The Wendish Research Exchange - Mirtschin, Maria: Report on Three Generations of the Stone Mason and Sculptor Family Petschke

Lětopis Abstract 2018 1: Mirtschin, Maria: Report on Three Generations of the Stone Mason and Sculptor Family Petschke – A Sorbian Middle Class Family Torn between Support for their National Identity and Loyalty to the State as Citizens 1850 to 1950

The central focus of this article is the Sorbian stonemason and sculptor family Petschke. The representatives of the first two generations contributed to the promotion of the Sorbian language and identity through their professional work, which involved the erection of Sorbian monuments and memorial plaques, and the creation of Sorbian texts in the public spaces of Bautzen and its surroundings. Through their economic interests, receiving commissions from both private individuals and public bodies, they were closely linked to the German majority culture, so their activities developed under changing social conditions in that area of tension between support for Sorbian national interests whilst conforming politically. Taking part in Sorbian national activities, which were offered in the urban context in societies, was a matter of course for the representatives of the first two generations, coming as they did from the Sorbian Catholic milieu of the Radibor Diaspora. The representative of the third generation, who was the first one to complete an academic education, thus enabling him to cross the threshold to become an independent sculptor, found himself in a different social situation. But he did not express an explicit engagement with his Sorbian identity.