THE NAZIS AND NORTH-SCHLESWIG
Commonwealth and Foreign
ONE by one, the Third Reich settles the old scores of Versailles. The methods vary, not the aim. Wait- ing for little Denmark's turn to come, the Nazis are hard at work preparing the ground for another " accomplished fact." The method so far employed is specifically German : sapping the national sovereignty from within.
The reconquest of North-Schleswig (South Jutland) by the Germans began actually on the morrow of February 10th, 1920, the day of the plebiscite that restored this territory to Denmark by a 75,431 : 25,329 vote. It has been conducted ever since on four principal lines :
(a) A premeditated settlement policy (" Bevolkerungspolitik " ) ; (b) The establishment of a dense network of German private schools ; (c) The systematic buying-up and " stocking " of landed property ; (d) The organization of a Nazi Party modelled on the National Socialist Party of Germany.
The first move made by the Germans after the plebiscite was an emphatic injunction to their nationals living on the territory under cession or entitled to option : " Stay where you are I Don't opt for the Reich ! Keep your Danish citizenship while remaining Germans at heart ; and when the time is ripe, use your rights for our bene- fit." In the case of ex-soldiers or civil servants drawing a pension from the Reich Treasury, that appeal used to take the form of the menace : " Either you stay there, or . . . "
Thanks to the broadminded liberalism of Danish democracy, the German school-organisation in North- Schleswig is working under the best imaginable conditions. Today, the " Deutscher Schulverein," which is financially supported by a mother-organisation in Flensburg, on the German side of the frontier (membership exceeding 10,000), runs 57 private schools, mostly located in the " menaced quadrangle." This term applies to a par- ticularly exposed zone, roughly circumscribed by Under, Logum, Aabenraa and Graasten, where German irre- dentism is making itself felt most aggressively. About 2,000 pupils attend these schools.
No fewer than 26 out of the 57 private schools now established were founded during the three years of Nazi rule. Although there are at present 81 public schools, where the German minority in North-Schleswig have teaching in their own language, an ever-increasing number of these children (about 4,500 in all) is systemati- cally being drawn towards the private establishments. The reason of this. competition, directly inspired by the Nazi leadership, is quite obvious. The one thing these little Germans cannot get in the national schools is Hitler propaganda. Instead, they are overfed with it in all the private schools, where 85 per cent. of the teaching body are Reich citizens, and therefore subject to " Gestapo " (Secret Police) reprisals in the event of their being recalled for lack of zeal. The bulk of expenditure for these schools. (where teaching is free of charge) is borne by the Flensburg " Schulverein " and other German associations, with regular appropriations from the budgets both of the Reich and the various States. A wireless set for the reception of German propaganda broadcasts is never omitted in the furniture expenses.
The true import of the German land policy in North- Schleswig was never voiced more outspokenly than in the following passage of a speech made in May, 193à, at Lack by Dr. Sievers (recently dismissed from his position as Mayor of Flensburg) who was at the time the leading Nazi authority on Schleswig matters : " 1Ve National- Socialists never germanise foreign nations. What we do germanise is the land. For the great bulk of our people rightly understand that everything can be settled by merely germanising the soil."
Long before these words were uttered, another German activist, Herr Vogelsang, had set about carrying this programme out in North-Schleswig. He is a former lawyer from Brandenburg, who settled in 1908 at Haderslev, where he founded, eighteen years later, the now famous " Kreditanstalt Vogelsang," a living symbol of the German land-policy characterised above by Dr. Sievers. It is an incontrovertible fact that the " Kreditan- stalt " is run almost exclusively on German capital. Most of its stock is owned by the Hofebank of Kiel, a banking establishment directly controlled by the State of Prussia. Besides, the " Kreditanstalt," which expe- rienced some very severe losses during, the depression, is granted frequent Reich credits, estimated in 1934 at 5 million marks.
One of the main objects of the Vogelsang concern is to buy up Danish-owned landed property, which is often done through figure-heads. Resale usually takes place, not on business principles but in view of national con- siderations. While the " Kreditanstalt " officially claims to " further economic life in North-Schleswig," Herr Vogelsang himself once defined its programme more accurately as being " to buy and stock the land in order to prevent the Danes from Denmark proper from settling in North-Schleswig." Since 1933 a certificate from the German Nazi Party has become practically indispensable for anyone wanting to buy land from the company. Much of the real property acquired by Herr Vogelsang and his agents is actually held back until a reliable Nazi aspirant is found. Thus, out of some 120 estates so far bought up by Vogelsang (more than half of them by auction) 88 are still on hand, assuredly not owing to any lack of customers, but because of the strict selection made among these. With more than ten thousand acres of landed property, Vogelsang is now the biggest land-owner in North-Schleswig.
The mortgage policy of the " Kreditanstak " is no less curious. During a recent debate in the Folketing it was established beyond doubt that Danish nationals may expect loans from it only on the condition that the borrower sends his children to a German private school. The " Kreditanstalt " during its nine years of existence has issued 1,111 loans, totalling 5.77 million kroner.
The fourth and decisive link in the Germanisation of North-Schleswig is the " N.S.D.A.P. Nordsehleswig," a mere branch of the Hitler Party under the auspices of its Foreign Organisation. The Party, with a membership exceeding 5,000, is ruled by a Council of three " Ffihrers " (Jep Nissen, P. Larsen, Moller-Graasten) set up in August, 1935, when the various rival Nazi factions of North- Schleswig were amalgamated " by order." There are district leaders at Aabenraa, Sonderborg, Tingley, Tonder and Haderslev. A camouflaged militia, " Schleswigsche Kameradschaften," was set up after the dissolution, in 1934, of the regular storm-troopers.
The aforesaid Dr. Sievers, in one of his speeches in 1933, gave this warning :
" We must tell the Danes, clearly and coldly, what we want. We want to get back North-Schleswig. If the Danes fail to under- stand that a revision of frontiers is necessary, there may come a time when hard facts will decide. . . ."
It seems only a question of when, not whether, that prophecy will come true.
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