The Wendish Research Exchange - Küpper, René: The Question of the Lusatian Sorbs at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 as Reflected in Czechoslovak...

Lětopis Abstract 2019 1: Küpper, René: The Question of the Lusatian Sorbs at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 as Reflected in Czechoslovak Diplomatic Sources

The discussion of the right to national self-determination influenced not only the activities of the Sorbs in the form of the National Committee, but also those of the Czechoslovak diplomats at the Paris peace conference. The idea of incorporating Lusatia into the Czechoslovak state was dropped, as well as that of territorial autonomy. All that remained of the endeavor to “somehow help the Sorbs” was the idea of a territorial neighborhood. This included moral and later on also financial support for Sorbian cultural endeavors. The Peace Treaty of 28 June 1919 imposed no obligation on Germany to protect minorities. The Minorities Article 113 in the Weimar Constitution of 11 August 1919 was practically useless for the Sorbs. Recognition as a national minority, which had been granted to the Danes or the Poles, was denied to them. The German Reich did however continue to consider the Sorbs as a domestic affair.