Last modified: 2009-03-28 by jarig bakker
Keywords: danish minority | sydslesvig |
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![[Danish Minority in South Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany)]](../images/d/de-sh}dk.gif)
2:3 image by Jan Oskar Engene
Flag first used ca. 1949-1950
The arms of Schleswig (in Danish Slesvig), blazoned Or two Lions passant Azure, is present in the greater state arms of Denmark [see Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website] as well as in the arms of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. According to Henningsen 2000 the Danes in the German part of Schleswig have been using a Schleswig banner of arms [i.e. a yellow flag with two blue lions passant] when they have not been able to use the Danish national flag.
S?nderjylland is Danish for South Jutland, and is another name
for North Schleswig, i.e. the Danish part of Schleswig [which was handed
over from Germany to Denmark after the 1920 plebiscite following the First
World War].
Elias Granqvist, 17 May 2001
Based on the Henningsen 2000 article - Lars N. Henningsen, Sydslesvigs hjemstavnsflag (The home region flag of South Schleswig, in Nordisk Flaggkontakt no. 32, 2001, pp. 17-22 and 33 - here are some more details about this flag used among the Danish population in South Schleswig.
After World War Two representatives of the Danish minority in South Schleswig wanted permission to fly the Dannebrog, like they had used to before the war. However, in 1946 an application to the British occupation authorities was rejected. In fact, the use of any flag outdoors was banned during the first post-war years. As the ban on the use of the Dannebrog outdoors left the Danish movement without any symbols to gather around, a process started that led to the development of a new symbol based on the arms of Schleswig: two blue lions against a yellow background. In 1949-1950 this process resulted in the creation of the lion flag.
With the Bonn-Copenhagen declaration of 1955, the ban on the outdoor
use of the Danish flag was lifted. However, the lion flag continued to
be used and the flag is still used by the Danes in South Schleswig. In
particular, the lion flag is associated with Sydslesvigsk Forening
(SSF) [South Schleswig Society], the main organization for the Danish minority
in South Schleswig.
Jan Oskar Engene, 19 May 2001
Note that the lions in the image at this
website are crowned. In the flag they are not. The crowned lions are
used in the logo of the most important Danish organization in Schleswig,
the Sydslesvigsk Forening, usually in blue against a white background.
Jan Oskar Engene, 31 Jul 2001
![[Unknown flag of the Danish Minority in South Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany)]](../images/d/de}sj2.gif)
5:7 image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 21 Mar 2009
Unknown flag:
There are the Danish colours of ratio 5:7 with the cross shifted to
the hoist. Upon its centre a yellow square fimbriated blue is superimposed.
Within the square are two yellow statant lions fimbriated blue, a modification
of the coat of arms of the Duchy of Schleswig.
I made a snapshot of this cars ticker on 15 August 2007. This sticker
is very common in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. It is said to be edited
by the Danish school association for South Schleswig, the website is www.skoleforeningen.org.
But unfortunately I couldn’t reconfirm the existence of that sticker
as a flag. I also must admit, that I removed a blue inscription “Sydslesvig”
in the lower fly from my image.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 21 Mar 2009