Somehow during our time here last year, I got the impression that the Danes didn’t particularly care for the Swedes. Perhaps it was something snarky someone said during a host family dinner, or perhaps it was something I picked up from Emma, Brittany’s Danish friend we hung out with last year. Whatever the initial reason, the history lesson we received from a teacher at DIS about Denmark’s territorial history solidified my impression. Denmark, the oldest kingdom in the world, used to have a much larger presence in Europe than it does now. In fact, at one point, the kingdom “included present-day Denmark, England, Norway, southern Sweden, and parts of Finland” (“From Vikings to Lutheranism”, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Denmark). Denmark was considered a superpower… and then that changed. The country lost a considerable amount of land and, over time, became the small, homogenous, happy country we know today. Except for some reason, I really thought they resented the Swedes for it.
So during our host family dinners, I brought the issue up. I asked the first family whether it was just a myth or whether there was merit to the rivalry. They laughed a little and proceeded to explain a little bit about Sweden to me. Apparently southern Sweden is quite a bit different from the rest of the country, which Anders also articulated during our visit to Malmo. The people who live in southern Sweden identify differently than, say, people who live in the Stockholm region do — even going as far as identifying more with the Danes. Two Swedes we met in Barcelona who were from the Stockholm area were quick to talk about how dangerous Malmo can be at night now since the government opened its borders to Syrian refugees — as if Stockholm, a much larger and much more prominent city, is not experiencing the same type of issues. In fact, one of the families told us how much the dynamic at the border has changed since the immigration crisis. The mom lived and worked in Stockholm for a while right out of college, and during a series of unfortunate events, lost her identification cards and couldn’t formally notify the Danish government when she came back into Denmark. What stood out to me from her story, though, is that she was still able to travel between Sweden and Denmark without identification. The border used to be more of an idea than an enforced barrier, and you didn’t even have to bring your passport when crossing over into Sweden. That reminded me a little of the United States’ relationship with Canada. Additionally, according to our host family, Swedes are typically more liberal than Danes and have stricter views on drinking, which caught me a little off guard as I generally just think of Scandinavia as one liberal region.
I’m not sure that a true rivalry exists — the Danes I spoke with claimed that it’s just historical friction that no one actually acts upon. They were very adamant about not feeling animosity toward the Swedes; however, I still consider it fascinating that two countries that people from other parts of the world often lump together are so different. They’re both part of Scandinavia, and they both have many of the same beliefs, but talking to Danes gave me a better understanding of how different the perception (and reality) of each country in the Scandic region is. Don’t even get me started on Norway.
http://ukraine.um.dk/en/about-denmark/danish-history-and-culture