ANOTHER GERMAN MINORITY THREATENS
A NATION STATE
Date of Report 28 October 2002
Translated 1 November 2002
COPENHAGEN (Own report) : The leading official of the German-speaking
minority in Denmark has called upon the Danish people to remember its
National Socialist collaborators instead of reacting with "resentment"
to everything German. With a clearly threatening undertone it was said
that the Danes also had made "mistakes" which still remained
to be worked out. These comments were published by a German minority
newspaper in Denmark which is funded from Berlin with taxpayers' money.
The cause of the demands by the German official, Hans Heinrich Hansen,
is the growing reservation against the European policy of Berlin and
of its propagandists in Denmark. On account of increased hostility,
Hansen said, they should "have the courage .. to acknowledge their
(German) roots"
Alluding to the occupation of Denmark by the Wehrmacht, Hansen regreted
that the Danes still had "an earlier, negative image of Germany".
This functionary of German national identity (*1) calls upon Danish
politicians "to make their influence felt" and to think of
the "crucial archive" of Danish collaborators with National
Socialism "which has remained closed until now".
Post War Careers
As in all occupied countries, the German regime in Denmark attracted
beneficiaries from business and politics whose careers continued in
the post war years. These circles were used especially in the East-West
conflict and were (or are) capable of being blackmailed because of their
complicity in the Nazi occupation.
"In close Association"
This threatening hint to Danish collaborators comes from the ranks
of "The League of German North Schleswig" (BdN), an organisation
founded by former anti-Semites and red hot Nazis. (They believe that
Denmark is no more than "North Schleswig Holstein" i.e. a
part of the German State of that name! ed)
To this day the officials of the German-speaking minority maintain a
"Grove of Honour" on Danish soil in which they gather yearly
to commemorate their fallen Nazi soldiers.
According to the BdN newspaper of 28 September 2002, the status of
this "Grove of Honour" should be enhanced. It can be said
that Siegfried Matlock, the representative of the minority organisation
in the Danish parliament, stands "in close association" with
Werner Best, the former commander of the Nazi occupation in Denmark.
He edited a book about Best with "unconcealed sympathy and, yes,
admiration". Best was praised in this book (*2) for his "national(*3),
organic, world view" - yet he was Heydrich's deputy and accused
of four thousand murders.
The "League of German North Schleswig", its officials and
newspaper, "The North Schleswiger" is located in Abenra (Denmark)
and funded from Berlin by the German Ministry of the Interior.
(*1) The word used was "Deutschtum" - literally Germandom
(*2) Ulrich Herbert: Best . Biographical Studies on Radicalism, World
View and Reason. Bonn 1996
(*3) The word used was "voelkisch" - literally folkish
SOURCE: "Resentments are the everyday
lot of Germans" The North Schleswiger 18 October 2002
CONFIRMATORY INFORMATION
HISTORY TODAY Vol 52 (11) November 2002 Page 14
"Danish historians are calling for a sealed archive, which may
hold the names of up to 300,000 Danish Nazis or Nazi sympathisers to
be opened in order that the true extent of Denmark's collaboration with
Nazis during the Second World War can be gauged. The archive is subject
to an eighty year closure (August 28th) "
