The Denmark–Germany border (; ) is a land and maritime

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

between the modern countries of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It includes one of Denmark's two land borders (the other being the border with Canada on

Hans Island Hans Island (Inuktitut and , ; Inuktitut syllabics: ; , ; , ) is an island in the centre of the Kennedy Channel of Nares Strait in the high Arctic region, split between the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian territory of Nunavut a ...

). The land border with Germany is long.

History

In the

treaty of Heiligen The Treaty of Heiligen was a treaty of peace between the Danish King Hemming and the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne. It is attested in the ''Royal Frankish Annals'' for the year 811. The previous King of the Danes, Godofrid, had held a conferenc ...

in 811, the

Eider river The Eider ( ; ; Latin: ''Egdor'' or ''Eidora'') is the longest river in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The river starts near Bordesholm and reaches the southwestern outskirts of Kiel on the shores of the Baltic Sea, but flows to the w ...

was recognized as a border between Denmark and the

Frankish Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lomba ...

. As a swampy river, it formed a natural border. In the highest area near the watershed, it was drier. The ancient travel route of Hærvejen went there, and a defense wall,

Danevirke The Danevirke or Danework (modern Danish language, Danish spelling: ''Dannevirke''; in Old Norse language, Old Norse: ''Danavirki'', in German language, German: ''Danewerk'', literally meaning ''Earthworks (archaeology), earthwork of the Danes'') ...

, was built there. Later the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein arose. Before 1864

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been di ...

was a fiefdom of Denmark, while

Holstein Holstein (; ; ; ; ) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider (river), Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost States of Germany, state of Germany. Holstein once existed as the German County of Holstein (; 8 ...

was a fief of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

(until 1806) and a member of the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

(after 1815). Both territories were ruled by the Danish king in his additional role as Duke of Schleswig and Duke of Holstein (occasionally together with other Dukes, like the Gottorp Dukes). The border between the Danish fief of Schleswig and the German fief of Holstein still ran along the Eider river, the boundary between the duchies and the Kingdom of Denmark ran along the

Kongeå The Kongeå () is a watercourse in Southern Jutland in Jutland, Denmark. It rises southeast of Vejen and Vamdrup and after about it flows through a sluice to tidal mudflats and sandbanks north of Ribe, and eventually into the North Sea. The eas ...

watercourse, and the southern boundary of the Danish monarchy (≈Helstaten) ran along the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

. In 1864, Schleswig-Holstein was conquered by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

, and so an international border was created between Denmark and Germany/Schleswig-Holstein. It went from a place at the coast south of

Ribe Ribe () is a town in south-west Jutland, Denmark, with a population of 8,367 (2025). It is the seat of the Diocese of Ribe. Until 1 January 2007, Ribe was the seat of both a surrounding municipality and county. It is now part of the enlarged E ...

, rounded Ribe on distance, then went eastbound just south of Vamdrup, and just north of

Christiansfeld Christiansfeld, with a population of 2,979 (1 January 2024), is a town in Kolding Municipality in Southern Jutland in Region of Southern Denmark. The town was founded in 1773 by the Moravian Church and named after the Danish king Christian VII ...

to the Baltic Sea. In 1920, the border was moved about southward to the present position, as determined by the Schleswig referendum in 1920. This approximately followed the not clearly defined language border. File:Hertugdømmerne.png, The duchies Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg before 1864 File:Londonkonferencen Grænseforslag.png, Border proposals in 1864 File:Abstimmung-schleswig-1920.png, Results of the vote in 1920 File:SchleswigSlesvig18642016.png, Schleswig/Slesvig with former and present-day administrative borders

Border controls

In 2001, all border controls were removed based on the

Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...

. In response to the Swedish border control due to the

European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...

, border checks were temporarily introduced starting January 4, 2016. Prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen cited fear of accumulation of illegal migrants in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

as one of the reasons for this decision. It was reported that the border controls at the German border cost the Danish tax payers 1.25 billion DKK (€167 million) from 2016 until mid-2019.Grænsekontrollen har nu kostet mindst 1,25 milliarder kroner
/ref> They were never fully ended before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in early 2020, which caused renewed border closures throughout Europe. To pass the border, an approved

travel document A travel document is an identity document issued by a government or international entity pursuant to international agreements to enable individuals to clear border control measures. Travel documents usually assure other governments that the beare ...

is needed. This is mainly a passport. But also a national identity card from the European Economic Area is acceptable, although Denmark does not issue such cards, so a passport is needed for Danes for crossing back into Denmark.

Wild boar fence

In January 2019, the Danish government began constructing a fence along the border to keep

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

, which can carry ''

African swine fever virus African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a large, double-stranded DNA virus in the ''Asfarviridae'' family. It is the causative agent of African swine fever (ASF). The virus causes a haemorrhagic fever, hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates i ...

'', from crossing into Denmark. The high, nearly long fence—spanning the entire land border—was completed in December 2019 at an estimated cost of 30.4 million

Danish krone The krone (; plural: ''kroner''; sign: kr.; code: DKK) is the official currency of Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, introduced on 1 January 1875. Both the ISO code "DKK" and currency sign "kr." are in common use; the former precedes ...

r. The fence has created some protests. In May 2019 a volleyball tournament was held over the fence as a publicity event which was given some media attention. After completion there was a decision to raise it by adding wires over it, because animals like deer have been killed after being injured because of jumping over the fence. File:2020-06-21 - Wildschweinzaun ins Watt.jpg, Western end of the fence at the

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( ; ; or ; ; ; ) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of low-lying Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tida ...

File:Vildsvinehegnet, Flensborg Fjord.jpg, Eastern end of the fence in the Flensburg Firth File:Rønsdam grænse 2020b.jpg, The Rønsdam border crossing at Padborg with fence,

Cattle grid A cattle grid – also known as a stock grid in Australia; cattle guard, or cattle grate in American English; vehicle pass, or stock gap in the Southeastern United States; Texas gate in western Canada and the northwestern United States; and a c ...

and

Corona crisis The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

block File:Gendarmstien - Vildsvinehegnet.jpg, Gendarmstien passing through the fence at Padborg

Border crossings

Road

Rail

There are two railway lines across the land border: *The main route is via the Fredericia–Padborg/ Flensburg–Padborg lines, which cross the eastern part of the land border between and . This route, which is electrified, is operated by

EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...

(EC),

EuroNight EuroNight, abbreviated EN, is a European train category that denotes many mainline national and international night train services within the Western and Central European inter-city rail network. Overview The classification and name were brough ...

(EN) and regional trains of DSB. The line also used to carry CityNightLine trains. *The western part of the land border is crossed by the Marsh Railway line between and Süderlügum.Wir verbinden! Festland mit Inselnfähren! Deutschland mit Dänemark! (''We connect! Ferries between the mainland and islands! Germany with Denmark!'')
''neg-niebuell.de'', accessed 5 January 2019 This line is not electrified, and is therefore operated by DMUs and

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...

hauled trains. A third route, the ''

Vogelfluglinie The (German) or (Danish) is a transport corridor between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Hamburg, Germany. As the Danish and German names (literally: '' bird flight line'') imply, the corridor is also an important bird migration route between arcti ...

'' ( in German), which included a

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry Railroad car, railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with Track (rail transport), railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the f ...

over the countries' maritime border (between

Rødby Rødby is a town located on the island of Lolland in south Denmark. It has a population of 1,957 (1 January 2024).Puttgarden), closed in December 2019. Until then, this route carried EuroCity and

ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

services. The

Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link The Fehmarn Belt fixed link (, ) or Fehmarn Belt tunnel is an under-construction immersed tunnel, which will connect the Danish island of Lolland with the German island of Fehmarn, crossing the Fehmarn Belt in the Baltic Sea. It will provid ...

is a planned rail and road tunnel across the Fehmarnbelt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denmark-Germany border European Union internal borders

Borders of Germany International borders Holy Roman Empire