Bornholm

It also refers to Bornholm Regional Municipality, the municipality () which covers the entire island. Bornholm was one of the three last Danish municipalities not belonging to a county? the others being Copenhagen and Frederiksberg. On 1 January 2007, the municipality lost its shortlived (2003 until 2006) county privileges and became part of Region Hovedstaden (i.e. the Copenhagen Capital Region).

The small islands Ertholmene are located 18 km (11 miles) to the northeast of Bornholm. They do not belong to either a municipality or a region but are administered by the Ministry of Defence.

Strategically located in the Baltic Sea, Bornholm has been a bone of contention usually ruled by Denmark, but also by Lübeck and Sweden. The castle ruin Hammershus, on the northwestern tip of the island, is the largest fortress in northern Europe, testament to the importance of its location.

Language

Many inhabitants speak bornholmsk, a dialect of Danish that retains three grammatical genders, like Icelandic and most dialects of Norwegian, but unlike standard Danish. Its phonology includes archaisms (unstressed and internal , where other dialects have and ) and innovations ( for before and after front-tongue vowels), which renders the dialect difficult to understand for most other Danes. However, Swedes consider Bornholmsk to be the easiest Danish dialect to understand. It is far more articulated than other Danish dialects and the intonation resembles the Swedish dialect spoken in the nearby southernmost Swedish province of Skåne (Scania) very much.

Due to the low prestige of the dialect, the younger generation tends to speak standard Copenhagen Danish.

Municipality

Bornholm Regional Municipality was not merged with other municipalities on January 1, 2007 as the result of the nationwide Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), which is quite understandable, since the island, as can be seen on maps, is quite far from the rest of Denmark.

History

In Old Norse the island was known as Borgundarholm, and in ancient Danish especially the island's name was Borghand or Borghund; these names were related to Old Norse borg "height" and bjarg/berg "mountain, rock", as it is an island that rises high from the sea.^[1] Other names known for the island include Burgendaland (9th century), Hulmo / Holmus (Adam of Bremen), Burgundehulm (1145), and Borghandęholm (14th century).^[2] Alfred the Great uses the form Burgenda land.^[3] Some scholars^[4] believe that the Burgundians are named after Bornholm; the Burgundians were a Germanic tribe which moved west when the western Roman Empire collapsed, and occupied and named Burgundy in France.

Bornholm was pawned to Lübeck for 50 years starting 1525. Its first militia, Bornholms Milits was formed in 1624.

Swedish forces conquered the island in 1645, but returned the island to Denmark in the following peace settlement. After the war in 1658, Denmark ceded the island to Sweden under the Treaty of Roskilde along with the rest of the Scanian provinces and Trųndelag and it was occupied by Swedish forces.

A immigration of Swedes, notably from Småland and Skåne, occurred during the 19th century, seeking work and better conditions. Most of these people did not remain on the island.

Bornholm, as a part of Denmark, was captured by Germany relatively early in the Second World War, and served as a lookout post and listening station during the war, as it was a part of the eastern front. The island's perfect central position in the Baltic Sea meant that it was an important "natural fortress" between Germany and Sweden, effectively keeping submarines and destroyers away from Nazi occupied waters. Several concrete coastal installations were built during the war, and several coastal batteries had tremendous range. However, none of them were ever used and only a single test shot was fired during the occupation. These remnants of Nazi rule have since then fallen into disrepair and are mostly regarded today as historical curiosities. Many tourists visit the ruins each year, however, providing supplemental income to the tourist industry.

Bornholm was heavily bombarded by Soviet forces in May 1945. Gerhard von Kamptz, the German superior officer in charge of the island garrison refused to surrender to Soviets, as his orders were to surrender to the Western Allies. The Germans sent several telegrams to Copenhagen requesting that at least one British soldier should be transferred to Bornholm, so that the Germans could surrender to the western allied forces instead of the Russians. When von Kamptz failed to provide a written capitulation as demanded by the Soviet commanders, Soviet aircraft relentlessly bombed and destroyed more than 800 civilian houses in Rųnne and Nexų and seriously damaged roughly 3000 more during 7-8 May 1945. On May 9 Soviet troops landed on the island and after a short fight, the German garrison (about 12,000 strong ^[5]) surrendered.^[6] Soviet forces left the island on April 5, 1946. Thus, Bornholm could be said to have played a part - to its inhabitnats' bad luck - in the inception of the Cold War.

After the evacuation of its forces from Bornholm, the Soviets took the position that "The stationing 'foreign troops' on Bornholm would be considered a declaration of war against Soviet Union, and that Denmark should keep troops on it at all times to protect it from such foreign aggression". This policy remained in force also after NATO was formed and Denmark joined it - i.e. the Soviets accpted the stationing of Danish troops, which were perforce part of NATO but were far from that alliance's most powerful element, but strongly objected to the presence of other NATO troops on the island - particularly, of US troops.

This caused diplomatic problems at least twice: once when an American helicopter landed outside the city of Svaneke due to engine problems in a NATO exercise over the Baltic Sea, and once (sometime between 1999 and 2003) when the Danish government suggested shutting down Almegårdens Kaserne, the local military facility, since "the island could quickly be protected by troops from surrounding areas and has no strategic importance after the fall of the Iron Curtain".

Historical architecture

The island also hosts some notable examples of 19th and early 20th century architecture, amongst others, about 300 wooden houses in Rųnne and Nexų, donated by Sweden after World War II, when the island was repairing damage caused by the war.

Famous people

The Danish writer and painter Gustaf Munch-Petersen moved to Bornholm in 1935 and married Lisbeth Hjorth while living on the island.

At age 8, socialist writer Martin Andersen Nexų moved to the island, and took his last name after the city of Nexų on its east coast.

M.P. Möller, a pipe-organ builder and manufacturer, was born on Bornholm and lived in a town a few miles south of Allinge.

Jacob Ludvigsen born in 1947. He founded Christiania, the free state near Copenhagen 1971 and moved to Bornholm in 1972. He lives between Ųstermarie and Svaneke.

References in popular culture

Other islands in the Baltic Sea

Bornholm

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