Deutsches Gymnasium in Aabenraa

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European perspectives

By Inge Adriansen, Museumsinspektør, Ph.D., Museum Sønderjylland (6 stories)

The private high school Deutsches Gymnasium in Aabenraa was founded in 1959. The building is strictly modernistic and was designed by architects Otto Weitling and M. Kragh. The high school has about 150 students who can take both Danish and German upper secondary school leaving examinations. With two certificates, the students can continue studying in both Denmark and Germany on equal terms with Danish and German pupils. The high school focuses on putting education in a European perspective. The lessons are taught in German, all except for Danish language lessons. A boarding school building is attached to the high school that can house 48 students.

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German minority high school gets the right to hold exams

Story written by Inge Adriansen

Time / Periode 1955 1959

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The German education system in South Jutland had its right to hold examinations revoked in 1945 but regained it in 1955. On 29 March, Denmark's Prime Minister Hans Christian Hansen and Germany's Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer issued a guarantee for the rights of minorities north and south of the Danish-German border. As a small state, Denmark did not wish to enter into a mutually binding agreement with Germany. The risk was that Germany would gain the opportunity to interfere in Danish matters. The solution was a diplomatic masterpiece with two identical guarantees that the heads of state gave their respective minorities. The Copenhagen-Bonn Declarations enabled the German minority in Aabenraa re-established its high school. The school was an important step towards levelling the playing field for the minority and majority in that part of the country.