Peter Barker

Dislocation and reorientation in the Sorbian community (1945-2008)

This article will focus on three particular points in the post-war social development of Sorbian communities in Lusatia after the Second World War. It will firstly highlight the demographic and social changes which took place in Sorbian villages in both Upper and Lower Lusatia as a result of post-war migration into Lusatia in 1945-47. Secondly it will examine the effect of the industrialisation of Middle Lusatia from 1955 on Sorbian identity and culture. Many Sorbian villages were destroyed to make way for open-cast mining and its inhabitants relocated to nearby towns such as Weiß- wasser and Hoyerswerda. Sorbian identity suffered a dramatic decline as a result of resettlement into urban German-dominated environments. Finally it will look at the latest phase in the erosion of Sorbian identity post-1990 caused by the reduction in employment prospects in eastern Saxony and south-east Brandenburg. The last two points will be discussed in the context of ‘modernisation’ theory and the policy of the Catholic and Protestant Churches.

The Sorbs of Upper and Lower Lusatia are the last remaining representatives of the Slavonic tribes which moved westwards beyond the Oder and established settlements in the area up to the Elbe and beyond in the fifth or sixth century. During their subsequent history, marked by close proximity to Germans, they have been subject to a number of dislocations, which have influenced directly their demo- graphic structure and ethnic identity. During the course of the tenth century they, along with other Slav tribes, were defeated by the Franks and henceforth lived in a state of submission to the dominant German political and economic power. Only two Slav groups managed to maintain a separate cultural and linguistic identity to the present day: the descendants of the two main Sorbian tribes, the Upper and Lower Sorbs in Lusatia. They have been able to maintain their linguistic and cultural identities into the twenty-first century. Subsequent major dislocations came with the Thirty Years’ War, which had a devastating effect on the Sorbian area, resulting in a re- duction of over fifty per cent in the Sorbian population by the end of the war. The Congress of Vienna (1815) also had a profound effect: since 1648 most of Lusatia had been ruled by Saxony, but in 1815 Saxony was forced to cede Lower Lusatia and parts of Upper Lusatia to Prussia; eighty per cent of Sorbs were now under Prussian rule. 180 Peter Barker

This division of the Sorbian population administratively proved to be of great significance for its development, since Prussian policy to- wards the Sorbs and their language and culture was in most instances more repressive than that of Saxony. Lower Lusatia was also subject to much stronger economic pressures during the process of industriali- sation in the latter part of the nineteenth century, which led after the First World War to the destruction of many Sorbian communities. In 1924 the first Sorbian village was destroyed to make way for open cast lignite mining. The census of 1925 showed a steep drop of over thirty per cent in the number of Sorbs compared with the previous census of 1910. Also, nearly ninety per cent now declared themselves to be bilingual, whereas in 1900 about two-thirds still regarded them- selves as monolingual. The effects of the First World War can be clearly seen here, since many Sorbian men were called up, and some found themselves for the first time in their lives in a purely German environment. The Nazi period completed the process of repression with the banning of Sorbian organisations in 1937, the forced removal of Sorbian teachers and priests from Lusatia and the persecution of Sorbian individuals perceived to be ‘nationalist’. The lowest point in modern Sorbian history was reached just before Lusatia was overrun by Soviet, Polish and Ukrainian troops in April 1945. It is no wonder that many Sorbs, in stark contrast to the German population, greeted the troops as liberating Slav brothers, although in most instances the Sorbian population was treated as badly as the German population by the occupying forces. The end of the war in 1945 did represent a turning point for the Sorbs in terms of their relations with the German majority culture; the social, economic and material dislocations which accompanied the end of the war were particularly acute in Lusatia. From the middle of April it was caught up in the last great battle for Berlin, which led to fierce fighting in towns like Bautzen. After the ceasefire the area was also directly affected by the agreements made by the wartime allies. The eastern part of Görlitz was put under Polish administration, and towns such as Zittau, Görlitz and Cottbus became frontier towns, losing their hinterland to Poland. The Germans from these areas started immediately coming over the Neiße, although almost all the bridges had been destroyed, and remained in these towns for the next few months. All the towns suffered from one common problem, name- ly the chaos in the supply system, and many were also victims of in-