Hvilehjemmet Bennetgård (Bennetgård rest home)
In 1936, Jutta Kloppenborg Skrumsager converted the family farm Bennetgård into a rest home for the pro-Danish South Schleswigers. She inherited the farm in 1921 from her father, the politician George H.N. Skrumsager
The postwar social need gave Jutta Kloppenborg Skrumsager the inspiration for creating a convalescent home where pro-Danish South Schleswigers could get some meat on their bones at the same time as they kept the connection to Denmark and Danish culture.
Today Bennetgård has space for 16 guests at a time. Only pro-Danish Schleswigers are eligible for a 14-day stay.
The conditions are that you are a member of the Danish minority, that you are a member of the Danish church south of the border and you also have a health problem, which causes you to be in contact with the Danish Health Service or the Danske Menighedspleje (Danish congregational care). These two bodies jointly select the guests who can stay at Bennetgård.
The struggle for Danishness
Jutta Kloppenborg Skrumsager had inherited a strong commitment to the national struggle from her father, George H.N. Skrumsager.
Like him, she dedicated her life to fighting for the Danish cause in Schleswig. Her commitment to the South Jutland cause really started in earnest during the first World War, when she opened her home in Copenhagen for young Southern Jutlanders fleeing from German military service.
After the ceasefire in 1918, she started being involved in national work. She held a wealth of talks and in 1920 she played a leading role in organizing the transport of young voting Southern Jutlanders, who were resident in Denmark, to the polling stations in Southern Jutland. This was done with the ships Queen Maud and Dannebrog.
However, her main work in the fight for the pro-Danish cause south of the current border, was collecting donations for and the acquisition of Hotel Holsteinisches Haus in Schleswig in 1922. The hotel was subsequently rebuilt. The result was Slesvighus, a Danish meeting hall with a large meeting room, chapel and library. Today Slesvighus is owned by the Sydslesvigs Forening (South Schleswig Association) and is used as a cultural center for the Danish-minded in Schleswig.
Literature
Johnsen, Axel: Dannevirkemænd og Ejderfolk. Den grænsepolitiske opposition i Danmark 1920-1940, 2005.
Larsen, Lola Lecius: Bennetgaard – så dansk som i gamle dage. I Historisk årbog for Røddingegnen, 2005.
Bossen, Jane: Danske huse i Sydslesvig. Grænseforeningens årbog 1988
Author: Linda Klitmøller, museum curator, Sønderskov Museum
Bennetgård
