Biel - Bienne, Monday,
25 June 2007
More bilingual signs in Germany- but idea of German signs in southern Denmark sparks controversy
by Peter Josika
A new ruling by the German Ministry of Infrastructure paves the way for more bilingual place-name signs in Germany. The areas affected by the new rules will be the northernmost state (Bundesland) of Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, where autochthonous Frisians, Danes and Low-Germans live. While bilingual signs have already been erected in many traditional Frisian-speaking communities, there are, as yet, no signs in Danish and Low-German.
While the Low-Germans have welcomed the new ruling, the Danish minority initially expressed caution as the erection of Danish signs in Germany would automatically create a case for German signs in Denmark, where there is a German minority in the southern Danish district of Sønderjylland/Nordschleswig. Minority rights on both sides of the German-Danish border have traditionally been reciprocal.
However, chances of a reciprocal agreement on the matter of bilingual signs have become increasingly remote after a proposal by the German minority in Denmark was universally rejected by Danish politicians and the media. The recently elected President of the German minority in Denmark, Hinrich Jürgensen, openly suggested the erection of bilingual signs in four Danish municipalities with traditional German minorities- Aabenraa /Apenrade, Haderslev/Hadersleben, Sønderborg/Sonderburg and Tønder/Tondern. Mr Jürgensen appealed to make these four towns “examples of tolerance and openess”.
But Mr Jürgensen’s suggestion was immediately condemned by the Danish right-wing populist Søren Krarup, Pastor and MP of the Danish People’s Party. “Danish signs must be Danish. This commands the respect for the majority”, Mr Krarup said.
The Lord Mayor of Aabenraa /Apenrade, Ms Tove Larsson, also rejected the proposal stating in a newspaper interview: “Our town is called Aabenraa. The Germans know that. Anything else would be the wrong signal”. And underlining how many politicians often fail to distinguish between autochthonous and migrant minorities, Ms Larsson added: “Should we put up signs in Arabic and Turkish as well?”
The Danish daily “Jyllands-Posten” called the proposal “silly” as it is “provocative” and “creates unnecessary conflict”. The paper also expressed the opinion that some older Danes that lived through the Nazi occupation may be offended by the sight of German place-names.
Mr Peter Dragsbo from the Sønderborg Regional Museum belongs to a small group of Danes that support bilingual signs on both sides of the border. He criticised that while people do not hesitate to put up “Zimmer Frei” (“Room available” in German) signs to gain business they often become rampant nationalists when it comes to German signage.
In Germany, SSW, the Danish minority organisation, have decided to officially apply for bilingual signs in the regional capital Flensburg/Flensborg. The move is expected to be successful as most legal obstacles have now been removed while little resistance from the German majority is expected. The formal request was sent to the German Ministry of Infrastructure on June 22 and has the formal support of the Lord mayor of Flensburg, Mr Klaus Tscheuschner.
In a separate event, both the German minority in Denmark as well as the Danish minority of Germany, have joined forces in an appeal to the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). DR plans to withdraw a local broadcasting window for Danish radio that often focuses on minority matters. The two minority groups sent a formal letter to DR’s Chief Executive, Mr Kenneth D. Plummer last Friday (June 22). (Eurolang 2007)