Why Bornholm Is Danish & Not German, Swedish or Polish

In this video, I explore the fascinating history of Bornholm, a small island in the Baltic Sea that, despite being closer to Sweden, Germany, and Poland, remains part of Denmark. I break down why Bornholm has been so important throughout history, from its Viking-era independence to its time under Danish, Swedish, and even German Hanseatic rule. I also cover the island’s role in the wars between Denmark and Sweden, the local rebellion against Swedish rule, and its occupation during World War II. Even during the Cold War, Bornholm found itself in a unique position behind the Iron Curtain. By understanding Bornholm’s past, we uncover the reasons why this island is still Danish today.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 What is Bornholm?
02:06 Patreon Mention
02:22 Etymology & Connection With Burgundy
02:55 Vikings, Slavs & Early Danish Conquest
03:58 BetterHelp Offer
05:01 Temporary Rule by Lübeck & The Hanseatic League
06:11 Bornholm's Role in Danish Succession Battles
07:35 Danish-Swedish Wars
08:11 Swedish Takeover of the Island
09:00 Borholm's Revolt Against the Swedish
09:35 Return to Danish Control
10:06 German Occupation During WW2
10:20 Soviet Liberation & Role in the Cold War
11:40 Strategic Baltic Location in Modern Times
11:52 Summary

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[General.Knowledge]

*Any other interesting places that belong to unlikely countries?*

[jtm]

Good video. Just one correction: Bornholm was not liberated along with the rest of Denmark. The Russians did not leave until a year after in 1946.

[Badunten]

7:22 Visby is not an island, it's the biggest city on the island of Gotland.

[darkoshadowfury]

Fun fact: Bornholm is 0 km away from Denmark

[Senovitj]

Poland has changed area so much throughout its history. Its current close proximity to Bornholm is a post-WW2 situation.

[conradseverin]

I have lived my entire life on Bornholm, and as a long time subscriber, I was incredibly surprised to see this video about it. Thank you for putting a spotlight on my beautiful home.

[moviemonster]

I did field school on Bornholm! It's a gorgeous place, and the people are so sweet and kind. 10/10 would recommend. I want to visit again so badly 🥺

[JesperSandgreen]

Short version: Because the southern part of Sweden is historically Denmark too, making it one combinded piece of "land"

[Carloshache]

As a frequent traveller to Bornholm I can tell ypu what you missed here.
1. Bornholm is INSANELY beautiful. I can recommend a visit. It has alot of diverse nature and of course being an island it has huge beaches - rocky and sandy and beautiful coastlines everywere. Some of the beaches look straight up Caribbean and are pretty untouched. The island also have great agricultural lands as well as more hilly, wooded areas. Some areas are beautifully preserved as the island never really industrialized like the mainland. The small islands of Christiansø are basically still in the 17th century (there are no cars). Bornholm also produces some great local food (such as the traditional Bornholm fish smokeries) and beer.

2. You missed a whole bunch of Medieval history. The island was ruled for a long time by the Bishop of Lund (which was back then a city in Denmark). The Bishop was really powerful and was sometimes even fighting militarily with the Danish kings. The Bishop and then King had their skirmishes and Bornholm was often fought over. The old Kingdoms of the medieval period were quite loose. The great castle Hammershus was one of the Bishops castles and it was ultimately destroyed in one of the wars. The beautiful romantic ruins of it remains one of Bornholms biggest tourist attractions today.

3. The connection between Burgundians and Bornholm remains very speculative. The ONLY connection seems to be the similarity of the name but the word "Burg" is just a common Germanic word meaning fortification. And the connection has never been mentioned in any source.

[paulsehstedt]

Stalin was interested in getting Bornholm. When Germany and the USSR were negotiating the Hitler-Stalin-pact, Stalin wanted Bornholm, the island of Anholt and Northern Jutland as Soviet protectorates. After DK was liberated by the British in May 1945, the Soviets had taken Bornholm and refused leaving until April 1946. These eleven month are described as the darkest period in the history of Bornholm. War crimes against the civil population were very common, and the natives claimed after the Soviets left, that five years with the German occupants was almost like peace time.

[magnusarvid--]

Being Danish, already when you said "to bring in a wider audience" I was like "lol"

[PTRT]

Bornholm is a really interesting topic, thanks for the video <3

[Jannik]

The soviets did in fact not leave bornholm after the danish mainland was liberated. it took a whole year for them to actually leave, while the rest of the mainland partied the bornholmers felt betrayed cuz they were left to the soviets good will.

[MathiasKp]

10:22 No the Russians did not leave right after the Germans were kicked out. The Russians occipied Bornholm for 11 months, and stayed until 5th of April 1946.

[brianjensen]

Visby is not the islands name, Visby is the capital of the island of Gotland.

[SKO_EN]

Wow! As a Polish guy who grew up with a map in my room I noticed this island a lot and always thought it was Swedish. For some reason it wasn't marked on the map which country it belonged to. I'm quite a nerd (geography included) so it comes to me as a shock that I'm only finding it out now...

[bjek]

It should be noted that all of Scania, just like Bornholm, was populated by Danes almost entirely, and when Sweden took over, they too revolted en masse. However, unlike the island of Bornholm, Scania was much more accessible for the Swedish army, who pillaged their way through the lands. Thousands of people were impaled on stakes for either being rebels, or suspected rebels, and entire towns and villages were slaughtered. Danish language was entirely outlawed, the penalty being lifetime imprisonment for speaking, writing or possessing texts in Danish. Placenames were changed and Swedified, and local history was rewritten. Sweden forced many young men into army service, but every time the Scanian soldiers met the Danes on the battlefield they would switch sides, so instead they were sent east, where 30000 were killed fighting for their occupiers. It took 153 years, before the last Scanian revolt was quelled in 1811.

[andrewjackson]

Your videos are always so interesting. I’d never even heard of that island but it definitely has a very interesting history. Thanks for increasing our General Knowledge about it!

[elviaszymanski]

I live in Bornholm and find it jarring that everybody thinks of the island only as a tourist destination. It IS a beautiful tourist destination with a very strategic location, international industry (Jensen Danmark) and used to have lots of fishing industry. We live and work here year round and have a strong local pride.

[kingnikolaj]

A funny story I once heard, though how real it is I don't know. It was a truck driver that have to reach a ferry to Bornholm, within a specific time frame, so he looked at his map and drove to the area where it looked like he could catch a ferry over. The truck driver arrived at a harbor in northern Jutland and asked when the ferry but he was told that he was in the wrong area as it was on Zealand that that ferry sailed from. The truck driver annoyed pulled out the map he had followed to show the worker but the worker pionted out that the box around Bornholm was to just it wasn't near the main land