Jugosłowiańskie charakterystyki serbołużyckich działaczy narodowych z lat 1946–1947

Abstract

The Representatives of the Sorbian National Movement (1946–1947) seen from a Yugoslav Point of View

The Yugoslav Military Mission to the Allied Control Commission in Germany made contact with the Sorbs at the beginning of 1946 and supported Sorbian concerns as far as was possible. In addition, the Military Mission provided the Yugoslav Ministry of Foreign Affairs with information about the Sorbs and the situation in Lusatia. They gave detailed descriptions of the activities of the representatives of the Sorbian national movement, which was fundamentally split into two factions. Their analysis of the Sorbian national movement was strongly influenced by their ideological viewpoint. As a result, the representatives of the Domowina were assigned to the “progressive” wing, as they worked closely together with the German Communists and the Soviet occupying power. The members of the Sorbian National Committee were, by contrast, regarded as “reactionary”. Nevertheless, Yugoslavia was the only state, which actively supported the separatist aspirations of the Sorbs, which were pursued in equal measure by both the Domowina and the National Committee. As a consequence, senior political functionaries from Yugoslavia invited representatives of the Domowina and the National Committee to discussions in Belgrade and Berlin on a number of occasions.
Goro Christoph Kimura: The Significance of Language Use in the Church for the Maintenance of Sorbian. A Case Study of a Catholic Parish In contrast to language shift, language maintenance appears to be a static phenomenon. However, this paper displays language maintenance as a process by applying Language Management Theory. By applying a case study from a Catholic Sorbian parish in eastern Germany it can be shown that the Sorbian language is maintained in the church not just as a tradition, but through numerous minute interventions at different levels. Given the crucial importance of the church as a central public space for the language, we could assume that without such managing activities in favour of Sorbian, it would not be possible to maintain the Sorbian language in this region.