Southern Jutland: family history from 1864 to the Reunification of 1920

Few places in Denmark have a family history as dramatic as Sønderjylland. From the defeat of 1864 to the Reunification of 1920, Southern Jutland families lived between two countries – and their experiences are found in letters and diaries written in Gothic script, which many descendants still have. For anyone who wishes to understand their own Southern Jutland family history, it is precisely these documents that often preserve the most personal traces of an era that shaped the region forever.

A region under foreign rule

The defeat of 1864 cost Denmark Sønderjylland, and for more than half a century Danish Southern Jutlanders lived under German rule. The language of school and administration became German, while many held on to Danish behind the walls of their homes. This left deep marks on the families – and in their letters.

What the region lost in 1864

The Second Schleswig War culminated in the Battle of Dybbøl on 18 April 1864, when the Danish redoubts fell. With the peace, Denmark lost the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, and the border was moved all the way up to the Kongeå river. For Southern Jutland families, it meant belonging to another realm from one day to the next. Family farms, parishes and trading connections that for generations had faced north now lay south of a new border.

Language policy and Danish-minded optants

Under Prussian and later German rule, German was gradually introduced as the language of instruction and administration. Children learned to write in German at school, official letters and church registers followed German regulations, and the Danish language increasingly became something one held on to at home – at the dinner table, in song and in letters to the family. Many Danish-minded people chose to become so-called optants: they opted for Danish citizenship rather than German, which often came at a high price, because it could mean expulsion or the loss of rights. It is this duality – German on the outside, Danish at heart – that makes Southern Jutland documents so special to read today.

Letters across a border

Family documents from Southern Jutland from this period are often in Gothic handwriting, which was common to both the Danish and the German school traditions. Some letters are in Danish, others in German, and many switch between the languages. Young Southern Jutlanders were conscripted into the German army and wrote home from the front during the First World War.

That a letter mixes Danish and German is therefore not a mistake or a coincidence – it reflects how life was actually lived. A mother could write the warm greeting in Danish and at the same time use German words for authorities, military ranks or place names, because that was how they appeared in everyday life. The Gothic script binds it all together and means that many descendants today struggle to read even letters they know perfectly well concern their own family.

What the letters can contain

When a Southern Jutland family letter is finally deciphered, a whole world often emerges between the lines. Typically, such documents can contain:

Greetings and everyday accounts from the family farm, showing how the family managed under foreign rule.
Letters from the front during 1864 and later the First World War, written by young men in uniform.
Reflections on becoming an optant or on emigrating – sometimes to America, which you can read more about in our article on the history of emigrant letters.
Baptisms, weddings and deaths, often with references to the parishes you also find in church registers and censuses.
Moods surrounding the border, the plebiscites and the Reunification of 1920 – seen in the words of ordinary people.

Southern Jutlanders in German uniform during the First World War

When the First World War broke out in 1914, it affected the Southern Jutland families in a very particular way. Around 30,000 Danish-minded Southern Jutlanders were conscripted into the German army and had to fight in a uniform that many did not feel was their own. Over 5,000 of them fell at the fronts in France, Belgium and further east. Behind each of those numbers stands a family that waited for post.

The letters from the front are some of the most moving documents from the entire period. A son could write home in Danish about cold, hunger and longing, while the censorship and the official papers were in German. When such a letter is deciphered today, the descendants suddenly hear a voice they thought had been lost – a grandfather or a great-uncle telling how he felt on the day he put pen to paper. Memorials around the region still bear the names of the fallen, but it is in the personal letters that grief and hope become truly close.

The Reunification of 1920

When the Reunification came in 1920, it was the culmination of generations of hope. A deciphered letter or a diary from the period can show how a family experienced the border, the war and the reunification – seen from within, in the words of ordinary people.

The plebiscites and the king on the white horse

After Germany's defeat in the First World War, the future of the border was decided by plebiscites in 1920. The region was divided into voting zones, and in Zone 1 – northern Sønderjylland – a clear majority voted to belong to Denmark. The result was a new border that broadly lies where it lies today. The joy was indescribable for the Danish-minded who had held on for more than half a century. The reunification was marked when King Christian X rode across the old border on a white horse on 10 July 1920 – an image that has since become the very symbol of the Reunification of 1920.

Many families kept, precisely from these years, the letters, diaries and congratulations that best captured the moment. The small, personal notes tell how it felt to finally belong – and they are an invaluable source if you want to understand your own Southern Jutland family history from within.

How to find and preserve the Southern Jutland documents

Many of the most important papers lie closer than you think – in a drawer, an old envelope or a box in the attic. Before you begin deciphering, it can pay off to go about it systematically:

Gather everything in one place: letters, postcards, diaries, baptismal certificates and photographs with inscriptions.
Photograph or scan each document in good lighting, so that the fragile original does not have to be handled more than necessary.
Note what you already know – names, years and places – so that the deciphering can be linked to the right branch of the family.
Supplement them with public sources such as church registers and censuses, which can confirm dates and family ties.
Store the originals in a dark, dry place, and let a deciphered, digital version be the one the family uses in everyday life.

The greatest challenge is almost always the script itself. The Gothic handwriting with its ornate letters can seem impenetrable, especially when Danish and German are mixed on the same page. Here technology can help: instead of deciphering letter by letter, you can photograph the page and have it converted into readable text in a few moments. If you would like to try with one of your own letters, you can upload an image via our deciphering tool and see for yourself what is hidden in the script.

With MormorsBreve you can have Southern Jutland documents deciphered, whether they are in Danish or German, and translated, so that the whole family can read along. See also our page on Sønderjylland 1864–1920.

Your family's history deserves to be read – not just tucked away. Let MormorsBreve decipher the old, Gothic letters from 1864 to the Reunification of 1920, so that they can speak to the whole family again. The first pages are free, so you can try it with your own documents before going further.