Schleswig-Holstein

The "Schleswig-Holstein question" as it was known at the time was one of the most intractable diplomatic quandaries of the mid-19th century. While Schleswig and Holstein were both under the administration of the Danish king and had been for centuries, there were several complicating factors: Holstein had different inheritance laws from Denmark proper and Schleswig, which meant that upon the childless death of the Danish king (which just so happened to appear imminent in the mid-third of the 1800s) the two would fall to different branches of the convoluted European nobility. There was, however, an old law saying the two territories were to be "forever unseparated" (op ewig ungedeeld) and many of the locals — be they Danish-, German- or Frisian-speaking or any multilingual combination thereof — wanted the two territories to remain together. However, nationalistic ambitions of both Danes and Germans included all of the territory in their plans and Germans tended to dominate in Holstein while Danes dominated in Schleswig. The issue was so complicated that a British prime minister said "There are three people who understand the Schleswig-Holstein question. Prince Albert, who is dead, a German professor who has gone insane and I who have forgotten all about it".

During the 1848 revolutions, hotheads on both sides caused a war over Schleswig-Holstein that was however abandoned with no clear winner when the political situation in Prussia changed. Sixteen years later, Prussia used rather similar reasons to start another war, defeating Denmark with their Austrian allies even though the Danes made use of the old "Danewirke", a defensive fortification that had been built to fight Charlemagne, one last time. Austria and Prussia partitioned Schleswig and Holstein between them. In 1866, two years after the war, Bismarck deliberately escalated a conflict with Austria regarding the administration of Schleswig and Holstein into another short but decisive war which left Prussia the dominating German-speaking power. Austria reformed into Austria-Hungary, and Prussia launched a war on France in 1870-71 that resulted in the founding of the German Empire.

A historical novel about this period is Royal Flash; it was made into a film.

After World War II, Schleswig-Holstein became one of the regions of Germany that took in the highest number of refugees compared to its prewar population. Lübeck, which had lost its status as a self-governing city state within Germany under a 1935 Nazi law, tried and failed to get its old status back through a suit at the constitutional court.

Post-war Schleswig-Holstein politics have become particularly bitter, as the left and right blocs are of similar size and viciously opposed to each other. In the 1987 electoral campaign Uwe Barschel, Schleswig-Holstein prime minister and member of the centre-right Christian Democrats, used a number of dirty tricks to discredit his Social Democratic opponent Björn Engholm. Barschel was caught in the act, and after giving his "word of honour" that he was innocent, died under mysterious circumstances in Geneva. His death was ruled a suicide, but to this day speculations as to murder or the backgrounds of his death are rampant - the amateurish investigation of local police did not help matters. Engholm meanwhile had to resign later because he'd known more earlier than he admitted. In 2005 Heide Simonis, the long-time state prime minister from the Social Democratic Party, failed to get elected in the parliament because a still unknown member of her proposed coalition refused to vote for her for unknown reasons. The "Grand Coalition" that was formed instead was incredibly acrimonious: it broke down in 2009, leading to snap elections that year. The 2009 election produced a majority in parliament that had received fewer votes than the opposition due to an interpretation of unclear sections of the electoral law later held to be unconstitutional. This led to new elections in 2012 that were mandated by the courts to remedy the issue. The 2012 election threw out the CDU-FDP coalition and replaced it with an SPD-led government as the seats in parliament now more accurately reflected the votes. After the 2017 election a CDU-FDP-Greens "Jamaica" (named for the colours of the flag of that country) coalition formed government, propelling Robert Habeck to the national leadership of his Green Party.

• Schleswig-Holstein tourism website

Hamburg Airport (HAM ^IATA) has excellent connections by train to many destinations in Schleswig-Holstein and the Schleswig-Holstein Ticket (see below) is valid on regional trains to and from Hamburg as well, thus making it one of the best entry points to the region for travellers arriving by plane.

Lübeck Airport (LBC  ^IATA) has a handful of domestic flights marketed under the brand "Lübeck Air".

The island of Sylt also has an airport (GWT ^IATA), which in the summer sees many flights from domestic German airports and Zurich Airport. The airport is of limited use, however, for tourists wishing to go beyond the North Frisian Islands, as travelling to anywhere in the continental part of Schleswig-Holstein requires changing trains and often travelling as far as Hamburg. There is also an airport at Sonderborg, Denmark which is useful for travel to Flensburg and surroundings.

There are many boat services from Scandinavia. From the Danish Jutland you can get to Schleswig-Holstein by car. Kiel and Travemünde (close to Lübeck) are the main baltic ports, whereas the cities on the North Sea Coast of Schleswig-Holstein have mostly ferries to various German islands, including Heligoland. If you want to arrive from the west by boat, your most practical options are probably Hamburg or even some ports in the Netherlands (for connections to the British mainland). Taking a boat to Denmark and then a bus or train from there might also be an option, but the Danish railway network is rather sparse by European standards even though major investment in it is a political priority for all major Danish parties and already being undertaken.

Westerland (on Sylt) and Lübeck have Intercity and occasional ICE stops. For most destinations it is best to change in Hamburg (when coming from the west or south) or Lübeck (when coming from the east). The tiny village of Büchen, which found itself a railroad border crossing twice in the tumultuous history of Germany is still served by the occasional ICE and passed through by many more. Unfortunately there's not much beside changing trains and marveling at the strangely oversized train station to occupy you during lengthy layovers. Regional travel is best done with the Schleswig-Holstein ticket starting at €28 for one person and €3 for every additional member of the group up to five in total. The Schleswig-Holstein ticket is valid for one day from 09:00 to 03:00 (weekend days 00:00 to 03:00 the following day) the next day on almost all regional trains as well as most local buses.

The long-distance bus market opened around 2012/13 in Germany, and prices and routes are still changing. As with most modes of transportation, prices are cheapest when booked online and several days in advance. If you want to take a bike, you have to give advance notice, as capacity is limited. For more on details and companies see: Intercity buses in Germany. Some operators serve a handful of popular beach resorts, but this region is largely rural, and connecting services to Denmark are usually loaded onto a ferry instead of taking the roundabout way through Schleswig and the sparsely populated Jutland.

As the landscape is mostly flat, riding a bicycle is an excellent way of getting around Schleswig-Holstein, especially for short to medium distances. A popular tour is boat-spotting along the Kiel Canal (the busiest in the world) by bike, which has the added charm that even moderately ambitious cyclists are able to keep up with the moderate speed of most boats along this route.