Minority Secretariat

The umbrella organisation of all the institutions and establishments working for the Frisian language and culture in North Friesland and Helgoland is Frasche Rädj / Frisian Council Section North. 

In its day-to-day work, Frasche Rädj considers itself as the contact and coordination organisation representing the common interests of the Frisian to the outside world and in other bodies. The members of Frasche Rädj are elected delegates/representatives of their associations.

Frasche Rädj is based in Bräist/Bredstedt in the district of Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein. The tasks of the Frasche Rädj can be categorised into four areas:

• organisation and substantive work
• cooperation within the framework of the Interfrisian Council and annual meetings
• contact and cooperation with state institutions on the level of the region (Land), federation (Germany) and European level
• representative tasks

Homepage of Frasche Rädj
More information about the Frisians

The chair of Frasche Rädj, Ilse Johanna Christiansen, and Heinrich Bahnsen are Frasche Rädj’s representatives in the Minority Council. 

Seelter Buund

The current Seelter Buund was founded in 1972. Already in 1952 a first association for local culture and traditions (heimatverein) called Seelter Buund was founded, but this association survived for ten years only.

The main purpose of Seelter Buund as association for local culture and traditions is to preserve the Sater-Frisian language and the traditions of Saterland. The attachment to their homeland, history and landscape is what Seelter Buund drives. With its representatives, Seelter Buund is closely connected to EBLUL-Germany, to the Minority Council in Germany and through FUEN also to many minorities in Europe. 

Homepage of Seelter Buund

More information about the Frisians

The Seelter Buund’s representative in the Minority Council is Karl-Peter Schramm.

• born and grown up in Nordfriesland
• graduate psychologist
• psychotherapist, employed at a specialist hospital
• working freelance, e.g. in a hospital for disabled persons

Social involvement:

• chair of the Südschleswigscher Wählerverband (SSW)-political group in the city representation of Bredstedt
• second chair of Friisk Foriining
• from 2013 chair of Frasche Rädj / Frisian Council Section North
• from 2015 deputy mayor of Bredstedt/Bräist

• geboren in Ockholm, Nordfriesland in einem friesischsprachigen Elternhaus 
• Dipl. Sparkassenbetriebswirt
• bis 2009 Prokurist einer Sparkasse, heute im Ruhestand

Gesellschaftliches Engagement:

• 36 Jahre Gemeindevertreter in Breklum
• 9 Jahre ehrenamtlicher Bürgermeister
• Fraktionssprecher der CDU
• Vorsitzender Sozial-, Jugend- und Sportaussschuss und Finanzausschuss
• Mitglied im Amtsausschuss und in der Schulverbandsversammlung
• 10 Jahre Vorsitzender im Finanzausschuss des Schulverbands
• 19 Jahre Vorstandsmitglied im Verein Nordfriesisches Institut, Braist
• Seit 1997 Vorstandsmitglied im Nordfriesischen Verein e.V., davon 3 Jahre Vorsitzender, seit 2013 stellvertretender Vorsitzender
• Stellvertretender Vorsitzender des Frasche Rädj/Friesenrat Sektion Nord

• Saterfrisian from Lower Saxony
• Profession: retired teacher

Professional career:

• 1964-1966 secondary commercial college
• 1966-1971 apprenticeship and teaching practice AOK Oldenburg
• 1971 intermediate administrative test
• 1971 test for non-high-school graduates
• 1971-1974 teacher training at Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg
• 1977-1979 studies in special needs education/education for people with learning difficulties
• 1975-1990 teacher at the Barßel Special School
• retired from 1990 

Social involvement:

• from 1970 member of the Social Democrat Party (SPD)
• from 1986 member of the municipal council of Saterland
• member in several specialised committees, e.g. administrative committee and chair of the expert committee for fire brigades in SPD
• from 1995 active in the association for local culture and traditions, chair of Seelter Buund
• from 1998 chair of the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL Germany)
• from 2004 member of the committee for issues related to the Frisian minority
• from 2005 member of the Minority Council of Germany