Following the German defeat that ended World War One (1918), according to paragraph 109-114 of the Versailles Peace Conference (1919) two plebiscites were held in Northern Schleswig-Holstein to settle the national affiliations with the Kingdom of Denmark or the German Reich. On 10th February 1920, the northern zone (North Schleswig) voted for Denmark in a 75 % poll – supervised by an English and French allied task force of 3,000 men. On 14th March 1920 the southern zone (Middle Schleswig) voted for Germany in an 80 % poll – including Flensburg, whose population voted 75 % for Germany. Accordingly, the Peace Conference determined the zone-demarcation (Clausenlinie) as the new (as today) border. The defeated population segments respectively joined forces to form the “German Folkgroup“ in Danish Northern Schleswig and the “Danish Minority“ in German Southern Schleswig.[1]
[1] Andreas Oeding, Broder Schwensen & Michael Sturm (editors): FLexikon. 725 Aha-Erlebnisse aus Flensburg. 2009, p. 6
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