Widera, Thomas: The Project “Sorbian Policy in the GDR”. Structures, Players, and Interests between 1968 and 1989
Lětopis Abstract 2022 1: Widera, Thomas: The Project “Sorbian Policy in the GDR”. Structures, Players, and Interests between 1968 and 1989
The structure of the project under discussion is described using the research questions as a basis. The project targets the area of tension between
the central guidelines laid down by the SED and their implementation in the context of the local conditions in the bilingual area. The intention of
the SED was to integrate the Sorbs into the construction of socialism in the GDR. The central question concerned how people from two different
cultures came together. The research interest is directed at the implementation of a policy, which officially supported the “preservation of the
rights of the Sorbian population”, but in practice had the effect of causing a dramatic loss to the Sorbian way of life. Progressive urbanization, a
lack of investment in the villages, the sealing-off of large areas of the countryside and the destruction of eco-systems added to the
industrialization of Lusatia. Aspects of Sorbian culture disappeared from everyday life because of the bulldozing of Sorbian villages and experiences
of discrimination against individual Sorbs. Finally, initial findings from an examination of the forced correction of the research concepts for a
study of Sorbian history in 1968 are considered.
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