The Wendish Research Exchange - Pałys, Piotr: Lower Lusatia as Presented in Reports by Upper Lusatians between 1946 and 1948

Lětopis Abstract 2009 1: Pałys, Piotr: Lower Lusatia as Presented in Reports by Upper Lusatians between 1946 and 1948

After the Second World War the Sorbian national movement in Lower Lusatia was revived in Brandenburg much later than in Upper Lusatia which belonged to Saxony. Important reasons for this were the rigorous Germanization since 1871 and the persecution of Sorbian patriots during the Nazi period.

From 1946 a number of young Sorbs tried, helped by the central organization of the Domowina in Bautzen, to create similar organizational structures for national activities in Lower Lusatia. Their detailed reports, which are kept in the Sorbian Cultural Archive, illustrate the difficult situation of the Lower Sorbs caught between the Soviet occupation authorities and the German administration and their policy. It was not until the passing of the Saxon Sorbian Law (March 1948) that cultural activities by the Domowina were officially permitted as well in the state of Brandenburg – especially in the Cottbus area.