National Identity and Veteran Culture in a Border Region: The Danish Minority in the German Army during the First World War

Abstract

This article examines whether a distinctive type of war experience developed among the 26,000 soldiers from the Danish minority in Schleswig south of the Dano–German border who were conscripted into the German Army during the First World War. The analysis is focused on how the soldiers voiced their national identity during their encounters with the German Army and the civilian populations in Eastern and Western Europe. Subsequently, it is investigated whether the veteran culture, which developed among the troops from the Danish minority, was marked by a distinct war experience.