Saturday

My apologies to anyone who reads this for the belatedness of this post.  My dorm's Internet has been out for the last two weeks.  Apparently, there are too many students for the system to handle.  DIS Housing sent us an email stating that they are "working to find a solution," though we all know it's like the captain of the Titanic telling a bunch of steerage passengers that they're working on the leak.  In other words, there is an implicit assumption that we are screwed until further notice.  Thus all updates will likely occur from the DIS main building.  

Anyways.

On Saturday morning, we had breakfast at the hostel.  While eating, we noticed an enormous hare hopping around in the courtyard.  I regret that I did not take a picture of it.  The owner said that the hare has lived there for seven years, and comes out to eat the flowers.  When it's sunny, it flops over and suns itself.  Now there are some baby hares that show themselves from time to time.

After breakfast, we drove to the battlefield at Dybbøl.  This was the scene of the decisive battle of the Second Schleswig War of 1864.  Prussia under Otto von Bismark, assisted by Austria, invaded the southern Danish duchies of Schleswig and Holstein under the auspices of liberating the German minority there (admittedly, there was widespread support for Prussia among the German Danes).  Dybbøl, on an unassuming peninsula between Sealand and Jutland, presented the Danes with an opportunity to strike the invading Prussian forces from behind and cut their lines of supply.  On April 7, the Prussians surrounded Dybbøl and laid siege to the town.  Despite Danish control of the sea surrounding the town, they didn't stand a chance.  The Prussians possessed 37,000 men to the Danes' 11,000.  The Prussians also had longer-ranged, more accurate cannons than the Danes, and used modern breech-loading rifles while the Danes used muzzle-loaders.  On April 18, the Prussians emerged from their positions and charged.  The Danes were quickly overwhelmed and driven back, and the battle was decided in a matter of hours.  By the end of the day, the Danes counted 5,000 dead, wounded, and captured to the Prussians' 1,200.  The war was quickly over, peace was signed, and a third of Denmark -- the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein -- were ceded to Prussia.  Denmark would spend the following decades rebuilding and trying hard not to tick off Germany.   

Fortifications at Dybbøl

The view from the Danish side of the field.  Those little white things in the distance are sheep.  Now, imagine that those sheep are just a crazy amount of angry Prussians charging at you with bayonets.

The Dybbøl mill -- the last line of Danish defense.

Gun batteries facing the German lines.

Slugs were everywhere

Our next stop is to drive back across the border to Flensburg.  We are going to see the inauguration of a statue -- the Flensburger Löwe (the Flensburg Lion).  The lion was erected in Flensburg to commemorate the Danish victory over Schleswig-Holstein in the Battle of Isted in 1850.  When Flensburg was ceded to Prussia, the lion was moved to a military academy in Berlin.  After World War II, U.S. forces moved the lion to Copenhagen at the behest of the Danish government.  Now, the lion has gone back to its original place in the Flensburg cemetery.  The Danish prince, the Danish and German ambassadors, two bands, and plenty of townspeople are in attendance.  One thing I notice is that despite the official presence, there is virtually no security.

The graves of soldiers killed at Isted.

Some (fragmented) footage from the event.

We then drive to Knivsbjerg, in southern Denmark.  This area is home to a large German minority, and we visit a youth center run by a German Dane named Frank.  We eat lunch and hike up a large hill where the community erected a large memorial to Otto von Bismark in the late 19th century.  The memorial was blown up by the Danish resistance in 1945, and now only its base remains.

The view from the hill

The roof of the youth center is visible just over the hill.  There are a few tents set up -- this is a popular camping ground.

Walking back down the hill, we visit the "Hall of Honor," home to two memorials.  The first is dedicated to locals who died in World War I.  Five stones are marked with the dates of each year of the war.  Sadly, many of the dead were ethnic Danes forced to fight against their will (this area was returned to Denmark by referendum after World War I).

The second memorial is more controversial.  It is constructed in the same style as the first.  However, names of the fallen appear on these stones.  And -- this is a memorial to Danes who joined the Waffen-SS and died in the service of the Nazis (there were about 700 in total).  The Waffen-SS was responsible for most of the war crimes committed by the Nazis; generally more so than the regular army (which was also, of course, complicit).  Most of these men saw action on the Eastern front, and it is striking how the number of names drastically increase in 1941, when the invasion of the Soviet Union began, and skyrocketed from there.

From 1 in 1939... (who curiously died before Denmark was even involved in the war)

Some of the names have been scratched off.  These are men who have been proven by historical record to have been involved with war crimes; their names were removed by local authorities.  It is likely that many more should be removed -- but until historical evidence is uncovered, they will remain.

...to lots and lots by 1945.

 Then it's back home to Copenhagen.  On the bus ride back, the stream of depressing movies reaches its climax with a film called Murk, about a serial killer who lives in Jutland.  What is wrong with Scandinavian filmmakers?

Crossing the bridge back to Sealand.  Where there are fewer serial killers.