LL-L "History" 2010.07.09 (05) [EN-NDS]

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*L O W L A N D S - L - 09 July 2010 - Volume 05*
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>

Subject: History



Dear Lowlanders,

I wrote:


I’ve just been made aware of an initiative to institute a Low Saxon (Low
German) flag:

http://www.noordlandflagg.de/



And Jonny responded:



Dat hett Aort! Un' watt 'n smukke Flagg', hoyza dii! Sou 'n Ding kaomt bii
mii 'roppen Dakk!



Weyt'st all, wokeyn daor achter steekt??



Yes, I know that at least one of the people behind is an old friend: Snorre
Björkson, a (real) “Saxon” despite his Scandinavian name, and a great
proponent of Saxon-speaking Northern Germany and the Eastern Netherlands as
a link between the Lowlands and Scandinavia. Snorre has been active in the
Freudenthal-Gesellschaft (being a laureate writer himself) and has done much
to widen the playing field by bringing people from outside Northern Germany,
especially from the Netherlands (but also from England and the USA), into
the fold by having them participate and be honored as writers in the
contests.

All this is very well and good ... Without wanting to poo-poo the said
(fine) flag effort, please allow me to play the devil’s advocate (on which
Jonny does not have the monopoly). Sure, I’m the first person to admit that
I have a religious bias. Aside from this, I do see the part about a link
with Scandinavia ... and I’m a major fan of Scandinavia myself, nay, of *all
* of the Nordic Countries (and I include Estonia, Finland, Livonia, Karelia
and the rest of what is now northwestern Russia).

Yet ... the cross ...

(1) It symbolizes Christianity (even if most Northerners don’t think about
it anymore). Nothing wrong with that (unless you're really into separation
of religion and state).



(2) It was the combination of cross and sword (and the sword was seen as a
kind of cross) that Charlemagne (Charles the “Great”) used to fight and
finally subdue the Saxons, who would have no part of Christianity and Franks
after having been the only ones to have successfully fought off the Romans.
It was Charlemagne’s sword and cross combo (and mass murder of Saxon
chieftains) that finally broke the Saxons’ resistance. To add insult to
injury, the Franks made the reluctantly (or pretending) Christian
Saxon-speaking region, especially the fortress of Hamburg, the staging post
for “converting” the “Vikings” and Slavs, who would have nothing to do with
Christianity and Franks either and took their hatred out on poor Hamburg,
the Franks’ puppet satellite on Saxon soil, the perceived link between the
Franks and their would-be territories north and east.

So, while people may now see the Saxon-speaking region as a link, I would
like everyone to take a step back and think what the symbolic role of the
cross was that is now featured on the proposed flag. You could take another
tack and think of it as the symbol of Saxon submission and thus of the end
of Saxon independence ... which landed us in the pickle we are in now.


Just some food for thought, hopefully.

Regards and peace,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

P.S.: If you wish to contact the flag initiative folks:
info at noordlandflagg.de



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