The Wendish Research Exchange - Piňosová, Jana: The Image of Sorbian in the “Sächsischer Heimatschutz” (Defense of the Saxon Homeland) 1908-1941

Lětopis Abstract 2019 2: Jana Piňosová: The Image of Sorbian in the „Sächsischer Heimatschutz” (Defence of the Saxon Homeland) 1908-1941

For more an thirty years the „Grüne Hefte” (Green Numbers), the proceedings of the state society, „Sächsischer Heimatschutz,” was the central place where images of the Saxon homeland were devised, discussed and distributed. This article focuses on one of these images. It is the image of Sorbian, which crops up again and again in this journal during the years of its existence from 1908 to 1941. A series of selected texts published in the „Grüne Hefte” show that Sorbian is granted little space among the wide variety of themes in the journal, but it was nevertheless recognized as representing a part of the Saxon homeland. The manner in which Sorbian was treated in the „Grüne Hefte,” how it was evaluated, and localized geographically and chronologically, indicates the status it held in the Saxon homeland movement of the time. The essay starts by giving a short introduction to the history and significance of the society and shows the phases of its development as a society, in which a particular interest in Sorbian existed. Following this, the central theses are supported by an analysis of the selected sources. Finally, there follows a short summary of the most important events and a statement of further questions that need to be considered.