in Central Schleswig - particularly in Flensburg, Schleswig's largest city, triggered Denmark's 1920 Easter Crisis. A plebiscite was not held in the southernmost third of the province as there was no doubt about the outcome.

Northern Schleswig was returned to Denmark on 15 June 1920, and the territory regained was officially named the South Jutlandic districts, more commonly South Jutland, although this name is historically identical to the whole of Schleswig.