{"id":1211,"date":"2015-04-30T23:40:07","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T23:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=1211"},"modified":"2015-04-30T23:45:35","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T23:45:35","slug":"crossing-the-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2015\/04\/30\/crossing-the-border\/","title":{"rendered":"Crossing the Border"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The INDGANG (Danish: entrance) to Poetsch shopping centre in Padborg, Germany.<\/p><\/div>\n

Vil du med til gr\u00e6nsen? <\/b>(Do you want to [go] with [us] to the border?) When two friends offered me en plads i bilen<\/b> (a spot in the car), I couldn\u2019t miss the chance to go on my first ever gr\u00e6nsehandel<\/b> (border trade [trip]). Not that I actually needed to k\u00f8be<\/b> (buy) anything on the German side of the gr\u00e6nse<\/b> between Danmark<\/b> and Tyskland<\/b> (Germany)\u2026 But with so many people talking about their border-crossings, I too wanted to take a look\u2026<\/p>\n

Gr\u00e6nselandet<\/b> (the border district) has always been a \u201dhot zone\u201d between danskerne<\/b> (the Danes) and their southern naboer<\/b> (neighbours). At the \u201dfoot\u201d of the Jylland<\/b> peninsula are the two old duchies of Slesvig og Holsten<\/b> (in German: Schleswig und Holstein<\/i>). At one point of history, they were ruled by the king of Denmark. Later on, they became German. (In 1864, Denmark lost a war against Germany [Prussia] over these territories \u2013 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of nederlaget<\/b>, the defeat, Danish television broadcast the very expensive series \u201d1864<\/b>\u201d last year.) In 1920, the people of Nordslesvig<\/b> (Northern Slesvig) voted to be reunited with Denmark. To celebrate the historical moment, King Christian X crossed the former border at the stream Konge\u00e5en <\/b>(King\u2019s Stream) on a hvid hest<\/b> (white horse).<\/p>\n

Today, there is a small group of German-speakers in Southernmost Denmark, and a bigger minority of Danish-speakers in Northernmost Germany. The German Danes have their own skoler<\/b> (schools), butikker<\/b> (shops) and everything. They\u2019re quite visible, for example in the city of Flensburg, where you find Danish restaurants with little Dannebrog<\/b> flags, a couple of bilingual street signs, and so on. I think Denmark has been less respectful to its Danish Germans \u2013 for example, some days ago, people in \u00c5benr\u00e5 tore down a new sign that had added the town\u2019s German name (Apenrade<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"\u201dDansk<\/a>

\u201dDansk Softis\u201d in Flensburg. In Denmark, the sign would\u2019ve said \u201dDansk Softice\u201d.<\/p><\/div>\n

So, back to indk\u00f8bene<\/b> (the \u201dshoppings\u201d): Just at the other side of the border, you pass some enormous warehouses with big parkeringspladser <\/b>(parking lots). All the cars are clearly from Denmark. The billboards are in Danish. You choose a mall, grab an indk\u00f8bsvogn<\/b> (shopping trolley) and hunt down goods such as \u00f8l<\/b> (beer), slik<\/b> (candy, sweets) and cigaretter<\/b>. The lady at the counter speaks Danish.<\/p>\n

Why are there so many Danes driving to Germany to shop goods that you can easily get in Denmark? One of my two companions told me it was just part of life for people in Southern Jutland. If you buy large amounts of something \u2013 such as d\u00e5se\u00f8l<\/b>\u00a0(canned beer) \u2013 you may even save some money: Goods are still a bit cheaper in Germany than in Denmark. But hey, even if they weren\u2019t, nothing really tops the thrill of crossing gr\u00e6nsen<\/b>, does it? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Vil du med til gr\u00e6nsen? (Do you want to [go] with [us] to the border?) When two friends offered me en plads i bilen (a spot in the car), I couldn\u2019t miss the chance to go on my first ever gr\u00e6nsehandel (border trade [trip]). Not that I actually needed to k\u00f8be (buy) anything on the…<\/p>\n

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