Elle, Ludwig: “Comrades are Required to Review Attitudes Which Regard Language as Main Problem.” The Sorbian Language as a Political Issue for the Domowina in GDR
Lětopis Abstract 2008 2: Elle, Ludwig: “Comrades are Required to Review Attitudes Which Regard Language as Main Problem.” The Sorbian
Language as a Political Issue for the Domowina in GDR
Problems relating to the maintenance and use of the Sorbian language always played a prominent role in the work of the Domowina. On the one hand the
Sorbian language was regarded as an essential element in Sorbian identity, but on the other hand the attempts by the Domowina as an organization to
support the language were subordinated to the political and ideological constraints imposed by SED policy. The languages policy of the Domowina
described in this piece is divided into three phases. Up to the middle of the 1950s the dominant positions were those which interpreted issues of
language as the basic problem of the nationalities policy (“Lusatia will become bilingual.”). Up to the end of the 1960s it was more the case
that problems relating to the Sorbian language were downplayed. From the 1970s the leadership of the Domowina gave greater attention to the interests
of the Sorbian language again in view of the decline in the everyday use of the language in both parts of Lusatia, which was becoming ever more
apparent.
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