Tag Archives: 1864

Impressions and photos from “Kampen om Als”

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This is a guest post by Iulian who has lived in Sønderborg for three years and has a blog in Romanian about social media for non-profits.

After spending the whole weekend surrounded by gunpowder smell and a lot of soldiers from a century and a half ago I think it might be interesting, for those of you that didn’t participate, to see what happened and why you shouldn’t miss it the next time.

First of all, is the night battle. Around 2:30 in the morning the things start moving in the camp. People gather close to the water where the Prussians are expected to attack. Boat movements, cannon fire, rifles and a lot of tension in the air. This happens in semi-darkness, only enough for the human eye to distinguish the flow of the events. During all the events, there is a narrator that makes the things even more interesting by giving background insights.

Then I remarked the authenticity. The people are dressed in the old costumes, they live in the army tents, they eat and drink from the old dishes and food is served by the army regiment from an army car attachment. Some of the cooking ladies even have an old outdoor stove or a fireplace in the ground for preparing the food. What’s the interesting part is that you can also be part of the people living in the camp, taking part in all the activities.

There are often demonstrations of the weapons, military activities and costumes. You can see cannons firing from 2 metres, battle simulations with a big number of soldiers, different weapons in actions, costumes of the people from that age, horse presentations. It seemed that there is always something happening there.

Besides the activities, there are also small exhibitions with the equipment and tools used at war. If you’re a fan of old weaponry, this is the right place to come. Not only will you get to put your hands on the old rifles (by the way, one was around 4 kg) but you can even talk with the owners and they can astonish you with some nice stories. I could see old weapons and aspects of the military but there were also exhibited utensils used by paramedics, showing the progress that medicine has made in 150 years.

The people scale the event. As I said, they are very happy to exchange some words with you. For example, this man from Norway was amazing. He explained for hours to all the curious people what was “his” purpose in the battle. How technologically advanced was his weapon. What equipment did he carry, what are the symbols on the hat that made him recognizable as part of a specific regiment, what is the decoration on his collar and how year by year he needs to regain it. There were also some Czech guys that were in the party mood and they seemed to have some prohibited alcohol in the camp, without their commander knowing it. That was probably the fun of taking part in the event as a participant and not only as a spectator. And they seemed to have the most of it.

After such a long tour of the camp, before going home a bit smokey from the fire and gunpowder, you can try the desserts in one of the tents. This old style sweet, made without cooking, was very good. Don’t miss it next year! And if you have proofs that you’ve been around the events, just post them here.

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The Battle of Als (Kampen om Als) 2014

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During the coming weekend Sonderborg will be awash with memories of 1864. We asked Ditte Kock, a historian working at Historiecenter Dybbøl Banke, to tell us a bit more about what the event is and what will happen. Here is what she said:

As you may have noticed, the war in 1864 is very important here in Sønderborg. The battle on Dybbøl hill on the 18th of April is the most famous event of the war and it is marked with a military ceremony every year. The assault on Dybbøl led to a peace conference in London, which led to nothing. The war broke out again and on the 29th of june, Prussia attacked Als. The battle was a crushing defeat for Denmark and it has largely been forgotten since.

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This weekend, Historiecenter Dybbøl Banke reenacts the battle. We begin Saturday at 11.00 with a parade from the castle through Perlegade and up to Rønhave plads. There will be Danish and Prussian soldiers, horses dragging canons and women in beautiful dresses. At 14.00-19.00 the soldiers camp (drive to Burger King and follow the signs) opens. There will be stories about the war and the people who participated, battle demonstrations and much much more. Sunday morning at 03.00 we reenact the battle at the historically correct time. Prussian soldiers sail across the water and defeat the Danish army. This is a spectacular experience that you should not miss. Again, drive to Burger King and follow the signs. The soldiers camp opens again Sunday 10.00-19.00. Entrance for the entire weekend is 50 kr. I hope to see you there!

At the same time, Sønderborg city hosts a new event called 1864dage. The city will return to 1864 and there will be a market and several other 1864 events. It should be very fun and much less formal than the ceremony on the 18th of April.

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The Battle of Als is a yearly reenactment, although this year will be a particularly special event with it being 150 years since the events. You can read more about our experience last year. You can also read more about this year’s programme here.

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The Battle of Als/Kampen om Als

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1864 is a significant year in the history of the region, with an influence that is still trickling down to the present day. This is the year of the second Schleswig-Holstein war, when Denmark fought Prussia for control of the duchies in this region.

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One of the most well-known battles from this war is the Battle of Dybbol on the 18th of June. However, for Als the defining moment is the 29th of June, when the Prussian army crossed Als Sound in the early hours of the morning and managed to take over Als. Als remained part of the Prussian/Germany lands up to the referendum of 1920.

For a long time the wounds from this war cut quite deep to the people living in the region. However, over the years the wounds of this war have abated such that the region is finding it in itself to commemorate the happenings. One of the ways this is done is by the now yearly ‘Kampen Om Als/Battle of Als‘ reenactment.

Kampen om Als was first held last year in order to promote interest in this event that helped define the Danish lands. The reenactment consists of the setting up of a historical soldier camp on the last weekend of June, with a reenactment of the crossing of Als sound.

The Soldier Camp

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The soldier camp is set up on Kær peninsula on Als. This year there were plenty of activities going on in combination with the camp for people like us who were not actively participating in the reenactment. There was food to taste, gunpowder to smell, soldier tents to see and loud bangs from firing guns and cannons to be heard. This being the second year the size of the camp is not too big. Therefore, you can get the time to enjoy every aspect without feeling overwhelmed by it all.

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The Crossing of Als Sound

This was the highlight of the reenactment for us and, probably, most of the participants. We arrived on site around 2:30am, waiting for the crossing to occur at the historically accurate time of 3am. In preparation for the crossing pictures from the time were beamed onto a sheet, setting the atmosphere for the 300 or so observers. Soon after Bjørn Østergaard started a commentary about the events of the day, what we were going to participate in and what we were seeing that continued throughout the whole event.This was probably what made the reenactment for me as it helped me understand what I was seeing and why it was significant (even with my basic Danish!).

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At 3 am boats ‘Prussian troops’ started crossing over towards Als. It was still dark so they were very hard to spot. No wonder they managed to over run Als! Once they were spotted the shooting extravaganza started. There was shooting at the boats, a battle between the Danish and Prussian on land, and the arrival of the Danish navy boat Rolf Krake. The real army, who was responsible for letting off the explosions, together with sounds and flashes, sure seemed to have had a great time preparing for this!

What next?

Next year is the 150 anniversary of 1864. This means bigger (and better things). It is already expected that next year will see around 3 times more reenactors than this year. Do keep an eye out on the website to hear about plans for next year. We will also be writing more about the event as we get closer to the date. In the meantime, if you are interested in the 1864 war, do keep an eye out on the 1864live twitter account, which is publishing short snippets about the 1864 war as they happened – with a 150 year delay.

Live tweeting from Second Schleswig War 1864

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Since we moved to Sønderborg a year ago I have been fascinated by the history of this region and in particular how destiny has changed the lords of these lands back and forth between dukes, kings and kaisers. The most spectacular change is probably Denmark’s defeat in the Second Schleswig War and more the Battle of Dybbol in 1864.

In 2014 it will be 150 years since the battle took place and there will be renewed attention to this war. One very interesting idea in telling the story of what caused the war and how the different parties progressed is the recently started 1864live.dk created by three historians; Peter Yding Brunbech, Steffen Lind Christensen and Lene Elmegaard Bladt. 1864live publishes small snippets of text on a blog, Twitter and Facebook as they happened 150 years ago like this:

We asked the people who created the site a couple of questions about the site.

Where did you get the idea for the project?

We got inspiration from many different social platform communication projects, but the most important one is probably the project RealtimeWWII that is live tweeting from the second world war.

What technology do you use to manage the 3 platforms?

We tried a couple of different systems but decided on a wordpress-blog because it was the easiest to update on blog twitter and Facebook automatically. It’s working ok, but of course it would be better to create separate content for each platform. That would however take too much time.

What sources do you use?

We are all historians and use a range of different sources. Amongst others some good general works on Danish foreign policy and German policy in the period. But also contemporary newspapers such as “Fædrelandet” and “Illustreret Tidende”. And some of the older very thorough works on the subject like Neergaard’s “Danmark under junigrundloven”

Do you have any plans or thoughts about translations?

It would be great to be able to do it in German and/or English but we simply dont have the resources

Are you collaborating with any institutions?

We are not collaborating with anyone at the moment but have a very open mind as to the possibilities. We just have not gotten around to it yet.

Which aspects of the conflict do you find the most interesting yourself?

Perhaps because I am an historian my chief interest is the very complex political background to the whole conflict, and how it is very difficult to understand the conflict properly if you do not understand the different views in those days on such concepts as nation, state and democracy.

Do you get any funding?

No, we don’t but we wouldn’t say no to some either 🙂

– Very interesting idea. I hope they can keep up the steam over the next two years and I am looking forward to following the war – from a distance.

Visit to Dybbol Historic Centre

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Dybbol Historic Centre tells the story of the 1864 war. During this war the Danish border was pushed northwards as the land around Dybbol was won by the Prussians. It was only during a referendum in 1920 as part of the reparations of WWI that the land came back under Danish rule. This war had a significant effect on the area that is still felt to this day.

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The 1864 story is told in a number of ways. First of all you get to watch a video about the war. I was surprised that the first part of the video focussed on the war movements and where the trenches where, before we got to why the war was being fought. I guess that most of the visitors are Danes and Germans from the area who already have very solid knowledge of this war, which is why this explanation is not critical. On the plus side, getting the commentary in English on my headphones was not a problem at all.

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Following the video you are directed to a diorama of the Danish trenches. I liked that the background on the 4 people in the diorama were given a background, explaining how they got to be there. In this background you also got information that one of the guys was 35 and was there as a ‘paid replacement’ for someone’s son. This information made it that much better in providing the emotion of the war.

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However, you don’t only get to hear and see what the war was like, you can also experience the story in the outside area. With events organised throughout the day, such as shooting of guns and a telling of the story of a soldier. You can also make pancakes on an open fire and make bullets, as was done during the winter special opening.

A visit to this site is a pleasant way of spending a morning. From the 1st of April to the end of October it is open daily from 10-17. During winter there are special winter events on specific weekends.

Dybbøl – Denmarks Killing Fields

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In 1864 Denmark was massively defeated by the Austrian/Prussian armies on a hill just outside today’s Sønderborg around Dybbøl, a village on top of a hill. The politicians in Copenhagen had little knowledge of what the conditions were on the ground and called on the army to defend the fortification by any means. The Danes were outmanned one to nine and once the Prussians attacked they completely overran the Danish defense.

In two years time the biggest TV production ever made in Denmark will tell the story of the people of the battle of Dybbøl. We will write more about that when we hear it.

For now you can see a music video recently released by the Danish country singer Lars Lilholt where he sings about the battle and calls it Denmark’s Killing Fields. Parts of the video is shot in hills in Dybbøl with old cannons etc.

If you want to learn more about the battle, the Dybbøl History Centre will open for the 2012 season on April 1st.

Winter special at Dybbøl Banke Historiecenter #9/99

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My 9 year old nephew had a week off for Winter Holiday and came to visit us for a couple of days in Sønderborg. It was the perfect excuse for me to go and visit the History Centre at Dybbøl Banke and the winter special they were doing during the children’s winter holiday.

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My nephew and I made our way up the hill and inside the history center before the doors closed. During winter there is a specific starting time to the tour by when you have to be there. Since this is off season and the centre is really only built for summer openings the building is cold and they have a different programme. As the soldiers experienced 149 years ago when the Danes first abandoned Dannevirke and started to dig in at Dybbøl we got to feel the chills and winds of the Danish winter.

On the day we were 75 visitors and we got divided into three groups that each were led by a story teller/tour guide. Ours was Steen and he was good at grabbing the attention of the kids and getting them involved in explaining the circumstances the soldiers found themselves in, in the trenches.

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We were then shown the equipment the Danes and the Prussians carried with them to war and two of the kids got dressed up as our guide told stories of how the Germans envied the Danish long shafted boots, how the German state-of-the-art rifles were four times faster than the Danish and how the two soldiers would meet in the middle of the battlefield at night, hats in hand to drink and talk only to be back fighting the politicians way when day broke again.

After that we went outside where the kids (big and small) got to make their own bullets and make pancakes over open fire while we could warm ourselves with warm beer, hot cocoa or coffee.

Pancakes in the making

My nephew swore the pancakes were the best he had ever had and for the rest of his visit in Sonderborg he would often take the bullet out of his pocket and admire it.

We were shown the soldier barracks where we got more stories and then our visit to the centre ended with a bang as the guide fired off a smaller replica of a cannon.

School Cannon going off at Dybbøl Historiecenter

For the rest of the winter Dybbøl Historiecenter opens on Saturdays for tours (without the pancakes and bullet making, I think) and the regular season runs from April 1st to October 31st.

Route 1864 – Tales and sounds from the battlefield

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Just west of Sonderborg is Dybbøl Banke the site of one of the most important battles in Danish history. We’ll tell you more about the story some other time. This post is just about a new exhibit about to open.

QR Codes by Dybbøl Banke

Photo: Historiecenter Dybbøl Banke

For the coming Autumn Vacation Rute 1864 will be opened. The route consists of 12 locations where events took place during the Battle of Dybbol. At each location you can listen to a sound piece from an eye witness. To listen you need a smartphone that can read QR codes. An example of one of the sound bites is the Prussian military engineer Ernst Schütze talking about the pontoon bridge that would be used to bring the heavy field guns with horses across the 600 meters wide Alssund.

Rute 1864 opens Friday the 14th of October. For more information (in Danish) visit m.1864.dk or read the story on Facebook.

So far there is no information about what languages the signs and sounds are in, but we will add this information if we figure that out.