• 18.06.2020 - 19.06.2020
  • 🇩🇪 Deutschland / Flensburg
  • European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)
  • zur Website
  • abgesagt / verschoben

Minorities and Self-determination – 100th Anniversary of the Post-World War I Plebiscites

This one-time conference is co-organised by the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) and the Danish Central Library for South Schleswig (DCBIB), both located in Flensburg, Germany. The ECMI conducts practice and policy-oriented research, provides information and documentation, and offers advisory services concerning minority-majority relations in Europe. The research department at the DCBIB concentrates on the history of the Danish-German border area, with a particular focus on the Danish minority in Southern Schleswig and relations between Denmark and Germany.

The conference coincides with the 100th anniversary of the border settlement between Denmark and Germany resulting from the outcome of two plebiscites held in Northern and Middle Schleswig. At the same time, Schleswig was only one of several European regions where plebiscites concerning self-determination were held in the aftermath of World War I. Other areas, such as Allenstein and Marienwerder in West and East Prussia, Upper Silesia on the German-Polish border, Carinthia on the border between Austria and Slovenia and Burgenland on the border between Austria and Hungary, experienced similar plebiscites, however each of them took place within a different context and as a consequence delivered differing ramifications and experiences.

The aim of the conference is to draw attention to these plebiscites and the impact they have had on national minorities in the relevant areas, alongside reflection on the notion of self-determination itself and legal frameworks concerning minority rights elaborated in the aftermath of World War I. A crucial element of the conference will be to enhance the comparative and interdisciplinary perspective in scholarly research concerning aforementioned issues.

The deadline for abstracts submission is 15 October 2019.