December — undated, 1920

The plebiscites in the disputed districts of Schleswig, which Bismarck promised by the Treaty of Prague as long ago as 1866, were carried out by the victorious Allies in the spring of 1920 after a moratorium of more than fifty years, and apparently with a minimum of rioting and disorder. They were divided into three zones and separate elections were ordered held in each of them. The northern zone voted almost unanimously to return to Denmark, the mother country. The vote in the middle zone revealed a large and very vocal German population in favor of remaining with the Vaterland; in the third zone, which commands the Kiel Canal and the new German naval bases, the recent German colonists or settlers were clearly in an overwhelming majority and so no election was held. The Danes might have claimed both these districts but they let them go, and probably they know what is best—at least for their domestic peace.

When in 1866 this territory was annexed by Berlin in its early predatory mood the inhabitants were Danish, but effective measures were taken to move them out. Many indeed left willingly, but those who clung to their old homes and what they call their “ancestral farms” were soon forced out. Even before the recent “free and fair” elections were held, and most observers agree that they were both, two at least of the Danish delegation told me that they would not be sticklers for their historic rights. The river Eder may have been the racial frontier one hundred years ago but they said, “We face quite a different situation today, and frankly we do not want any districts that reveal a large and vocal minority of Germans. We want none of them within our borders. Our kinsmen who have been submerged by the influx of the prolific invaders may return to their mother country and we will welcome them with open arms. The presence of even a German minority within our borders would mean chronic agitation, later perhaps civil war, and then probably another European conflagration.”

Doubtless from the domestic standpoint of the Danes this moderation was wise, but for the future peace of Europe I fear it is disastrous.