Language and Culture of the Lusatian Sorbs throughout their History [Reprint 2021 ed.] 9783112590409, 9783112590393

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Language and Culture of the Lusatian Sorbs throughout their History

Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR Institut für sorbische Volksforschung

Language and Culture of the Lusatian Sorbs throughout their History

Edited by Martin Kasper

Akademie-Verlag Berlin 1987

Published with the financial assistance of UNESCO Translated by Uja Moser Scientific consultant: Hubert Sauer-Zur

ISBN 3-05-000530-0 Erschienen im Akademie-Verlag Berlin, DDR-1086 Berlin, Leipziger Str. 3—4 © Akademie-Verlag Berlin 1987 Lizenznummer: 202 • 100/116/87 Printed in the German Democratic Republic Gesamtherstellung: VEB Druckhaus „Maxim Gorki", 7400 Altenburg Einbandgestaltung: Martina Bubner LSV: 0705 Bestellnummer: 754 800 6 04200.

Contents

MARTIN KASPER

Cultural Identity and Intercultural Relationships in the History of the Lusatian Sorbs

7

JAN §oi.TA

The Sorbs and their History. A Treatise on Cultural History

25

HEINZ SCHUSTER-SEWC

On the Language Situation of the Lusatian Sorbs in the G.D.R

40

M A J A I . ERMAKOVA

Problems of Development of the Sorbian Language in Context with the Specific Character of the Historical Development of the Sorbs

48

KONSTANTIN K . TROFIMOVIC

Ways of Development and Alternatives of a Literary Language

69

PAUL NOWOTNY

Historical Survey of the Development of the Sorbian Literature until the Second World War

80

LUCIA HEINE

New Positions and Possibilities of the Liberated Sorbian Literature. An Outline of the History of Literature from 1945 to the 70s

93

JAN R A W P - R A U P P

The Music of the Lusatian Sorbs

110

6

Contents

LUDMILA P . LAPTEVA

Connections between Russian and Sorbian Culture and Science in the 19th and early 20th Centuries (until 1914) 125 GERALD STONE

The Lusatian Sorbs (Wends) as an Object of Interest and Study in Great Britain 147 RAFAL LESZCZYNSKI

The Polish-Sorbian Cultural Relationships in the 19th Century

158

JAN PETR

Czech-Sorbian Cultural Relations

174

WILHELM ZEIL

German Slavic Studies and the Sorbs

188

List of Chosen Journals and Archives

211

Authors

212

Cultural Identity and Intercultural Relationships in the History of the Lusatian Sorbs B y MARTIN KASPER

In the Mexico Declaration on Cultural Policies which the 2nd UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies passed in 1982, the importance of cultural identity, cultural heritage and cultural interrelations as well as of cultural cooperation is expressly underlined. Already in his inauguration speech AMADOU-MAHTAR M ' Bow, Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, had emphasized, among other things, that in view of the rapid changes to which all societies are exposed and of the ever more intensely manifested phenomena of world-wide interdependency, all peoples seem to be ready to preserve the essential foundation of their existence, notably their cultural identity. At the same time, the cultural exchanges are increasing in numbers and intensity. 1 It is exactly in this sense that the Programme of Work approved by the UNESCO General Conference assigns great importance to the problems of cultural identity and intercultural relationships. Among other things, interdisciplinary studies on a variety of aspects in the development of Slav cultures and their interrelations with other cultures are planned. In this broad framework is also included the collective study on the language and culture of Lusatian Sorbs and their role in safeguarding their cultural identity planned in the programme and supported by the International Association for the Study and Dissemination of Slav cultures. The Lusatian Sorbs, the only national minority in the German Democratic Republic, are descendants of the West Slavic tribes which settled in the region from the rivers Oder and Neisse to the rivers Elbe and Saale and partly far beyond in the 6th century. The real central Sorbian region was initially situated in the area between Elbe and Saale. Only later did the name Sorb extend to the other closely related tribes. The contemporary Lusatian Sorbs are immediate descendants of the Milzener and Lusatian tribes belonging to the Sorbian ethnic community. The settlements of the latter tribe approximately covered the region between the river Dahme and the woodland area at the river Bober. The southern neighbours of the Lusatians were the Milzeners whose centre was Budissin (Bautzen), a fortress first mentioned in 1002. The settlement area of the Milzeners extended to the region between Kamenz and Bischofswerda and reached up to the river Neisse and beyond.

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The formerly self-contained language area of the Lusatian Sorbs has continually narrowed over the centuries owing to German colonization. In accordance with the present-day territorial administrative structure of the G.D.R., the Lusatian districts of Bautzen, Kamenz and Niesky, which are inhabited by Sorbs and Germans, belong to the county of Dresden. And also inhabited by Lusatian Sorbs are the districts of Hoyerswerda, Spremberg, WeiBwasser, Forst as well as Cottbus, Calau, Lubben and Guben, all of which belong to the county of Cottbus. In the course of historical development, this region was increasingly settled by a German population, at first in towns, and later also in the countryside. At present, the entire settlement area has a nationally mixed population. The share of Sorbs in this population has been continuously decreasing at present amounting to about one quarter. Also in the individual villages with a percentage of Sorbian inhabitants rather differs regionally being highest in the districts of Kamenz, Bautzen and Hoyerswerda in Upper Lusatia and in the rural district of Cottbus in Lower Lusatia. Demographic investigations carried out in about 1950 showed that more than 100,000 persons could speak the Sorbian language.2 Exact numbers cannot be provided at present because the statistical surveys record neither the nationality nor the mother tongue. We may certainly assume that the number of those persons who declare that they are of Sorbian nationality is bigger than the number of those who speak the Sorbian language. In the Sorbian region of Lusatia, the Roman Catholic and the Evangelical Lutheran confessions come especially into the foreground. Among the Sorbianspeaking population, about 16 per cent profess allegiance to the Roman Catholic religion. The overwhelming majority of believers profess allegiance to the Evangelical Lutheran religion. Exact data cannot be provided, since the confession is not statistically recorded. The social and occupational structure of the Sorbian population has profoundly changed since 1945. The peasantry is no longer predominant but the working class determines the social structure. The former existing ethnically dependent social differences between Sorbs and Germans have been completely overcome. Today, there are no essential differences in the social and occupational structure of the German and Sorbian population.

Some basic lines and distinctive features in cultural development of Lusatian Sorbs The Slavic tribes near the river Elbe were still in an early feudal stage of development when they were confronted with the eastward expansion of the Frankish feudal lords who could already rely on a feudal state. After violent resistance

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these Slavic tribes were subjugated. This had deep-going social implications. With the loss of political independence disappeared the prerequisites for the further formation of a state system of their own and for the development of an independent social organism. From now on, the social development of the Sorbian population is marked by integration into the social organism of the respective social formation and by complete dependence on the existing form of state. Both in feudalism and in capitalism, the respective leading classes whose representatives were always Germans, were missing in the structure of the Sorbian population. The overwhelming majority of the Sorbs belonged to the masses of dependent and exploited classes and strata. The preponderant social stratum of the Sorbian population was the peasantry. Besides the peasants there were many artisans who lived mainly in the countryside but also in towns. Capitalist industrialisation set working power free also among the Sorbian rural population who became industrial workers. When they migrated from the countryside to the industrial agglomerations they were assimilated as a rule in the second or third generation. With the development of industrial production the number of workers increased. Together with the crofters they constituted in the early 20th century the social basis of the Sorbian national movement fighting for social rights and national equality. Until 1945, Sorbian culture, as the culture of an underprivileged group, was a marginal social phenomenon. From the Middle Ages until Hitlerite fascism, the ruling circles of the state had always impeded and suppressed the development of the Sorbian language and culture. In all these periods of oppression the Sorbs opposed forcible Germanization and struggled to preserve their ethnical identity. Contrary to the other subjected Slavic tribes who were finally absorbed in the German ethnic community, the Lusatian Sorbs succeeded in preserving their ethnical identity and in further developing the Sorbian language and culture. Following, the basic lines and most essential stages of this development will be described. With the loss of political independence in the 10th century also the social and political foundations for the development of a feudal Sorbian culture were destroyed. Many Sorbian noblemen had died in the fight against the German conquerors. Some Sorbian nobles converted to the Christian religion and were absorbed by the German nobility, others merged with the subjected dependent feudal peasantry. Under these conditions, no feudal Sorbian culture could develop. Apart from some exceptions, the creative cultural forces of the Sorbian people could manifest themselves mainly in the field of folk art. The feudal village community of the peasants, in its ethnical composition almost exclusively Sorbian, constituted the social basis for the formation, existence and functioning of the content, form and process of folk art. This was an expression of the creative forces inherent in the peopleand reflected in a specific manner the artistic and aesthetic needs of the

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feudally oppressed Sorbian population and its ideas of values. Marked sociocritical accents have developed. The social backwardness of the village, the regional and cultural isolation of the peasantry from the urban population as well as language barriers brought about many features of regionalism, of archaism, and also conservative features. Language and folk art became a very important distinctive feature in ethnical terms. This function had first been imposed upon it also by the social discrimination against its representatives and their ethnical oppression at the hands of the ruling class. Only in the course of a long historical development ethnically integrating properties of folk art emerged increasingly in addition to its distinctive features in ethnical terms.These traits were mainlydue to social factors. In this process, folk art became a demonstrative expression of relevant national attitudes and actions. This development reached a culminating point among the Sorbs in the 19th century. The economic and social conditions under feudalism impaired the development of material culture, the products of which in the first line served to meet the practical needs of housing, clothing, and housekeeping. Handy, beautifully shaped adorned articles, serving everyday needs, testify to the artisan skills and developed aesthetic feeling of their creators. Among the material used particular importance was attached to wood, wicker-work, clay and iron. Great importance was attributed also to the adornment of clothes. Variegated was the work in the primarily language-based genres of folk art, encompassing many legends and fairy tales, as well as songs and music. However, there is little testimony to folk plays. The national epic is also lacking in Sorbian folk poetry. In the towns, a Sorbian patriciate could not be formed. Only in the late Middle Ages also the Sorbian part of the population acquired more importance in the flourishing Lusatian towns. In these circumstances, a Sorbian bourgeoisie and thus a bourgeois Sorbian culture could develop only late and only to a rather modest extent. From these urban strata came the few Sorbian humanists who worked at the universities in Krakow and Wittenberg. Although they were committed to their Sorbian background, their activities had no lasting impact on the development of Sorbian culture. The beginnings of Sorbian literature came with the Reformation. Lusatia had become almost completely protestant. The propagation of the Christian faith in the mother tongue as demanded by M A R T I N L U T H E R required translation into Sorbian of the liturgical texts that were needed for worship, since most Sorbs only spoke the Sorbian dialect of their surroundings and did not understand German. From these practical needs emerged the first beginnings of Sorbian writing. Some patriotically minded educated village pastors, mostly without any support from the church authorities, made the first translations into the dialects spoken in their parishes.

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The first full translation of the New Testament which did not go into the press, however, was completed in 1 5 4 8 . It was made by M I K L A W S JAKUBICA from Laub"nitz (Polish Lubanica). The work is based on a Lower Sorbian dialect which was spoken east of the river Neisse. The first printed Lower Sorbian book was the hymn-book with catechism edited by A L B I N U S M O L L E R U S ( 1 5 4 1 — 1 6 1 8 ) from Straupitz near Cottbus. It was printed in Bautzen in 1574. Only in 1597 did Pastor W E N C E S L A U S W A R I C H I U S ( 1 5 6 4 — 1 6 1 8 ) from Göda near Bautzen print a translation of L U T H E R ' S Catechism. The work of developing a written Sorbian language of these clergymen and of others not mentioned here who had strong ties with their people was of decisive importance for preserving and furthering Sorbian culture. The Age of Enlightenment led to new bourgeois cultural aspirations. Again, they were carried on by clergymen, but now they were no longer limited to the needs of the church. Worth noting are clearly occurring initial forms of a bourgeois national self-assurance, in which the Slavic component is already contained. At the same time, cultural endeavours increasingly shifted from Lower Lusatia to Upper Lusatia. The ideas of Enlightenment were spread in Lusatia amid tensions between the interests of the feudal nobility and those of the peasantry who were deprived of all rights and lived in feudal dependence. The misery of the peasants was connected with miserable conditions in the field of schooling and education. The peasants defended themselves against these inhuman conditions. The anti-feudal resistance included refusal to do corvée, complaints and flight and open uprising. The new view of the value of man and the defence of their natural rights made the rationalists also turn to the cultural values of the Sorbian people and to the Slavic world in general. Enlightenment manifested itself in the Lusatian region, last but not least, in the defence of the Sorbian people's right to exist, in an intensified research into Sorbian history, language and culture, and in a growing interest in natural sciences. A source of rationalist ideas at that time were the universities. For the development of Sorbian culture Leipzig, apart from Wittenberg, became especially important. It was there that in 1716 Sorbian students of theology united in a Wendish Preachers' College. From there emanated important stimuli for the promotion of Sorbian language and culture. In 1779, the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences was founded in Görlitz. It became an important centre of German-Sorbian and, moreover, of GermanSlavic cultural encounters. As the "first Sorbian rationalist"3 it is necessary to mention M I C H A L F R E N C E L ( F R E N T Z E L , 1 6 2 8 — 1 7 0 6 ) who was the first to become aware of the close kinship between Sorbian and the other Slavic languages and who is considered as the real

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"founder of the Upper Lusatian written language". 4 In 1 7 0 9 , BOGUMIL FABRICIUS translated the New Testament into Lower Sorbian. Even more clearly the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment are reflected in the vast creative work of ABRAHAM FRENCEL (FRENTZEL, 1 6 5 6 — 1 7 4 0 ) . This scholar, whose works fill 34 volumes and deal with the origin of the Sorbian language, the history, usage and customs of the Sorbs, the topography and natural history of Upper Lusatia, is regarded as "one of the most important Slavists before JOSEF DOBROVS K Y " 5 ( 1 7 5 3 — 1 8 2 9 ) . With his "Schutzschrift für die alten Slawen und Wenden", printed in 1 7 5 5 , HADAM B . SPRACH (SCHIRACH, 1 7 2 4 — 1 7 7 3 ) became one of the first champions of an unprejudiced concept of the Slavs in Germany. More clearly than ever before, the idea of a new human being, natural right, JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU'S concept of the sovereignty of the people, were represented in the treatise "Gedanken eines Oberlausitzer Wenden über das Schicksal seiner Nation" by J A N HÖRCANSKI (HORTZSCHANSKY, 1 7 2 2 — 1 7 9 9 ) published in 1 7 8 2 . The Age of Enlightenment also led to the beginnings of an artistic secular poetry and to first attempts to found newspapers ( 1 7 9 0 , 1 8 0 9 — 1 8 1 2 ) which, however, soon fell victim to censorship. Rationalist tolerance and scientific research enhanced the social prestige of Sorbian language and culture, deepened in parts of the intelligentsia the ideas of national values which were consolidated by referring to natural right and the growing Slavic consciousness. The picture of Sorbs in the Age of Enlightenment saw the Sorbian ethnic community as a part of the Slav world which still seemed not very differentiated. Tracing the history, language, culture, usage and customs of the Sorbs back to the Slavic world was to legitimize the existence of this people and to explain its value. Starting points of a bourgeois national consciousness were emerging clearly. The concept of the Sorbs that was formed in the Age of Enlightenment was taken over by Romanticism and prepared the ground for the national ideas of values at the time of national rebirth. Throughout the 19th century, even until the 20th century, the principle of each people's natural right to exist as an ethnical group, which was founded in the Age of Enlightenment and reaffirmed by the idea of inter-Slavic cultural cognition, determined the essence of national selfconsciousness among the Lusatian Sorbs. The decay of feudalism and the inevitable transition to capitalist conditions led to significant changes in all social sectors. The whole of Lusatia was affected by deep-going economic transformations. After serfdom was abolished, new farming methods gradually developed. Thus, the old patriarchal way of life had to give way to the emerging bourgeois Sorbian culture. At first, peasants had great difficulties with the capitalist working system. It became an urgent necessity to master new farming methods and acquire agronomical knowledge. This aim was also served by peasants' clubs which were set up (FABRIZIUS, 1 6 8 1 — 1 7 4 1 )

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in all parts of Lusatia. They also backed their resistance against the economic and political dominance of the Junkers. The capitalist transformation necessitated improved education. A prerequisite for this was education in the mother tongue which the authorities prohibited time and again. Among the Sorbian rural population, resistance was growing against forcible Germanization at schools. Gradually, the economic and cultural demands and aspirations were emerging. A national movement was formed whose social basis was provided by the Sorbian rural population. As a result, the exchange of information within the ethnical community increased. The intellectual and cultural life of the intelligentsia was at first concentrated in the university centres of Leipzig, Breslau (today: Wroclaw) and Prague. The narrow stratum of Sorbian intelligentsia broadened a little. Gradually, affluent peasants saw to it that their sons had a university education. The necessary changes in education had raised the prestige of the teachers. This reinforced the ranks of the Sorbian intelligentsia. Under the impact of the ideas propagated by the Great French Revolution, the words "people" and "popular" in the meaning of their bourgeois democratic content obtained greater importance. Increasingly, the people became the point of departure and addressee of the cultural endeavours of the intelligentsia. The intellectuals codified their mother tongue. They explored the history and culture of the people and described its ethics and customs. The educated circles recorded the folk art and aroused a growing interest in national costumes. It was professional men who promoted literature, songs, the theatre, as well as the press and education. All these efforts attached the intelligentsia to the people and exerted a stimulating influence on the national movement. This impact affected ever larger sectors of the people and marked their thinking and activities. In the university towns the Sorbian students experienced the national movement of the German bourgeoisie. Above all, the national liberation movement of related Western and Southern Slavic peoples had a great influence on them. The Slavic component had an even greater influence on the emergence of a concept of their own national values. Especially close interrelations existed between them and Czech, Slovak, and Polish cultural workers. Mutual cultural relations with the Slavic peoples facilitated, promoted and accelerated the formation process of a bourgeois Sorbian culture and the propagation of national awareness among the Sorbian people. With the awakening of national awareness, the endeavours, aimed at cultivating the mother tongue and national culture as well as other distinctive national features acquired increasing political importance and became a stimulating factor in the aspirations for national rights and liberties. This development culminated in the setting up of the scientific society Macica Serbska (1845 to 1847) in accordance with a model of the Western Slavs. Social

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commitment and close ties with the people — general features of cultural development among the oppressed Western and Southern Slavic peoples — also marked the content and forms of Sorbian studies united within the Macica Serbska. From the very beginning Sorbian studies were focussed on preserving and developing the cultural autonomy and satisfying the cultural needs of the people. The most important initiator and organizer of this movement was J A N A R N O S T SMOLER (Schmaler, 1816—1884). His scope of activities was wide and multifaceted. He worked as an editor, publisher and journalist of newspapers and journals, modernized the Upper Lusatian orthography and promoted education at clubs. The endeavours aimed at consolidating and developing the Sorbian language were of great importance. They resulted in spelling reforms, a basic condition for the further development and spreading of literature and the press, of the written word in general. But the two main Sorbian dialects, the Lower Lusatian dialect of Cottbus, and the Upper Lusatian dialect of Bautzen, had already developed into variants of the written language which could no longer be merged into one common written language under the given circumstances. A rapprochement between the two Upper Lusatian dialects, the south-eastern one between Bautzen and Lobau and the dialect group spoken by the catholic Sorbs around Wittichenau and Crostwitz, was successfully worked at in the 19th century. Apart from the linguistic aspirations, much attention was devoted to collecting folk songs in line with suggestions made by JOHANN GOTTFRIED H E R D E R . The basis of the developing bourgeois Sorbian culture was still narrow, especially in the fine arts which could not become deep-rooted in Lusatian soil. K . A. KOCOR (Katzer, 1 8 2 2 — 1 9 0 4 ) , a village teacher, became the "founder of bourgeois Sorbian artistic music"6. Already his first compositions attracted the attention of the poet H A N D R I J Z E J L E R (Seiler, 1 8 0 4 — 1 8 7 2 ) . Their friendship developed into creative cooperation. Z E I J L E R ' S popular and patriotic lyrics which were put to music by KOCOR were taken up by the masses. Since 1 8 4 5 , choir festivals organized mainly by teachers, bore witness to bourgeois musical life. Z E J L E R passes to be the real founder of Sorbian poetry. Sorbian national literature began with him. He became the poet of the people and of the national rebirth. Noteworthy was also the upsurge taken by journalism since 1842. Progressive-minded teachers, united in their pedagogical activities with a democratic attitude, devoted commitment to their people's education and the development of a national Sorbian culture. The most important feature of this broad-based cultural development was its close ties with the people. Science, education, the press and clubs contributed to the fact that the bourgeois national art gradually took roots among the people. It is proof of the vitality of the Sorbian people that they could accept and acquire these new cultural achievements. About the mid-19th century, a rapid capitalist development began in Lusatia

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which in the late 19th century led to an intensive industrialization of central Lusatia. This had profound social and cultural implications. Especially after the emergence of the German Empire, the ruling classes stepped up their policy of Germanization by coercion which was only temporarily mitigated in the bourgeois Weimar Republic, and under the Hitler régime culminated in endeavours aimed at the complete liquidation of the Sorbian nationality. In all that time, more than ever before, Sorbian culture was in the service of national self-awareness and of the defence against increasing oppression. Sorbian national consciousness which was based on the progressive traditions of the popular movement and on Slavic solidarity, became the ideological basis in the resistance against Greater German chauvinism and against the fascist ideology. In the countryside, the capitalist development resulted in a rapid differentiation. Capitalism set free many working people. They had no longer any basis for existence in the countryside and were looking for work and wages in the industry. Those who migrated into towns and industrial centres as a rule lost their contacts with the Sorbian language and culture and became assimilated to the Germans. With the spreading of industrialization, the workers also had the opportunity of continuing to live in the countryside. With their life-style these Sorbian workers brought new aspects to the village, but retained their links with Sorbian language and culture. Now the peasant village community disintegrated finally. Wage work became the determining feature of social differentiation among the peasantry. In this differentiation process peasants developed into landlords, applying the capitalist system of farming, crofters, middling peasants and farmhands that became completely different social strata of the village. Farm work changed, and so did the way of life in rural areas. The traditional half-timbered and thatched-roof houses made way to spacious homes with extensive brickwork farm buildings. The rural artisans gave more and more way to industrial production. In the furnishing of living rooms, in clothes, hair-style and food the urban bourgeois models and customs were gaining ground. In the 19th century the men's national costumes disappeared in the entire Sorbian language area, and in the villages in the vicinity of Bautzen, also the women's national costumes disappeared. The increasing opening up of the village to the town and the changing farm work influenced community life as well. Customs that were connected with ancient rural production and with mythic ideas and superstition, decayed rapidly. Increasingly, the narrative traditions disappeared (such as fairy tales, proverbs, and folk songs), bagpipe and fiddle were replaced by brass bands, and the traditional folk dance had to make way to new-fashioned dances. Bourgeois clubs became the centres of convivial life. However, this process of replacement of folk art did not have a uniform course. In the remote regions of the Spreewald and the Central Lusatian Heath, folk culture was preserved for a long time to come in its original functions. The develop-

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ment was different in Upper Lusatia, where the tempestuous processes of opening up the villages were in full swing in the mid-19th century already. Together with the different social structure, various and contradictory attitudes regarding the future of their own ethnical community manifested themselves. Within a relatively short period, a social regroupment took place under the leadership of the Sorbian national movement. The leadership that came from the affluent bourgeois circles, for the sake of economic interests wanted to bring about a conciliation with the ruling classes and were ever less willing to advocate the national interests of the people. New leaders from the circles of crofters and workers living in rural areas now became the heads of the Sorbian clubs and associations, devoted themselves to the care of Sorbian culture and opposed the increasingly chauvinist Greater German anti-Slavic policies. The social processes in the countryside and the increasingly anti-Sorbian governmental policy as well as resignation after the defeat of the 1848 Revolution temporarily led to a paralysing crisis of Sorbian culture. But in 1860 already a new upsurge became imminent. MICHAL HÓRNIK (Hornig, 1 8 3 3 — 1 8 9 4 ) became the "initiator of the national movement aimed at the needs of the people".7 He endeavoured to link the struggle of large sections of the working rural population for social progress with the democratic demands and the increased efforts aimed at preserving and consolidating national self-consciousness. In many fields of Slavic science and of cultural activities, this talented and confessionally tolerant village pastor was indefatigably active. In 1860, he founded the first belletristic monthly review which could be published under its later name "Luzica" until it was banned in 1937.

In the early eighteen seventies, the Sorbian students organized in the Young Sorbian Movement. The Young Sorbs recorded many remarkable achievements in science and the arts, in cultivating the language and in cultural activities. From their midst came the important Sorbian poet JAKUB BART-CISINSKI ( 1 8 5 6 — 1 9 0 9 ) , a complete edition of whose entire work was published in 14 volumes only now. At his side was ARNOST MUKA (MUCKE, 1 8 5 4 — 1 9 3 2 ) , an outstanding organizer of cultural life and an internationally renowned Slavist. Far more difficult even than in Upper Lusatia was the situation of Sorbian culture in Prussian Lower Lusatia. But there, too, young forces opposed the increasing pressure. When in 1 8 8 0 the ethnographer HENDRICH JORDAN ( 1 8 4 1 — 1 9 1 0 ) succeeded in creating a Lower Sorbian section of the scientific society Macica Serbska, the cultural aspirations there were provided a firmer foundation and a broader basis. After the foundation of the German Empire in 1871, a rapid industrial expansion began in the region of Lusatia. At the same time, the lower village strata became rapidly impoverished. Land buyers of the coal magnates, court bailiffs and usurers tormented the villagers. Farmers' clubs, cooperatives, farmers' savings

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banks and credit banks resisted the pauperization of the working rural people under the leadership of energetic representatives of the peasants. These circles also opposed the suppression of the Sorbian language at schools and the German chauvinist cultural alienation of the villages. Cultural clubs of the Sorbian rural population defended their Sorbian mother tongue, cultivated the Sorbian songs, staged plays and propagated Sorbian literature. In the late 1890s the situation was mature for organizational links between rural and cultural clubs. Pressed by the rural population, A R N O S T B A R T (BARTH, 1870—1956), the organizer of the peasants' movement, stood for the Saxon diet election in 1911. Thus the democratic national rural movement reached a new culmination in its evolution. One year later, in 1912, delegates from 31 cultural and rural clubs were convened in Hoyerswerda by B A R T and Pastor BOGUMIL S W J E L A (Schwele, 1873—1948) from Lower Lusatia and founded the Association of Sorbian clubs which they called Domowina (homeland). The association was created by the people and expressed its unflagging desire for survival and its demands for equal national rights. By founding the Domowina, the Sorbian national movement obtained a firmer organizational basis. As umbrella organization of all Sorbian clubs, the association directed cultural and educational work among the Sorbian population. It represented the interests of the people vis-à-vis the government. During the November Revolution of 1918, the social democratic government had promised the farmers it would distribute the estates of the big landowners. The Lusatian People's Party (Luziska ludowa strona), founded in 1919, struggled to make this promise come true. For many years, this party worked as the spokesman of the poor Sorbian rural population. But all its efforts were in vain. In contrast, the crofters' sales cooperatives and trading companies which had already been existing before First World War, continued to spread. Likewise in 1919, a separate Sorbian financial institution was. created, the Serbska ludowa banka. In August 1919, the Constitution of the Republic, adopted by the National Assembly in Weimar, came into force. This document granted a certain constitutional protection to the non-German minorities, banned any discrimination against their ethnical development and facilitated cultural activities. The Sorbian national movement resolutely had recourse to these bourgeois democratic liberties. However, the basic law did not bind the state to guarantee and promote national autonomy of the minorities. The activities of the Lusatian People's Party were also aimed at the free development of the Sorbian language and culture. In 1919, the only Sorbian daily newspaper, "Serbske Nowiny" was issued, about 10 more journals and most of the Sorbian literature were edited and printedattheSorbianpublishing house, and a bookselling firm was created after the 2

Lusatian Sorbs

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First World War. In Saxony, a légal assertion that the Sorbian language could be taught at school had been obtained in 1919. The Association of Sorbian Teachers made great efforts to implement this law, and wrote Sorbian textbooks and directed the further education of Sorbian teachers. The scientific society Macica Serbska which also promoted research in history, literary history and ethnography deserves lasting praise for editing much-needed dictionaries and grammar books. Poignant social critique, resistance against national oppression, close ties with the people, and a multiplicity of forms marked the work of those writers who had renewed the Working Group of Sorbian writers founded in 1899. Noteworthy are also translations of world literature. The Sorbian daily newspaper serialized works of the most important representatives of Slavic literatures as well as translations of German, English and French literatures. Whereas in Lower Lusatia, war veteran clubs and Prussian military bands impeded Sorbian musical work, the choir movement in Upper Lusatia which had united in an Association of Sorbian Choral Societies, took a great upsurge. The traditions of choir festivals were revived. The most important creative musician of that time was B J A R N A T K R A W C (SCHNEIDER, 1861 — 1948). His work ranged from arrangements of folk songs, patriotic choral song and artistic solo song, via cantatas, mass and oratoria to chamber music and orchestral works. But the artistic revival was not limited to music only. Also the sculptors, painters, architects had organized in a working group. With his works marked by original artistic individuality influenced by the treasure of legends and myths, the painter MÈRÔIN NOWAK (NEUMANN, born in 1900) attracted attention also outside Lusatia. The aspirations to utilize the opportunities deriving from the Weimar Constitution for the active preservation of Sorbian culture, were increasingly opposed to the anti-Slavic eastern policy of German monopoly capital, which had again consolidated its positions weakened in the war and was striving for a revision of postwar conditions. The most reactionary forces of these governing circles in 1933 abolished bourgeois democracy and set up their overt fascist dictatorship. Under these conditions, Sorbian culture in a specific manner reflected the interests, needs and demands of the Sorbian people which was threatened in its very existence. This culture was a decisive component of its national consciousness, of its national identity. Sorbian culture which, owing to the social situation, was above all amateur art and to a considerably lesser extent professional art, was relying on the Sorbian clubs regarding organization. Because a policy of oppression in an unprecedented way impeded the development of the creative potential and the acquisition of the cultural achievements by the Sorbian people all branches of Sorbian culture matured to contain a message deeply opposed to Hitlerite fascism and to have close ties with the people, as never before. Under the devoted slogan "For our Sorbian people to the last breath" the Domowina whose direction had

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been assumed in those hard times by the teacher PAWOL NEDO (1908—1984), defended the vital rights of the Sorbian people. In those decisive struggles the Domowina staunchly defended the cultural identity of the Sorbian people, the right to preserve and develop Sorbian language and culture and the continuation of the mutual cultural relationships with the cognate Slavic cultures, the Slavic autonomy of Sorbian culture and the national symbols of the people. Courageously, the Sorbian people defended these values of theirs despite any interdictions and thus acquired these treasures anew. Ever since, they have been an inalienable intellectual property of the people, more so than ever before. The surrender of Hitlerite Germany initiated a fundamental turning point in the history of the Sorbian people. The social transformations brought about in the territory of what is now the German Democratic Republic allowed and achieved the social, political and cultural emancipation of the Sorbian people. Lusatia today is an important centre of coal mining and energy production in the G.D.R. This development has fundamentally changed the social and occupational structure of the Sorbian population. Most Sorbians continue to live in the countryside or in town-like modern settlements. The character of farm work is changing with industrial working methods increasingly dominating. Divison of labour, specialization are bringing about new agricultural occupations. The rural population's way of life and of dwelling is more and more assimilated to that of the urban population. Among the work force the proportion of those is increasing who do not work in agriculture, but in major industrial undertakings, in transport, the service sectors, the health service or in other non-farming fields. Simultaneously with the changing social structure the educational standards, cultural interests and requirements, the entire way of life is changing. UNESCO has insistently been advocating the recognition of each people to preserve and respect for its cultural integrity. The function and impact of culture are ultimately determined by social reality. The implementation and safeguarding of a free existence and the development of the national features of each people and the mutual approximation, and mutual enrichment of their cultures are among the principles of the cultural policies in socialism. The socialist German state regards it as its duty to guarantee the Sorbs equal opportunities and to support this national minority in preserving and developing its traditional and contemporary cultural values. The preservation, cultivation and development of Sorbian language and culture therefore is one of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. The relevant article of the G.D.R.'s Constitution provides, that "Citizens of the German Democratic Republic of Sorbian nationality have the right to cultivate their mother tongue and culture. The exercise of this right is encouraged by the state". The real safeguarding of the free cultural development of the minority presupposes the support and promotion of the minority by the majority. The safeguarding of this right is in conformity with the respect inherent in socialist 2*

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society for the dignity, integrity and the creative intellectual potential of every people. Sorbian culture fulfils a twofold function under the present conditions. First and foremost, it constitutes an objective structural component of the Sorbian ethnical community, is an expression of its identity, of national development. At the same time, Sorbian culture is active today beyond its actual ethnical range. This is possible because, under social conditions in socialism, the social isolation imposed on Sorbian culture in the past has been overcome and its equality with German culture been implemented. As a special part of socialist national culture, Sorbian culture in its entirety enriches and determines the cultural life of society. Hence, the development of Sorbian culture and language are part and parcel and a result of the cultural development of the entire society. Sorbian studies, education, Sorbian literature, music, drama, fine arts, folk art and other cultural branches are flourishing in a manner unprecedented in Sorbian history. Since the mid-1950s, this process has been connected with a professionalization and institutionalization of culture. Today, several state institutions are devoted to the cultivation and development of Sorbian culture and language. Scientific foundations for Sorbian cultural development are being set up by the Institute of Sorbian Ethnography, a research establishment of the Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R. The edition of Sorbian literature in all fields, including Sorbian text-books and literature on the Sorbs in German is a task of Domowina publishers. This publishing house also brings out eight Sorbian newspapers and journals which are printed at the Sorbian printing firm "Nowa Doba". The German-Sorbian People's Theatre in Bautzen also stages plays in the Sorbian language, and the State Ensemble of Sorbian Folk Art is concerned with the cultivation and spreading of Sorbian culture at home and abroad. The House of Sorbian Folk Art, also a state institution, promotes the development of folk art and handicraft. The Sorbian professional artists are organized in special sections for writers, musicians, figurative artists, theatre and film workers which promote their work. The mother tongue is taught at kindergartens, at general polytechnical ten-grade schools and at two extended twelve-grade schools taking pupils up to A-level education in the Sorb language. Teacher students attend the Sorbian Teachers' Training College. Sorbian university lecturers attend the Institute of Sorbian Studies at Karl Marx University in Leipzig. The Domowina, the Association of Lusatian Sorbs, founded in 1912, banned by the fascists in 1937 and renewed in 1945, through the work of its members organized in local groups and district associations, makes a major contribution to cultivating and developing Sorbian language and literature and to consolidating national consciousness. This has had an impact on the development of the Sorbian language. Indeed, owing to the process of large-scale industrial production and to the change in

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the character of agricultural work and to an increased mobility of the population, this language has lost some earlier spheres of communication but has opened up some new spheres of communication and in certain spheres of social contacts, has become a norm of social conduct. At the expense of the territorial dialects, the supra-regional colloquial form has been consolidated. 8 The broad process of cultural development equally encompasses the creative and the receptive sphere. The development of literature and art is characterized by a deepening of the aesthetic content, by an increasing artistic mastery and a wide range of subjects as well as by a multitude of styles, forms and genres. From 1976 to 1980 alone, Sorbian writers wrote 146 books, 125 major works of figurative art, 220 compositions, as well as 6 films with Sorbian themes were made. At the same time, the Sorbian publishing house brought out 119 text-books and over 400 new titles in the Sorbian language. The number of regular subscribers to Sorbian books increased by 58 per cent during this period. Between 1976 and 1980, the Bautzen Nationality Theatre staged 25 plays in Sorbian which were performed 244 times. The Domowina promotes theatre groups, choirs, literary circles, circles for textile design, for figurative art and for folk dance. In 1980, 117 such groups existed within the framework of the Domowina. Every autumn they are holding concerts which have already become a popular tradition. Similar examples could be given regarding the cultivation of customs and of folk art. Interest in cultural traditions is growing. The content and motive of traditional folk culture are included in a variety of ways in the professional arts. This is clearly reflected in literature, music, the visual arts and in drama. Folk culture is a source of contemporary professional art. It provides a basis for the national form of Sorbian art, lends it an unmistakable colouring and decisively determines specific national features. N o individual culture can exist as an entity closed to other cultural influences. Isolated each culture suffers decay. Further cultural development presupposes respect for other cultures and cultural interrelations. Each autonomous cultural development includes the preservation and development of its intrinsic cultural values and the adaptation of universal cultural values. These principles also apply to Sorbian culture. Especially close are its interrelations with German culture and with the culture of the cognate Slavic peoples. In the millennial coexistence of Sorbs and Germans, cultural influences and conditions have become effective which substantially characterized the development and the features of Sorbian culture. At present they are conducive not only and not even in the first place, to cultural assimilation but promote mutual approximation. There are many forms of expression inherent in this process. Certain ethnical and national peculiarities of Sorbian culture are effective beyond their ethnical sphere and are also respected and cultivated by the German population. This symbiosis is manifested in a multitude of ways: German cultural troupes in the

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Lusatian region include Sorbian songs, music and folk dances in their repertoires. Sorbian folk customs and feasts enjoy increasing popularity among the German population. Of course, the Sorbs, who all have also mastered a good command of the German language, take part through German press, television, radio, film, literature, the theatre, etc. not only in German culture but also in world culture. On a new basis, traditional cultural interrelations with other Slavic cultures are developing. Because of the historical and linguistic kinship to the Slavic peoples, these ties are particularly close. Slavic cultural interrelations have significantly influenced the development of Sorbian culture since the 19th century. Particulary intensive was the influence of Czech, Polish, Slovak and Russian literature, music and painting. These traditions are continued and deepened today under the new social conditions. After the end of the war, translations were published of nearly all Slavic literatures. Anthologies of contemporary prose of other peoples are very popular. Only recently anthologies of Ukrainian, Byelorussian and Macedonian prose were published. Sorbian literature was translated into Czech, Slovak, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Macedonian, Slovenic and other languages. Cultural exchanges are not, of course, limited to Sorbian-German and interSlavic relations. Noteworthy are also translations from French and English. It is quite natural, that increasing industrialization, the changing character of farm work, the process of village-town approximation, and other objective causes also have their cultural repercussions. In everyday culture and everyday life an almost complete internationalisation has come about regarding traditional content and forms, also regarding clothing and food. In the structural and residential spheres, no essential ethnically conditioned differences exist between Sorbs and Germans. This also applies to most sectors of material folk culture. Traditional agricultural instruments have lost their original functions since generations. Also the function of traditional national costumes has changed. They are worn only by older women, other wise on festive occasions and holidays or by cultural groups. A similar development may also be observed in the field of language. Large-scale industrial and agricultural production, mixed work teams, an increasing mobility of the population and their growing educational level, the increasing influence of the mostly German-speaking mass media, mixed marriages, and other objective causes favour the use of the German language. These developments do not eliminate the further flourishing of Sorbian culture which has great prospects under socialist conditions. Neither this introductory summary nor the individual studies in this volume claim to be exhaustive. Many issues had to be omitted, some could only be dealt with briefly. Nevertheless, the editors and authors hope that it has become possible

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to outline the main trends of cultural development, the contribution of language and culture to preserving the ethnical identity of the Lusatian Sorbs and the role of culture in the process of mutual exchange between the peoples. Over many centuries, language and culture constituted an essential basis in the Lusatian Sorbs' struggle for preserving and maintaining their ethnical identity. Being a protection and intellectual weapon in the struggle against national oppression, culture as an entirety of intellectual values has to an increasing extent stimulated the aspirations of the people for social and national liberty. Despite many reprisals under antagonistic social conditions, the Sorbian people has mustered enough creative strength to preserve and develop further the inherited cultural values by incorporating these treasures into vivid relations with the progressive social development. Although Sorbian culture under antagonistic social conditions was pushed into the role of a social outsider, it has always been striving to break through the isolation imposed on it and to establish a creative relationship with the humanist values of German culture and, above all, with the cognate Slavic cultures, but also to participate in the treasures of world culture. By accepting and acquiring these values, Sorbian culture could renew and enrich itself. The function and impact of culture are ultimately marked by social reality as a whole. This regularity which was insistently underlined also at the UNESCO World Conference, is reflected in the Lusatian Sorbs' cultural development. Only after Sorbian culture had become an integral part of social and state policy in the G.D.R., were new ways and possibilities of development opened to it. The Lusatian Sorbs' culture, like any culture, represents an unique and irreplaceable total of values. This culture is making its own modest, but unmistakeable and irreplaceable contribution to the great treasure of world culture. In this contribution it is not decisive whether it is the culture of a big or a small nation. The culture of each nation contributes to the world cultural process with the achievements which serve the development and universal moulding of man, the development of the peoples to ever more perfect forms of social life, mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence.

Footnotes 1 Ansprache des Generaldirektors der Organisation der Vereinten Nationen für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur, A M A D O U - M A H T A R M'Bow, auf der Eröffnungssitzung der Weltkonferenz, in: MONDIACULT. Weltkonferenz der UNESCO über Kulturpolitik, Mexiko 1982. Dokumente. Published by the Ministerium für Kultur der DDR, Berlin 1983, p. 14 2 TSCHERNIK, E., Die Entwicklung der sorbischen Bevölkerung von 1832 bis 1945. Eine demographische Untersuchung, Berlin 1954

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3 JENC, R., Stawizny serbskeho pismowstwa (History of Sorbian Literature), vol. 1. Budysin 1954, p. 75 4 SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., Die Lutherische Reformation und die Anfänge der schriftsprachlichen Entwicklung bei den Lausitzer Sorben, in: ZfSl 28 (1983), 6, p. 812 5 BRANKACK, J./F. MÈT§K; Geschichte der Sorben, vol. 1, Bautzen 1977, p. 265

6 RAUPP, J., Sorbische Musik. Ein Abriß in Wort und Bild, Bautzen 1966, p. 40 7 PETR, J . , Micha! Hôrnik. Ziwjenje a skutkowanje serbskeho wôtcinca (Michal Hôrnik. Life and work of the Sorbian patriot), Budyäin 1974, p. 42 8 FASSKE, H . / F . MICHALK, Grammatik der obersorbischen Schriftsprache der Gegenwart. Morphologie, Bautzen 1981, p. 28

The Sorbs and their History. A Treatise on Cultural History B y J A N SOLTA

The Slavs settled the land between the rivers Elbe and Saale in the west and Oder and Neisse in the east in the 6th century A. D., during the migration of the peoples. The earlier inhabitants had left the country. The Sorbian tribes settled south of the line marked by the villages of Fürstenwalde—Köpenick (today part of Berlin) and Jüterbog—Zerbst (near the Saale estuary). Especially important for this treatise are the tribes of the Lusatians in the vicinity of the Spreewald and the Milzeners on the upper Spree with their tribal fortress Budissin as their centre. The Lusatians gave their name to the countryside Luzica—Lusatia. The land of the Milzeners in the south has been called Upper Lusatia since the tum to the 15th century. Consequently, original Lusatia was called Lower Lusatia. The early political development of the Sorbian tribes covered three major periods: firstly, the period from the 6th to the late 8th century, a time of comparatively peaceful conditions for an independent development; secondly, the period of wars with the Frankish and East Frankish feudal lords which began with the reign of CHARLEMAGNE in the Carolingian realm of the Franks (768 to 814) and lasted until the end of the 9th century; thirdly, the period of the defensive struggles against the expansion of the early feudal German state in the 10th century which ended with the ultimate defeat of the Sorbs and the loss of their political independence. The Slavic settlement in the 6th century which took a peaceful course, was of a peasantry character. The expansion to the east of the early feudal German state in the 10th century, a military project, was a conquest of the country by the lords. It was aimed at subjugating semi-feudal peasant peoples by aggressive feudal lords. The term "feudal expansion to the east" covers two different processes. On the one hand, the military and political occupation in the 10th century, which took place under the sign of the sword and the cross, so as by using Christianization finally to create a — though artificial — cpmmunity of conquerors and subjugated, of exploiters and exploited. On the other hand, the taking in of a great number of people from western regions, beginning in the 12th century with the aim of the colonization of the peasantry and of settling artisans and merchants in the towns.

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Also the local Slavic inhabitants were partly included in the colonisation plans of the feudal lords. The rural masses of the people of Slavic and German descent jointly cultivated the land. They were both antagonistically opposed to their German lords when struggling for safeguarding their interests. 1 The loss of independence in the late 10th century created a vital incision in Sorbian history. It compels the historian to face the following question: Is the history of the Sorbs now terminated? This question is being answered in various ways. For instance, "Kindlers Kulturgeschichte des Abendlandes" contains at the most some indications about the fate of the Sorbian tribes until their loss of independence. In the volume "Die Slawen", written by ROGER PORTAL, they do not appear. However, the variation of the subtitle of this work is significant. In the original 1965 version the formulation is "Les Slaves. Peuples et Nations" (Peoples and Nations), in the German translation and its inclusion as volume 20 of the "Kulturgeschichte", however, the title is "Die Slaven. Von Völkern zu Nationen" 2 (From Peoples to Nations). This seems to be a specification. The Sorbs, a Slavic people, belong to the group of peoples which have not developed into nations. In contrast to the method of excluding minor Slavic peoples is the tradition, stemming from the Age of Enlightenment, of taking them into consideration in standard works about the Slavs. We should like to point to SCHLÖZER and VON ANTON. AUGUST LUDWIG SCHLÖZER, who distinguished between the Wends (Sorbs) of Lusatia and the Winds (Slovenes) in Carinthia and at the same time considered Upper and Lower Sorbian as a unity 3 ; K A R L GOTTLOB VON ANTON, a German from Upper Lusatia, one of the fathers of Slavic studies in Germany, who also treated the Sorbian language in his works. 4 Related to both of them was J O S E F DOBROVSKY, who all through his life was concerned with the Sorbs, turned the attention of Slavic scholars to them and also recommended to them to visit Lusatia.5 The number of study trips of foreign scholars to Lusatia was growing from decade to decade. The Sorbs, their language, history and culture were integrated into Slavic studies as a research subject and are a part of them. This is testified at present by the work of the International Committee of Slavists and the congresses of Slavists organized by it and by other international panels as well as by the research concepts of several important institutes. Apart from general scientific interest in the Sorbs, this certainly reflects also the topical question about their existence and their position as a national minority with equal rights in the socialist German Democratic Republic. The fact that independence was lost and that an independent political development in the late 10th century was prevented is one of the initial considerations of any description of Sorbian history. The authors of a first synthesis of the history of the Sorbs, the Pole WILHELM BOGUSLAWSKI and the Sorb MICHAL H Ö R N I K , began their work by stating this particularity that the Sorbs "lost their political

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independence a long time ago or have actually never been able to develop it completely." 6 Thus they belong to the group of nationalities without an independent national political history. The Sorbs lack any such traditions. This did not prevent them from "waking up" later on the way from feudal to capitalist society and from participating in the development of a national rebirth of the Slavic (and not only Slavic) peoples in Central and Southeast Europe. This contradiction in the historical development is also manifested in the history of some peoples of the Hapsburg monarchy, as of the Slovaks and Slovenes.7 The history of the Sorbs can be represented by at first looking at their interrelation, created in capitalism, with the bourgeois German nation. The Sorbs were associated with this nation as a relatively autonomous Sorbian nationality. 8 The specific interrelations of this association have developed historically, ever since irom the loss of Sorbian independence a new situation emerged. As a tribe in feudalism, the Sorbs were an ethnic community without their own national aristocracy. In the middle-class population of the towns in the Sorbian region, in which the German population had an important share, the Sorbs saw themselves as inferior regarding their number and influence. The bourgeois transformation of society in the 19th century, excluding the rural bourgeoisie, did not result in the formation of a national bourgeoisie. An intelligentsia which was mainly rooted in the middle-class and the peasantry constituted the leading strata of the Sorbian nationality. Its not completely developed socio-economic structure distinguished it essentially from the German nation. Under these circumstances, Sorbian culture developed over the centuries as a peasant folk art. The self-consciousness of the Sorbs can be interpreted as an elementary consciousness based on the Sorbian ethnic substance and the underprivileged situation of the peasantry which was deprived of all rights under feudal status. At first, this self-consciousness had the quality of a primarily ethnical consciousness. However, the scientific recording and documentation of folk art, especially by J A N ARNOST SMOLER (JOHANN ERNST SCHMALER) in the pre-1848 decade, is already an expression of a new national literature and national science, i.e. of a bourgeois Sorbian cultural development. The complete title of this standard folkloric work in the German variant is "Volkslieder der Wenden in der Oberund Niederlausitz. Aus dem Volksmunde aufgezeichnet und mit den Sangweisen, deutscher Übersetzung, den nötigen Erläuterungen, einer Abhandlung über die Sitten und Gebräuche der Wenden und einem Anhange ihrer Märchen, Legenden und Sprichwörter" 9 . In the endeavour to record the folk art, to relate to it and to sublate it in modern culture, is reflected the bourgeois movement of national "awakening". The bourgeois-influenced national cultural aspirations in the 19th century whose social basis was essentially provided by the social and economic emancipation of the peasants, were also deep-rooted in Sorbian cultural traditions. This statement

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does not exclude the mutual cultural relations of the Sorbs with German culture on the one hand, and the Slavic cultures on the other. But these were relations on the level of mutuality in which the Sorbs had a part due to their own growing strength. The concept of "mutuality" was, according to EDUARD WINTER, a suitable expression for a "positive development of cultural relations among the peoples." It excluded such constructions as "the occidental idea", "different cultural levels" and "transfer of culture" from west to east, "terms which are so dangerous to peace in Europe". 10 He included in his publication "Wegbereiter der deutsch-slawischen Wechselseitigkeit" as representatives of Sorbían culture FRANC J U R I J LOK (FRANZ GEORG LOCK), bishop of Bautzen and advocate of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Pan-Slavist JAN PÉTR JORDAN, a Sorbían publicist and publisher.11 The biographies of other persons contain some significant references to the Sorbs.12 The aim of assessing and paying homage to the cultural achievements and interrelations of Slavic peoples in the history of European cultures on an objective scientific basis was also served by an international conference held in Berlin in 1976 on behalf of UNESCO at which, of course, the issue of Sorbían culture enjoyed appropriate attention.13 Autonomous cultural developments (also under conditions of links with the history of the German people) and cultural interrelations are being emphasized because especially with regard to Sorbs any views of "different cultural levels" and of "Slavic inferiority" should be rejected.14 At that time, already, the literary historian JOSEF PATA from Prague drew attention to these problems.15 The folk art of the Sorbs was represented in a valid manner by the work of SMOLER, and we should like to remind the readers of this fact. The traditions beyond this object which prepared the bourgeois cultural development in the 19th century and helped mark the national issues in the Sorbs' historical consciousness will be outlined below by indicating some facts. It is important to emphasize Sorbían participation in the spreading of Protestantism at home and in distant countries as well as the long-time effects of the Reformation in the fields of culture and of school education as conceived by PHILIPP MELANCHTHON. With the exception of a minor region marked by the Upper Lusatian towns of Bautzen, Kamenz and Hoyerswerda, the Sorbs were affected by the Reformation. They assisted it in a variety of manners, especially in connection with the University of Wittenberg. 16 In 1548, MIKLAWUS JAKUBICA completed the first translation into Sorbían of the New Testament, a manuscript which did not find its way to a printer's shop.17 The first books printed were ALBIN MOLLER'S "Wendisch Gesangbuch ...", also the "Kleiner Catechismus" (Büdissin 1574) and LUTHER'S "Kleiner Katechismus" in the translation of WJACLAW WARICHIUS (Budissin 1595)18. With his "Unterricht, wie die Buchstaben in wendischer Sprache zu gebrauchen und auszusprechen seien" WARICHIUS initiated the endeavours for a

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Sorbian grammar. As a vicar in Goda he also held the office of inspector of the Latin Grammar School founded there in order to prepare Sorbian pupils for University. The first printed complete Sorbian translation of the Bible of 1728 also names Budissin as the town of publication.19 The confessional rivalry between catholics and protestants in Upper Lusatia caused the catholics to make efforts also to develop a literature o£ their own in Sorbian, whereas the estates of the March systematically promoted these activities of the protestants.20 Pietism, a progressive sub-current of Protestantism emanating from the University and the Francke Foundation in Halle, in the 18th century exercised, above all in the form supported by the Moravian Church in Upper Lusatia, great influence on the educational and cultural development among the Sorbs, but was violently combatted by the Sorbian advocates of Enlightenment because of its tendencies towards bigotry. All in all, it can be said for the Sorbian area that the vicarage, above all the Lutheran rectory, at that time proved to be a centre for the cultivation of education and of culture. 21 The share of Sorbs in important intellectual and cultural movements has also gone down in cultural tradition which 19th-century Sorbian culture remembered. The activities and merits of those people are appreciated in special presentations of history, without taking into account their relationship to Sorbian in each particular case. M I K X A W S Z DRJEZDZAN came from the circle of the Dresden Hussites, a partisan of JAN HUS in Prague and a theoretical pioneer of the peasant and plebeian wing of the Hussite movement.22 His outstanding role in the struggle of the Prague population has only recently been described by historical research. Although his personal activities have for a long time been unknown to the Sorbs, the unreserved siding with the Hussite movement of the "Historija serbskeho naroda" already and its inclusion in the further context of Sorbian history is well-known. 23 This attitude which is to be attributed above all to coauthor MICHAL H 6 R N I K , a catholic clergyman, was influenced by the national tradition of the Czech people with whom the Sorbs felt linked with regard to language and culture. As a militant humanist, JAN R A K (JOHANNES RHAGIUS AESTICAMPIANUS) was at many universities in European countries a respected scholar and poeta laureatus open to the progressive spiritual developments, who in the last years of his life, from 1 5 1 7 to 1 5 2 0 , worked in Wittenberg, together with LUTHER and MELANCHTHON.24 He has a firm place both in German and Sorbian cultural history. This also applies to KASPAR PEUKER, a son of artisans born in Bautzen, a physician and university professor in Wittenberg who advocated the ideas of his father-inlaw MELANCHTHON and above all worked for extending his university's relations with the countries of Southeast Europe and for the consolidation of Protestantism there.25 NIKOLAUS VON DRESDEN, JOHANNES RHAGIUS AESTICAMPIANUS, a n d CASPAR

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are only a few eminent personalities who became renowned far outside Sorbian-speaking Lusatia. But the significance of the advocates of Enlightenment, of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences founded in Görlitz in 1779, and of the Josephinian reforms whose repercussions, coming from Prague, could be felt even in Upper Lusatia, are but a few examples. Incidentally, the late stage of the Age of Enlightenment in the last third of the 18th century developed into a preliminary stage or initiating phase of the National Renaissance Movement. Apart from other achievements, eminent advocates of Enlightenment have deserved great praise also for opposing pressure for Germanization of the ruling circles, for championing respect and protection of the Sorbian subjects' mother tongue and for demanding an extension of the school system on its basis. JURIJ M J E N (GEORG MÖHN) composed in 1757 a poem in verse "Der sorbischen Sprache Vermögen und Lob im Dichterlied" and translated into Sorbian poetry three chants from the "Messias" by KLOPSTOCK. These works are the most eloquent testimony to this attitude.26 In the opposition against Germanization are united the spontaneous actions of the masses of the people in some parishes and the work of scholars on a literary level. Some authors, such as NATHANAEL BOHUMÉR LESKA (NATHANAEL GOTTFRIED LESKE), Professor of economics in Leipzig, and ANDREAS TAMM, rector in Muskau and later a lawyer at Görlitz county court, supported the peasants in their antifeudal actions. They criticized the conditions of serfdom which were extremely far developed in Lusatia and demanded their abolition, protected the struggling peasants against calumniations, and postulated an agrarian reform in conformity with the principle of preserving, liberating and promoting the farmsteads. As a repercussion of the French Revolution of 1789 and of the 1790 peasants' uprising in the Electorate of Saxony the struggle of the peasants reached a climax. In 1794, the centre of the peasants' movement shifted from the region of Meissen to the Sorbian region of Upper Lusatia. Some examples are to show how the ethnic self-assurance of the Sorbs was gradually replenished with bourgeois aspects and what was the content of their awareness expressed in this context. JAN MICHAL BUDAR, an affluent lawyer and big landlord, in his testament made in 1767 instituted as his universal heir the entire "Wendish poverty" of the Sorbian settlement area, that is an entire people.27 BUDAR, who always sided with the corvée peasants who were struggling against the aristocratic landowners, was guided likewise by social and national considerations. In other cases, the emergent relationship of the Sorbian-German national association was already showing, if somebody committed oneself to being a Sorb and at the same time a German — the latter case with regard to the larger circle of German culture and also in view of his status as a subject of the German sovereign. The nationally conscientious Sorb MJEIÌT in 1 7 7 5 justified his Sorbian translation of PEUCERUS

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parts of the "Messias" made to prove the "efficacy, richness of vocabulary and subtlety" of his Sorbian language by asserting that "Klopstocks Messias das erhabenste und majestätischste Gedicht ist, daß wir Deutschen (emphasis by J. S.) zur Zeit haben . . . " (Klopstock's Messiah is the most sublime and majestic poem that we Germans [emphasis by J. $.] have at present.. .).28 Apart from this dualism occasionally encountered in the Sorbian national consciousness we also ind a commitment of belonging to the big family of Slavic peoples, a feeling of kinship which was here and there also expressed by other Slavic peoples. Already PEUKER in a letter 1 5 6 6 to bishop JAN BLAHOSLAV, who had translated the New Testament into Czech, called the Czech language and his own Sorbian mother tongue "lingua nostra".29 In 1 6 9 7 , MICHAL FRENCEL dedicated his Sorbian writings together with a note of welcome in Latin and Sorbian to the "great tsar and grand duke" PETER I, expected to visit Dresden, "who with many thousands of millions of subjects speaks in our Wendish or Sarmatian language". "I am reporting most humbly to your Majesty the Tsar that we Germans and Wends here in Saxony also have the Apostolic Lutheran faith and teaching ,.." 3 0 . Diverse as these statements may seem, they do testify to the increasingly bourgeois national content in the Sorbs' self-assurance. Sorbian history is not to be traced in detail here. We shall investigate the further formation of the Sorbs' historical awareness. In contrast to their national awareness it is more comprehensive and contains the latter as an integral part. If we agree with the considerations of M . A . BARG, then the historical consciousness is "that form of social consciousness in which all three modes of historical time — past, present and future — combine" and that proves to be "a fundamental ideological characteristic of the culture in a given historical epoch."31 The Sorbs did not arrive at such a mature historical awareness before the period of bourgeois transformation of society in the 19th century which is presenting itself in their history and culture as an "awakening" and "national rebirth". The antifeudal peasants' movement, the growth of capitalist factors in economic life and the political upheavals in the twenty-five years of the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and the liberation struggle against Napoleon undermined the late feudal agrarian and state constitution. In concert with the intellectual and cultural currents of that time, they provided the basis for the national renaissance of the peoples in Central, East and Southeast Europe. From the historian's viewpoint the concept of national rebirth cannot be limited to the "spheres of culture and artistic creativity", according to V. A. D ' J A K O V , it rather covers the difficult "complex of closely interrelated socio-economic and political and ideological processes characterizing the transitional period from feudalism to capitalism".32 If we turn to the concrete historical events in the history of individual peoples, it should also be borne in mind that in social development there was not only a

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phase-shift in relation of West and East, but, as L . SZIKLAY and E. BOJTÄR emphasize, such a phase-shift also occurred among the peoples in East Europe. 33 It is furthermore significant for Sorbian history that it was moving towards completing the association relationships between bourgeois nationality and bourgeois nation in the relations between Sorbs and Germans. It is here that the already mentioned problem of cultural interrelations with other peoples should be taken up again. In the Age of Enlightenment, chiefly in the second half of the 18th century, the accent was placed on Sorbian-German encounters. At that time, the eminent personalities of Sorbian culture were formed by the German Enlightenment. They maintained Sorbian-German cultural relations and were simultaneously reaffirmed in their proud attitude as Sorbs by these ties. The vivid activities culminated in the 50 years' jubilee of the Leipzig-based Wendish Preachers' Society in 1766, and in the early history of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences in Görlitz which was founded in 1779. Later on, Sorbian Romanticism also received first significant impulses from the Preachers' Society in Leipzig, although that town was not a stronghold of German Romanticism, as for instance Jena or Dresden. Also in the 17th and 18th centuries remarkable interrelations existed between Sorbs and other Slavic peoples which intensified in the last decades before 1800. At that time, in Bohemia and in other regions of the Hapsburg monarchy the domination of Jesuits was broken. In the wake of the Josephinian reforms, the world of ideas inherent to the Age of Enlightenment entered the educational and cultural spheres. Here it is necessary to point to J O S E F DOBROVSKY and his relationships with the Sorbs. 34 The Sorbs who were living in Leipzig at the time of Romanticism already had creative exchanges with patriots of other Slavic peoples, especially of the Czech people. This applies especially to the years 1826 through 1828, the time, when HANDRIJ Z E J L E R (ANDREAS S E I L E R ) studied in Leipzig and was going through the first stage on his way to become the leading poet of Sorbian Romanticism. The farther on, the more the Slavic mutuality in literature and culture came to the fore in the international contacts of the Sorbs, although also in the first half of the 19th century important Sorbian-German contacts still existed. However, a shift of emphasis in favour of Slavic interrelations roughly since the 1820s is evident. During the ascendant phase in the history of the bourgeoisie, this trend was in no opposition to the development of the German people. Mutual relations between Slavs gave strength and shape to Sorbian culture, especially in the 1830s and 1840s. Comparing the national and cultural advance of Sorbs and Czechs, the already mentioned phase shifting is a striking phenomenon. The Sorbs orientated themselves on the progress in bourgeois development of the Czech people and benefited from advice and assistance from this side. This allowed them before 1848 to reduce their backwardness. In the late 1830s, the

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33

national movement of the Sorbs was formed supported by the middle class and the peasantry, as it were, a specifically Sorbian manifestation of the antifeudal opposition movement in Germany, a manifestation that saw a new stage in those years. To summarize, Sorbian culture in those years was characterized by the following events: The language conflict continued unabatedly. The cultivation of language and of folk art was intensified. The cause of school education on the basis of the mother tongue was promoted. The Macica Serbska was founded in Bautzen. National choir festivals were launched. The confessional barriers between catholics and protestants were gradually reduced. The Saxon-Prussian barriers in Sorbian cultural relations were overcome. Newspapers were founded. This fact gave rise to publicity and to the emergence of a modern national literature, although modest in general. In the field of journalism, disputes were waged about the Slavic peoples, including the Sorbs. These nations were accused of Pan-Slavism serving the interests of tsarist Russia. This accusation had been voiced since the early 1840s by Hungarian and German liberal circles. Indeed, the activity of J . P. JORDAN and K . A . M 0 S A K - K T 0 S 0 P 0 L S K I (K. A . MOSIG VON AEHRENFELD) in Leipzig made it clear that from the Sorbian side, too, assistance was given to the national and cultural endeavours of other Slavic peoples.35 The social and political differentiation in the ranks of the Sorbian intelligentsia continued, it reached its preliminary culmination in the year of the 1848 Revolution. The conservatives in the executive committee of the Macica Serbska and elsewhere defended the dynasties of princes in 1848, they refused to proclaim Sorbian national demands, suppressed Sorbian-Slavic contacts and disassociated themselves from the national movement. (From now on, the conservatives will in principle always be opposed to Slavic mutuality and work towards integrating the Sorbian minority into the ruling system of Junkers and bourgeoisie in Germany.) Liberals and democrats mobilized the Sorbian peasants, founded clubs for peasants and for education which in 1848/49 were merged into a central association with 2000 members (April 1849), they supported the peasants' petition movement and in this way extended and deepened the national movement. But it was only the democrats, above all Sorbian village school teachers, who really committed themselves to the social cause of the peasants, and on this basis accepted to join the consistent democrats on the German side and supported the demand for introducing a republic. Because, as the "Serbski Nowinkar", the newspaper of the democrats, wrote, democracy and monarchy would never agree. Already in the disputes about the accusation of Pan-Slavism in the 1840s, Sorbian journalists explained the position of the Sorbian nationality and its relation to the German people on the one hand and the Slavic peoples on the other. The Sorbs were said not to advocate their complete independence of German domination. They rather wanted "to arouse national consciousness in a reasonable and 3

Lusatian Sorbs

34

J A N SOLTA

opportune manner, form and preserve it without instigating hatred against the Germans". Their cultural work was said to be devoted to the cultivation of their language and to scientific research, and these were indeed "the aims by which Lusatian Slavs are chained to the others". In contrast "the political unity of a people is based on quite a different foundation than on the unity of language." 36 Proceeding from these principles, SMOLER by mediation of the German democrat R O B E R T B L U M in 1 8 4 8 addressed himself to the constituent German National Assembly which was to work out a constitution at St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt, whereas he understood the Slavs' Congress in Prague as an affair of the Slavic peoples of the Hapsburg monarchy. SMOLER requested the inclusion of provisions in the constitution that were suitable to guarantee the rights of the "Slavic inhabitants in Germany", and this was done. The interrelations of the association of the Sorbian nationality with the bourgeois German nation were thus outlined. The democratic forces of the Sorbs connected with the national movement have always committed themselves to the principle of cultural interrelations with the Slavic peoples, even in the dark years of the Hitlerite fascists' policy of extermination. Is it correct to characterize the bourgeois transformation process among the Sorbs as a development leading from the late feudal social crisis and the Age of Enlightenment via an "awakening" to a "national rebirth", since finally "only" a nationality emerged that was associated with the bourgeois German nation, rather than an independent bourgeois nation? If those specific features of Sorbian history, which do constitute a reality, are really to be comprehended then this question must be answered in the affirmative. The national rebirth was described as a multifaceted and complex process. No less varied were its results. From the Sorbian peasant people of feudal times had emerged a bourgeois nationality which the same as the bourgeois nation was based on the socio-economic foundation of capitalist society, only that — as was already mentioned — it was lacking a fully developed capitalist class structure, and also a national bourgeoisie. Leading forces stemming from the middle class and from the peasantry proved themselves in the struggle for the emergence and growth of an autonomous bourgeois culture, which continued to have close ties with the people and relied on mutual relations with Slavic peoples. The bourgeois historical consciousness of the Sorbs had developed. This selfawareness was essentially a democratic view of history in accordance with the aspirations of the middle class. This attitude encompassed "all three modes of historical time". With regard to prospects, this viewpoint accepted a position on an equal footing for the Sorbian minority in a democratically organized German state. On this basis, a further development of Sorbian culture was advocated. With the defeat of the bourgeois democratic revolution of 1848, however, the

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35

progressive potential of the middle classes had markedly decreased. A period of stagnation ensued in the second half of the century, and later, a new orientation commenced gradually. In 1871, a Junker-bourgeoisie régime was established owing to the unification "from above" of Germany into an empire, and this created a new situation. Antidemocratism, militarism, chauvinism, hostility against the Slavs were birthmarks of the empire which pursued a policy of severe oppression and Germanization against the national minorities. The minorities alone were unable to hold their own against the ruling classes. The German working class grew to become the leading social force that would once be capable of uniting all opposition movements against exploitation, oppression and reaction. The struggle of the working class was a genuine alternative to the state system of Junkers and bourgeoisie. The new revival of the national movement of the Sorbian middle classes and peasantry in the last three decades of the 19th century was accompanied by strong Slavic cultural influences. Indeed, the Slavic peoples in their overwhelming majority were waging a national democratic liberation struggle. Among them — also among the Russians — the Sorbs found moral support and to some extent material assistance. It proved to be a contradiction that on the other hand the forces of the national movement, Sorbian cultural creativity and Sorbian ethnography did not show any understanding for the ideas of the revolutionary struggle of the working class at home for a long time to come. The influence of class-conscious Sorbian workers on the national movement remained exiguous. Thus in the course of further development the subjective cognitive limits due to class conditions as well as an objective weakening of the middle-class strata impaired the political and ideological positions of the Sorbian democratic forces. As fundamental features of middle-class national limitations in the historical consciousness that was moulding the national movement and Sorbian culture, let us list the following: firstly, the long-time almost exclusive orientation to the peasants and, at the same time, an obstinate reserve towards the socialist workers' movement; secondly, an underestimation of the social factor in the national question, and the unilateral emphasis on ethnical viewpoints; thirdly, lacking comprehension of the real extent of common features in Sorbian and German history and, fourthly, a tendency to self-isolation inherent in the Sorbian ethnical community in and from capitalist Germany. Now, the historical consciousness outlined here should not be considered as something static. There were, for instance, disputes among the Sorbs, as above all about the Young Sorbian Movement in the 1870s and 1890s and about the foundation of the national Domowina organization in 1912/13. Influences of political conservatism and clericalism were repelled by the democratic forces. In the course of the aggravating class struggle in imperialist Germany before and after the First World War, the general democratic potential of the national movement was 3*

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J A N SOLTA

strengthened. First serious steps were made towards a policy of alliances with the socialist workers' movement and the Communist Party. In the years of Hitlerite fascism it became possible to isolate the reactionary elements among the Sorbs and to ward off all attempts of a fascist "Gleichschaltung". Interdictions and persecution then had to be endured, but the anti-fascist attitude of considerable population groups could be strengthened. Post-war Sorbian literature provides realistic documentation of how the anti-fascist conviction of many Sorbs was manifested in their actions, in their solidarity and support of those who were persecuted on racial and political grounds at home as well as of the forced labourers and prisoners of war. Apart from social and national motives (there existed "Slavic interrelations" on a completely new level) in many places also basic attitudes of people moulded by humanistic and Christian principles worked in this direction. Despite this field of vision which was enlarged mainly by anti-fascism, a middleclass national narrowness at first continued to be inherent in principle also in 1945 in those strata of the population which supported the national movement. Yet the Domowina, renewed on 10 May, began its activities as an anti-fascist democratic national organization. To the best of its ability it took part in solving the urgent tasks of democratic reconstruction in the country. In this revolutionary process of socialist transformation initiated by the anti-fascist democratic transformation of social conditions, also the formation of a Marxist-Leninist historical view of the Sorbian nationality was advancing. Equal national rights — their ideological preparation among the people, constitutional provisions and their implementation — constituted an element of the new order. It should not be forgotten that the Sorbian workers also benefited from all the other social and political achievements. Suffice it to recall the democratic land reform, the school reform, Sorbian cooperation in state administration — just to cite a few examples. They were old demands of the national movement that were fulfilled now. In the constitution of the German Democratic Republic founded in 1949, equal rights and the equal position of the Sorbs as the only national minority of the German state of workers and farmers were confirmed and ensured. Creation of equal conditions and thus state promotion for those sectors of the population which had formerly been put at a disadvantage due to their situation was one of the consequences of these equal rights. Critical acquirement of the cultural heritage, the struggle against petit bourgeois-democratic views regarding culture and history before 1945 meant both to overcome impeding thinking habits and to accept progressive aspects from outside and to continue Sorbian traditions of struggle against past ruling classes and their ideological concepts. The anti-imperialist struggle middleclass forces had waged before 1945 in an essentially defensive manner was now, under- the conditions of a new ratio of forces between socialism and capitalism

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37

at home and abroad, continued along offensive lines from the positions of the working class. In subsequent times, this was conducive to enlarging the field of vision in the Sorbs' social thinking, but above all, it facilitated the comprehension of the interconnection between social and national issues as well as between national and international aspects. A deep-going understanding of the common features among workers of Sorbian and of German nationality in the history and in the present began. The ties of friendship in the coexistence of the two nationalities were consolidated by the development of association relations in the conditions of socialism. A new world-outlook moulded by the ideological and theoretical principles of the working class determines the intellectual and cultural aspirations of the Sorbs in the G.D.R., their socialist culture and their historical consciousness. The Sorbian literature of today vividly reflects this advance in the sphere of consciousness.

References and footnotes 1

Cf. in this respect: H E R R M A N N , J . (ed.), Die Slawen in Deutschland, Berlin 1972; Die Welt der alten Slawen, Praha 1983; with regard to this investigation as a whole cf.: SotTA, J. (ed.), Geschichte der Sorben, vol. 1—4, Bautzen 1974—1979 P O R T A L , R . , Die Slawen. Von Völkern zu Nationen (Kindlers Kulturgeschichte des Abendlandes, editor F. H E E R , vol. 20) 1979 SCHLÖZER, A. L. (ed.), Allgemeine Nordische Geschichte, Halle 1771, pp. 236, 241, 331, 333; S O L T A , J., A. L. Schlözer a -tuziscy Serbja (A. L. Schlözer and the Lusatian Sorbs), in: Rozhlad 35 (1985), 6, pp. 166-170 A N T O N , K. G., Erste Linien eines Versuches über der alten Slawen Ursprung, Sitten, Gebräuche, Meinungen und Kenntnisse, vol. I—II, Leipzig 1783, 1789 (Photomechanical reprint with a preface by P. N E D O , Bautzen 1 9 7 6 ) P Ä T A , J., Josef Dobrovsky a Luzice (Josef Dobrovsky and Lusatia), Praha 1929 B O G U S L A W S K I , W./M. H Ö R N I K , Historija serbskeho naroda (History of the Sorbian people), Budysin 1884, p. V Cf. K A N N , R. A., Das Nationalitätenproblem der Habsburgermonarchie, vol. I, Graz-Köln 1964, pp. 274foll. The problem range of the associated nationalities in capitalism and socialism is investigated in: B R O M L E J , J U . V., Ethnos und Ethnographie, Berlin 1977, pp. 136foil. H A U P T , J . / J . E . SCHMALER (ed.), Volkslieder der Wenden in der Ober- und Niederlausitz — Pjesnicki hornych a delnych Luziskich Serbow, vol. I—II, Grimma 1841, 1 8 4 3 (Photomechanical reprint with a preface by W. STEINITZ, Berlin 1 9 5 3 , with a preface by J . R A U P P , Bautzen 1 9 8 4 ) W I N T E R , E . / G . J A R O S C H (ed.), Wegbereiter der deutsch-slawischen Wechselseitigkeit, Berlin 1983, p. VII V Ä N A , ZD.,

2

3 4 5 6

7 8 9

10

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11 Ibd., pp. 185foll., 273foil, (author Z E I L , W.) 12 Cf. thereviewal by J . Sot TA of W I N T E R , E./G. JAROSCH (ed.), Wegbereitet der deutschslawischen Wechselseitigkeit, in: Létopis B 32 (1985), 1, pp. 92foll. 1 3 ZIEGENGEIST, G. (ed.), Slawische Kulturen in der Geschichte der europäischen Kulturen vom 18. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert. Internationaler Studienband, Berlin 1982, cf. the reviewal by J. SOLTA in: Létopis B 3 0 ( 1 9 8 3 ) , 2 , pp. 1 9 1 foil. 14 Only for illustration here the book of the Slavist P. D I E L S , Die slavischen Völker, Wiesbaden 1963, in which among other things on p. 240foil, the text reads: that since the end of the 18th century the awakening Slavic ethnic consciousness of the Sorbs had been "time and again instigated by the Czechs"; the Slavs, among them the Czechs, as is said on p. 84, had received considerable stimuli by the unilateral advocacy of German scholars such as SCHLÖZER and H E R D E R . From a celebrated historian such as SCHLÖZER, "to say nothing about his purely German descent", one "could have expected a more mature judgment on these historical relations"; also cf. the reviewal by H . SCHUSTER-SEWC in: Neue Deutsche Literatur 18 (1970), 3, pp. 180 foil. 15 PATA, J . , Luíickosrbské národní obrození a ceskoslovenská üöast v ném (Lusatian sorbían renaissance and the Czechoslovak share in it) in: Slavia 2(1923—1924), pp. 348foll.; idem, Zawod do studija serbskeho pismowstwa (Introduction to the study of Sorbian writing), Budysin 1929, pp. 83 foil. 1 6 KNAUTHE, CHR., Derer Oberlausitzer Sorberwenden umständlicheKirchengeschichte, Görlitz 1767 (Reprint, editor R. OLESCH, Köln—Wien 1980), pp. 188foll.; M É T S K , F., Die Sorben und die Universität Wittenberg, in: MÉTSK, F., Studien zur Geschichte sorbisch-deutscher Kulturbeziehungen, Bautzen 1981, pp. lOOfoll. 17 SCHUSTER-SEWC, H. (ed.), Das niedersorbische Testament des Miklawus Jakubica, Berlin 1967 1 8 KIND-DOERNE, CHR., Sorbischer Buchdruck in Bautzen vom Ausgang des 1 6 . bis zum Beginn des 18. Jahrhunderts, in: Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens, XIII, 4(1973), pp. 955 foil. 1 9 KNAUTHE, CHR., Von den Schicksalen der Sorberwenden Sprache, und von denen darinnen geschriebenen Büchern, in Oberlausitz, in: KNAUTHE, CHR., Derer Oberlausitzer Sorberwenden umständliche Kirchengeschichte, pp. 367 foil. 20 MÉTSK, F., Der Anteil der Stände des Markgraftums Oberlausitz an der Entstehung der obersorbischen Schriftsprache (1668 — 1728), in: MÉTSK, F., Studien zur Geschichte sorbisch-deutscher Kulturbeziehungen, pp. 24foll. 21 Cf. in this respect: Thesen über Martin Luther. Zum 500. Geburtstag, in: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, 29(1981), 10, pp. 888 foil. 22 NBS ( = Nowy biografiski slownik k stawiznam a kulturje Serbow) (NBS = New biographical dictionary on the history and culture of the Sorbs), Budysin 1984, pp. 376 foil.; K A L I V O D A , R./A. K O L E S N Y K (ed.), Das hussitische Denken im Lichte seiner Quellen, Berlin 1969 23 B O G U S L A W S K I , W./M. H Ó R N I K , Historija serbskeho naroda (History of the Sorbian people), Budysin 1884, pp. 82 foil. 24 NBS, p. 463; IRMSCHER, J., Der sorbische Humanist Jan Rak, in: Létopis A 30(1983), 1, pp. 41 foil.

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25 NBS, pp. 435foil.; KÜHNE, H., Kaspar Peuker. Leben und Werk eines großen Gelehrten an der Wittenberger Universität im 16. Jahrhundert, in: Letopis B 30(1983)^ 2, pp. 151 foil. 26 MÖHN, J., Serbskeje reöe zamoienje a chwalbu w reöerskim kerlusu. Porjedzi a wonda Awgust Theodor Rudolf Möhn (The powers and praise of the Sorbian language in poetry. Revised and edited by August Theodor Rudolf Möhn), Budyiin 1806 27 MÜTSK, F., Die Bedeutung der Budarschen Stiftung (1767) für die sorbische Sprachund Volkstumsstatistik, in: METSK, F., Studien zur Geschichte sorbisch-deutscher Kulturbeziehungen, p. 48 28 MÖHN, J . Serbskeje rece ..., preface 29 FRINTA, A., Siawny C. Peucer bese Serb (The famous C. Peucer was a Sorb), in: Letopis A 1(1952), pp. 146foll. 30 KNAUTHE, CHR., Derer Oberlausitzer Sorberwenden umständliche Kirchengeschichte, pp. 436 foil. 31 BARG, M. A., Das Geschichtsbewußtsein als Problem der Historiographie, , in: Sowjetwissenschaft. Gesellschaftswissenschaftliche Beiträge 37(1984), 1, pp. 70, 72 32 D'JAKOV, V. A., Probleme der nationalen Wiedergeburt der slawischen Völker. Ideologie, Aufgaben und Formen der gesellschaftlich-politischen Bewegung, in: Letopis B 31(1984), 1, p. 9; cf. also NIEDERHAUSER, E., Einige Probleme der nationalen Wiedergeburtsbewegungen in Mittel- und Osteuropa (erste Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts), in: SZIKLAY, L. (ed.), Aufklärung und Nationen im Osten Europas, Budapest 1983, pp. 50 foil. 33 SZIKLAY, L., Die Anfänge des „nationalen Erwachens", der Aufklärung und der Romantik in Mittel- und Osteuropa, in: idem, Aufklärung und Nationen ..., p. 21; BOJTÄR, E., Die Aufklärung in Mittel- und Osteuropa. Verspätung, Gedehntheit, Stilvermischung, in: SZIKLAY, L. (ed.), Aufklärung und Nationen ..., p. 27 34 SOLTA, J., Zum bürgerlich-demokratischen Geschichtsbild der Lausitzer Sorben im Zeitalter der Aufklärung,.in: ZIEGENGEIST, G. (ed.), Johann Gottfried Herder. Zur HerderrRezeption in Ost- und Südosteuropa, Berlin 1978, pp. 136foil.; idem, Ökonomische und soziale Probleme in der frühen Geschichte der Oberlausitzischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, in: Jahrbuch für Geschichte der sozialistischen Länder Europas 28(1984), pp. 79foil.; idem, Sorbische Studenten an den Universitäten Leipzig, Prag und Breslau (Wroclaw), 1750-1850 ( = Talk on 18. 9.1983 in Vienna at the conference "Universitäten und Studenten. Die Bedeutung der studentischen Migrationen für wissenschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Erneuerungen vom 18. zum 20. Jahrhundert", an extended version prepared for publication is in the press). 35 NBS, pp. 237 foil., pp. 393 foil. 36 Cf. SOLTA, J., Die Lausitzer Sorben und ihre Nachbarn in der Zeit von 1789 bis 1848. Ein Beitrag zur Frage der internationalen Wechselbeziehungen in der sorbischen Geschichte, in: L6topis B 22(1975), 1, p. 57

On the Language Situation of the Lusatian Sorbs in the G.D.R. B y HEINZ SCHUSTER-SEWC

This contribution deals with the language of the Slavic national minority, the Sorbs, living in the G.D.R., with its conscientious encouragement and continuous further development. Similarly to the Frisian language in the F.R.G. and in the Netherlands, to the Cymric language in Britain or to the Rhaeto-Romanic language in Switzerland and Italy, the Upper and Lower Sorbian spoken in Upper and Lower Lusatia (in the districts of Dresden—Drjezdiany and Cottbus-Chosebuz) is the language of a remnant European people which could not develop to become an independent bourgeois nation owing to unfavourable historical conditions. In the Middle Ages (from the 12th to the 14th centuries), the Sorbian ethnic community extended over a territory the size of the entire southern part of the present G.D.R. 1 Its annexation took place in context with the expansion to the East of German feudalism which began in the 10th/11th centuries and during the subsequent German colonisation. Only in the eastern part of this area (which was later to become Upper and Lower Lusatia) the Sorbian language was preserved. The Sorbian-speaking population in the late 19th century still amounted to over 150,000 but today their number is hardly more than 50,000—60,000.2 The Sorbian language today is characterized by two separate standard written forms: 1) the Upper Sorbian written language in Upper Lusatia (hornjoserbska spisowna rec) which is more consolidated with regard to grammatical and lexical structure and also more represented in literature, and 2) the Lower Sorbian written language in Lower Lusatia (dolnoserbska spisowna rec) which is less marked in its standard form. This particular Sorbian language situation is language historically and sociolinguistically conditioned by the fact that between the underlying key language areas considerable dialect differences have been existing from the very beginning (similarly as in German between Middle High German and Middle Low German) and no independent Sorbian economic and political unity could emerge. From the viewpoint of language genesis, the Lower Sorbian is more closely related to the Lechian (Polish-Polabian) sector of Western Slavic, but the Upper Sorbian has language features which point to a stronger former affinity of entire Old Sorbian with the former southeastern area of Primeval Slavic (presentday Slovakian, Czech and Ukrainian.3 Now, let us consider historically recorded

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41

events. Politically speaking, owing to German feudal expansion to the East, the old Sorbian tribes had lost their independence in the Middle Ages. Their homelands became part of two different German feudal regions (Lower Sorbs: March of Brandenburg — Prussia, Upper Sorbs: March of Meissen — Saxony). Capitalism likewise provided no scope for the Sorbs' own development, they were firmly integrated into the entire development of the emerging German capitalist market. 4 In former Germany, but above all in the Prussia of the Junkers and under fascism (1933—1945), the Sorbian language was systematically impeded in its development by the ruling classes and the Sorbian population systematically Germanized. Similarly to several nations in' Eastern and Southeastern Europe, a modern and unified written language, above all in the area of Upper Sorbian, was formed only in the mid-19th century.5 Its scope of function was very limited from the beginning (literature, journalism, the life of clubs, private correspondence). The possibilities of conscientious cultivation and scientific treatment of the language were also very limited and almost exclusively dependent on-'the initiative and personal commitment of individual Sorbian patriots. However, a separate Upper and Lower Sorbian literature had already existed also earlier. Its development began in the 16th/17th centuries. The grammatical and orthographic forms used in it were still extremely varied and their application in Upper Sorbian was in addition, made more complicated by confessional differences among those speaking the language. 6 Only in the G.D.R. was the Sorbian language able to develop freely due to the consistent application of the Marxist-Leninist nationality policy and to take up its function as an equal second vehicle of communication and next to the German language also spoken by all Sorbs. Today, the Sorbian language is promoted in the G.D.R. and developed further taking into account the specific bilingual and socio-linguistic conditions.7 Proceeding from the constitutionalized rights of the Sorbian population, it became possible systematically to plan and organize the development of the language. An important prerequisite for this was the integration of schooling in the Sorbian language into the socialist education system of the G.D.R. In accordance with legal provisions the Sorbian language is already cultivated at kindergardens. This approach is followed up by the ten-grade polytechnical high school where Sorbian is part and parcel of education (in regions with predominantly Sorbian population as a vehicle of instruction apart from German, in regions with a predominant German-speaking population as a teaching subject). Finally, there is a subsequent language education at two Sorbian extended polytechnical high schools (leading to A-levels). Annually, Olympiads of the Sorbian language take place to establish the best pupils in that subject. Of great importance for cultivating and developing the Sorbian language was the creation of scientific institutions

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by the state, notably of the Institute of Sorbían Ethnography (1951) at the Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R. with a special linguistic department, the Sorbían Language Commission of the Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R., the Institute of Sorbían Studies (1951) at Karl Marx University Leipzig and of the Sorbían Teachers' Training College (1946) in Bautzen. The Institute of Sorbían Ethnography is mainly focused on dialect research and on elaborating a descriptive Sorbían Grammar. The Sorbían Language Commission — apart from officers of the two scientific institutes it also comprises representatives of other social and state institutions — is entrusted with the systematic management and control of all activities and measures aimed at cultivating and developing the Sorbían language (issues of consolidating the written language, confirmation of new terminologies, linguistic consultation and advanced language lectures for the staffs of the Sorbían institutions).8 The institute at Karl Marx University Leipzig is primarily concerned with the training of needed expert staff (high school teachers for the senior grades, young scientific and cultural workers). It also conducts ample research above all in the history of language and in advanced research for teaching. 9 At the Sorbían Teachers' Training College, teachers for lower grades of the polytechnical high school and pre-school teachers are trained. In this context, it is also necessary to highlight the foundation of a Sorbían publishing house (VEB Domowina Verlag in Bautzen) which is responsible for all Sorbian-language publications. A total of some 2,000 books and papers have been published by it to date in the Sorbían and German languages, among them alone about 1,000 textbooks, grammar textbooks and dictionaries. Furthermore, this publisher also brings out an Upper Sorbían daily ("Nowa doba"), a Lower Sorbían weekly ("Nowy Casnik"), a monthly cultural review and a monthly on pedagogics ("Rozhlad", "Serbska sula"), a periodical for children in Upper Sorbían and Lower Sorbían versions ("Ptomjo/Plomje"), two confessional monthlies ("Katolski Posoí", "Pomhaj Bóh"), and one scientific journal ("Létopis"). In this context, the situation of the Sorbían national minority living in the G.D.R. is distinct from the conditions of other national minorities, as e.g. of the Hungarians in Romania, in Yugoslavia, in Czechoslovakia, or vice versa, of the Serbo-Croats and Slovenians in Hungary who all have parent nations of their own, and for whom, therefore, important parts of scientific research, of textbook elaboration and language planning, etc. can to a large extent be assumed by the respective institutions in the mother countries. Owing to these new favourable socio-linguistic conditions that emerged after 1945, in recent decades the spheres of the functioning and application of the language have been clearly extended which in the past had greatly been limited only to the small-scale production of rural wares. Above all, this applies to the Upper Sorbían written language which is used today as a fully functioning vehicle of communication in the socio-political and cultural life of the Sorbían national

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minority (school, social and state institutions, theatre, press, radio, etc.); it is also used by the Sorbian writers and poets who are united in a regional organization of the G.D.R.'s writers' union. It is possible to observe now a considerable widening and, partly specification of the existing vocabulary, above all in the spheres of modern socio-political development, of culture and technology (cf. examples such as prodrustwo = production co-operative, wulkotwarnisco = large-scale building site, d^etarnistwo = trade union, scelak = transmitter, bernowy kombajn = potato harvesting combine, helikopter = helicopter, atomawa milinarnja = nuclear power plant, tru^awa = turning machine, chlod^ak = fridge, televisor = TV set, wobra^owka = picture tube, tacelak = record player, dejawa = milking machine etc.; towars — a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, Comrade, formerly only friend, journeyman, strona = political party, formerly only side, byrgarstwo — bourgeoisie as a social stratum, formerly only urban dwellers, etc. etc.). Also the orthographic, grammatical and syntactic norms of the written language were consolidated, visible is a reduction of doublets which had formerly existed in great numbers.10 Noteworthy is also the beginning of a clearer stylistic differentiation of the written language (to date mainly a lofty, poetical style and prose language), initial forms of different style levels (official style, journalese, scientific style) are being formed. To a greater extent, also a particular colloquial form of the Sorbian written language is emerging which is chiefly used by the Sorbian intelligentsia that has grown up in post-war years.11 It is a mixture between the written language and features from local dialects (i.e., utilisation of perfective verbs when forming the analytical future with budu, abandoning the use of the dual number and, to an increasing extent, also of the synthetic forms of the past tense, a predilection for the accord of the predicate with the plural genitive case of substantives dependent on the numerals from pjec = five upwards etc.). Increasing influence on the colloquial form of the Upper Sorbian written language is acquired in this context by the western dialect of Kamenz around which the Sorbian ethnic community has been preserved best owing to more favourable historical and socio-linguistic conditions that had existed there in the past. In Lower Sorbian, which could develop with even greater difficulties than Upper Sorbian owing to the difficult situation in the'former Prussia of the Junkers, the tendencies mentioned in regard to Upper Sorbian are less clear. Direct use of the Upper Sorbian written language in the Lower Sorbian region is not possible because the language differences which are considerable and continue to exist, would lead to an additional burden on the speakers of the languages in view of the already existing Sorbian-German bilingualism, and is not considered at present for this reason. Since about the mid-19th century, the Sorbian population has been bilingual in general, but a linguistic influence on Sorbian by German can be traced back to past centuries and is above all connected with the development of urban handi-

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craft and trades and with their influence on the feudal rural areas (acceptance of numerous loan words). Also now, the influence of German on Sorbian continues unabated and is even more intensive than in the past due to socialist industrialisation which began after 1945 to a major extent also in Lusatia, due to the mass media and long-distance means of transportation. Today, the Sorbs are a language community where, looking at it historically, a gradual, non-violent process of transition is going on from bilingualism to monolingualism (German). This development, which unfavourably influences the linguistic and cultural life of the national minority but is objective, is counter-acted by the socialist state through the conscious support and promotion of the Sorbian language and cultural traditions. In this the state is relying on LENIN'S principle that it is the task and duty of the "proletariat of the majority" to understand and support the concerns of the "minority". 12 Indeed, in the G.D.R. all antagonistic contradictions between Germans and Sorbs were overcome. Therefore, new conditions based on mutual trust and cooperation could be created in the field of language co-existence. It is possible to say that now under the conditions of national equality a type of voluntary function-sharing increasingly occurs between the Sorbian, on the one hand, and the German, on the other, whereas part of those functions, which are characteristic of national standards, are also taken over by the German language which the Sorbs speak fluently, too. The Sorbs speak their mother tongue, wherever there exist objective conditions for this, as an immediate vehicle of communication without any limitations. The Sorbian language allows the Sorbs the unlimited acquisition of the Sorbian people's progressive traditions and of modern Sorbian art and literature as an important factor for personality formation and also paves the way for them to other Slavic languages and cultures. Hence, apart from its use as an immediate vehicle of communication the Sorbian language has for the Sorbs chiefly a function in cultural and education policies and is moreover an expression of their national identity. German is the common language of the country, used also in the greater part of social and state policies on district and village level in the mixed-national German-Sorbian region, which does not exclude the fact, of course, that in individual cases such as in interviews, in petitions of citizens to state institutions the Sorbian language is also used. Inscriptions on state and social buildings, names of villages, towns, and streets are usually bilingual. Since Sorbian is not used at all in large-scale industrial production and only to a limited extent in socialist agriculture, no special Sorbian professional jargon and separate language have developed. Formation of modern scientific and technical terms is limited, they are to a great extent replicas of the corresponding German terms. In this context, the Sorbian press plays an important role. Wide-spread are various types of caiques which increasingly occur in addition to the proper Sorbian Slavic suffix-based formations (prochsrebak = vacuum cleaner, hnojnakladmvar — manure loader, wysokodom = highrise building, dalokostudij = correspondence

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classes, wjesny klub = village club, d^eiowa jednotka = labour unit, %menowy nawoda — shift manager, etc.). Now, a liberal attitude is adopted also to direct German loan words which are accepted mostly wherever they help improve the communicative value of the language and enrich it. Above all, this also applies again to scientific and technical terms as well as to internationalisms which were often avoided or artificially translated on purist grounds, cf. examples such as radar = Radar (radar),' klasa = Klasse (class) (both philosophical and political), sulski hört = Schulhort (after-schoolclub), saltownja = Schaltstelle (switch-board), boksa = Box (box), f i t = Fit (a detergent) etc.13 While in principle preserving the autochthonous Slavic language system, now also in other sectors a possible assimilation to the German language, whenever it can be justified for the Sorbiän language, is often aimed at. Thus e.g. abbreviations in use in the G.D.R. (SED, FDGB, FDJ, DSF, LPG, KAP etc.) are usually taken over in their original forms. Also concerning the spelling of foreign words, people generally try to obtain a far-going orthographic adaptation to the respective German spelling (beefsteak — Beefsteak, dispatcher = Dispatcher, grubber = Grubber, gymnastika = Gymnastik, gymna^ij — Gymnasium (Grammar school), guerilla = Guerilla, Grönlandska = Grönland (Greenland), neuroma = Neurose (neurosis), nettowaba = Nettogewicht (net weight), sheriff = Sheriff etc., but as fait = Asphalt, sfera — Sphära (sphere), ekonomija = Ökonomie (economy), estetika = Ästhetik (aesthetics) etc. However, rejection of unilateral language purism, which could be observed in the past also in Sorbian, cannot mean renunciation of conscientious language'culture and of purposeful endeavours to stabilize the Sorbian language system. Suitable endeavours are inevitable with regard to the strong influence of the German language on the Sorbian and have nothing in common with an 'artificial' language 8irigism.u The described endeavours aimed at cultivating and preserving the Sorbian language are an integral part of the Marxist-Leninist nationality policy consistently implemented in the G.D.R. 15 They pursue a profound humanistic objective and immediately serve to stimulate the creativity of the Sorbian people in forming a common peaceful future.

References and footnotes 1 Cf. SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., Das altsorbische Dialektgebiet und seine sprachliche Stellung im Rahmen des Westslawischen, in: Letopis B 19(1972), 2, pp. 203—222; idem, Zur Geschichte und Etymologie des ethnischen Namens Sorb/Serb/Sarb/Srb, in: LStopis A 30(1983),1, pp. 1 3 8 - 1 4 7 2 Meyers Neues Lexikon, Leipzig 1964, p. 584, mentions about 100,000 people with a knowledge of the Sorbian language, mainly in the Lusatian districts of the counties

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of Dresden and Cottbus (Bautzen, Kamenz, Niesky, Calau, Cottbus, Forst, Guben, Hoyerswerda, Spremberg, Weißwasser, in small numbers also Bischofswerda, Löbau, Lübben and Senftenberg). The difference to the number estimated by us is resulting from the fact that above all in Central and Lower Lusatia after 1945, the Sorbian language was only spread among the older generation. Cf. also TSCHERNIK, E., Die Entwicklung der sorbischen Bevölkerung von 1832 bis 1945. Eine demographische Untersuchung, Berlin 1954 3 Cf. SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., Die Sprache der Lausitzer Sorben und ihre Stellung im Rahmen der slawischen Sprachen, in: ZPSK 30(1977), 1, pp. 10—27; idem, Die Ausgliederung der westslawischen Sprachen aus dem Urslawischen, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Sorbischen, in: Letopis A 29(1982), 2, pp. 113—140 4 Cf. SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., Sprache und ethnische Formation in der Entwicklung des Sorbischen, in: ZfSl IV(1959), pp. 5 7 7 - 5 9 0 5 Cf. SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., Die Geschichte der sorbischen Schriftsprachen, in: Slavjanska Filologija 3(1983), pp. 134—151; idem, Zur gesellschaftlichen Bedingtheit standardsprachlicher Prozesse im Bereich des Westslawischen, in: ZfSl XVIII(1973), 2, pp. 200—223; idem, Rozwöj jgzyka literackiego Serböw luzyckich (The development of the literary language of the Sorbs), in: Studia z filologii polskiej i slowianskiej (Studies in Polish and Slavic philology), XIX (1980), pp. 217—238; idem, Jan Arnost Smoler a nastace nowoöasneje hornjoserbskeje spisowneje rece w 19. letstotku (Jan Arnost Smoler and the coming-into-being of the contemporary High Sorbian literary language in the 19th century), in: Letopis A 32(1985), 1, pp. 8—20 6 Cf. SCHUSXER-SEWC, H., Die Lutherische Reformation und die Anfänge der schriftsprachlichen Entwicklung bei den Lausitzer Sorben, in: ZfSl 28(1983), 6, pp. 803—815 7 Cf. Verfassung der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, Berlin 1969, p. 31 8 Cf. K A S P E R , M . (ed.), 30 Jahre Institut für sorbische Volksforschung 1951 — 1981, Bautzen 1981, pp. 23—33 9 Cf. SCHUSTER-SEWC, H. (ed.), Entwicklung der Sorabistik — Ausdruck der Nationalitätenpolitik, in: Wissenschaftliche Zeitschr. der Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig, Ges.- u. Sprachwiss. R., 23(1974), 5, pp. 4 4 1 - 4 4 8 10 Cf. VÖLKEL, P., Prawopisny slownik. Hornjoserbsko-nemski slownik — Obersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (Orthographie dictionary. High Sorbian-German dictionary), Budysin 1970, amended and enlarged edition 1982; idem, Hornjoserbska ortografija a interpunkcija (High Sorbian orthography and punctuation), Budysin 1974 1 1 Cf. PETR, J . / D . PETROVA, K morfologiskim prasenjam substantiwow cuzeho pochada na -a (On morphological questions pertaining to nouns of foreign origin ending with -a), in: Letopis A 7 ( 1 9 6 0 ) , pp. 7 4 — 8 4 ; JENC, H., Sociolinguistiske woprijeca a termini w serbscinje (Sociolinguistic terms in Sorbian), in: GUSLI, Rapporter 1, Göteborgs Universität, Göteborg 1 9 8 0 , pp. 5 1 — 6 4 12 Cf. LENIN, V. I., Werke, vol. 36, Berlin 1962, pp. 590-596, 593 13 Cf. in detail SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., Die deutschen Lehnübersetzungen im Obersorbischen und ihre Stellung im System der obersorbischen Lexik und Wortbildung, in: ZfSl XXII(1977), 4, pp. 455—468; idem, Lehnwort und Lehnübersetzung im ' Sorbischen, in: Sitzungsberichte der AdW der DDR, 8 G 1977, pp. 76 — 86; idem, August Leskien und die Sorabistik, in: ZfSl 28(1981), 2, pp. 210—211

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14 About the relationship between purism and conscious language policy see also STALTMANE, Z. Z./L. K. GRAUDINA, Kul'tura latyiskoj reci v uslovijach dvujazyfiija (The culture of the Latvian language in the conditions of bilingualism), in: Voprosy jazykoznanija 3(1981), p. 128, 133; SEWC, H., Staw dzensniseje hornjoserbskeje spisowneje reße a nekotre problemy jeje kultury a naiozowanja (The state of the contemporary High Sorbian literary language and some problems related to its culture a n d u s a g e ) , i n : R o z h l a d 35(1985), p p . 6 5 — 7 0

15 Cf. CY2, B., Die DDR und die Sorben — Eine Dokumentation zur marxistischleninistischen Nationalitätenpolitik, Bautzen 1979

Problems of Development of the Sorbian Language in Context with the Specific Character of the Historical Development of the Sorbs B y M A J A I . ERMAKOVA

The specific character of the development of the Sorbian language and writing is to a great degree determined by the historical conditions which formed the Sorbian nationality. In the course of a millenium (from the late 10th to the mid-20th century), a series of political and socio-economic factors created a unique background for the development of the Sorbian language and culture. Most Slavic peoples did not see such historical conditions. It is, above all, necessary to highlight the fact that the Sorbs lost their political independence at a very early date (in the late 10th century). Their resistance to the German feudal drive for expansion to the east resulted in a defeat. Since that time, the fate of the Sorbian nationality has been closely connected with the history of Germany. In this situation, the Sorbian nationality, deprived of its statehood, did not develop into a nation. When they were conquered, the Sorbian tribes were on the verge of forming feudal conditions. Most of the population were peasants. The Sorbs also knew tribal leaders accompanied by an armed following, and Slaves. In the course of the struggle against German expansion, the tribal upper strata (aristocrats) were partly annihilated and partly joined the German nobility. After the conquest, the Sorbian peasant population became an oppressed class, and it was even more rightless than the German serfs. In the eyes of the German feudal lords, the Sorbian peasants with their language and customs were a "spoilt people". The ruling class consisted exclusively of German feudal lords, who distributed among themselves the original Sorbian lands. In the conditions of feudal division, the Sorbs who inhabited their former clans' land were located in various administrative territories that belonged to different marches and regions. Thus, the areas between the rivers Solawa (Saale) and Kwisa (Queis) belonged to the margraviate of Meissen, whereas others were attributed to the Eastern march, from which the march of Lusatia was later separated. In a situation of administrative territorial changes and wars, the Sorbs at various periods of their history were forced to recognize over themselves the domination of different states. Single territories inhabited by Sorbs (Lusatia and

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part of the march of Meissen) in the 11th century were, as fiefs, under the rule of the Polish state.(until the death of BOLESLAW CHROBRY). In the mid-12th century the land around Bautzen was separated from the margraviate of Meissen and belonged to Bohemia until the mid-13th century. Between the 14th and 17th century, united by a common destiny, the marches of Upper and Lower Lusatia came under the rule of the Czech crown. In the 15th century the region of Cottbus, situated in the centre of the March of Lower Lusatia, was included in the March of Brandenburg. 1 Since 1815, the territories of Upper and Lower Lusatia have been divided between Saxony and Prussia. Together with the German conquest Christianity came to the Sorbs. However, the original population persistently clung to its old beliefs. In some areas some pagan rites were preserved even during the 13th century. The church struggled against the local customs, carried out a Germanization policy and did everything to subjugate the local population. The Lusatian Sorbs, maintaining their language and the traditions of popular culture within the framework of an alien state, were gradually converted into an enclave of the Slavic world in Central Europe. In this context, another important circumstance should be pointed out. Historically speaking, it so happened, that in ancient times, during the period of political independence, the ancestors of present-day Sorbs were represented not by one tribe, but rather by a whole series of tribes — the Lusatians, Milzeners (Milcenjo), Besunzane (Bezuncenjo), Glomaci (Glomacenjo), Nisane (Nizany) and others2. It is known that a sort of tribal union existed in the so-called regio Surbi. Those tribes associated with each other and formed military alliances. During the German feudal aggression they were partly destroyed. The early history of Sorbian clan alliances is full of obscurities, but it is safe to say that in the 11th century the Lusatians and the Milzeners were the largest tribes (or tribal alliances). The boundaries of their settlements were subject to change. The centre of the Milzeners was Bautzen, while the Lusatians mainly lived in the surroundings of Cottbus and of the upper Spreewald. Between them was a zone of primeval forests and moors, the so-called Luziska hola (Lusatian Heath), which was gradually inhabited in the course of an internal colonization. This uninhabited zone was in some places between thirty and fifty km wide (in the 11th century). That is why parts of the principal Sorbian language area were for some time not connected, and there was no possibility for contacts between the people of these regions. This led to the formation of two main Sorbian dialects — Upper and Lower Sorbian. Their original separation presents one of the most important features in the history of Sorbian. A series of phonetical, grammatical and lexical peculiarities of these dialects are of a common Sorbian character. Researchers in particular highlight Sorbian innovations of late Common Slavic origin, 3 which unite two different Sorbian dialect 4

Lusatian Sorbs

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areas. Alongside with them, there is a number of very old differences between Upper and Lower Sorbían, notably of a lexical character4. At a later time, during the period in which individual Slavic languages developed, common Sorbían innovations (of a lexical and grammatical nature) (e.g. the synthetic form of the future tense from the verb méc/més — zméji) formed and spread. They bear testimony to the fact that the initial separation between the two main parts in the territory where the Sorbían dialects were located was finally overcome. A common basis for the development of a number of phenomena in Sorbían dialects through long-standing (centuries-old) language contacts between speakers of both dialects became possible. Researchers are pointing to certain Sorbían innovations in Upper Sorbían dialects and to Upper Sorbían innovations in Lower Sorbían dialects. In this connection, great significance is attributed'to the question of how Upper and Lower Sorbían interacted. With regard to the ancient history of Lusatia this question can be formulated like this: When were the first contacts established between Lusatians and Milzeners who were separated by such a wide zone of forests and moors ? The point in question is the time, when these two tribes (the Lusatians from the north, and the Milzeners from the south) inhabited the tuziska hola and when finally the language landscapes in Lusatia were formed. The question about the time of the first contacts between Lusatians and Milzeners is viewed differently by various researchers. FRIDO MÉTSK, for instance, refers them to the early Middle Ages. 5 Z. STIEBER thinks that the contacts between the population of the two regions of Sorbían Lusatian territory commenced not prior to the 16th century,® HEINZ SCHUSTER-SEWC is also advocating a rather late settlement period for the Luziska hola, from the 15th century onwards.7 RONALD LÖTZSCH indicates that "the zone of primeval forests which originally separated the ancestors of the present-day Lower and Upper Sorbían was doubtlessly inhabited earlier than follows from relatively late documentary evidence on these regions" 8 , i.e., before the 14th century. The results of language contacts that are represented in the patois of the socalled transitional zone, the border region between Upper and Lower Sorbían dialects are equally differently characterized in linguistic literature. The various studies do not give a uniform picture of the subdivision of the Sorbían language into dialects, the borders of the so-called transitional zone, and the genetic connections between Sorbían dialects. The problem of differentiating the Sorbian dialects and of characterising the borders between Upper and Lower Sorbian dialects was topical already in the pre-war period, it was solved mainly on the basis of data from one language level: the lexical (see: WIRTH, P., Beiträge zum sorbischen (wendischen) Sprachatlas. I. Lief., Leipzig 1933; 2. Lief., Leipzig 1933) or the phonetic one (as in the above mentioned well-known book by Z. STIEBER). P. WIRTH, who thought that the

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Luziska hola was inhabited from the north, south and west, is highlighting three language landscapes: the Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, and Eastern Sorbian (the region of the Muskau and Schleife dialects with a transitional zone which includes six dialects). Z . STIEBER, relying on very old phonetic phenomena, determined a clear-cut boundary between Upper and Lower Sorbian dialects which emerged after centuries-long total isolation of language complexes. It is characteristic of investigations into this problem in the 60s to underline the necessity of relying on criteria of all levels of language structure in studying the differentiation of Sorbian dialects and in determining the boundaries between them. Thus, e.g. R. LOTZSCH9 convincingly shows that taking data of dialect morphology into consideration leads to new results. One of these is the conclusion about the complexity of genetic relationships between Sorbian dialects: the dialect of each village in the so-called transitional zone is impossible to determine, in a unique and unambiguous manner, as Upper or Lower Sorbian. Most transitional patois in the phonetics of which Upper Sorbian features are dominant are, in morphological terms, closer to Lower Sorbian dialects. The studies of R. LOTZSCH on dialect morphology, as well as the vast material of volume 11 of the Sorbian linguistic atlas (the first monograph description of the morphology of Sorbian dialects) allowed to substantiate or refute formerly known characteristics of individual patois. It became evident that the boundary between proper Upper Sorbian and proper Lower Sorbian dialects was not clear-cut and unambiguous. There was a wide zone of so-called transitional patois. The transitional patois are examples of unique systems in which Upper und Lower Sorbian features are closely intertwined. Evidence for this is provided, for example, by the structure of word transformation systems involving substantive nouns in the transitional dialects: on the basis of volume 11 of the Atlas and of other dialect sources there are determined eleven variants within these systems.10 The system of tenses in the transitional dialects is also not identical neither with Upper, nor with Lower Sorbian, although including some features of one and the other.11 Very complicated and often completely original are the systems of means for expressing the category of animatedness or. personality.12 In this respect, the transitional patois are of great theoretical interest. It is noteworthy that i some features of these patois which are probably not elucidated completely (meaning some individual forms, phenomena, and lexemes) are no longer observed in any other Upper or Lower Lusatian dialect properly speaking. From the standpoint of synchrony, it is unjustified to speak of the existence of a particular group of "transitional patois": each of them represents an independent system and is part of a general landscape of dialects. It should be noted, that at present these systems of transitional patois continue to be almost completely unexplored. However, monograph descriptions of these patois (and of the

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Sorbian dialects in general) as of systems would be of great importance for studying various fragments of the Sorbian language system, for solving a number of problems in Sorbian linguistics, for deepening the notions of the contemporary language situation, which is subject to rapid and significant changes. From a historical viewpoint, the patois of the transitional zone testify to the large scale and the great depth of dialectal interpénétration. It is this fact that does not give any justification to speak of a clear-cut boundary between purely Upper Sorbian and purely Lower Sorbian dialects. A historical interpretation of some isoglosses (e.g. the distribution of the genitive dual -ow instead of the more ancient ending -owu or the distribution of the ending of the nominative dual -aj instead of the more ancient, ending -a in some patois of this territory) confirms that these patois contain Upper Sorbian innovations which can even be observed in purely Lower Sorbian dialects. But at the morphological level, the majority of the patois in this zone are characterized by Lower Sorbian innovations 13 (within the limits of systems whichxare not found in the main dialects). Changes connected with the fate of the category of animatedness/personality are results of a process which is common to the entire Sorbian language territory (cf. e.g. the development of the accusative/genitive plural which is presented in the above-mentioned article by H. FASSKE). This shows that the question about the character of the transitional dialects on the territory of the former Luziska hola is not of a merely partial interest. An investigation into the interaction between Upper and Lower Sorbian elements allows to determine the character and the results of the interaction itself, to elucidate the genetic connections between the Upper und Lower Sorbian dialects. As a result of long-standing and close contacts between originally scattered complexes of dialects, a language integration emerged as a basis for forming " a common basis of development" 14 , i.e. common tendencies of development affecting individual forms, categories etc., within the limits of the whole Sorbian language territory (e.g. a tendency towards the elimination of forms denoting the category of personality). The recognition or rejection of the existence of a "common basis of development" is in many aspects linked with the recognition or rejection of the existence of one Sorbian language with a sufficiently strong differentiation into dialects. It is well known that the status of language idioms distributed in the territory of Upper and Lower Lusatia was and is determined differently in the history of Sorbian studies.15 The existence of two independent Sorbian languages — Upper and Lower Sorbian-which are represented by a number of dialects, is consistently being advocated by H. SCHUSTER-SEWC.16 His line of argument includes not only linguistic facts (he is proceeding from the existence of two different initial bases, especially, in the field of Upper and Lower Sorbian phonetics), but also extralinguistic data. SCHUSTER-SEWC also thinks it necessary to recognize the existence

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of two separate Sorbían nationalities as ethically distinct carriers of the two languages. This viewpoint was criticized in R . LOTZSCH'S already mentioned articles. Like other researchers, he solves the question about the unity of the Sorbían language in a positive manner. This is manifested in a consistent use of the term "Sorbían language" and in attempts to explain the fate of a number of language phenomena on the basis of common development tendencies which characterize the Sorbían language territory as a whole (this refers mainly to the above-mentioned studies by H . FASSKE on Sorbían dialect morphology). It is characteristic that the advocates of either viewpoint often rely on the same facts from the history of the Sorbian language, but interpret them differently. Thus, e.g. a different explanation is given to a fact like the existence of two Sorbian literary languages. (R. LÓTZSCH, in accordance with his position on the unity of the Sorbian language, has a tendency to speak of two variants of the Sorbian literary language [see below].) As to thenumber of, proofs in favour of one or the other viewpoint, great importance is ascribed to extralinguistic factors. This is probably one case in which an extralinguistic analysis can have some advantages in comparison with a purely structural analysis.17 The point is the ample complex of analyzed facts and its convincing interpretation. Such an investigation must include the study of the historical fate of the Sorbs, of the political conditions of the formation of their consciousness in ethnical and linguistic terms; 18 it should be combined with references to data from material and intellectual culturé. It should be noted that with regard to the language situation in Lusatia great importance is attached to analysing the confessional and administrative boundaries, their influence on the differentiation into dialects and on the functioning of the literary language. Many of these factors were used for proving one or the other viewpoint, but since they often given ambiguous interpretations, the necessity of a new reference to them still exists. Besides, some data, e.g. aspects which are connected with the study of Sorbian material and intellectual culture (data on the spreading of popular customs, rites for work, of musical folklore, of national costumes etc.) were obviously not fully utilized. Incidentally, the investigation into the entire complex of mentioned problems would play its role also in solving the problem of the Sorbian ethnic community, since the problem of uniting ethnically related groups in the Sorbian nationality and the problem of Sorbian language unity are closely linked. Thus, we are faced with a complex case in solving the problem of uniting closely related dialects within the framework of one language. This problem is not eliminated by the existence of a wide zone of so-called transitional patois, the distinctive features of which were treated above. In the history of Lusatia, the so-called internal colonization is of great impor-

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tance. Its beginning is related to the mid-12th century, although new villages on both banks of the Elbe emerged as soon as in the 10th and 11th centuries, researchers note. The internal colonization was prompted by the fact that the land to the east of the Saale and of the Elbe was inhabited by German merchants, artisans, and peasants. In the course of this migration, new villages and cloisters were founded. In principle, the colonization took place in the 12th through the 14th century. Sorbs, too, took part in it. The interaction of the Sorbian language with German manifested itself with special intensity from the times of internal colonization, and has since become an unchangeable condition of the development of Sorbian language and culture. In this study, we are not interested in the purely historical aspect of the issue, but rather in the contacts between Sorbian and German. The colonization took a different course in various regions. In a number of cases, the Sorbian population was expelled from its territory, and the land was offered to German colonists. The Sorbs were either pushed away from their lands or resettled, and, in this context, to justify similar actions, political or religious reasons were given.19 From the 13th to the 15th centuries, the share of German settlers on the western bank of the Elbe, of the Saale, and to the west of them, as well as in some areas of Lower Lusatia was already so high, that we can speak of a complete Germanization of these regions. An important part of the Sorbian population was assimilated by German colonization also in the area of the triangle between Zittau, Löbau and Görlitz. This process of internal German colonization which led to the Germanization of the Slavic population affected only the periphery of the main part of the Sorbian language territory. The process of settling the land in the northern part of Lower und Upper Lusatia, especially in the 13th century, was intensive. The growth of colonization and the setting-up of new settlements within the limits of the main Sorbian territory, in the 13th to the 15th century, led to the formation of a more or less compact language area of the Sorbs east of the Elbe. At the end of the 15th century, more than half the population in Upper Lusatia were Sorbs. The percentage of the Sorbian population was increasing also in Lower Lusatia.20 But the density of Sorbian settlements in Upper and Lower Lusatia was different: for the territory of Upper Lusatia it was greater. While, before the arrival of the German colonists, in the 11th to 12th centuries, the Sorbs, who were subject to a handful of German noblemen, constituted the overwhelming majority of the population with their own characteristic cultural customs and traditions, internal colonization brought about changes not only of a purely economic character, but also in the ethnic structure of the population in the Sorbian language area, both in the countryside and in the towns. Villages of a mixed type emerged, mainly in the marginal areas with German and Sorbian colonists. In the principal part of the Sorbian language area Sorbs were pre-

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dominant in the villages. In the period of early feudalism the Sorbian population was in the majority only in small towns. However, in big towns, where Sorbs lived in the suburbs, the majority of the population was German. In 15thcentury Bautzen, the Sorbs accounted for one-third of the population, and the Germans for two-thirds. The changes in the ethnic composition of the population, and the penetration of the German language into Sorbian villages made a beginning for Sorbian and German language contacts. The development of these contacts, their character, as the development of the Sorbian language in general, writing and culture were embedded in certain political and social conditions. Within the borders of Germany, the Sorbs constituted such a part of society which did not benefit from equal rights with the Germans in social and national terms. The speakers of Sorbian did not hold any economic or political positions and were in the lower strata of society. In the period of colonization, within the mixed-type villages, Sorbs were allotted the worst lands; they were denied the benefits which were granted to German colonists. In the towns, the Sorbs inhabited the suburbs; they were denied the right to join artisan corporations, to work as artisans or merchants. The upper strata of the urban population — the patricians — were German. On unequal terms with the dominant German culture and German language were also the Sorbian popular culture, language, and later on, also writing. The language contacts between Sorbs and Germans determined special conditions of the development of the Sorbian language and writing. The Sorbs acquired the German language, and gradually developed bilingualism. The influence of the socio-cultural conditions of language contacts between Sorbian and German on the development of Sorbian language and culture is an important issue whose investigation requires the joint efforts of various specialists — linguists, historians, ethnographers and sociologists. The character of this contact and its results within one historical period (as e.g., from the 12th to the 14th centuries) was not the same for various regions of the Sorbian language area. In the conditions of complete Germanization of the Sorbian population and the extermination of its language and culture, the fate of the Sorbian language in many aspects depended on the political situation in the various feudal dominions.. Therefore, to investigate the development of the Sorbian language during the period of internal colonization, as in general, to study the long-lasting almost millenial contacts between the Sorbian and German language presupposes a concrete exploration of the language situation with due consideration of the political situation at a given period of history in one or the other region of Upper or Lower Lusatia. At different times and in different territories a transition to monolingualism through a stage of bilingualism took place. Thus, researchers21 note that still in the 16th century the whole rural popula-

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tion of Lower Lusatia was Sorbian and was somewhat diminished only after the Reformation. In the Gubin district the Sorbian population was in the majority still a long time after the German colonization. In Brandenburg on the contrary, German colonization was stronger than in Lusatia, and in the southern part of the area occupied by settlements of descendants of the Milzeners a strong German colonization was noted as early as in the 13th century. An assimilation of the Sorbian population in the district of Görlitz is already characteristic of the period preceding the Reformation, and a number of villages in the so-called SaganGörlitz Heath arrived at monolingualism only in the 2nd half of the 19th century. In connection with this outline of the language situation in various regions of the Sorbian language area during the German colonization, it is necessary to determine the content of such concepts as "Germanization" and "colonization"22, the meaning of the term "degree of colonization (strong, weak colonisation)" from a linguistic aspect. The German colonization of new lands had different forms23 and was not always connected with the setting-up of villages with a mixed population. Given the Sorbian composition of the population in rural areas, language contacts chiefly took place with the German owners of the villages, the Junkers and were not extensive in character. But in villages with a mixed population, the development level of bilingualism and the possibilities for a transition to monolingualism could be different. The terms "strong" or "weak colonization" do not give any clear idea of the concrete linguistic situation. The transition to bilingualism in various regions of the Sorbian language area took place at different times during a lengthy period. At present, the Sorbs are the only Slavic people of whom a state of "complete collective bilingualism" 24 is characteristic: in fact, all speakers of Sorbian know the German language. Tp such an extent, bilingualism was brought about only in the first half of the 20th century. For political and social reasons, the Sorbian language in the entire territory where it had been spoken from the very beginning, was the language of a peasant population, of subjected serfs. In the villages inhabited by Sorbs, the Sorbian language was the principal colloquial language, and German functioned as a second language. 25 In towns situated in Sorbian language territory, given the mentioned mixed type of the population, German was the main language. The urban population became bilingual sooner. At present, the language situation of a concrete Sorbian patois in the conditions of vivid communication among its speakers allows to make observations on collective bilingualism and to investigate some questions of language interference. In this case, by a specially elaborated methodology it is possible to give a quantitative characterization of this interference.26 No other Slavic language now can provide so much material for investigating the issue of German-Slavic

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interference, especially on the grammatical level and on the example of a living language. The point is mainly the influence of the structure of the German language on Sorbían in the conditions of long-lasting bilingualism. And although some studies have been devoted to this theme (they refer to some fragments of the morphological system, as for instance, to the system of verbal forms, where the grammatical structure of German is manifested in a particularly intensive manner), to date there are no grounds for speaking of systematic investigations into all manifestations of the influence of German on the Sorbían grammatical system.27 1 At the period preceding the Reformation, the Sorbían language or so-called language of the people as a rule was used orally. It was represented by a number of dialects that were found out on the basis of monuments of Sorbían writing handed down to us.28 Some of these dialects do not exist any longer. The development of bilingualism among the Sorbs was an inevitable result of the developing contacts with speakers of German, but the speed of transition towards bilingualism, and then to monólingualism, too, was determined by the activities of the authorities in carrying out a policy of Germanization in a given region. As early as at the end of the 13th century, interdicts were issued against the Sorbían language being used at courts of justice. Any appeals to the authorities were made only in German. In the official administrative practice and in ecclesiastical life a method was employed of translating from German into Sorbian. Activities of the state authorities aimed at eradicating the Sorbian language and culture were a continuous factor in the history of the Sorbian people. This was bound to have an influence on the conditions under which Sorbian writing, and then literary language, were formed and developed. The feudal and ecclesiastical authorities used all opportunities to strengthen the positions of German against Sorbian. Thus, in the territory of the so-called hereditary Brandenburg Wendian (Sorbian) district, i.e. in the outermost northern region of the Lower 1 Sorbian language area, in towns with a mixed population the tendency of suppressing worship in Sorbian was dominant everywhere, even where the German element was represented only by a narrow circle of official persons and of estate owners. In the period of the Reformation and before, tolerance towards Sorbian on the part of feudal authorities was only caused by attempts to more successfully advance the policy of Germanization. Its concrete implementation was closely linked with the economic and political importance of a certain part of the Sorbian language area and with the political situation at the given timé. The authorities' attempts to exterminate the Sorbian language encountered the necessity of making temporary concessions to it. Thus, in the margraviate of Upper Lusatia, because bf a confessional-split in the Sorbian population, the policy of eliminating the Sorbian language from the 16th to 18th centuries was not carried out as consistently, as in

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the margraviate of Lower Lusatia.29 The fate of the Sorbian language and writing took a different course there. The specific historical conditions of development of the Sorbian language, as well as the attitude to it adopted by the authorities, in many respects determined the particular features in the development of Sorbian writing, the very fact of its late emergence and, consequently, the absence of long-standing traditions, as well as the uniform genre character of the documents of writing in a long period of time. Sorbian writing is considered to have begun to form in the 16th century, in which the very first monuments of Sorbian writing were created that were handed down to us. In connection with the documents of that time, it is possible to speak of a separate existence of Upper and Lower Sorbian writing. The process of their formation and the results of the subsequent development display a number of common and distinctive features. At the period of the Reformation, when the dogmas of the new church received increasing recognition, some church treatises expounding the principal tenets of M A R T I N LUTHER'S doctrine were disseminated. This process became very important, as it called forth the need to have a canonized translation of the church texts which was free from any dubious interpretations. In the Sorbian language area the demand increased for Lutheran clergymen who were qualified interpreters of the new doctrine30 and who knew Sorbian well. In the 2nd half of the 16th century at the University of Frankfurt (Frankfurt-on-Oder) classes of Sorbian were organized for the first time, although probably outside the official curricula.31 Thus, towards the 16th century, at the period of the Reformation, the first written editions of Sorbian books for worship emerged which were used within some parishes (apart from an oral interpretation of the Holy Scriptures). From that time onwards, it is possible to speak of the Sorbian language functioning not only in an oral, but also in a written form. Since the manuscript translations of church texts were tailored to the needs of the local church and parish, they were written on the basis of the corresponding local dialects. Hence, it is in the preliterary development period of the Sorbian language, since the 16th century, that appart from the spoken language within certain synchronous cross-sections, written documents have existed that reflect the features of some dialects. Thus, in the translation of the New Testament by M I K L A W U § J A K U B I C A (1548) features of the Sorau dialect were put on record, as in the "Wolfenbiittel Psalters" (2nd half of the 16th century) a Western Sorbian dialect from the vicinity of Luckau, in the first printed Lower Sorbian Church Hymn Book and Catechism by A L B I N MOLLER a dialect spread in the northern part of the Upper Spreewald. If sources exist that belong to different synchronous cross-

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sections and record the features of one dialect, there will be possible to observe the development of that given dialect.32 It is characteristic of the preliterary development period of Sorbian that translations of church texts were unique and used by a narrow circle of persons. They were not widely circulated among native speakers of the language. Besides, the authors of the translations preferred to use German outside their church practice. Often, a written source with features of a certain dialect remained an isolated attempt to record the norms of the dialects not only for the early development period of Sorbian writing, but also for all subsequent history. Therefore the investigator of any dialect is in most cases confronted only with one written document and has no opportunity to compare and extend the data obtained on the material t>f other sources. In this context, one question is of special importance: How far does the language of such a document correspond to a living dialect? In practice, it turns out that the written translation of a certain text is close to a certain dialect, but does not completely reflect its features. This is connected with the process of elaborating the translation of a church text, with the particular conditions of recording a dialect in writing, and with the features concerning the genre of the document. A certain processing of the text of the translation causes this translation to be separated from the oral form of a dialect. In this context, it is necessary to take into consideration the possibility that the author of the translation may refer to other (than Sorbian) translations of the church text which lire authoritative to him. Thus, a language system different from the system of the pving language may be represented in the translation. On the other hand, the areservation of the local features of the first Sorbian translations of church texts may have been supported by an absence of any influence of other Sorbian written forms on the translation in point; a written Sorbian tradition was only emerging at the period. Moreover, it should be noted that the Sorbian documents are original translations rather than copies. The unique character of Sorbian translations and in particular of the Lower Sorbian ones, is explained from many aspects by the Germanization policy of the feudal authorities, as a result of which the completed translations may have remained in a manuscript form. Thus, the Lower Sorbian grammar and a dictionary of the Sorbian language of Buchholz and surroundings by H. T A R A 3 3 were not printed and are now considered lost. The formation of Sorbian writing, which was influenced by social, political and confessional factors, was a slow, complex and contradictory process. The fate of Sorbian writing within the Upper and Lower Lusatian territories has some specific features 'already in its first development period. The beginning of Sorbian writing is connected with the territory of Lower Lusatia. The first written documents did not emerge in the central part of the Lower Sorbian language area, but on its outskirts in the northern regions of the

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territory of the Wendish (Sorbían) district of the electorate of Brandenburg, in the west and east of the Lower Sorbian language area. Rare and isolated attempts to record the language of single Lower Lusatian regions did not become authoritative for translators from other regions. Moreover, the Lower Sorbian language of the church literature with clearly expressed local features could not compete with the written German language which existed alongside with it. This was impeded by its insignificant degree of propagation and the general illiteracy of the Sorbian population. The beginning of the 30 Years' War put an end to the first development period of Sorbian writing. Its period of formation was interrupted at that time. The consequences of the war were felt with utmost gravity in the Lower Sorbian language area. Its territory was reduced by almost one-third and mostly at the expense of the peripheral regions where, in the 16th century, the first origins of Lower Sorbian writing had appeared. Later on, German people were invited into those regions. This led to a change in the ethnic composition there and to the penetration of the German language into the Sorbian villages. But in the central districts of the margraviate of Lower Lusatia and in the district of Cottbus the interrelation between Germans and Sorbs changed only insignificantly. 34 In the 1650s and early 1660s new efforts were made to create a written Lower Sorbian language in the electoral Brandenburg Wendish (Sorbian) district, so as to continue the work begun by H . TARA (in 1610) with the translation of MARTIN LUTHER'S catechism. That period, which was extremely favourable to the development of Sorbian writing in that district, did not last long, about 15 years. The new translations of church texts that were done as a result of those efforts (1653—56) were destroyed in 1667 by order of the elector.35 In this manner, the work aimed at creating and developing Lower Sorbian writing was again interrupted, because of the decisive measures that were taken against the Sorbian language in that part of the Lower Lusatian territory in the 1660s. A rescript of the elector proceeded from the assumption to abolish worship in Sorbian and to requisition all Sorbian books and manuscripts in churches and at schools.3® Now, it is only possible to conjecture, what the importance of these translations would have been for creating in the northern part of the Lower Sorbian language area the prerequisites for the development of the Lower Sorbian literary language. This applies above all to the entire collective work of a number of authors from various dialect regions, because it presupposed the creation of a more polished form of the written language (as opposed to the first Lower Sorbian translations) on the basis of a stricter selection of the language data from various dialects. The activities of the authorities — the destruction of Lower Sorbian writing, pushing out the Sorbian language from the ecclesiastical and legal spheres, the replacement of Sorbian clergymen by Germans — accelerated the Germanization process in the Wendish (Sorbian) district. The cultural centre of the Sorbs in the

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north of the Lower Sorbian language territory had ceased to exist, although in the ethnic structure of the population, the Sorbs had an important share until the mid18th century. The new period in the development of Lower Sorbian writing and the beginning of the formation of the Lower Sorbian literary language is connected with the Prussian Brandenburg district of Cottbus. Since the last decades of the 17th century, influenced by a number of causes in domestic and foreign policy, relatively favourable conditions had emerged of forming a cultural centre of the Sorbs. Greater tolerance toward the Sorbian language and culture was due to both the strategic importance of the district and the character of its national composition. Cottbus was situated in the centre of the margraviate of Lower Lusatia and was in the 18th century an object of rivalry between Saxony and Prussia. "Under such conditions much depended for Prussia on the stabilization of internal relationships in that district."37 Of great importance was also the fact that the share of the German population in the total population amounted to only 10—15 per cent from the 16th to the 18th century. It is characteristic that the policy of concessions to the Sorbian language applied only to this district. In the territory of the margraviate of Lower Lusatia an overt policy of eliminating the Sorbian language was carried out. In the district of Cottbus, contrary to other regions of the province of Brandenburg, Sorbian worship was usual. In the early 18th century, a school system began to develop in the Sorbian villages: the Sorbian language was also used in teaching. This consolidated the positions of the Sorbian language which were especially strong in rural areas. The fact that the rural areas surrounding the towns had an almost exclusively Sorbian population, to a certain extent contributed to stemming the assimilation of the urban Sorbian population. Yet in the mixed structure of the urban population the Germans were dominant. The German language held a dominating position in the urban church and became the only language of worship even in the suburbs during the 18th century. The Sorbian urban population was bilingual. Thus, in the 18th century, the main carrier of the Sorbian language in the district of Cottbus was the rural population whose ethnic density was very great. The Sorbian language in its oral form was functioning in the entire rural territory of the district. In most churches, it was the vehicle of worship. All these conditions, combined with the political situation in the district, created a basis for real prerequisites for the formation of a Lower Sorbian literary language and for the development of writing. Because of the general illiteracy of the peasant population, and owing to the low education standards among school teachers, only clergymen were able to directly participate in creating and developing a Lower Sorbian system of writing. They were either Sorbs or Germans who worked in a Sorbian environment. In this situation translations of church texts into Lower Sorbian emerged during

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the 18th century. In most cases, their authors were clergymen from villages situated in the vicinity of Cottbus. The writing practice among the authors of these translations was based on the knowledge of the dialect from the respective region. The consolidation and expansion of their experience in their subsequent work led to the fact that the Cottbus dialect acquired the importance of a model. They served G . FABRICIUS as a basis for translations of MARTIN LUTHER'S New Testament (in 1709) and Catechism (1706). The orthographic norms introduced by G . FABRICIUS met with support in the works of J. L . W I L L , J. B. FRYCO, and J. G . HAUPTMANN. 38

In the 18th century a first Lower Sorbian grammar (1761) appeared. Its author — J. B. HAUPTMANN — relied not only on his experience in studying the oral dialect speech of Lower Lusatia, but also on his knowledge of written Lower Sorbian sources (of G. FABRICIUS, J. L. W I L L , and of J. CHOJNAN, with whose name is connected the first attempt to describe the Lower Sorbian dialect in the mid-17th century). In 1776, a translation of the Old Testament was completed and published by J. B. FRYCO on the basis of the Cottbus dialect. He also prepared a Lower Sorbian grammar and dictionary which remained in a manuscript form. In the 18th century, the district of Cottbus became a centre of Lower Sorbian book printing and publishing, although, with regard to the production of books, it was by far behind the margraviate of Upper Lusatia. Bautzen (in Upper Lausatia) became a second cultural centre of the Sorbs in the 18th century. An important feature of Sorbian social life in Upper Lusatia was a confessional split of the Sorbian population which emerged as a result of the division of the organization of the church. A major part of Sorbs were protestants, but the population within the triangle Kamenz — Hoyerswerda — Bautzen were catholics. Upper Lusatia was a relatively developed region in economic terms. Like in the district of Cottbus, favourable conditions emerged for the development of Sorbian language and writing. In the church life of catholics and protestants in Upper Lusatia the use of the Sorbian language was not only tolerated, but also stimulated. In the 2nd half of the 17th century many printed books, both protestant and catholic, were published there. The documents of protestant and catholic writing display a number of distinctive features, since their dialect basis was different. Between the 17th and 18th centuries, on the basis of the Bautzen and Western Lower Sorbian dialect (of Kulow), two variants of the written Upper Sorbian language were formed — a protestant and a catholic one. These subsequently developed, into two variants of the Upper Sorbian literary language. Like in the district of Cottbus, the tolerance of the authorities towards the Sorbian language was caused by the concrete political situation: With the coexistence of two population groups with a different confession an overt policy aimed

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at eradicating the Sorbian language, similar to that carried out in the margraviate Lower Lusatia, was impossible here.®9 On the initiative of the representatives of the Upper Lusatian estates, a commission of Upper Lusatian protestant clergymen was convened who represented different dialect areas of Upper Lusatia. Their objective was to elaborate a uniform supradialectal norm on the basis of the Bautzen dialect. A result of this joint work was a translation of the Bible in 1728. Thus in the 18th century, three variants of the Sorbian language were formed. The differences between the Upper Sorbian protestant and catholic variants were overcome only in the 19th century. The Lower Sorbian and Upper Sorbian written languages were in their initial development period used essentially for creating a church literature, the worldly literature was chiefly represented by grammatical works, manuscripts of dictionaries, and by medical manuals for the Sorbian rural populations. It is characteristic that introductory sections and explanations to Lower Sorbian translations, for instance, were written in German. The church literature testifies to a weak development of the vocabulary (except for church terminology); a great number of loans from the German language is to be noted; there is no stability in the systems of spelling, in fixing the individual grammatical forms or phenomena of the language. First attempts to codify the orthography are not sufficiently spread, with some of them being never published. The social basis of the literary languages which began to develop was very narrow. A case in point for the 18th century are written forms which were created and spread chiefly among the rural intelligentsia (clergymen and teachers). The sphere of functioning of this language was equally limited. Translations of church literature were used in church life, in the education process at school and at home (for teaching and instruction). Thus, the written form of the Sorbian language with a limited sphere of circulation, due to the undeveloped state of profane literature at that time was gradually separated from the Sorbs' living colloquial language. This written form acquired certain features of a well-known conservatism as opposed to the oral dialects. In the language situation on Sorbian territory, great importance is assumed by such a fact as the util zation of the German written language, of the German literary language in everything that went beyond the limits of everyday life at home and of religious worship. The parallel development of Upper and of Lower Sorbian writing resulted in the formation (at the latest, in the 2nd half of the 19th century) of two relatively stable Sorbian literary languages (in the terminology of those who recognize the existence of two independent Sorbian languages), or of two variants of the Sorbian literary language (according to the terminology of those researchers who recognize

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the existence of one Sorbian language with two main dialects — Upper and Lower Sorbian). The functioning of two literary languages (or of two variants of the literary language) in the Sorbian language area is a result of a unique historical development. The emergence and parallel existence of these languages until today is explained differently, in connection with a positive or negative solution to the issue of the unity of the Sorbian language. For those researchers who are advocating two Sorbian languages, the existence of two literary languages is a point for justifying the absence of unity of the Sorbian language. The main reasons for the emergence of two literary languages is seen by them above all in the language differences inherited from the most ancient period, as well as in differences which were connected with the specific historical features with regard to the development in different administrative territories. 40 The advocates of the opposite viewpoint who support the existence of two variants of the Sorbian literary language are principally referring to administrative reasons. 41 To prove the decisive influence of these causes, they are putting forth the fact that the so-called protestant variant of the literary language, which is based on the Bautzen dialect, was spread in all protestant rural communities where Upper Sorbian dialects or related patois were situated. We are not going to treat in greater detail the arguments presented by those who are advocating these two different viewpoints. But we should like to emphasize that, in our opinion, the entire process of Sorbian language development, as it is presented in this article, is a testimony to the unconditional importance of a number of factors. The emergence of several literary languages (of Lower Sorbian, as well as of a protestant and of a catholic Upper Sorbian) were influenced by the isolation of dialects and by the administrative activity of the authorities who were guided by a certain policy, as well as by the split of the church. The effects of the illiteracy and cultural backwardness of the overwhelming majority of the Lusatian peasant population (who were the main speakers of the Sorbian language) were shown. In this context, all attempts to establish a literary norm, especially in the early development stages of Sorbian writing, inevitably was of an isolated character. It is all these factors which characterize the specific conditions of the emergence of Upper and Lower Sorbian writing, of the Upper and Lower Sorbian languages. To prefer any one single group of causes (for example, political reasons to language [dialect-based] or social factors) in explaining the plurality of written languages means in our view to somewhat simplify the real picture of language development. In this article we have considered some development problems of the Sorbian language from the most ancient times until the emergence of literature in Sorbian. We limited ourselves to envisaging main social, political and linguistic distinctive features which were characteristic of most of the history of Sorbian from the

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10th to the mid-20th century. In this connection, we have allowed ourselves to limit the period under consideration to the first half of the 18th century, as well as to devote more attention to the history of the Lower Sorbian dialect. The somewhat closed, conservative character of the written Sorbian language was mentioned, and the cultural and historical causes of this phenomenon were described. We should like to extend this remark to the entire history of the Sorbian language. In the course of history, a peculiar situation was created for the Sorbs in the Slavic world. They lived at the periphery of the territory where Slavic languages were spoken, within the limits of an alien state. They felt it necessary to preserve their independence in their language, and to continue their cultural tradition, to overcome a social and cultural humiliation, the limitations of their social development. The Sorbian language was functioning under conditions of long-standing contacts with German dialects. The specific nature of the relations between Sorbian dialects and the Sorbian and German literary languages to a certain extent determined the insular character of some phenomena and processes, a certain archaic character of some parts in the grammatical structure of Sorbian dialects, as well as differences in processes of common Slavic language changes (cf. for instance the preservation of the simple and complicated forms of the past tense in part of the Upper Sorbian patois and in the literary language; the preservation of the category of the dual number in the majority of dialects and in the literary language).

References and footnotes 1 An idea about the complicated administrative division of the territory of feudal possessions with a Sorbian population is conveyed by Map No 3 in the book: MÈTSK, F., Die Stellung der Sorben in der territorialen Verwaltungsgliederung des deutschen Feudalismus, Bautzen 1968 2 Geschichte der Sorben, vol. 1, Bautzen 1977, pp. 19—25 3 SUSTER-SEWC, G., Mesto serboluzickogo jazyka sredi drugich slavjanskich jazykov, in: Voprosy jazykoznanija 6(1976), pp. 82—85 4 Ibid., p. 85; SEWC, H., Stawizny hornjeje a delnjeje serbsciny (History of Upper and Lower Sorbian), in: Listowy studij za wucerjow. Serbscina (Correspondence course studies for Sorbian language teachers), Budysin 1955—1956, pp. 502—509 5 MÈTSK, F., Reviewal on the lecture course: SEWC, H., Stawizny hornjeje a delnjeje serbsciny (History of Upper and Lower Sorbian), in : Lëtopis B 2(1956), pp. 182—183; see also Sorbischer Sprachatlas, vol. I, p. 36 6 STIEBER, Z . , Stosunki pokrewienstwa jçzykôw luzyckich (Cognation between the Sorbian languages), Krakow 1934 7 SEWC, H., op. cit., pp. 5 0 4 - 5 0 6 5

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8

LÖTZSCH, R., Das Problem der obersorbisch-niedersorbischen Sprachgrenze, in: ZfSl 8(1961), 2, p. 180 9 Cf. LÖTZSCH, R., Einheit und Gliederung des Sorbischen, Berlin 1965, pp. 26—29; L E T C , R., Nekotorye voprosy morfologiöeskoj differenciacii luiickich dialektov v svjazi s obsöeslavjanskim lingvisticeskim atlasom (Some questions on the morphological differentiation of the Lusatian dialects in the scope of the all-slavic linguistic atlas), in: Materialy i issledovanija po obsdeslavjanskomu lingvistiöeskomu atlasu, Moskva 1968, pp. 127-136 10 ERMAKOVA, M. I., Nizneluzickoe imennoe slovoizmenenie. Imja suséestvitel'noe (Lower Sorbian nominal and flexion. Noun), Moskva 1979 1 1 LÖTZSCH, R . , Niektóre wlasciwoéci morfologiczne przejáciowych dialektów górnoluzyckich-dolnoluzyckich (Morphological peculiarities of the Upper and Lower Sorbian transitional dialects), in: Studia z filologii polskiej i siowiañskiej 7 ( 1 9 6 7 ) 1 2 F A S S K E , H . , Wuwice ak./gen. jako wuraz kategorije iiwosce resp. kategorije racionalnosce w serbscinje (Development of the accusative/genitive cases as an expression of the animated category or the category of rationality in Sorbian), in: Létopis A 1 9 ( 1 9 7 2 ) , 1, p p .

18-51

Niektóre wiasciwosci . . . The concept "common basis of development" is justified in the article by F A S S K E , H., Hisce raz k prasenju kategorijow iiwosce a racionalnosce w serbscinje (Some more remarks on the animated category and the category of rationalism in Sorbian), in: Létopis A 24(1977), 2, pp. 177-186 Cf. a sufficiently complete review of the viewpoints on this issue in the works: LÖTZSCH, R., Einheit . . . ; idem, Das Problem der obersorbisch-niedersorbischen Sprachgrenze; idem, Einige Bemerkungen zu D. Brozovic' Aufsatz "O specifiönim vidovima luiickosrpske jezicne problematike (On specific aspects of the Sorbian language issue), in: Létopis A 15(1968), 1, pp. 82—87 Cf. e.g.: S C H U S T E R - S E W C , H., Sprache und ethnische Formation in der Entwicklung des Sorbischen, in: ZfSl (1959), vol. IV KALNYN', L. E., Dialektologiöeskij aspekt problemy "jazyk i dialekt" (Dialectical aspect of the problem "language and dialect", in: Izvestija AN SSSR. Serija literatury i jazyka, XXXV(1976), p. 38 Voprosy teorii lingvistiéeskoj geografii pod red. cl.-korr. AN SSSR R. I. Avanesova, Moskva 1962, p. 26 (Questions of the theory of linguistic geography, editor: R. I. Avanesov, Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow) Geschichte der Sorben, vol. 1, Bautzen 1977, pp. 116 — 117 Ibidem, p. 127

1 3 LÖTZSCH, R . ,

14

15

16 17 18

19 20

21 MÉTSK, F., op. cit., p. 180

22 The necessity of distinguishing the terms "Germanisation" and "colonisation" was emphasized by M É T S K , F . (op. cit., pp. 1 7 9 — 1 8 4 ) . He underlined that the German colonisation did not mean at the same time in all cases the Germanisation of the Sorbian population. 23 Of course, a colonisation during which the Slavic population was exterminated or pushed away to the worst land, and the land of the Slavs was occupied by German

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colonists, meant a simultaneous Germanisation of a given territory. But there could also be such forms of colonisation, when the old Sorbian population was given a new lord — a German. Then the German landlords or junkers created new villages with a Sorbian population, or finally, new villages were set up with the participation both of a Sorbian and of a German population, i.e. they were mixed according to their character. 24 MICHALK, F., Die sorabistische Sprachwissenschaft in der DDR, in: Makedonski ja2ik XXVI(1975), p. 57 25 NEDO, P., Wo wuwicu dwureinosce we Luzicy (On the development of bilingualism in Lusatia), i n : R o z h l a d 8(1958), pp. 2 2 0 - 2 2 1

26 Such an attempt, which is very interesting in its results, was made by MICHALK, F., Prinosk ke kwantifikacji recneje interferency (Contribution to the quantification of linguistic interference), in: Beiträge zur sorbischen Sprachwissenschaft, Bautzen 1968. In fact, his attention was focused on the influence of Sorbian on German in bilingual informants from some Upper Lusatian villages. 27 Among the unpublished works, it is necessary to mention the Master thesis by LÖTZSCH, R., "O charaktere vlijanija nemeckogo jazyka na slovoizmenenie imeni i glagola verchneluzickogo jazyka" ("On the nature of the influence of the German language on the flexion of nouns and verbs in Upper Sorbian"). In this investigation material was used from the Upper Sorbian literary language which belonged both to the 16th through 18th centuries and to modern times. 28 MUCKE, K. E., Historische und vergleichende Laut- und Formenlehre der niedersorbischen (niederlausitzisch-wendischen) Sprache, Leipzig 1891, pp. 3—4 29 M£TSK, F., Der Anteil der Stände des Markgraftums Oberlausitz an der Entstehung der obersorbischen Schriftsprache (1668-1728), in: ZfslPh XXVIII(1959), I, p. 145 30 MÜTSK, F., Der Kurmärkisch-wendische Distrikt. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Territorien Bärwalde, Beeskow, Storkow, Teupitz unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts, Bautzen 1965, p. 80 31 Ibid., p. 73 32 A similar investigation was made by F. MICHALK into the material of the Kulow dialect. See MICHALK, F., Kulowski dialekt dzensa a pred 300 letami. Prinosk k serbskej historiskej dialektologiji (The Wittichenau dialect today and 300 years ago. A contribution to Sorbian historical dialektology), in: Sorabistiske pfinoski k VI. mjezynarodnemu kongresej slawistow w Praze 1968 (Contributions in Sorbian Studies to the Sixth International Congress of Slavists, Prague 1968), Bautzen 1968, pp. 3 7 - 6 4 33 M£T§K, F., Der Kurmärkisch-wendische Distrikt ..., p. 89 34 M£T§K, F., Die brandenburgisch-preußische Sorbenpolitik im Kreise Cottbus. Vom 16. Jahrhundert bis zum Posener Frieden (1806), Berlin 1962, p. 11 35 For data on these translations and their authors see the book by M£TSK, F., Der Kurmärkisch-wendische Distrikt ..., pp. 122 — 126 36 Ibid., p. 129 37 Sot TA, J., Specifika nacional'nogo razvitija serboluiiöan (Of the national development of the Lusatian Sorbs), in: Formirovanie nacij Central'noj i Jugo-vostoönoj Evropy, Moskva 1978 (in the press) 5*

68 38

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H., Sorbische Sprachdenkmäler 16.—18. Jahrhundert, Bautzen 1967, p. 18; idem, Wuwice spisowneje rëce pola luïiskich Serbow, in: Sorabistiske prednoski 1977 (Sorabistic lectures 1977) Budysin, p. 32 39 MËTSK, F., Der Anteil der Stände des Markgraftums Oberlausitz an der Entstehung der obersorbischen Schriftsprache (1668-1728), in: ZfslPh XXVIII(1959), I, p. 145 40 SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., Sorbische Sprachdenkmäler ..., p. 17 41 LÖTZSCH, R., Das Problem der obersorbisch-niedersorbischen Sprachgrenze ..., pp. SCHUSTER-SEWC,

182-183

Ways of Development and Alternatives of a Literary Language B y KONSTANTIN K . TROFIMOVIC

A foreign tourist who is insufficiently informed about social conditions in the German Democratic Republic will be amazed to see bilingual inscriptions on buildings and signposts when coming to the counties of Dresden and Cottbus. He will soon find an explanation. Anybody living there can provide exhaustive information. In these counties you may find a Slavic population who feel quite at home in this German state. Yes, there are many astonishing things in Lusatia. Among them are newspapers, journals and textbooks, academic work and fiction in both literary languages (Upper and Lower Sorbian), there is a special research institute which studies the history, folklore, language and literature of the Lusatian Sorbs. And the list of examples can be continued. We do not intend to recall all the storms in the history of Lusatian Sorbs. Let us remark only briefly that for a thousand years foreign-speaking lords did their utmost to make this Slavic nation forget its culture and abandon its mother tongue. But despite these endeavours over many centuries, today this culture is flourishing, the literary language has reached an unprecedented level of development. How could a small people, oppressed and persecuted in the pasfand surrounded by a foreign-speaking environment, preserve its culture? How could a phenomenon like a literary language emerge which is functioning not worse than the languages of nations ? To avoid schematism, a brief article cannot answer this question consistently and completely. Let us therefore consider only a few fragments which, we believe, will give a stimulus to a deeper-going investigation of the problem.

1. The emergence of literature among Lusatian Sorbs Scholars agree as to what gave an impetus to the fact that books appeared in Lusatia in the mother tongue of the local Slavic population. Perhaps it is inappropriate to refer here to the ideas of Martin Luther and to analyse all social processes

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which played a positive or negative role in this context. However, it should be noted that, in reality, the Reformation in Germany was a stimulus to the emergence of literature in the language of the oppressed Sorbian people. In the 16th century, the church needed essential books in Sorbian for divine service. They were written by clergymen who were not in contact with each other, each to the best of his abilities, knowledge and possibilities. Translations were done from both Latin and German. Some translators looked up also Chech books. They translated them into the dialect (or patois) which was familiar to (or was the mother tongue of) the translator himself and with which the whole population of the parish was conversant. Consequently, the books that appeared were very different in terms of language, they differed in the rendering of the sounds in writing, and they varied in the correctness of translation. The inhabitants of Lower Lusatia heard their mother tongue spoken in religious practices earlier than the people in other areas did, the people of Upper Lusatia followed suit. Although each parish had its own idiom (dialect, patois), as mentioned above, two more or less uniform written languages consolidated themselves in the course of time: Lower Sorbian and Upper Sorbian. This is explained by the fact that in the centre and in the south of Lusatia the dialects differed more substantially than the Upper Sorbian dialects. Manuscript books were followed by printed ones, the first being a Lower Sorbian hymn-book and catechism by A L B I N MOLLER published in Bautzen in the seventies of the sixteenth century. At the end of the sixteenth century a printed book in Upper Sorbian, the Catechism by W J A C L A W WARICHIUS appeared. Lower Sorbian church and religious literature, as well as Upper Sorbian church and religious literature, analogical in its content, served as a basis for two writing systems which, due to a number of chiefly extralingual factors, developed independently in the course of the centuries. At the turn of the 17th to the 18th century the Upper SorbianandLower Sorbian saw a clear delimitation. The two written (literary) languages continued to improve. They have been used by one and the same Sorbian nationality up to the present day. Strange as it may seem, this phenomenon (a small people and two literary languages!), is not so unique. The situation has been the same with other peoples. There are, for instance, the Mordvinians with their two written languages (Erza/Moksha). Much work was done for the development of the Upper Sorbian literary language by personalities such as FRENCEL father and son, TICINUS, SWETLIK, and of the Lower Sorbian, FABRICIUS and others. This took place at the end of the 17th and at the beginning of the 18th centuries. Let us note that in the course of history, conditions for the development of the two literary languages were not the same. As a result, Lower Sorbian always lagged behind Upper Sorbian in codification, stylistic differentiation, its functional possibilities and accomplishments. But in recent times, great efforts have been

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made to overcome this situation. In our times, Upper Sorbian has risen to a level not inferior to that of many national literary languages. To summarize, we should like to emphasize that the emergence of a writing system in the mother tongue of a small peasant people living amidst a powerful nationality that spoke a foreign language is a sign of the mental vigour and moral health of a small number of educated Lusatian Sorbs that possessed the qualities that were handed down from generation to generation, from the ancestors to the descendants.

2. The confessional difference among the Upper Lusatian Sorbs — a cause for the emergence of two written languages When two outstanding authors of Sorbian writing, JACOBUS TICINUS (1656 —1693) and MICHAL FRENCEL entered the scene of culture, a differentiation in the language norm for catholics and protestants could be observed. This is easy to see already in the first printed book in Upper Sorbian — in J . TICINUS'S Grammar (1679) and in M. FRENCEL'S translation of the New Testament (1706). The first book reflected the features of the dialect used in every-day communication by the population of the catholic confession which inhabited the village of Kulow in western Upper Lusatia, the second book was based on the patois used by Upper Sorbs who had been converted by the Reformation. The division of the writing systems according to confessional features harboured the great danger of a division of the most vital part of the entire population of Lusatia. However Upper Lusatian Sorbs of either denomination found out the feeling for the unity of their nationality, so as to overcome divergent tendencies. The language differences between t-he catholic and protestant writing systems were not great, but according to their individual features (as well as by graphics and orthography) they unmistakably indicated the confessional attachment of the writers (translators). Printed books that were issued in continuously increasing numbers confirmed the dualism of the Upper Sorbian written language. Thus the "catholic" version of the written language was used in the Grammar of J. TICINUS, in his Catechism ( 1 6 8 5 ) , in the Evangelical Readings published by J . SW6TLIK in 1 6 9 3 , and in a dictionary by the same author ( 1 7 2 1 ) . The "protestant" literary language was sanctioned in an Orthography by C. Z. BERLINK ( 1 6 8 9 ) , in the Hymn-book by J . M A T E J ( 1 7 1 0 ) and in his Grammar ( 1 7 2 1 ) , in the translations by M. FRENCEL of the Holy Scriptures etc. The Upper Sorbian patois (varied in terms of dialect) was in the early 18th century represented by printed publications in two confessional versions. Book publications in Lower Sorbian were less numerous at that time. We should mention

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a work by FABRICIUS, the Catechism (translated from German and published in 1718). This variety in the forms of a written language reflected a lack of unity of the people itself, which was due to both political reasons (Upper and Lower Lusatia belonged to different German states) and confessional causes. If the political factors (together with some minor others) could not be eliminated later, the differences in confession in the minds of progressive-minded Upper Lusatians would, as will be seen below, cease to determine the development of the Upper Sorbian literary language.

3. An interesting fragment from the history of Upper Sorbian Enlightened personalities of cultural life in Upper Lusatia were fully aware of the variance in the writing of their mother tongue. As mentioned above, this was due to differences in dialects, levels of education and tastes of translators. Lacking uniformity in the written language of protestants impeded a bringing closer together that part of Lusatia, closer contacts between the parishes, the creation of the moral and psychological unity of the people which was necessary to fight the increasing pressure from an alien culture. Concrete activities were needed. Since we cannot go into detail in presenting this fragment of history, we shall only refer to a fact which vividly testifies to the great desire of progressiveminded cultural personalities to improve the written language — a necessary instrument for progress in the civilized world, a means of consolidating the people. Three hundred years ago, under the conditions of the feudal system, it was difficult to elucidate the urgent necessity of overcoming psychological barriers dividing those who belonged to different denominations. It was impossible to come to the conclusion that they needed to be united in a uniform writing system. But progressive-minded people realized early that it was purposeful to overcome the differences in language norms (to put it in modern terminology) within one confessional system of writing. In the late 17th century, clerical activists suggested to the diet of Upper Lusatia that a special committee be set up to consider all questions related to the correct translation of church books. The diet assigned the protestant clergy from various dialect areas in Upper Lusatia the task of creating a supradialect language (to use modern terminology again) which would be equally easy to understand for all inhabitants of a large territory. The result of enormous work performed by the committee was a new, complete translation of the Bible that appeared in 1728. Its language included the main features of the patois of the central Bautzenian dialect as a whole. In general, the idiom of that new translation of the Holy Scriptures was not richer than the idiom of M . FRENCEL'S work, its external aspect was not

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of the highest order, notably so graphics and orthography, nevertheless, such an early awareness of the necessity to create a supra-dialectal idiom was an extraordinary fact. It testifies to the great potential of common sense. This potential was inherent in the minds of a small people that was searching for possibilities to embark on the road of progress. Even if the first work of this type of these four activists was not quite a success, we shall see below that the idea of uniting the people by unifying the writing system ("of different languages") became the main driving force in the development of a small oppressed nationality for which external conditions had prepared only one fate — complete Germanization. We shall convince ourselves that the idea of JAN LANGA, M A T E J JOKIS, JAN BEMAR and JAN WAWER, who were working on a new translation was, on a different scale and under different conditions, raised to a new level in the 19th century. The leaders of national rebirth and their followers achieved the unity of the Upper Sorbian literary language.

4. The process of unification of the catholic and protestant systems of writing The national rebirth which began in the 40s of the 19th century played a decisive role in the formation of a literary language which has assumed among the Sorbs a leading status in society. This extremely important period in the 900 years of Sorbian history is highlighted by the following events: An extraordinary upsurge took place in social and intellectual life. National awareness increased. An indomitable desire of progressive-minded cultural workers was focussed on raising their literary language to the status of a cultivated language. The tasks of the Sorbian language were investigated in the struggle for the preservation of this nationality. Many other factors contributed to the formation of the bourgeois Sorbian nationality. A deep understanding of the fact that, lacking homogeneity in literary language was conducive to a continuing division of the people, led to decisive activities by ardent patriots. An attempt at a rapprochement of the confessional variants of the Upper Sorbian literary language was made by JAN PETR JORDAN, who published a grammar in 1841, which allowed elements of both the catholic and the protestant variants. However, the Upper Sorbian literary language was codified by the society Macica Serbska founded in 1847. In 1848, in the first issue of its scientific periodical, this society proclaimed the necessity of uniting all Upper Sorbs. In this issue, the norms of the new literary language were described in brief which was uniform for both catholics and protestants. The author of the publication (the young linguist PFUHL [PFUL]) later on published two more works on grammar

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(iti 1862 and 1867) and a dictionary (1866) which provided a solid foundation of the norms of the new literary language. He also published numerous articles on topical issues of linguistics. The protestant variant of writing was taken as a basis of the new literary language that was recommended to both protestants and catholics. However, some features of the catholic system of writing were also included in this new literary language. It is hardly to the point to describe in detail all the difficulties in fusing the two norms, all the ups and downs in overcoming the rigidity of the conservatives. But it certainly must be mentioned that this almost unbearable load was taken up by MICHAL HORNIK ( 1 8 3 3 — 1 8 9 4 ) , who all his life was indefatigable in practically solving the most important task facing the nationality which struggled for survival, self-preservation and consolidation of its unity. Through HORNIK'S hands passed almost all manuscripts prepared to be edited in accordance with the new norms (he was editor with a number of journals). He also published theoretical articles on linguistics to justify the innovations proposed by him in the norms of the new literary language. The catholic H 6 R N I K acted resolutely in the publication of the New Testament ( 1 8 9 6 ) where a great number of innovations was introduced which had not belonged to ecclesiastical and religious catholic literature before. A tremendous role in the successful course of rebirth processes was played by J A N ARNOST SMOLER, the chief organizer and ideologist of the national movement. This rebirth gave rise to an abundant literature in Sorbian. When analyzing the works of remarkable writers of the past (e.g. H A N D R I J Z E J L E R , J A N R A D Y S E R B W J E L A , J A K U B B A R T - C I S I N S K I , J . LORENZ-SALESKI) one can see that it was not easy for them to renounce the accustomed forms and words of their confessional variants of the written language. However, a gradual approximation of the common norm can be noted in what they wrote. In the theoretical investigation of the language of all Sorbs (of both Upper and Lower Lusatia) it is the eminent linguist A R N O S T M U K A thanks to whom the language of the Lusatian Sorbs began to be referred to in the research of Slavists abroad, and enjoyed growing prestige. According to our observations, the new language that had emerged on the pages the journal "Casopis Macicy Serbskeje" was incessantly improved in the course of decades and acquired an increasingly conspicuous place in society. In the first three decades of the 20th century it reliably worked in profane periodicals, in belletristic literature, it penetrated into the sphere of education, and it was dominant in scientific publications. The two confessional variants during the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century gradually lost their leading role in society and narrowed down their scope of action to the sphere of church life.

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A new blow was dealt to the literary language, and to the entire people. Hitlerite fascism banned all manifestations of Sorbian culture. The literary language ceased to function.

5. The development of the Sorbian language under new conditions after the Second World War The Red Army and its allies smashed Hitlerite fascism and liberated the Lusatian Sorbs from a thousand years of oppression (which was particularly hard after 1933). This created the most favourable conditions for the development, and for a consolidated role in society of the Upper Sorbian literary language. It is a codified, stylistically well developed language functioning successfully in many spheres of human life. The Lower Sorbian literary language also received good opportunities for its development. For a number of extralinguistic reasons which were already mentioned, the mother tongue of the Sorbs in Lower Lusatia in the second half of the 19th century did not become a banner and means of struggle for the preservation of their nationality. The nationality on its part did not wage an active struggle for the development of the literary language. In Lower Lusatia, the Macica Serbska was formed only in 1880. With the assistance of patriots from Upper Lusatia it worked for spreading literacy in the mother tongue, endeavoured to introduce norms into the literary language. J . B . TESNAR (1829-1898) and B . SWJELA (1873-1948) deserve great praise in this respect, but it was not before 1903 that the works of B . SWJELA, Emergence and Development of Lower Sorbian Orthography and Some Rules of Lower Sorbian Orthography, were published. It was in 1906 that this scholar also published the first grammar of Lower Sorbian. However, the literary language of Lower Lusatian Sorbs functioned very weakly in society. This situation could not be changed by the magnificent works on Lower Sorbian by a scholar with a world-wide renown, A. M U K A (they included a dictionary and comparative grammar and numerous scientific articles), nor by the socio-economic and political conditions which, until Lusatia's liberation by the Red Army, were rather conducive to an extinction of this Slavic language than to its enrichment, development and conservation. This is explained above all by the G.D.R.'s policy towards the only national minority existing in the state. The government of the German Democratic Republic is devoting great care to the fate of the Sorbs, promoting by all means the conservation and development of their national culture, purposefully utilizing all incentives of the state to widen the functions of the literary languages. With this aim in mind special institutions and departments were created. The Ministry of Culture, for instance, which is responsible before the government for imple-

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menting Marxist-Leninist principles in nationality policy, has a special department for issues of Sorbían culture, and, within this department, a social council. The Ministry of Education, too, has a department dealing with Sorbían areas, which is concerned with elaborating specialized syllabi and text-books for Sorbian schools, teaching manuals etc. There is another special department for problems of Lusatian Sorbs at the Interior Ministry. The interests of Lusatian Sorbs are represented by deputies of the Sorbian nationality at all state levels from village councils to the People's Chamber, the parliament of the G.D.R. On the basis of nationality policy, the language system is successfully developing in Lusatia. A ramified system of institutions, organizations and measures has been set up that is aimed at comprehensively elaborating linguistic problems, translating into practice the results of scientific research in the field of Sorbian linguistics, training many teachers of the language and literature and staff for preschool institutions. It is aimed at organizing and controlling the teaching of the Sorbian languages at schools, at a perfect knowledge of the language among the workers of the Domowina Publishing House and of periodicals, creating further training courses for adults in the field of language, introducing the Sorbian language into new spheres of social life, raising the culture of language in the entire society, etc. For the people to attain a high language standard it is indispensable to include them into normalized literary language. Being aware of this fact, a small group of Sorbian scholars and outstanding cultural personalities was devoted to this task. But only a few years after the end of the war, the most urgently needed manuals for school, for editorial boards of newspapers and of periodicals, as well as for editors of books were prepared for publication and published. These were the grammar reference books and grammars of Upper Sorbian by P. WOWCERK and J. W J E L A , the grammars of Lower Sorbian by B. SWJELA and a text-book of this language by M . NOWAK-NJECHORNSKI, and Sorbian-German dictionaries by F. JAKUBAS and B. SWJELA, etc. In subsequent years ever new works on grammar, orthography, and even specialized works on the culture of language, e.g. a work about fewer mistakes by A . N A W K A appeared. A great role in the stabilization of the norms of Upper Sorbian was played by the Upper Sorbian Language Commission, founded in 1969. It codified the orthography and punctuation on the basis of the works of P. VOLKEL. It is noteworthy that the published rules of orthography and punctuation were confirmed by a competent state authority — the Ministry of Education of the G.D.R. The "Grammatik der obersorbischen Schriftsprache/Morphologie" by H. FASSKE and F . MICHALK, which appeared in 1981, is the first work in Sorbian linguistics to describe the present-day norm of Upper Sorbian on the basis of an abundant corpus of excerptions, and, for a longer time, can be regarded as a scientific basis for projects in the field of language culture.

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A logical implication of what the G.D.R. state had done for Upper Sorbian was the demand to create analogous rules for the Lower Sorbian literary language. M. S T A R O S T A , guided by general rules of Upper Sorbian orthography and punctuation, compiled rules for Lower Sorbian, published two years later and also confirmed by the Ministry. After the Upper Sorbian Language Commission had ceased to exist, a new Sorbian Language Commission was founded in 1979 subordinate to the Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R. Its tasks were formulated in a broader sense. According to its standing rules, the commission is to give support to research institutes in the, field of an adequate codification of Upper and Lower Sorbian, make endeavours with a view to raise language culture, keep a catalogue of unclear issues of orthography and punctuation, analyse the idiom of newspapers and journals, promote the publication of practical manuals, provide consultations on problems of correctness of language, conduct language propaganda, and organize lectures for the people in the scope of the commission's work. It was already in the first years of its activity that the commission achieved substantial results, its most important achievement being the creation of a special subcommittee on problems of Lower Sorbian. The two commissions are a result of the care the state devotes to the language of a national minority. This fact is a completely new phenomenon in the history of the Sorbs and it gives us good hope that both Sorbian literary languages will not only rise to the level of excellently codified literary languages (which has indeed been achieved already), but also to the level of languages with a high literary standard. The "ways of development" and "alternatives" of the Sorbian literary languages have easily been determined by the reader on his or her own. A shining and promising road was embarked upon by these languages only forty years ago. Let us wish that the Upper and Lower Sorbian literary languages will continue to advance smoothly on that path.

References BERNSTEJN, S. B., Russkoe slavjanovedenie o serbsko-luiickich jazykach (Russian Slavonic studies on the Sorbian languages), i n : Serbo-luzickij lingvistieeskij sbornik, Moskva 1963 CY2, J., Jan A r n o s t Smoler: 2iwjenje a skutkowanje serbskeho wötSinca (Jan A m o s t Smoler: Life and w o r k of the Sorbian patriot), Budysin 1975 FASSKE, H., Schriftsprachliche Norm, Umgangssprache und Dialekt im Sorbischunterricht, i n : Methodische Beiträge zum Sorbischunterricht B, Bautzen 1 9 7 4

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H./S. MICHALK, Grammatik der obersorbischen Schriftsprache der Gegenwart/ Morphologie, Bautzen 1981 J A K U B A S , F., Hornjoserbsko-nemski slownik (Upper Sorbian-German dictionary), Budyäin 1954 J A N A S , P . , Niedersorbische Grammatik, Bautzen 1 9 7 5 JENC, H., Wuwicowe tendency hornjoserbskeje spisowneje rece 19. letstotka (Trends in the development of the Sorbian literary language of the 19th century), in: Rozhlad (1976), pp. 4 5 1 - 4 5 3 K A S P E R , M., Ein faschistischer Plan zur Aussiedlung sorbischer Lehrer, in: Letopis B 8(1961), pp. 1 2 7 - 1 3 3 M Ü T S K , F . , Der Anteil der Stände des Markgraftums Oberlausitz an der Entstehung der obersorbischen Schriftsprache, in: ZfslPh 1 (1959) MICHALK, F., Kratkij oöerk grammatiki sovremennogo verchneluäickogo literaturnogo jazyka (Brief survey of the grammar of the contemporary Upper Sorbian literary language), in: TROFIMOVIC, K. K., Verchneluiicko-russkij slovar' (Upper SorbianRussian dictionary), Moskva—Bautzen 1974 M U C K E , E., Historische Vergleichende Laut- und Formenlehre der niederwendischen/ niederlausitzisch-wendischen/Sprache. Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Grenzdialekte und des Obersorbischen, Leipzig 1891 M U K A , E., Slownik dolnoserbskeje recy a jeje narecow (Dictionary of the Lower Sorbian language and its dialects) vol. I—III, Petersburg—Prag 1911 — 1928 PETR, J., Micha! Hörnik: 2iwjenje a skutkowanje serbskeho wötöinca (Michal Hörnik: Life and work of the Sorbian patriot) Budysin 1974 PETR, J . , Michal Hörnik: 2iwjenje a skutkowanje serbskeho pröcowarja (Michal Hörnik: Life and work of the Sorbian patriot), Budysin 1978 PFUHL, Lausitzisch Wendisches Wörterbuch, Budissin 1 8 6 6 PFUL, Hornjoluiiski Serbski Prawopis z krötkim ryönicnym pfehladom (Upper Sorbian orthography with a brief grammatical survey) in: CMS (1848) SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., Die Geschichte der sorbischen Schriftsprachen: Ein Grundriß, in: Slavjanska filologija, vol. III: Dokladi, s'obätenja i statii po ezikoznanie, Sofija 1963 SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., Grammatika hornjoserbskeje reöe: Syntaksa (Upper Sorbian grammar: syntax), Budysin 1976 SCHWELA, G., Lehrbuch der Niederwendischen Sprache, Heidelberg 1906 SEMIRJAGA, M. I., Luiiöane (The Lusatian Sorbs), Moskva—Leningrad 1955 S E W C , H., Gramatika hornjoserbskeje rece (Upper Sorbian grammar), vol. 1, Budysin 1984 STAROSTA, M . , Dolnoserbska ortografija a interpunkcija: Psawidla (Lower Sorbian orthography and punctuation: rules), Budyäin 1976 S W J E L A , B., Dolnoserbsko-nemski slownik (Lower Sorbian-German dictionary), Budysin 1963 TROFIMOVIC, K. K., Razvitie verchneluiickogo literaturnogo jazyka v seredine XIX veka (The development of the Upper Sorbian literary language in the mid-19th century), in: Nacional'noe vozroidenie i formirovanie slavjanskich literaturnych jazykov (The national rebirth and formation of the Slavic literary languages), Moskva 1978

FASSKE,

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K. K., Formuvannja literaturnoi movy serboluiic'koi narodnosti (The formation of a literary language of the Sorbian nation), in: Movoznavstvo (1978), 5 VÖLKEL, P., Hornjoserbska ortografija a interpunkcija: Prawidla (Upper Sorbian orthography and punctuation: rules), Budysin 1974 VÖLKEL, P., Hornjoserbsko-nëmski slownik: Prawopisny slownik hornjoserbskeje rëce (Upper Sorbian-German dictionary: orthography), Budysin 1981 WOWCERK, P., Kurzgefaßte obersorbische Grammatik, Berlin—Leipzig 1951 TROFIMOVIC,

Historical Survey of the Development of the Sorbian Literature until the Second World War B y PAUL NOWOTNY

Sorbian humanists, like their German counterparts, wrote their disputations and pamphlets in Latin until the Reformation, which then prompted the emergence of own literatures among the Sorbs, and among other smaller peoples. For "the Lord's \tford" to be preached "in the mother tongue", German feudal lords sent individual talented young Sorbian subjects to study theology at universities. A Sorbian ecclesiastical intelligentsia came into being that was studying its mother tongue ex officio, whereas the majority of the Sorbian people continued to be uneducated and could neither read nor write. Out of the necessity of holding services in the Sorbian language, this language, which had until then lived only in oral tradition, was promoted to the rank of a written language. Therefore, Sorbian writing in the 16th and 17th centuries was of an almost exclusively religious character and chiefly consisted of translations (the Bible, catechism, religious tracts, and chorales). Apart from some precursors, the beginnings of Sorbian secular literature do not reach further back than to the 18th century. Owing to the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment, first attempts were made to create secular poetry. It is occasional poetry for special solemn events with an abundant symbolism drawn from the Bible and with far-fetched analogies by using antique metres (hexameter) and forms (the ode). This literary poetry was addressed to the numerically narrow stratum of educated circles, not to the people. The first poem to be printed in Upper Sorbian was a eulogy by J U R I J LUDOVICI (1619—1673) to MICHAL FRENCEL (1628—1706), the renewer of Sorbian writing

after the Thirty Years' War. It was published by FRENCEL in an edition of the Gospels according to St. Matthew and to St. Mark in 1670. In 1694, the inauguration celebration of the New Frederick School in Frankfurt-on-Oder occasioned "Burski golc z tego serbskeg landu", a poem in four stanzas, written by an Anonymous T. K. in Lower Sorbian. The most important representative of the Sorbian Enlightenment movement was HAD AM BOHUCHWAL SERACH ( 1 7 2 4 — 1 7 7 3 ) , who became internationally known as the founder of modern apiculture. By his " 'Melitto — Theologia', which in some places turns into nature poetry" ( 1 7 6 7 ) , he stimulated the Belgian

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writer M. MAETERLINCK and he deserved much praise in Sorbian hymnology. T o mark the fifty years' jubilee of the Wendish Preachers' College founded in 1716, JURIJ RAK (1740—1791), one of its members, wrote a "Jubilee Ode" and wrote and composed the song "Zedzenje za njesmjertnoscu", the first Sorbian art song, characterized by a melody in the style of the late baroque period. However, only from the mid 18th century it is possible to speak of a real secular poetry of the Sorbs. It was born "out of the spirit of rationalism, but it was sponsored also by pietism and the emergent German classical literature" (R. JENC). Its founder was a pastor from Neschwitz, JURIJ MJEN (1727—1785), who was not only an eloquent preacher and an eminent scholar of the Sorbian language, but a genuine poet and courageous character. On the model set by KLOPSTOCK'S " D e r Messias", he wrote 172 easy-flowing and subtle hexameters in 1767, to extol the men who had done much for the Sorbian written language. This song of praise to the potential of the Sorbian language, called "Rycerski kérlus" in brief, is "the first major testimony to a secular Sorbian literary poetry, which until young ZEJLER, however, was almost exclusively 'scholarly' " (K. LORENC). At first, the poem was circulated in manuscript copies to be published in printed form, together with translated extracts from the Messiah, by his son RUDOLF MJEIÌ (1767—1841) not before 1806. His sermons, such as "Palaty scépowc" on the other hand had a very wide printed circulation. Thus JURIJ MJEN may also be called the founder of Sorbian literary prose. J . MJEI^'S poetry found imitators especially among Leipzig students. MICHAL H I L B J E N C ( 1 7 5 8 — 1 8 1 6 ) a n d HANDRIJ RUSKA ( 1 7 5 5 — 1 8 1 0 ) w r o t e v e r s e s d e d i c a t -

ed to parting fellow-students and friends. A farewell song of the latter was translated by MOSZCZENSKI, a lecturer of the Polish language, and count POTOCKI had it printed in Leipzig in 1779. It was the first Sorbian poem to be translated into another language. J . MJEIÌ found a worthy disciple and successor in his son R. MJEN, who until ZEJLER passed to be the most important Sorbian poet (R. JENC). If until R. MJEN'S appearance, Sorbian poetry had been an affair of scholars, it now, for the first time, carried popular tones, as for instance in three chants in many stanzas about rural life which are attributed to him. Like all poets before ZEJLER, R. MJEIÌ drew on the so abundantly flowing source of German poetry. The masses of the rural population in both Upper and Lower Lusatia, according to many 18th-century travel reports, were living in incredible misery owing to serfdom and to a backward political system. The way of life and the thinking of Sorbian peasants subjected to feudal landlords, and the famine of the years 1770—73 are desribed with an epic wealth of detail in his home dialect of Schleife by HANZO NEPILA (about 1766—1856). NEPILA was a retired farmer on a property inherited from his father at Rohne, who as a herdsman boy for four years from Epiphany to Easter had attended school courses held by the village tailor in Trjebin. Contrary to the "scholars", he wrote in a pure, popular language that was 5

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not distorted by Germanisms. Of his about thirty manuscripts, only five are extant. N E P I L A may be called the first Sorbían popular writer (R. J E N C ) . In the last third of the 18th century, attempts were made to edit a Sorbían newspaper. Sorbs studying in Leipzig, in their manuscript newspaper "Lipske Nowisny a Schitkisny" addressed themselves only to a restricted circle of likeminded persons (in 1766). In 1790, J . A . JANKA (1766—1829) and K . B. SÉRACH (1764—1835) published a monthly review "MjeBazne PiBmo k Roswuczenju a k Wokschewenju" destined for the education of the people and printed in Bautzen. However, this review was banned by press censorship immediately after the release of the first issue, "lest the Sorbían people according to the model of the French should not defy its government" (K. A. JENC). Only the widely travelled carpenter J . B. D E J K A (1779—1853) succeeded in publishing his "SserBki Powedar a Kurier" from 1809 to 1812 in Bautzen for the formulation of political objectives and moral edification of the intellectual level of the working Sorbían people. He did so all on his own, without'support from the Sorbían intelligentsia. Thus a simple man from the people became the founder of Sorbían journalism, who "essentially contributed to the development of secular written Sorbían" (K. LORENC). The progressive-minded rationalists in concert with pietism that was promoted by some Lusatian feudal lords, had brought about a more positive attitude on the part of scholars towards the Slavs in general and the Sorbs in particular. They promoted the interest of Sorbs studying at German universities in their history, culture and language, causing many grammars, dictionaries, and translations of the Bible and of other religious works to be written, and contributing thereby to the formation of the written Sorbían language. But this took place in the conviction that ignorance or insufficient command of the German language was to blame for the Sorbs' educational backwardness and that the Sorbían language constituted the main obstacle to full participation of the Sorbs in the cultural advance embracing the whole of Europe. As everywhere else, in Lusatia education standards were increased by improving the school system. In this context, Sorbían only had an auxiliary function in learning the German language. Thus, school and church became the most efficacious institutions of denationalization. With this aim, some elementary readers were translated for Sorbian children. These conditions reflect the fate of minor literatures. Because of their low population figures and of their incomplete class structure — an aristocracy and an affluent bourgeoisie were lacking — the Sorbs living in the German state and cultural area had to make do with a literature at the lowest level, with writings for elementary instruction and with elementary reading matter. In science and higher education, the German language was considered to be the most suitable vehicle and was recognized as such far beyond the ethnical frontiers of the German people

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for the imparting of knowledge and for communication among scholars. Low population figures and a bilingualism were imposing narrow boundaries on Sorbian literature, and they could only be expanded by an intellectual activization of the people and by awakening its receptive capability for the written word in the mother tongue. The intellectual renovation in Lusatia from the ideas of German and Slavic Romanticism, as well as by KOLLAR'S ideas of Slavic solidarity promoted in the 1830s and 1840s Sorbian national rebirth. At first it took hold of the student youths who united in extremely active associations. In 1841, J . P. JORDAN wrote about the new aspirations of Wendish-Sorbian literature ("Die neuen Bestrebungen der wendisch-serbischen Literatur") in the "Blätter für literarische Unterhaltung" published by Brockhaus in Leipzig: "... also in our Lusatia, especially among the younger generation, an eagerness for our own cause, an aspiration for greater significance through moral force has awakened, which pervades all veins of the people's mind and must bring about a complete turn-about also in our literature". The spirit of democratic liberties after abolishing the dependency conditions of the feudal period also took hold of the peasant masses which, strengthened in their self-consciousness, soon put forth far-reaching political, social and national cultural demands. H A N D R I J L U B J E N S K I (1790—1840) whom J . DoBROVSKTF had come to see in Bautzen, and who carried on a correspondence with M . BOBROVSKIJ, V . HANKA, P. J . SAFAIUK and others, as well as ADOLF K L I N (1792—1855) were pioneers of the national awakening. Later on, J A N ARNOST SMOLER (1816—1884) was the most outstanding reawakener and the leading figure in the process of constituting a bourgeois Sorbian nationality. SMOLER during his studies at the University of Breslau was in close personal intercourse with J . E . PURKYNE and F. L. CELAKOVSKY. In 1 8 4 0 he crossed Lusatia on foot with the Russian Slavist 1.1. SREZNEVSKIJ. Later on, he partly travelled extensively in Russia. For this reason he was reproached with being in the service of Russian pan-Slavism, and met with dislike. For him, the cultivation of mutual cultural relations with the Slavs was an intellectual and moral support in his various patriotic undertakings. By introducing an "analogous" orthography, he made the Sorbian literature more accessible to the other Slavs and promoted a uniform Upper Sorbian written language by his grammar and his dictionary. Between 1 8 4 1 and 1 8 4 3 , SMOLER'S main work in cooperation with J . L. HAUPT, the collection in two volumes of the "Pesnicki hornych a delnych Luziskich Serbow", an encyclopedia of Sorbian folklore, appeared. It contains 531 folk-songs, mostly recorded by him from the common parlance, with 317 melodies, fairy tales, legends, proverbs, information on the Sorbian language and its dialects, on national costumes and musical instruments', as well as a map. In 1 8 4 5 , SMOLER organized the first Sorbian choir festival and played a leading role in founding the scientific society of the Macica Serbska in 1847 which until its 6*

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dissolution by the fascists in 1937 was the focus of Sorbian cultural development. As an editor, publisher and bookseller, SMOLER created solid foundations for the further spreading of Sorbian literature. These foundations even withstood the political reaction setting in after 1849. Among them was above all the weekly "Tydzenska Nowina" founded in 1842 which he made the "political organ of the petty-bourgeois peasant Sorbian people's movement." Apart from SMOLER, it was J A N PÈTR JORDAN (1818—1891), who particularly in the period leading up to the revolution of March 1848, was the most important personality in the Sorbian Renaissance Movement. As a publicist and editor he endeavoured to mediate between the young Slavic national movements and the liberal German bourgeoisie — unfortunately, in vain. JORDAN studied Slavic languages and literatures with V. HANKA in Prague, in 1839 was among the staff of the Prague j ournal "Ost und West", and in 1842, publisher of the Sorbian weekly "Jutnicka". He obtained his doctorate in Leipzig in 1843, founded there the "Jahrbucher fiir slawische Literatur, Kunst und Wissenschaft" and in 1846 supported the editing of the first Bulgarian newspaper "Balgarski orel". In 1848, JORDAN worked very actively in Prague on the preparatory committee of the Pan-Slav Congress, which brought him the loss of his lectureship at Leipzig University after that congress had failed. Later on, he lived as a merchant in Prague and later on, in Vienna. But the poet of Sorbian rebirth was H A N D R I J Z E J L E R (1804—1872). When he was studying theology in Leipzig (1825—29) he was completely influenced by German Romanticism, which also affected his friends, among whom were H . K R Y G A R (1804—1858), the founder of the manuscript "Sserska Nowina" of the student association Sorabia, K. B. H A T A S (1806—1839), who wrote poetry and composed music, J . LAHODA (1801 — 1871) who wrote impromptu verse, and others. But a lasting influence was exercised on Z E J L E R in personal and correspondence contacts by representatives of Slavic Romanticism and of national rebirth, such as the Pole A . KUCHARSKI, the Czechs F . PALACKY, J . DOBROVSKY, F . L. CELAKOVSKY, or the Yugoslav freedom poet SIMA MILUTINOVIC. Z E J L E R was the life and soul of the student association and from 1826, editor of their newspapers into which poems by himself and by his fellow students, as well as linguistic and ethnological results were included. Main motives of his poems which have the common touch and are distinguished by their musicality are friendship, love and thé homeland. Some of his lyrical poems were so close to folk songs in tone and form that SMOLER about thirteen years later, recorded them as such. He took them from common parlance including them into his collection, among them "Zady nasej pjecy" and "Serbska njewjesta" songs which were circulated on anonymous leaflets and often hackneyed. At that time the poem "Na serbsku Luzicu" was made, which became the Sorbian hymn with a melody

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by K . A . KOGOR. ZEJLER'S student songs, pervaded by a healthy optimism, are expressing a great joie de vivre, carelessness and mirth. Contrary to almost all his fellow clergymen, ZEJLER even after being appointed to a parish at Lohsa in 1835 did not cease his literary and patriotic activities. From 1842 to 1848 he founded and edited the "Tydzenska Nowina" which wanted to instruct, entertain and educate for progress the rural population by amusing and informative articles. In antifeudal poems on topics of the day ZEJLER boldly expressed democratic ideas, such as in "Preciwnikam postupa". Especially in the revolutionary years 1848/49 "Zejler's fables which describe a self-contained circle of national pedagogical, bourgeois emancipating ideas, brought the progressive spirit of the epoch into the language of the Sorbian village people" (K. LORENC). It is in vain that we look for patriotic songs in a traditional meaning among ZEJLER'S works. ZEJLER'S friendship with the composer KORLA AWGUST KOCOR ( 1 8 2 2 — 1 9 0 4 ) , as well as the choir movement and the choir festivals from 1845 onwards had a very great significance for spreading his lyrical poems within the people. Fruitful cooperation between the poet and the composer produced the lyrical cycles "Pocasy" ( 1 8 4 5 — 6 0 ) , only outwardly suggested by THOMSON'S "Seasons". Of the planned five parts only "Naleco" and "2ne" were completed. Realistically indeed, the farmer's life and work are represented in the rhythm of the seasons. An edition of ZEJLER'S complete works was prepared by A. M U K A , and published by the studying Sorbian youth between 1883 and 1891. In the revolution of 1848/49, the Sorbian intelligentsia articulated its mainly national demands, whereas the farmers in a petition of their own demanded above all equal political and social rights. In March 1848, the progressive teachers JAN BARTKO (1821—1900) and JAN W J E L A with the surname RADYSERB (1822—1907) began to publish the revolutionary democratic weekly newspaper "Serbski Nowinkar" "without censorship". In this weekly, they published antifeudal poems, critical and satirical articles. After the victory of reaction, BARTKO did translations, wrote text-books and religious treatises. But, W J E L A , who was working indefatigably, became the Sorbs' most popular writer in the 19th century. If ZEJLER was a purely lyrical poet, then W J E L A wrote epic poems, above all, quite extensive ballads. In 1847, he published the first collection of original Sorbian stories. Some of them are marked by didacticism, sentimentalism and a tiresome redundancy. These aspects impair their realistic content, but not the basic democratic attitude of the writer. RADYSERB-WJELA was distinguished by great laboriousness, a creative linguistic talent, a solid knowledge of the language of the people and sympathy with the world of children and of the people. His poetry and prose which are close to the people were complemented by a vast variety of his literary creation for children. The 1840s brought along an unexpected upsurge of the confessionally split Sorbian literature. This literature was promoted by several

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periodicals in the Upper Sorbían language area. In Lower Lusatia, Sorbían literature was published in the newspaper "Bramborski ßerski Zassnik" (Brandenburg Sorbían Newspaper) edited by sponsors who were Junkers. The Sorbian pupils' association Societas Slavica Budissinensis which was founded at Bautzen Grammar School in 1839 had produced several meritorious writers. K. B. PFUHL (1825 to 1889) wrote more or less successful original poems and numerous translations from German and classical literature. He deserved long-lasting praise by completing a lexicon begun by LUBJENSKI and ZEJLER. PFUHL worked on the monumental "Luziski Serbski slownik" for 25 years. In addition, he was a good linguist. MICHAL DOMASKA (1820—1897) in his youth out of enthusiasm for Sorbian rebirth wrote patriotic songs to devote himself above all to religious literature later on. JULIUS W J E L A N (1817—1892), apart from theology, had studied Oriental languages and had intensively dealt with South Slavic folk poetry. His numerous translations from it rather have the character of recasts. It is quite especially in this context that we must mention the essentially older K. F. STEMPEL (1787— 1867) äs the first Lower Sorbian poet, who, for more than thirty years, had been a pastor at Lübbenau. "The didactic epic poem 'Te tsi rychle tsubaly: zuk, gíos a réc', with 522 six-line stanzas the most extensive versified work of art in Sorbian, is on a par in poetical rank with the lyrical poems by Zejler and Cisinski, but at the same time ... it occupies a completely solitary position in the tradition of Sorbian poetry. It shows the poet Stempel as an original natural, artistic and linguistic philosopher" (K. LORENC). With the exception of JORDAN, the catholic youth studied in Prague. There, Sorbian students began creative literary work only after founding their association Serbowka in 1846. They published their contributions above all in the weekly newspaper "Jutnicka". This periodical was edited by the catholic clergyman J. KUCANK (1818—1898) from 1848 to 1850. The language of this periodical was the Upper Sorbian cultivated by catholics. The Sorbian students in Prague also published their papers in SMOLER'S weekly "Tydáenska Nowina" (Weekly Newspaper), MIKLAWS JACSLAWK (1827—1862) wrote patriotic poems and songs in keeping with Z E J L E R ' S style. Noteworthy is his sense of humour and social satire in both his poetry and prose. "Zajeca zhromadzizna" (1849), a scathing satire against the Frankfurt Parliament, derides the Sorbs' cowardice and backwardness. The Romanticist among the young was MIKLAWS CYZ (1825—1853). Apart from successful attempts at lyrical writing, his historical poems in verse manifested epic, ballad-like points of departure, but were still lacking in concentration and in plasticity. His namesake MICHAL CYZ (1825—1860), son of PÉTR CYZ, the undaunted deputy of the Saxon diet, was an ardent patriot and translated south Slavic poetry. JAKUB BUK (1825—1895) was not second to him with regard to national enthusiasm, his poems being already reminiscent of CI§INSKI'S patriotic pathos. BUK'S sonnets are permeated by the spirit of the Pan-Slavic Congress. MICHAL HA§KA (1827—1870s) presented himself as

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a talented narrator above all in the story "Marja abo Wjelk w Kralowskej holi". . From underprivileged social strata came progressive-minded protestant teachers who, striding far in advance of the simple people in regard to their consciousness, by their aspirations for social change were striking completely new tones in Sorbían literature. After the defeat of the Revolution of 1 8 4 8 / 4 9 , they were also worst hit by the revenge of the reaction. A poet and narrator like RADYSERBW J E L A was J. B. MUCINK (1821 — 1 9 0 4 ) , whose stories that had the common touch left a long-lasting mark. In the "Ribowcenjo", in 1848, he developed the ideal of a village community that was guided on truly democratic lines, in order to explain to his readers in essence how democracy works. MICHAL ROSTOK ( 1 8 2 1 — 1 8 9 3 ) , who had a great talent for the popular language, became widely known by his causeries on nature. As an undefatigable explorer of the fauna and flora of his homeland he gained international respect. He also did much for Sorbían science. After many years of collecting, he created a Sorbian terminology of botany and the foundations for a Sorbian natural history in its own right. At a time, when the Lower Sorbs did not have any writers of their own, the teacher D . B. GLOWAN ( 1 7 8 8 — 1 8 6 5 ) began to write for them. F. A. W. DIESTERWEG appreciated him as a friend and associate. Partly in Upper Sorbian, partly in Lower Sorbian, he wrote occasional poems, religious songs and sermons which he mostly published and sold himself. Besides clergymen and teachers of both confessions, now also simple people like PÉTR MLÓNK ( 1 8 0 5 — 1 8 8 7 ) set to writing, among them, for the first time, Sorbian women. HERTA WIÓAZEC ( 1 8 1 9 — 1 8 8 5 ) wrote emotional lyrical poems and stories, M I L A IMISOWA ( 1 8 2 7 — 1 8 9 5 ) composed simple patriotic rhymes, and later on, literary letters adressed to her son. The Sorbs' literary and national life in the second half of the 19th century was determined by men who from a position of defence against an aggravating Germanization policy were carrying out an offensive Sorbian cultural policy full of initiative. J. H. IMIS (1819—1897) was an educator and leader of the Lutheran Sorbian clergy, a "Sorbian patriot par excellence" (R. JENC). From conservative positions he defended the Sorbs' rights at the Synod of the Protestant Church of the Land of Saxony and supported SMOLER against the accusation of being a paid agent of Russian Pan-Slavism. The catholic church dignitary MICHAL HÓRNIK (1833—1894) was the most eminent representative of Sorbian cultural life. He participated in nearly all literary, scientific, editorial and organizational projects of the Sorbs in the second half of the 19th century, promoting them, always striving to overcome confessional particularism. In his youth, he wrote poems, above all ballads and romances, but soon just limited himself to the translation of verse from almost all Slav languages and from French. HÓRNIK translated a history of the Sorbs written by the Pole W . BOGUSLAWSKI, made additions to it, and pub-

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lished it in 1884 as the "Historija serbskeho naroda". It was replaced only in recent times by a newly elaborated comprehensive presentation in four volumes. Among the authors of poetry and prose and of journalistic contributions who appeared in ever growing numbers in Sorbian periodicals, only three are to be mentioned. The tutor at the Bautzen Teachers' Training College K. A. FIEDLER (1835—1917) from his own experience wrote remarkable lyrical love poems which are a genuine expression of profound feelings of longing, joy and pain. For only ten years J A N CÉSLA (1840—1915) was active in the field of literature, before settling down as a physician in Bohemia later. He wrote patriotic poems about his homeland and about the beauty of his mother tongue, love songs that were influenced by H . HEINE and by V. H À L E K , and lyrical poems on nature. But most important are his versified works on themes from early Sorbian history, such as "Serbow kral" (1864) and "Krai Pfibyslaw" (1868). H A N D R I J DUÒMAN (1836— 1909) who was also a literary historian, just as K. A. JENÒ before him, wrote the most extensive versified drama "Wodzan" (1896) by utilizing the fairy tale about the water sprite. This ballad conceived as a libretto for a singspiel, and set to music by B J A R N A T KRAWC-SCHNEIDER, is regarded as the most mature poem of this kind in Sorbian literature. After the foundation of the German Empire in 1871, capitalist industrialization also took hold of Lusatia. With a state policy hostile to the Slavs and to the Sorbs being aggravated, the economic and ethnical situation of the Sorbs was increasingly deteriorating. The Sorbian youth studying at the universities of Leipzig and Prague revolted against the conservative leadership of the Macica Serbska and united themselves around their own belletristic cultural political monthly review "Lipa Serbska" (1876—81) to form an oppositional movement, called the Young Sorbian Movement. Its main initiator was ARNOST M U K A , who was studying classical and Slavic philology in Leipzig, its spokesman was J A K U B BART, a student of theology in Prague. The "Lipa Serbska" became the mouthpiece and intellectual centre of a generation of young Sorbian writers that left indelible traces in the development of literature. Above all, it was J A K U B B A R T ( 1 8 5 6 — 1 9 0 9 ) who impressed on this Young Sorbian periodical the mark of his explosive personality and his ambitious literary programme. His articles lend themselves to tracing the way which he went in quest for himself and for a literary artistic form suitable to him. He tried his hand at the idyllic epos on farmers "Nawozenja" ( 1 8 7 7 ) , at the novel "Narodowc a wotrodénc" ( 1 8 7 8 / 7 9 ) and at the versified historical drama "Na Hrodziscu" ( 1 8 7 9 ) . He realized that he had the vocation to lead Sorbian to such a perfection that it could hold its own also before the European poetry of his times. That he succeeded, is proved by a total of thirteen volumes of poems which-he published under the ironizing pseudonym CISINSKI. He arrived at a perfect mastery of the form of the sonnet, but also in many other verse forms proved the poetical expres-

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siveness and melodiousness of the Sorbian language in a masterful manner. His collection of lyrical poems "Formy" ( 1 8 8 9 ) was commended by the important Czech poet JAROSLAV VRCHLICKY. "By a virtuosity in language art and in form, as well as by a comprehensive content of thought [he set] a standard for any subsequent Sorbian literary creativity" ( K . LORENC). CISINSKI, for whom poetry was a "shield and a weapon", scathingly criticized the social conditions of his times, the immorality of capitalist society, the venality of art, careerism and lack of character, as well as the Sorbs' undignified, lukewarm behaviour towards their own nationality. In his illusionary "national programme" he propagated the God-fearing patriarchal farmer family as a sanctuary of Sorbian language and folk art. CISINSKI viewed "positive work" as a salvation and a way out of the desperate situation. His work promoted Slavic-German interrelations, since provincial narrowness was alien to him. His songs on nature and love are unparalleled in Sorbian literature. As compared with H . ZEJLER, who was writing poetry for the people as a man from the people, CISINSKI proclaimed his lofty ideas like a preacher from a pulpit standing high above the people. His inner disintegration was also expressed in the ambivalence of his artistic and social political behaviour. He was reprimanded by the ecclesiastical and state authorities and, tragically enough, in his life-time was not understood by his people. After the First World War, he became an example to young people. The publication in fourteen volumes of his complete works, including his correspondence, was reserved only to the time after 1 9 4 5 . JAKUB BART-£ISINSKI is the uncontested classic of Sorbian literature. Among the most sympathetic and sincere friends of CISINSKI was ARNOST M U K A ( 1 8 5 4 — 1 9 3 2 ) , who conducted Sorbian ethnography in the widest sense and gained international respect for his Sorbian studies. His prize-winning "Historische und vergleichende Laut- und Formenlehre der niedersorbischen Sprache" ( 1 8 9 1 ) and his three-volume encyclopedic "Worterbuch der nieder-wendischen Sprache und ihrer Dialekte" (Petersburg 1915; Prague 1926, 1928) and numerous other works made him an eminent scholar of international renown who was elected a corresponding member by nearly all Slavic Academies. M U K A promoted the development of Sorbian literature as editor of the belletristic review "Luzica", as an editor, publisher, and Maecenas. Belonging to the Young Sorbian Movement was also JAN ARNOST HOLAN ( 1 8 5 3 — 1 9 2 1 ) , who studied classical and Russian philology in Leipzig, then went to Russia and became headmaster of a Grammar School in Reval (Tallinn). He always maintained contacts with his Sorbian homeland and his friends. He was a talented prose writer, tried his hand at novels which he published, as well as poems, reports from Lusatia and travel descriptions from Russia written with much sympathy. Noteworthy are his translations of some fairy tales by L. N. TOLSTOY, and several Russian fairy tales.

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Contacts with Young Sorbían writers stimulated the Lower Sorbían MATO to literary works of his own. In 1 8 8 0 his idyll "Serbska swajzba w Blotach" was published, which contained more than one thousand hexameters, from the ethnographic viewpoint an interesting realistic description of the farmers' life in the Spreewald. Two years later the historical epos "Pserada markgroby Gera" followed. KOSYK'S early poems and ballads manifest his close ties with the farmers and his democratic convictions combined with an honest social sympathy with all indigents. KOSYK is not quite uncontroversially called a "classic of Lower Sorbian literature." In 1883, he emigrated to North America, where he studied theology and later worked beside his religious profession above all as a farmer in Oklahoma. He never interrupted his ties with his old homeland until the time of the First World War. Also in distant America he did not cease his literary activities. With his American reports and poems about the life of the Indians and about the fate of émigrés he enriched Sorbian literature by new themes and motives. From the turn of the century to about 1910, a general stagnation paralysed the cultural life of the Sorbs. The old generation of patriots around HÓRNIK had died, and among the enthusiastic Young Sorbs, with the exception of CISINSKI, who was struggling against intellectual ineptitude and sterility in literature by means of his "national programme" and of his patriotic lyrical poems, most had resigned and become silent. In the "tuzica", the complete standstill was reflected by poetry. After 1905, some new names, admittedly, appeared, as e.g. that of the Lower Sorb FRYCO ROCHA ( 1 8 6 3 — 1 9 4 2 ) , the author of a great number of unpretentious poems with a common touch on nature, love, Sorbian customs and national costume, of songs for children and countingout rhymes. ROCHA wrote Sorbian texts to many German songs which people liked to sing at school and at social gatherings. J . E . DOBRUCKY ( 1 8 5 4 — 1 9 2 1 ) , a Slovak by birth who had come to Lusatia as a clergyman, wrote some widely read stories and recollections from his life. Noteworthy are the translator of the complete Homer and poet of chorales M A T E J URBAN ( 1 8 4 6 — 1 9 3 1 ) and some representatives of the youngest generation, such as MICHAL N A W K A , JÓZEF NOWAK, or JAN SKALA who at that period began their literary activities. In the field of prose writing, apart from some historical stories by young JURIJ WINGER ( 1 8 7 2 — 1 9 1 8 ) , only his translations of several novels by HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ and of some sections from the "Crusaders" are worth mentioning. Only in the field of journalism did the outstanding stylist and feuilletonist M I K L A W S ANDRICKI ( 1 8 7 1 — 1 9 0 8 ) , who also deserved credit as editor of the belletristic monthly review, "Luzica", attract well-deserved attention. He developed the Sorbian feuilleton and in an artistic manner wrote the first biography of CISINSKI on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday. Masterpieces in language and style are his translations from nearly all Slav languages, above all of some stories KOSYK ( 1 8 5 3 - 1 9 4 0 )

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by the Czech J A N NERUDA, the Pole HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ, the Russians M. LERMONTOV and A . P. CECHOV,-as well as by the French writer and poet C H A TEAUBRIAND. By his socio-critical sketches from the life of the urban proletariat he opened up a new dimension for Sorbian literature which was to be treated only later. But above -all, according to the appraisal of ADOLF CERNY, ANDRICKI was a publicist unprecedented in Sorbian history. The teacher FRANC K R A L ( 1 8 8 6 to 1 9 1 5 ) , who did outstanding work in organizing and raising the level of the Sorbian amateur theatre and by his translations and arrangements of theatre plays, fell victim to the war. The foundation of the bourgeois democratic Weimar Republic gave rise to hopes among the Sorbs, but did not substantially improve their situation. The national movement had aroused the masses of the Sorbian population from lethargy and consolidated national self-consciousness, which was reflected in an activization of social and cultural life. A spirit of buoyancy and enthusiastic pathos met with a strong response in poetry, above all in the poems of JOZEF NOWAK (1895—1978). He was also inspired by the immediate experience of the creation of the Czechoslovak state. The verses of his collection of poems under the characteristic title "Z duchom swobody" (1919) convey a sense of national awareness, are accusing and expressive. A leading ideologist of the Sorbian national movement, JAN SKALA (1889—1945), already in his patriotic verses proves to be an epigone of 'CISINSKI. Also the nature poetess M I N A W I T K O J C (1893—1975), who extolled her Lower Sorbian homeland, was keeping deliberately the language of forms developed by CISINSKI and abode by the emotional world of Z E J L E R . J A N L A J N E R T (1892—1974) wrote intimate lyrical verses and impressionist descriptions of feelings. The Sorbian drama between the two wars was essentially represented by JOZEF NOWAK'S symbolic mythological play "Swobody njewjesta" (1922) and his allegorical poem "Lubin a Sprjewjan" (1928), by J U R I J W J E L A ' S (1892 to 1969) historical play "Knjez a robocan" (1931) and the antifascist-oriented play "Paliwaka" (1936) which was veiled by legends, as well as by M A R J A N A DOMASKOJC' social critical play "Z chudych zywjenja" (1929). All these works were marked by the intention of arming the Sorbian people against the imminent dangers of a complete loss of national rights and of extermination, and as such met with a wide-ranging response. M A R J A K U B A S E C (1890—1976) appeared with her first publications in the 20s; primarily she devoted herself to a dramatic arrangement of fairy tales and of historical themes for the children's theatre. Prose writing manifested the most intensive development. The publicist JAN SKALA with his novel "Stary Symko", that was published by the daily newspaper "Serbske No winy" in 1924, 1 set a new example with respect to its sociopolitical message and expression in terms of language and style. The teacher MICHAL NAWKA ( 1 8 8 5 — 1 9 6 8 ) , who was intent on raising the culture of language,

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is considered the "founder of the modern Sorbian critical realistic story" (J. MLYNK). JAKUB LORENC-ZALSSKI ( 1 8 7 4 — 1 9 3 9 ) wrote only in prose. His main work "Kupa zabytych" ( 1 9 3 1 ) like his symbolic fairy tale "Kifko", are influenced by neo-romanticism and marked by features of late bourgeois style. The painter, graphic artist and publicist MERLIN NOWAK-NJECHORNSKI (born in 1 9 0 0 ) criticized contemporary conditions. They included nationalism which was getting stronger in Germany, on the one hand, and a lukewarm attitude to this position on the part of the Sorbs. He uses an "extremely folkloristic and deliberately archaic" language which in his satires is often characterized by a "drastic proverbial conciseness" (K. LORENC). His antifascist descriptions and reports about East Prussia and the Slav countries led to the confiscation of his travel descriptions from Yugoslavia published under the title "Im Zarenreich Duschans des Starken" ( 1 9 3 6 ) . In 1937, the fascist rulers decided to bring about the "Endlosung" (final solution) of the Sorbian issue. In August of that year, all organizations were banned, the printing firm and publishing house were confiscated, the newspapers and reviews which had already been subjected to the "Gleichschaltung" were abolished. Numerous Sorbian teachers and clergymen were either exiled from Lusatia or arrested. It was prohibited and persecuted to use the Sorbian language in public. For the fascists, the Sorbs ceased to exist. But they continued to live in clandestinity and in emigration. This is testified by the manuscript collection of poems by JURIJ CH£2KA ( 1 9 1 7 — 1 9 4 4 ) , the verses written out of an examination of his own behaviour by the meritorious founder of the Sorbian literary science OTA WICAZ ( 1 8 7 4 — 1 9 5 2 ) and by the poems of young FRIDO M£TSK (born in 1 9 1 6 ) , who out of a basic antifascist and humanist attitude found his way back to the Sorbian nationality of his parents. These works of poetic creativeness which were only printed after the liberation from fascism have ensured the continuity of Sorbian literature and manifested the Sorbian people's unswerving will to live.

References JENC, R . , Stawizny serbskeho pismowstwa (History of Sorbian literature), vol. I and II, Budyäin 1 9 5 4 and 1960 LORENC, K . , Sorbisches Lesebuch — Serbska citanka, Leipzig 1981 Archivbestände des Sorbischen Kulturarchivs Herausgeberkollektiv, NBS — N o w y biografiski slownik k stawiznam a kulturje Serbow (New biographical dictionary on the history and culture of the Sorbs), Budysin 1 9 8 4

New Positions and Possibilities of the Liberated Sorbian Literature. An Outline of the History of Literature from 1945 to the 70s B y LUCIA HEINE

In May 1945, a new time began for the Sorbs as for many other peoples. A decisive factor for obtaining new artistic positions and possibilities in the liberated Sorbian literature lay in above all the socio-historical conditions created by the victory over Hitlerite fascism. The experience accumulated during centuries of national defence, especially in the time of fascist rule and the Second World War, stimulated deep-going changes in the arts and promoted the development of an antifascist democratic literature and the emergence of a socialist literature. A distinctive feature of modern Sorbian literature is the interaction between continuity and discontinuity of two historical periods; the period after the First World War until 1937 and the period after 1945. Contrary to other Slavic literatures, the artistic experience of Sorbian literature in the antifascist struggle against fascism was very limited. A ban on all Sorbian national life in Lusatia, in 1937, made literary activities, even clandestine ones, impossible. Abroad, there was hardly any opportunity left for Sorbian writers to publish. Whatever was written at that time had to be preserved in manuscript form. Despite this fact, between the literature before 1945 and the literature since the time of a new beginning along antifascist and democratic lines, two connecting factors existed in Lusatia : the pathos of the struggle for the life and social progress of the Sorbian people and the identification with the people which have emerged since the national rebirth. As a national literature which has evolved in the course of history, Sorbian literature today is an autonomous constituent part of literature in the German Democratic Republic. Its phases of development correspond to the stages of social and political development in the Soviet occupation zone, which was later to become the G.D.R., and comply with the general framework of the literary development process in the G.D.R. Sorbian literature since 1945 has also been developing in close contact with the creative artistic process of world democratic humanistic and socialist literature. The multinational Soviet literature became a decisive experience for Sorbian writers. The first belletristic publications to appear in Sorbian after 1945, apart from works of classical Russian literature were books by Soviet authors.

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After 1945, poets and writers from the time of the Weimar Republic — the representatives of bourgeois democratic Sorbian literature in the time between the two World Wars — jointly with the writers of the new generation committed themselves to a new beginning of national life. At first it was poetry that became active on topical themes. But very soon also prose writers began to respond to the great events of those times and to pass judgement on the most recent past. Attempts to represent the new reality by means of drama were from the very beginning characterized by aspirations aimed at immediate agitation and enlightenment. The character of new Sorbian poetry from 1945 to the 50s was marked by JURIJ BREZAN, JURIJ MLYNK, JURIJ W U J E S , and JURIJ WINAR. The poets from the times of the Weimar Republic — MINA WITKOJC, J6ZEF NOWAK, JAN LAJNERT, and MICHAL N A W K A — did not appear as prominently as they had done until 1937. But the great national rebirth induced them, who had returned from exile and prison, to formulate in poetical terms what they had worked and struggled for, what they could only dream about earlier and what had now become reality. "Wuswobodzeni 1945" is the title of a hymnic poem by JOZEF NOWAK (1895 to 1978), which appeared together with his other poems and with his main work from the 20s in the volume "Njedzelena wutroba" (1965), MINA WITKOJC (1893 to 1975) was a poetess expelled by the nazis from Lusatia three years before the end of the war. In 1945, she wrote a great apotheosis, "Erfurtske spomnjesa" where she described the last days of the war and the arrival of the Soviet liberators. It is to them that she devoted her verses which at first were published in a Czech translation by Z. BERAKOVA and were printed in their Sorbian original only in 1955 in the anthology "K swettu a slyncu" (in German in extracts for the first time in the anthology "Sorbische Lyrik", Berlin 1954). JURIJ MLYNK (1927—1971) in his autobiographical epic poem "Do swetla" (1947) depicts the liberation of his people in a deeper and more differentiated manner. The social and political conflicts of a boy, the son of a quarryman, at the time of Hitlerite fascism in the country of the "chosen", the experience of solidarity with the persecuted and the rightless, the bitter cognition of the lies and of his own errors and, finally, the liberation by Soviet and Polish soldiers — this is the wide range of his poetry. It is the most important work by MLYNK and the most far-reaching advance in a realistic treatment of the historical situation in Sorbian poetry in the first post-war years. In an 'Epilogue' added eight years later, the poet extolls the construction of his homeland. His country was transformed into a great 'place of freedom'. About such a freedom, JAKUB LORENC ZALESKI, a writer of the Weimar Republic could only dream in his novel "Kupa zabytych" (1931). The poems by MLYNK, who until his early death also belonged to the most fertile Sorbian literary scientists and literary critics, appeared in one volume entitled "Stoz lubuju" in 1959.

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Similarly to the poetry of M L Y N K , the poems by J U R I J W U J E § (19G5—1968) manifest a close connection with the tradition of Sorbian poetry. His poetical works are above all dealing with political events and with Nature. Most of them were published in the book "Hdyz reci wutroba" (1959). J U R I J W I N A R - J U R K (born in 1909) has been appearing since the early 50s with satirical and humoristic songs. Current affairs with their new contradictions and shortcomings, as well as weaknesses in the characters of people in everyday life are the subject of his verses. In their conception and language they are partly reminiscent of CHRISTIAN M O R GENSTERN. Three volumes of poems are documenting the work of W I N A R : "Serjenja a btudnicki" (1959); "Home pjenjez" (1955) — these are humoristic poems according to motives of Sorbian folk poetry; "Chutna lyra — zort — satira" (1960). J U R I J BREZAN, who in his initial phase had been an outstanding representative of new Sorbian literature, was the first poet to represent the bitter experience with Hitlerite fascism and the reality of the post-war period in the prism of his subjective feelings with pronounced socialist partisanship. It is the aim of his poetry especially to exert an educative influence on young people. BRIIZAN, born the son of a quarryman and crofter in 1916, was expelled from Grammar School because of his antifascist attitude and in 1937 temporarily emigrated to C2echoslovakia and Poland. Instructed to organize a Sorbian resistance group, he returned to Germany in 1938 where he was arrested in the same year. After imprisonment, forcible military service and his return from captivity in 1 9 4 6 , BRÜZAN worked until 1949 in leading posts in cultural policy of the Domowina and of the provincial government of Saxony. Ever since, he has been working as a free-lance writer. In the decisive post-war years, as a youth official of the Domowina, for himself and for his contemporaries, he formulated three demands: to exterminate the last remnants of fascism, pave the way for implementing the ideals of democracy and humanism, and educate and train the Sorbian youth to cope with its life after liberation from fascism. It is above all under these aspects that the poetry of BREZAN must be regarded as "poetry of an activist of the first hour." 1 In mostly topical genres — recited poems and songs — political, economic and national tasks are discussed and often put into context with the conflicts of major events of world-wide significance. Trend-setting with regard to symbols and themes is the title of his first volume of lyrical poetry "Do noweho casa" (1950). Finally, by the poem "Kak wötcinu namakach" (1951), published in a German translation in the author's first Germanlanguage volume of poems and stories "Auf dem Rain wächst Korn" (Berlin 1951), BREZAN revealed and explained the Sorbs' attitude to their own past and present. The traditional aesthetic and ethnical value of homeland, patriotism and fatherland is reformulated, newly determined in general and made amenable to artistic treatment. "He initiated ... such a development of Sorbian literature which

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makes a democratically based national consciousness into an expression of the joint existence of Germans and Sorbs as citizens in the revolutionary transformation." 2 The two volumes of poetry "Swet budze rjensi" ( 1 9 5 1 ) and "Nas wsedny dzen" ( 1 9 5 5 ) contain poems in which BREZAN poetically interprets the multifaceted nature of new everyday life. Here, we can also find his reflexive subjective poetry which interconnects an intimate sensation and experience of love with general human problems. As a poet of revolutionary transformation in the initial phase of renewal and construction,- BR£ZAN has fulfilled his assignment in the framework chosen and posed by himself. After 1955, he wrote poetry only rarely. Under the conditions of a new beginning, the artists's word came across more directly by oral mediation. Thus, from 1946 to the early 50s JURIJ BREZAN also wrote several plays to fulfil a task of political agitation and mobilisation at short notice. He treated problems similar to those in his poems, but, in this context, also represented world conflicts, the struggle between the forces of yesterday and tomorrow. For the first time, with critical frankness, Sorbian amateur drama groups put on stage urgent problems facing people in rural and urban regions. These problems were manifested in post-war years and in the early 50s. In a preface to his "Dramy" (1971), volume 7 of his "Collected Works", JURIJ BREZAN critically described his experience in the creative process. In this preface he also highlighted the difficulties and obstacles arising in artistic disputes about the development of a Sorbian socialist theatre. There was no professional Sorbian theatre until 1948. Amateur plays and amateur theatre groups have marked the history of Sorbian dramatic writing since 1862, when theatre was played for the first time in Sorbian. Moreover, it is a characteristic feature that, both in the past and after 1945, those authors in whose literary work drama played no dominant role became the leading figures in dramatic literature. The deep experience of national and social liberation was remarkably expressed in the prose-writings of the first post-war years. As important prose writers in the initial phase of the Sorbian literature of that time, MERCIN NOWAK-NJECHORNSKI (born in 1 9 0 0 ) and M A R J A KUBASEC ( 1 8 9 0 — 1 9 7 6 ) made themselves a name by treating contemporary themes. Both were representatives of the bourgeois democratic anti-imperialist Sorbian literature between the two World Wars. Whereas NOWAK-NJECHORNSKI then had published many reports and literary fairy tales, M A R J A KUBASEC developed her creative literary work to a large extent only after 1 9 4 5 . Her first stories published in the volume "Row w serbskej holi" ( 1 9 4 5 ) are pictures and descriptions of immediate experience in the last weeks of the war and in the first hour of freedom. The sufferings and the fate of the Polish worker deported to fascist Germany and of the prisoners of war, the persecution of Jew and the humanistic attitude of the Soviet liberators determine the character of her stories. Also in the later work of the writer, the theme of antifascist resistance

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continues to occupy a substantial place from the viewpoint of problems related to moral and world-outlook. The literary fairy tales by NOWAK-NJECHORNSKI "Wusaty krjepjel a druhe bajki" — others are to be found in the volumes "Zapiski Bobaka" (1952) and in "Serbski Wsudzebyl" (1954) — testify to the writer's extraordinary manner in reproducing the national character with a committed approach and with psychological acumen. Characteristic of his language is a wealth of proverbs and sayings. These modern, often satirical fairy tales are interesting in their fantasy related to contemporary issues. NOWAK-NJECHORNSKI adapted the Sorbian folk fairy tale, similarly as Sorbian 19th-century writers had done, so as to fight out struggles in terms of ideas. His "Mister Krabat", translated by BREZAN into German, appeared in 1954 under the title "Meister Krabat". Also in subsequent times, NOWAK-NJECHORÄSKI as a literary feuilleton writer reflected the dynamism of ideological disputes in the countryside by presenting impressive sketches and reportage. A first anthology of Sorbian post-war stories — "Nawröt" (1951) — is a result of the first contest of the Circle of Sorbian Writers founded anew in the autumn of 1946 and' chaired by NOWAK-NJECHORNSKI. Ever since, anthologies by Sorbian writers have become a remarkable tradition. The Sorbian literary heritage has been continuously opened up in anthologies or individual editions since the early 50s. The first publications in the form of books of new literary works were preceded in those years by publications in the "Nowa doba" newspaper, founded in 1947, and in its supplements. The responsible editor was NOWAK-NJECHORNSKI. As a representative of the post-war generation, in the late 40s and early 50s, J U R I J BREZAN attracted attention with prose writings. Earlier BREZAN had not yet artistic experience but was a gifted story-teller free of mannerisms. He excelled in presenting vivid micro-analyses of rural workers and crofters who were liberated from social oppression and who were committed to a new everyday life. "Prenja brozda" (1951) and "Stara Jancowä" (1952) were BREZAN'S first two books in prose. Very original is the story about the horse Fridolin — "Kön Fridolin". It gives rise to associations with "The Measurer of Linen" by L. N. TOLSTOY, the "Emerald" by A. KUPRIN and with "Farewell to Gulsary" by CINGIZ AITMATOV. What was to become a characteristic feature of new Sorbian literature is announced here. Old motifs known from popular tradition also among the Sorbs are placed into a completely new system of references. The short story reflects the events of the two World Wars, the liberation and antifascist democratic and socialist construction on the territory of the G.D.R. BREZAN'S early writings and Sorbian post-year novel writing culminated in the novelette "Kak stara Jancowa z wysnoscu wojowase" (in: "Auf dem Rain wächst 7

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Korn", 1951). In Marja Jancowa, the writer created a convincing character that testifies to the great force of the Sorbian people. Here BREZAN is formulating his motif of ideas that is recurring in all of his works: Man is the impulse, creator and carrier of the historic act of Man's anthropogenesis. The recasting of the novelette into a dramatic chronicle "Marja Jancowa — wobrazy ze ziwjenja serbskeho luda" (1959) met with a vivid interest even beyond the borders of the G.D.R., as did the novelette itself. BRSZAN'S Marja Jancowa was called the "Mother Courage of the Western Slavs". The writer made a decisive step from a rapid registration of every-day life to the presentation of an epoch. Productive critical discussions on artistic possibilities and efforts aimed at developing a literature valuable in artistic terms have always been a priority in the Working Circle of Sorbian Writers. 3 This circle was admitted into the German Writers' Union in 1 9 5 1 , ever since J U R I J BREZAN has been a member of its governing bodies. A monthly review of Sorbian culture, "Rozhlad", which has been published by the Domowina since 1950, from the very beginning has promoted the development of literature, and has always devoted great attention to above all young authors. In the early 50s, works by B R S Z A N , N O W A R - N J E C H O R Ä S K I , F . M £ T S K , R. ISELT, J . W I N A R - J U R K , and others were for the first time published in this monthly review. 20 years later, BRÜZAN commented on that important transitional period: "it is especially by the Working Circle of Sorbian Writers and owing to the aid by the publishing house (the nationally-owned Domowina Publishing House was founded in 1958) that we have attained the present state of our prose and poetry, the highest state ever." 4 In the "Geschichte der Literatur der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik" in context with the social development and the literary conditions from 1949 to 1955, during the period of construction of the foundations of socialism and of continuing the cultural revolution, it is stated that "the literature of the Sorbian national minority ... in those years became an integral part of the literature of the G.D.R." 5 If BREZAN was the first to find the way to literary bilingualism with his book "Auf dem Rain wächst Korn" in 1951, making Sorbian literature accessible to the non-Slavic language area, then, in the decades to come, several authors embarked upon this road.6 In its subsequent development stages, Sorbian literature can boast several works which indicate, in all literary genres, new artistic positions both with regard to style, to branches of literature and structures. In aesthetic terms, Sorbian literature becomes increasingly more differentiated, even it not all works are artistically perfect. It is likewise to be stated that, in contrast to prose and poetry, drama still was developing on a more modest scale. In the late 50s and early 60s the foundations of socialist society were laid. At that time Sorbian literature was aimed at registering a maximum wide-ranging

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picture of reality. Its time-span , involved the recent past including fascism and the Second World War, or the present days. The novel and the story were focussed on these burning issues. The picture of the epoch and social analysis are presented in close contact with describing the individual and social transformation of Man. J U R I J BREZAN'S trilogy "Felix Hanusch — Generation der bitteren Erfahrungen" stands out as a monument in his rich creative work. Its conception may on the one hand be ascribed to the "type of development novel" which was emerging at that time in G.D.R. literature as an educational novel, and on the other hand it stands on its own as a unique social novel.7 In the life of Felix Hanusch, the writer, as it were, symbolically delineates the road of the Sorbian people, towards social and national liberty, to the G.D.R. This cycle of novels portrays how the internal liberty of a human being is attained who can cultivate the culture of his people and can deploy his personality. In the two volumes "Der Gymnasiast" (1958) and "Semester der verlorenen Zeit" (I960)8, Felix Hanusch is confronted with the (German) bourgeois urban world which seems to him "to be better". His desperate struggle to overcome his complex of national inferiority is in vain, despite his efforts to change over to "higher society". This bourgeois society proves antihumanistic in its advancing process towards fascism. As a school student and during the war, Felix Hanusch is searching between two worlds. He is trying to make a balance, proves to be irresolute and penetrated by an illusion of finding some sort of "third way" for his political decision. Time and again, he must realize that he will not become a personality by denying his social and national background. This insight is at the root of his future moral and ethical liberation. For BREZAN, the attitude towards his own people, to working men, to the oppressed and despised, but self-confident is one of the central criteria of his main character Felix Hanusch. "The national entirety of a small ethnic community threatened with physical destruction is manifested as non-uniform in character and in class affiliation, as far as the individual is concerned. On the one hand, there were advocates of fascism also among the Sorbs, on the other, the Sorbs had friends and allies among the antifascist Germans. It is with great poetical vigour that the author analyses and confirms this fact." 9 The third volume of the novel trilogy, "Mannesjahre" (1964) vividly depicts the first post-war decade through the eyes of Felix Hanusch. The writer concentrates his description on rural life. But he uses all opportunities for drawing a wide-ranging social picture. He combines it with a detailed psychological presentation of Man in the light of contemporary philosophical and ideological discussions about the anthropogenesis of humankind. In the third volume of the trilogy, BREZAN follows, along with Felix Hanusch, some of the literary characters from the two preceding books. The widow Nakoncowa, Simon Metk, as well as formerly Marja Jancowa and Krescan Serbin10 are individualized characters and at the same time, stylized symbolic figures. Later on, they reappear in an original, contemplative manner in the 7*

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character of thé hero of "Krabat" (1976), a historical and philosophical novel of the Zeitalter. The individual fate and the maturation process of the main character, apart from BRËZAN'S works, were also put into a broader social perspective in the works by PËTR MALINK ( 1 9 3 1 — 1 9 8 4 ) , e.g. in "Dwë horsci pëska" ( 1 9 6 4 ) and in the two books "Pod wopacnej lopacu" (1961) and "Pod wopacnej flintu" (1964) by ANTON NAWKA (born in 1913). MALINK is closely following the conflicts facing the adolescent son of an exiled Sorbian teacher's family. The analytical look into the psyche of the youths who in the last months of the war were subjected to the contradictory influences of fascist demagogy, lends an emotional vigour and tension to the novel as a whole. This work, by way of example, reflects the fate of the Sorbian intelligentsia expelled from their homeland. NAWKA'S central character, the student Hawstyn Nowotnik, is paradigmatic in his intellectual set-up. He is in a state of individualist revolt, until in a group of nonGerman soldiers he musters enough courage to defect to the Soviet Army. NAWKA uncovers his character's complicated intellectual profile, employs the means of satire and of grotesque exaggeration which are unusual in Sorbian literature, in order to present the confrontation of the Sorbs with fascism. In the second book, NAWKA creates a noteworthy dramatic tension in the course of action. Cognate in theme is the novellike story "Dny w dalinje" by M A R J A MLYNKOWA ( 1 9 3 1 — 1 9 7 1 ) . The conflict of a young Sorbian teacher living in the strange surroundings of Silesia, in a village near the Polish border, is developed by the authoress in the confrontation between German big power chauvinism and the petty-bourgeois democratic national consciousness of Sorbian intellectuals. Very reluctantly and by quite different experience, the main character arrives at an active antifascist attitude. The authoress endeavours to set out the fate of her main figure in its entirety, in a major historical dimension. However, not always did she succeed in reflecting this in narrative terms. But this book by MLYNKOWA, without doubt, belongs to the innovative achievements of recent Sorbian prose writing. In the second half of the 50s, M A R J A KUBASEC with renewed intensity devotes herself to the theme of her first creative period — war and antifascist resistance. Her testimonies of the struggle and the tragic fate of detainees in concentration camps, of the close contacts and the solidarity of the Sorbs with the deported nationals of other Slavic peoples — they were mainly people from the Soviet Union and Poland — apart from a literary value, are above all important as documents. The biography "Hwëzdy nad bjezdnom" (translated into German and published under the title "Sterne über dem Abgrund", 1961) presents the life of the antifascist woman MARIA GROLLMUSS, who died in Ravensbrück concentration camp. Later on, another biography appeared, with an even more marked documentary character, about the antifascist ALOJZ ANDRICKI (1967). In the volume "Wanda" ( 1 9 6 2 ) stories and literary medallions are collected that are reminiscent

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of the describing manner of the Polish writer ZOFIA NALKOWSKA. MARJA KUBASEC appreciates the struggle of women against fascism, their sufferings in continuous proximity of death and their undaunted heroism. Active humanism, solidarity and struggle for freedom are artistically evoked within the framework of a philosophical and poetical discussion of good and evil. The writer reveals the magnitude of human actions in the often inconspicuous antifascist struggle. The example of KUBASEC was taken up by younger writers, such as CYRIL KOLA (born in 1927), JURIJ KOCH (born in 1936), PAWOL KMJEC (born in 1916). KOLA also

takes up the theme of international solidarity. His novelette "Roza" (1962) describes the action of a Polish girl deported by the fascists to Germany, who saves a Sorbian village from annihilation. In his novelette "Zidowka Hana" (1963), JURIJ KOCH tells about fascist pogroms in a Sorbian village near a quarry and about the force of simple human beings. The two characters Roza and Zidowka Hana have left a lasting mark on Sorbian readers. In 1961, the novel "Hdyz certy cekaja" by JURIJ MER&NK (born in 1914) appeared. The writer, a former prisoner of Sachsenhausen concentration camp, describes by episodes and in the manner of chronicles, above all, the international solidarity among the prisoners against the extermination actions of the SS in the last days before the final smashing of the Hitlerite empire. In the mid-60s, a new stage in literary development began. It is closely related with the construction of advanced socialist society in the G.D.R. New problems, different basic experience of the older, intermediate and younger generation of writers determined their literary work. A multiple colourful presentation and the social commitment of Sorbian prose writing are increasingly reflected with regard to theme and content and to artistic and formal features. In BRSZAN'S novel "Mannesjahre", the transition to new issues manifests itself clearly: the development of Sorbs in socialist society. The life tasks and conflicts in the social and national development of the Sorbs under new social conditions are described in the rural areas which are still in the focus of interest. Collective work creates new human relations. By the magnitude and significance of his new social responsibility, the central character of the novel measured his relationships with other human beings. In critically assessing his own abilities, deficiencies and draw-backs, he was struggling against all those who wanted to jeopardize and impede the new life, he struggled for those who had not yet made up their minds. Conflicts resulting from an aspiration towards an agreement between thinking and acting in the new reality are uncovered by JURIJ KOCH, a writer of prose and poetry, an important representative of the younger Sorbian writers' generation, in his novel "Mjez sydom mostami" (1968). The history of his later novel "Rozamarja abo rozzohnowanje we nas" (1975, it appeared in German under the title

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"Rosamarja") is closely intertwined with these aspects, the fundamental constellation has remained. The human beings — in KOCH'S novels, this means in the concrete milieu of Lower Lusatia, the landscape of the Spreewald region — must learn to determine their own lives by themselves. The distinctive features in the sociological and ethnic structure of this area are often the key to the souls of the people living there. KOCH proves to be a subtle observer of the multiple conflicts arising from the fact that Germans and Sorbs are living together in the process of social awareness. "The farewell in us" does not mean annihilation, destruction, but rather maturation, cognition, change, meeting anew — and signifies a new qualitative beginning. In connection with this, the writer is interested in the historical consciousness of these people. He is absorbed by the question of the relationship towards Sorbian customs, towards cultural traditions. The author highlights certain problems, so as to provoke the reader to productive independent thinking. "Provocative" aspects impart a variegated colourful character rich in distinctions to KOCH'S vivid style. On the basis of his novel "Mjez sydom mostami", KOCH wrote a dramatic arrangement. The conflicts of young people in the new phase of social development are described by J U R I J K R A W Z A (born in 1 9 3 4 ) in the book "Bajka so konci" ( 1 9 7 5 ) . How do moral norms of behaviour emerge in youth, the author asks. He traces with psychological subtlety the errors, via which young people think that with their fairy tale dreams and ideals about life they can find and catch' happiness for themselves. K R A W Z A does not suggest any universally valid solutions. In the 60s, Man in political and national situations of decision-taking is moved into the focus of literary interest. These are conditions which make him feel aware of his responsibility for his homeland. J U R I J BREZAN writes the two novelettes "Robert a Sabina" (1962, in German: "Eine Liebesgeschichte") and "Nawrot do Krakowa" (1966). The actions are located in a new milieu, they have new sociological constellations and are reaching far beyond the geographical space of Lusatia, but, despite this fact, are indirectly connected with Sorbian reality. A broader reflection in terms of world-outlook and the representation of the decision regarding the love of two people, e.g. from the two different German states, in connection with the question of the meaning and value of individual happiness are shown by BREZAN in a peculiar poetical and lyrical style. Similar conflicts and tests, as she encountered them in the life of students, are highlighted by M A R J A M L Y N K O W A in the story "Kostrjanc a cerwjeny mak" (1965). Three years earlier, J U R I J K R A W Z A published the novel-like story "Modre listy" (1962). The world of the fathers and the question of the guilt of the fathers is investigated by P A W O L VOLKEL (born in 1 9 3 1 ) by taking as an example an impressive love, penetrated by bitter events of the Second World War between a student of Sorbian-German parents and a Polish girl in the novelette " . . . a wase dzeci budu syroty" ( 1 9 6 6 ) .

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A milestone in the development of Sorbian literature is set up at that period by historical prose. The historical theme had for a long time been calling for a wider, epic treatment. Scientific research had made its contribution. In the trilogy "Boscij Serbin" (1964/65) and in the novel "Lëto wulkich wohenjow" (1970), M A R J A KUBASEC described the life of Sorbian serfs in the 18th and 19th centuries and the special role of education in implementing the rationalist ideas of social progress. The writer uncovers the roots of Sorbian national rebirth which took place in the mid-19th century. She shows the intellectual potential of the serf population, a potential which could be developed only under the social conditions prevailing then. Only after her death did her third book "Nalëtnje wëtry" (1978) appear. The predilection of M. KUBASEC for documentary and literary narrative forms becomes clear also in this novel. Historical documentary and literary biographical pictures by various authors are integrated into the aspirations for developing historical prose writing at that time. The variety of prose writing in the 60s includes literary memoirs, mostly in the form of chronicle-like notes, among others, by J U R I J W J E L A (1892—1969), PAWOL GROJLICH (born in 1908), J U R I J KUBAS-WORKLECAN (1902—1983); MÈRÉLN NOWAK-NJECHORNSKI writes his recollections of his childhood and youth. Travel descriptions and reportage about the peoples of the Soviet Union and about other socialist countries are gaining in importance. BREZAN and NOWAKNJECHORNSKI already in the 50s had described their experiences and encounters. N o w , J U R I J KOCH, J U R I J KRAWZA, a n d KRESCAN KRAWC ( b o m i n

1938)

appeared with their own handwriting. J U R I J WICAZ (1899—1974) wrote reportage articles individual in both contents and form. He was a time-tested and experienced journalist, who during the Hitler régime and immediately after the Second World War worked for the Czechoslovak News Agency among others in Arab countries. These publications appeared in two volumes under the title "Z Kamjenskim nosom" (1961/63). In the second half of the 60s until the mid-70s, Sorbian prose was distinguished by a new deployment of the small epic form. Stories and short stories, as well as literary anecdotes have had their tradition in Sorbian literature since the mid19th century. This small prose — also in the form of almanac stories, sketches, letters and diaries —, above all, represents contemporary people, matured in their creative work and in their consciousness, richer in thoughts and perceptions, deeply rooted in that geographic region about which J U R I J BRËZAN says in his "Lausitzer Impressionen" (1972): "there narrowness and width were fused". 11 Unmistakably, young authors are taking the floor. They are seriously endeavouring to cover every-day life, to represent individual fates by way of example, but also to analyse human thinking and feeling. The Law — consciousness — love — responsibility and moral of the individual are viewed and presented

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in a variety of ways in the most different events and constellations. Six brief anthologies appeared between 1968 and 1976, of which four in Upper Sorbian and two in Lower Sorbian: "Powedki wo n a s " (1968); " L u d z o a mysle" (1970), " N o w e powedki wo nas" (1972), "Pohladnjenja" (1976), " J a d n a z nich jo soitowka" (1971), and "Griby pytas" (1976). There are many well-known authors such as BREZAN, KOCH, KOLA, KRAWZA, MALINK, and VOLKEL. HANZA BJEN-

SOWA (born in 1919) and JAN WORNAR (born in 1934) are primarily known as authors of books for the young. Some new noteworthy writers have contributed to the Sorbian literary development in recent times by book editions of their own. These editions include the first volume of stories by ANGELA STACHOWA (born in 1948) " H a l o K a z e k " (1974), in German in 1976: "Stunde zwischen Hund und K a t z " . Prior to this book, STACHOWA published in Sorbian newspapers and journals short stories, literary portraits of contemporaries and thoughts on her own attitude to literature, to her own reading and writing. The young writer in the first place traces down the thoughts, experiences, problems and feelings of young people, especially women. The way they cope with life is of interest to the authoress also in later stories: "Sobotu wjecor d o m a " (1978, in German: "Geschichten fur Majka"). KRES6VN KRAWC, whose first book "Beloruske impresije" had appeared in 1971, published a second volume of stories "Pyrpalenje" in 1975. "Krescan Krawc is going to write more books, because he has the necessary prerequisites for this: Curiously he is inquiring about life, he has a good eye for, and a sense of, what is out of the ordinary, he is endowed with a rich imagination ..., and brings along something individual." 1 2 Without doubt, the distinctive feature about this young author is his penchant for associative writing, which enriches the literary and philosophical contents of his stories. Besides the two books, KRAWC, for many years editor-in chief of the Sorbian Young Pioneers' children's newspaper " P l o m j o " , has published stories and reportage writings in Sorbian journals. A new development trend manifests itself in the 70s in aspirations aiming at historical and philosophical writings about an epoch. The first work of this kind in the history of Sorbian literature, and also a novel feature in the literature of the G . D . R . , is the book " K r a b a t " by JURIJ BR£ZAN (1976). When treating historical philosophical and ethical contemporary problems, BR6ZAN asks questions which are causally related with the question about the whither and the wherefrom of human beings (of Sorbs). Krabat — a character from Sorbian legends — is made a vivid symbol of his people. "Krabat is alive, a human man among us. Krabat, who acquires knowledge and who obtained freedom through his knowledge, Krabat is alive in all centuries, thousandfold are his manifestations . . . " . 1 3 The history of the Sorbs with their particular social and intellectual movements is marked by the history of the Slavs and the Germans and, as the history of each people, becomes part of the history of mankind. BRE-

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ZAN's book reflects this fact in poetical pictures covering the history of mankind. This book is not a historical novel, but rather a free composition in historical philosophical writing on entire epochs. The events of centuries and decades are condensed in several questions: What is the meaning of human life? Where is the way towards happiness? How does Man's anthropogenesis take place? How can moral maturity be obtained by using one's knowledge ? And finally, how can the ideals of our time be made to come true? All material is used freely and not as a document, all forms utilised for presenting the action are relevant to the message that is brought across. Real and phantastic aspects are collocated and vested with equal rights, these aspects are interacting. Mythological motifs, including myths of Antiquity, as well as other issues of folk tradition are used dialectically in a contemporary problem-related, sociohistorical and socio-psychological analysis, which provides ample opportunity for the author to describe the reality of the novel. Sorbian history, tradition and the present are to an increasing extent acquiring a universal social and human relevance — not only in prose writing. In this context, dramatic literature is indeed distinguished by aspirations to attain greater artistic quality and variety, though in its extent, it is still lagging behind prose and poetry. A remarkable development is shown by the dramatic work of PFETR MALINK. The proximity in time and topicality in treating historical themes and subjects from the most recent past and present are a hallmark of his realism. In 1957 and 1961 his plays "Rebel Jan Cuska" and "Wotprosenje" were staged. In both plays, the author treated Sorbian peasants' uprisings in the late 18th century. This material had already been treated by BEN BUDAR (born in 1928), author of the well-known documentary travel report "Jenseits von Oder und Neiße" (1962), in the historical story "Rebel Jan Cuska" (1955). MALINK'S two plays are determined by many declamatory passages and uneven features in the formation of concrete characters. MALINK opened up new creative possibilities in his play "Nöcny patient" (1968). On the basis of the story " R o w w serbskej holi" by M. KUBASEC, he dealt with an important theme of national political decision. MALINK wrote time parallels and recollections about the brutal dictatorship of Hitler. Against this setting he created deep psychological scenes from the impressive life story of a young man whose name was Angolf alias Tadeusz. Angolf had been born from the forbidden love between a Sorbian girl and a Polish prisoner of war. As a child, he had been abducted from his mother and deported with a forged birth certificate to the Western part of Germany. After the war he learned everything about his tragic fate. The youngster is informed about the execution of his father. The maturest dramatic work by MALINK in the early 70s is the play "Wotmolwa" (1973). Together with BREZAN'S play "Zrale leta" (1968) and "Poslednje pruwowanje" (1972) by JURIJ KOCH, it marks an important stage in the development of Sorbian drama. MALINK'S play is chiefly conceived in the

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form of a monologue which is dramatically coming to a head. This play shows the struggle waged by the socially committed Sorbian poet JAKUB BART-CISINSKI during the reign of Emperor WILHELM II. The state and church authorities exiled the poet from his Sorbian homeland. Within a historical theme, the author in an equal manner provokes topical contemporary issues, the social commitment of the artist, his adherence to party lines and his close ties with the people. With regard to ideas and composition, the play "Poslednje pruwowanje" by J . KOCH is cognate to the Soviet drama, calling two mind writers such as VIKTOR Rozov and ALEXANDER VAMPILOV. The author observes five students who are to leave Grammar School after their A levels, whose long-standing close friendship is endangered by a suspicion of a theft case. The moral values of friendship, honesty and love are examined anew in a social reference to contemporary conditions. In general, a turning point in the history of Sorbian poetry, especially after 1945, can be stated in the 60s. It is primarily connected with the creative work of KITO LORENC (born in 1938), who is highly appreciated as a poet and editor of Sorbian literature far beyond the borders of his homeland. LORENC places the world of the fathers, the world of his childhood and youth under his poetical microscope in an interpénétration between people and the times, with an ever-changing focus and in ever new views, with the distance of a person who recognizes and perceives things. His early poems, written when he was a student and published in Sorbian newspapers and journals, indicate, how much his experience and feelings, his attitude to tradition and his poetical diction is determined by other factors than had been usual in Sorbian poetry before. His poetical landscape is new, and so are his aesthetic fields. The book " N o w e easy — nowe kwasy" (1961) was his literary debut. His search for a conception of his own is testified by the publications: "Zapiski z brigadowanja" (1959), "Trjebin — Slepo — Miloraz", the portraying poems "Wulët do kraja basnikow", and "Moje powolanske wuznace", his first confession as a poet. Certain artistic approaches were manifested which found their further literary development and attained maturity in "Struga — wobrazy naseje krajiny" (1967, with the Sorbian and German versions being in parallel in one edition), as well as in other poems. From the very beginning, LORENC has endeavoured to search a poetical approach which allows him to analyse the life of Sorbian people and of the whole world in an extremely varied manner. In his above-mentioned poetical confession " S t r u g a " he says : " I t must be the entire expanse we live in. A poem is supported by a human expanse which is delimitated and filled by the essential nature and by the density of the conflicts deployed in it. This experience is accumulated by the poet in the purifying, elucidating filter of the poems, and it is by this filter that he sets his starting point in persévérant, cathartic self-contemplation." 14 The character of the ego, the subject who is asking questions and finding an answer,

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who is exerting his volition, is in the focus of his lyrical, polyphonic structures: "Z jëzby do Bëloruskeje 1965"; (German edition: "Heimfahrt durch Belorußland im Schnee"), "Ale hdyz plakace", or in the poem "Flurnamen", which appeared only in German. Motion and activity are generated by the lyrical ego, in the imagery, the past, present and future of the real world are connected. In the process of his own creative penetration into the practice and the theory of arts, LORENC describes his feelings and insights aroused by reality and aimed at reality. 15 Thereby he has made quite a major contribution to the presentation of the image of human beings in recent Sorbian poetry and arts in general. His poems to date, be they published in Sorbian and in German or only in one of the two languages, — in 1971 the volume "Kluce a puce" appeared, in 1973, the volume "Flurbereinigung" — bear testimony to intensive poetical work. In this process questions were raised time and again as to the communicativity of individual lyrical genres (poems about landscapes, about persons and about worldoutlook in cycles of poems or in other forms), as to the relationship between the language of verse and the historical authenticity. Then he turned his attention to the acquisition of Sorbian literary tradition in close connection with modern 20thcentury poetry, as represented e.g. by the work of JOHANNES BOBROWSKI. "Struga" and the landscape of home along this little river becomes a keynote for K I T O LORENC' poetry. Thé poet commits himself to his homeland-in a really hymnic manner, but at the same time, with a critical, sometimes bitter sarcastic, ironic distance. To go to the source of the "Struga" means to comprehend the past, the present and future of one's own existence, of the Sorbs' existence, and of mankind's existence in a lyrical image: "In unseren Taten mögen träumen die Väter, mögen / in unseren Träumen wohnen die Taten der Kinder: / Solange will ich euch verkünden das Gesetz / von der Erhaltung der Liebe / in dieser Sprache, getrübt von der Färbung / der Tränen, und glauben an eine Metasprache / auch des Gedichts. Das wäre eine Sprache / ohne Worte, wie eine Musik vielleicht, welche / die Pappeln probieren, die wir sorgsam pflanzen / am neuen Bett der Struga — in eine Zeit, fern. / Doch vorläufig reden wir noch miteinander."16 (In our actions may dream our fathers, may in our dreams dwell the actions of our children: So long I want to announce to you the law about the preservation of love in this language, perturbed by the colour of tears, and believe in a metalanguage also of the poem. This would be a language without any words, like some music may be, which the poplars are trying which we are planting carefully near the new bed of the Struga — into a distant time. But at first we still speak with each other.) For the brief time of half a decade, J U R I J KOCH took part in creating the new poetry. "Nadrözny koncert" (1965) is the title of his only book of poems to date. As a journalist and radio reporter, KOCH found many poetical inspirations. The

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scope of his experience, of his thoughts extended beyond the borders of his homeland. Whether in Terezin, in Oswi^cim, in Tatranska Lomnica, or in Lusatia — whether in an admonishing or accusing recollection, in critical and satirical statements, in humoristic or in sober observation, whether in youthful sensitive love poems or in the imagery of the literary heritage, or of anonymous folklore songs — his poetry always is a self-understanding in the collective of society and a response to topical reality. Though not decisive for the literary crystallisation process in each case, the poems of the youngest generation of Sorbian poets in the early 70s are being received with interest and critical attention by the public. Their writings are published in newspapers and journals, but also in anthologies. In 1975 a first collection of poems by BENEDIKT DYRLICH (born in 1950) appeared: "Zelene hubki". In 1980, a selection of his poetry was published under the title "Grüne Küsse". Just as any generation of writers, these younger poets have their own questions and experiences, they are endeavouring to communicate their own sentiments and insights, their own doubts. They are expressing their own exuberance and their enthusiasm. What they desire and hope for, was formulated by KITO LORENC in 1967 in his "Struga — Bilder einer Landschaft": "In unseren Taten träumen die Väter, mögen / in unseren Träumen wohnen die Taten der Kinder". 17 (In our action our fathers dream, may the actions of our children dwell in our dreams.) Postscript: In the second half of the 70s and early 80s, Sorbian literature was enriched by new works. The deepened interest both among a wide Sorbian and German readership and abroad finally bears testimony to an increasing influence of this literature. Vivid public discussions are held. Thinking about a fulfilment of human life in an ethical and moral respect, about the past in the field of tension between the present and the future, about human beings and their fate which are determined by situations of radical change between tradition and such forms of life which are to be obtained anew, all this gives a particular hallmark to some important works from recent years.

References and footnotes 1 KITO LORENC investigates the poetical writings of BRSZAN in more depth from a viewpoint of literary theory. Cf. LORENC, K., Lyrika Jurja Brezana jake basnistwo aktiwistow prenjej hodziny (The poetry by Jurij Brezan as poetry of an activist of the first hour), in: Letopis A 14 (1967), 2, p. 182f. 2 Geschichte der Literatur der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, Berlin 1985, p. 70

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3 Cf. MLYNK, J., 65 Jahre Arbeitskreis sorbischer Schriftsteller, in: Neue deutsche Literatur (1967), 3, p. 10 f. 4 BR£ZAN, J., Vorwort, in: Dramy. Zhromadzene spisy w jednotliwych wudacach (Plays. Collected works in separate editions), vol. 7, Budysin 1971, p. 14 5 Geschichte der Literatur der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, p. 197 6 Since the 70s, co-operation has developed between the nationally-owned Domowina Publishing House and Neues Leben Publishing House, Berlin or with the Mitteldeutscher Verlag Publishers, Halle—Leipzig which has led to the publication of Sorbian works in both languages. Books by Sorbian writers also appear in editions of Aufbau-Verlag Publishers, Berlin—Weimar and in Reclam-Verlag Publishers, Leipzig, as well as in publications of other publishing houses of the G.D.R. Translations of Sorbian literature into Slav languages have had a long-standing, historically founded tradition. It is greatly enriched in our times. 7 The trilogy appeared in the Sorbian version of the author in the Zhromadzene spisy . . . (Collected works ...), vol. 4 - 6 , 1968 (parts I and II), 1975 (part III). 8 Both books appeared irTSorbian at the same time: "Suler" and "Wucbne leta". The translation, authorized by BR£ZAN, was then made by C Y R I L KOLA. 9 MLYNK, J., Serbska proza 20. letstotka (III) (Sorbian 20th-century prose), in: Serbska Sula (1968), 3, p. 134f. 10 Krescan Serbin is the central character in BREZAN'S novel "Zweiundfünfzig Wochen sind ein Jahr" (1953). Then the novel could not appear in Sorbian. But the film scenario written on the basis of the novel by BR£ZAN was published in Bautzen in 1955 in Sorbian "Wo jednorym ziwjenju". 11 BR£ZAN, J., in: Lausitzer Impressionen, Bautzen 1972, p. 6. This is an illustrated album with artistic photos by GERALD GROSSE, and with a German and a Sorbian text (two separate editions). 12 BR6ZAN, J., quoted from a report by BENO BUDAR, in: Rozhlad (1976), 3, p. 113d 1 3 C f . B R f e z A N , J . , Krabat oder Es istan der Zeit, Fragen zu stellen, in: BRSZAN, J . , Ansichten und Einsichten. Aus der literarischen Werkstatt, Berlin 1976, p. 102 and p. 110 14 LORENC, K., Struga — eine Konfession, in: Struga — Wobrazy naseje krajiny — Bilder einer Landschaft, Budysin — Bautzen 1967, p. 81 1 5 In an interesting manner, KITO LORENC thinks about the function and the value of poetry in the epilogue to the collection of poems "Zelene hubki" (Budysin 1973) by BENEDIKT DYRLICH.

16

Versuch über uns (in Sorbian: Pospyt wo nas), in: idem, Struga — Wobrazy naäeje krajiny — Bilder einer Landschaft, p. 81. In 1984 the collection of poetry "Wortland. Gedichte aus zwanzig Jahren" by KITO LORENC was edited in the publishing house Verlag Philipp Reclam jun. Leipzig. Three years before that, in 1981, LORENC issued in the same publishing firm the most comprehensive anthology of Sorbian literature from five centuries, a collection which was the first in its kind: "Sorbisches Lesebuch — Serbska citanka". 17 LORENC, K . , Versuch über uns, in: idem, Struga — Wobrazy naseje krajiny — Bilder einer Landschaft, p. 81 LORENC, K . ,

The Music of the Lusatian Sorbs B y JAN RAWP-RAUPP

Whereas from the entire Slavic region near the river Elbe and near the Baltic archaeological finds (e.g. bone flutes) or reports of medieval chroniclers (HELMOLD, SAXO GRAMMATICUS, THIETMAR VON MERSEBURG) are available which testify to the musical customs of the Slavic tribes or tribal associations concerned, the early subjugation of the Sorbs (10th century) resulted in an absence of authentic information about their musical culture. Some inference by analogy based on musical practices of the other western Slavs may be justified for the time of the Sorbs' independence (plays, cult, dance, pasture, signal system etc.). As one of the few clues to former musical usage and customs let us mention, however, the historically documented "holy water" (glomuzi) of the Sorbs in the vicinity of which there is, even today, the "dancing-place" or „dancing-mountain". Cultrelated performance of music from the former central Sorbian region may be a reminiscence. Archaeologists found tiny metal bells in Upper and Lower Lusatia which marked the rhythm with every dancing step. Apart from such objects it is above all philological indications, folkart traditions and legends which conserved music-related concepts, designations and notions.1 As a relic-like "vestige of ancient heroic songs" an Upper Sorbian ballad was preserved which announces in an epic manner: "Serbja so do Nemcow hotowachu ,..". 2 Also the Lower Sorbian counterpart "Nase golcy z wojny jedu" 3 and in which "nas kral" (our king) is praised, characterizes the early feudal development of the association of Sorbian tribes, and a function of the Sorbs' songs at that time. After losing their political independence, the Sorbs became acquainted with the hymns of the victorious power, with the Gregorian chant. THIETMAR VON MERSEBURG (976—1019) reported that the "pagan" Sorbs had first resisted Christianisation and wantonly distorted the Greek "Kyrie eleison" into "kyrcyolca" (in the shrub the alder). However, the authorities asserted the ecclesiastical chant: The Statuta synodalia of the Meissen episcopate ordered that apart from Latin chants "songs and sequences in the mother tongue (of the Sorbs) be introduced. Bishop BENNO, the founder of the first church in Upper Lusatia (Goda 1076), advocated introduction of well-tested "hymns for congregational

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singing in accordance with the churches of Hildesheim". Thus, the foundation was laid for a melodious and modal (church tonal) influence -which characterized much of Sorbian folk music during many centuries.4 The Sorbian element did probably not without its own characteristics become part of the official musical culture under feudalism which had its centres of cultivation at cloisters and churches, in towns and manors. Writing about the year 1395, an Upper Lusatian chronicle also mentions an event which can be considered an after-effect of former pre-Christian ideas about the influence of music: "In that year, a thunderstorm killed three minstrels in Camenz who pretended that by playing the violins and bagpipes clouds would be dispelled." 5 Putting musicians on the same level with magicians and a belief in the magic and healing force of music continued to be preserved in Sorbian folkart for a long time. The growing social tensions which in Görlitz in 1430 had led to the execution of the feudal highwayman FRITSCHE GRADIS VON WANGENHEIM, were reflected not only in a traditional German street ballad. Also the Sorbs who were suffering under a particularly heavy feudal yoke, sang about this sensational event. The Upper Lusatian historian CHR. MANLIUS himself heard the song even more than one hundred years later (in 1575) from the Sorbs (quod ipse audivi), and thus his was the earliest indication about a special song of the Sorbs. In spite of all social obstacles, musical development continued to advance, which is reflected e.g. by the frescos created for the church of Briesen (Lower Lusatia) in 1483. The bagpipe player adorned with interlaced ornaments, the whistling (opposing) joker, as well as the pointedly mundane lady playing the lute characterize the wide range of folk music life in Lower Lusatia.6 Social progress which in Central Europe had led to the early bourgeois Revolution and to the German Peasants' War (1525), was increasingly echoed also in protest songs of Sorbian serfs. In Liebenwerda (Lower Lusatia) in 1545, the singer of a "Windisch schelt lied" was condemned, and in 1546, the singer of the "Windisch schelt lied von Ukro" was punished. As an expression of the peasants' protest that song obviously reflected the revolutionary development which led to the peasants' uprising in Uckro (Lower Lusatia) in 1548.7 The fact that in the 16th century European themes began to be included in the wordly songs of the Sorbs, for instance, by using printed German songs, is testified by choral dances and ballads ("Bergreien", morning songs, a ballad about the king's children, etc.) which gained ground in Upper and Lower Lusatia.8 However, the main development of music continued to take place within the framework of the church.9 The Lusatian centres of church music, such as the Marienstern cloister (Upper Lusatia) and Neuzelle (Lower Lusatia), as well as the traditional confessional ecclesiastical and urban singers' groups, such as the "calandi" and the boys' choirs, were now faced by more comprehensive singing communities which developed in the Reformation, the church choirs. That for

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musical church service of Protestant congregations officeholders from among the people were included can be taken from a decree passed in Guben in 1551 and which directly also considered "Wendish cantors and organists". The situation and the intentions of Lower Sorbian hymns in the second half of the 16th century were characterized by the Sorbian hymn-book (and catechism) which A L B I N M O L L E R published in 1 5 7 4 . This first printed Sorbian book and music included hymns from MARTIN L U T H E R ' S hymn-book. However, "religious" reservations of the authorities were opposed to the further spreading of this useful publication. Three decades later, a file entry for the first time also mentioned the name of a Sorbian church musician: in 1609, J A N FLICIUS in Vetschau (Lower Lusatia) was appointed cantor and organist. The general growth of musical culture in the ecclesiastical urban sphere also found a basis in folk music in which ethnical and folkart features were rooted.10 Since 1588, entries in Bautzen files have been proving the work of musicians in town and the countryside, and the land inspection protocol of the domain of Cottbus of 1652 already mentioned 20 "minstrels" and "bagpipers". The basis of folk music in the villages belonging to the rectorates of Liibben and Neuzaucha may hardly have been different, although corresponding evidence has become known only one century later (since 1761). Following the emergence in the Middle Ages of urban and rural artisan guilds in Europe for defending the class and business interests of the trades people, guilds and corporations of musicians were set up in Upper and Lower Lusatia in the 17th and 18th centuries which determined artistic levels and which developed a respectable firmness due to the emerging national consciousness of their members. Privileged "guilds of Wendish minstrels" existed in the districts of Gorlitz from 1673—1770, in the town and district of Guben from 1683—1806, and in Luckau from 1702 to 1805, which were keeping away German, but also Sorbian competitors under the "jus prohibendi" (the right to forbid). Because of a hereditary tradition of songs and of taking over elements of urban and courtly instrumental music of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Upper Lusatian musicians developed a popular style of interpretation which as a manifestation of the "rural baroque style" marked the so-called Wendish music. Hardly any official event such as Representative Assemblies, government inspections, popular feasts or weddings could do without Wendish music. General musical practices in towns and the countryside at first provided little scope for individual artistic manifestations, and under the given social conditions any prerequisites for emphasizing a Sorbian component were lacking. An eminent music expert from the Sorbian region was ABRAHAM SKODA (SCHADAUS, 1566—1620) u , born in Oppelhain (Wopolen) near Spremberg. His work united progressive-minded intellectual scholastic and systematic church music activity with the creation of several compositions based on chorales (in the

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German language). As a school rector and cantor in Speyer, Torgau and Bautzen to whom friends and pupils payed their respects as "optimum cantorem, praeceptorem amandum", SCHADÄUS had to sustain an unsteady existence being suspected by the authorities to be a "cryptocalvinist". In 1 6 1 1 / 1 2 A . SCHADÄUS laid the foundation for the "Proptuarium musicum", a compilation of church music which contains 436 motets by Italian, German, French, and Dutch composers. He died in Finsterwalde (Grabin) and a monument was erected in his honour to keep alive the memory of his merits which were of benefit also to many a Sorbian cantor. From Groß-Briesen (Brjazyn) near Guben in Sorbian Lower Lusatia came the church musician JAN KRYGAR (CRÜGER, 1 5 9 8 — 1 6 6 2 ) who as "Gubenensis Lusaticus (Lasatus)" was fully aware of his origin all through his life.12 KRYGAR, who after studying theology at Wittenberg ( 1 6 2 0 — 1 6 2 2 ) came out with the secular vocal composition "Paradisus musicus — Musikalisches Lustgärtlein" ( 1 6 2 2 ) , accepted the position of cantor of St. Nicholas's Church in Berlin in 1622 and the office of Berlin musical director. With his theory of composition Synopsis musica ( 1 6 2 4 ) and with numerous chorales which since 1 6 4 7 appeared several times also in the Praxis pietatis melica, KRYGAR went down in musical history both as the creator of the Protestant song for moral edification and the most eminent music theorist in the time before J . S. BACH. Musicologists are tracing Sorbian elements in his music. KRYGAR and SKODA were creative musicians of Sorbian descent who acquired importance for Protestant church music from various aspects and whose comprehensive work probably also influenced sacral music in Lusatia. A cantor, the earliest known one, appeared at the same time whose ethnical affiliation became as unambiguously manifest as did the testimonies of his musical creativeness. Though more precise biographical data on the life of BARTHOLOMÄUS BROJNIK (BRÄUNIG) from Hoyerswerda are still missing, it is yet on record that this "coarse Wendish bacchant" held his respectable church music office at St. Peter's Cathedral in Bautzen from 1 6 0 7 to 1 6 1 4 . The fact that BROJNIK also was a respected composer is indicated by the fact that his vocal composition "The Lord is my Shepherd" was preserved in the music inventory of the Pirna Kantoreigesellschaft.13 A progressive qualitative growth of musical culture throughout Upper Lusatia especially marked respective developments in Bautzen, the capital of the Lusatian League of Six Towns (since 1 3 4 6 ) . The dean of the Meißen Episcopate in Upper and Lower Lusatia, JOHANN LEISENTRITT ( 1 5 6 7 — 1 5 8 6 ) wrote his "Geistliche Lieder der alten ... apostolischen Kirchen" in Bautzen ( 1 5 6 7 , 1 5 7 3 , 1 5 8 4 ) . He thus layed firm foundations for the cultivation of singing in this town. The building of organs and other instruments as well as an officially privileged corps of town musicians were already supporting factors of musical life. In 1574, the Bautzen $

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Protestant Inquilian Choir was created. But extant documents of musical culture from Upper and Lower Lusatia as well as a volume of song manuscripts from Lobau started in 1594 or the Lyna lute tabulators written in Liibben between 1610 and 1640 are documenting an increasing development of worldly music. That "Bautzen has always had very skilled men in music" is said in praise of that town where in the 17th and 18th centuries organists, composers and music theorists such as J . PECELIUS (1639—1694), J . P . SPERLING (1691-1720), J . A. G O S E L (1698-1720), and J . S . P E T R I (1738—1808) have been working. 14 With the cooperation also of Sorbian cantors and musicians a musical life emerged ranging from various popular "Musical visits" to respectable concerts of church music. Finally, the cultivation of music as an attribute of the Age of Enlightenment brought about the heyday of the civil Collegium musicum (1750) in the repertoire of which may also have been created the "baroque-style" roots of Wendish music. As early as in 1647, St. Michael's Church in Bautzen had been given over to the Protestant Sorbs, and there is proof that the first Sorbian organist J A N R Y C E R (RITSCHIER) and further Sorbian cantors worked there from 1686 to 1739. The considerable fund of the then Lutheran Sorbian hymns is evidenced e.g. by the Gross Kolzig manuscript (district of Forst) of 1670. In 1689, the estates of Upper Lusatia decided "to revise the ordinary church songs in the Wendish language and ... to publish them as public edition". After lengthy preliminary work, "Das Deutsche und Wendische Gesangbuch" appeared in 1710. In 1741 it was published only in Sorbian as "Duchomne kyrlischowe knihi" and later on reached the great number of 30 new editions. The first collection of Catholic hymns "Serbske katolske cherluse" was published by J A N SWETLIK (1650—1729) in 1695. This publication which at first contained only staff lines for personal entries of hymn melodies, was followed by a second edition in 1720 which also contained the first printed music of the Catholic Sorbs. In contrast to the less strained relationships with regard to nationality policy in Upper Lusatia, in Lower Lusatia, where A . MOLLER'S hymn book appeared in 1574, publication of a "Kleine Sammlung geistreicher Lieder" in Sorbian was delayed until 1749, and only in 1760 was J A N L. W I L L able to edit a "Wohleingerichtetes wendisches Gesangbuch". In 1769, a "Lubnowski Szarski Sambuch" appeared which was used for almost a hundred years. At that time of maturation of bourgeois and subsequently also of church music development, pastor MICHAL W A L D A ( 1 7 2 1 — 1 7 9 4 ) from Radibor came into the limelight, the first Sorbian church musician educated in music theory and recognized as organist. In 1776, he followed a call to Bautzen, where apart from the office of a canonicus and scholasticus he has also been holding the office of a cantor at St. Peter's Cathedral since 1779. He deserved great praise for promoting Catholic Sorbian congregational singing by bringing out his hymn book "Spewa-

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wa Jezusowa Winica" which appeared in 1787 a complementary volume of which was issued in 1788 with 238 thorough bass accompaniments.15 With these bases of music theory, a capable musician (and also writer) paved the way for extending the range of musical culture also among the Sorbs. In all Catholic congregations his "Spewawa Jezusowa Winica" was circulated in manuscript copies. Also cultural centres outside Lusatia promoted the maturing of certain fields of music among the Sorbs. Leipzig, the world-open trade centre whose St. Thomas cantor JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH attained the highest eminence in baroquestyle music, also accommodated the Sorbian students' society Sorabia. It was not only the cultivation of music in genre style by the students in the city of trade fairs that stimulated the members of Sorabia. The music surrounding them also had a direct effect. As testimony of artistically valid expression in "gallant style" JURIJ R A K (1740—1799) wrote a jubilee ode for vocalists and harpsichord, the first Sorbian art song, marking the 50th anniversary of Sorabia in 1766.16 Such musical innovations resulted from the social and cultural changes due to the emergent bourgeois system of society, and from now on also aspirations arose aimed at dealing with musical questions in a scientific manner. In 1779 the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences was founded in Görlitz whose Sorbian co-founder JAN HÖRÖANSKI gained prominence not only as an ethnographer, but also as a musicologist. In his treatise "Von den Sitten und Gebräuchen der heutigen Wenden" ( 1 7 8 2 ) 1 7 HÖRCANSKI for the first time published six Sorbian folk tunes and with his study "Über die Musikinstrumente der slawischen Völker" ( 1 7 9 2 ) wrote an early research work on the theory of music. What HÖRÖANSKI was able to state in his "Gedanken eines Oberlausitzer Wenden über das Schicksal seiner Nation" (1782) on the vivid commitment of young Sorbs in sciences, the arts and crafts corresponded with the awakening of middleclass creativeness and thinking in the decade of the French Revolution (1789). It was especially also the strong impulse of JOHANN GOTTFRIED HERDER'S democratic thoughts which had its repercussions among the students of the Sorabia after the turn of the century. In their hand-written journal "Serbska Nowina" they manifested since 1824 their commitment to their own popular culture, e.g. by writing down the texts and melodies of local folk songs. HANDRIJ ZEJLER (1804—1872), the initiator of these activities, created the genre of convivial songs, which the "Serbska Nowina" recorded as well as, among other things, the first draft of a Sorbian national hymn by J . HATAS. Even as a student, ZEJLER accompanied the Polish researcher A . KUCHARSKI (1795—1862), who was exploring Lower Lusatia for Sorbian songs and compiled a first collection of them. It appeared in 1830 in the Periodical of the Bohemian Museum. At that time, feudalism had reached the stage of its final decay, and with the abolishment of serfdom, a new phase began also for the individual creativity of 8*

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man. In Prussia in 1828, the first Lutheran church agenda was issued containing the directive to found church choirs in four voices in all congregations. This agenda was published in two languages in Lusatia (its second edition in 1836 was issued only in the Sorbian language). When in 1830, a bourgeois constitution replaced the feudal-absolutist one in the kingdom of Saxony, also reforms in general education were impending, and in Bautzen in 1831, a normal school was founded in whose curricula the subject of music enjoyed a prominent place. Simultaneously with the essential social and cultural progress among the Western Slavic peoples in the 1830s, a social and national consciousness had emerged. The fact that the Lusatian Sorbs joined in this development was documented in 1842 by the first Sorbian song-book for schools "Serbskim hólcam a holcam k zwjeselenju" by H. ZEJLER. This book was not aimed at cultivating folk songs and traditions. Rather, with arrangements of songs in two voices, this publication pointed to contemporary issues and works of art in Prussian musical life (Oratorio by CHR. GRAUN). The continuing loss of function sustained by the folk song in every-day life, resulted in the previous cultivation of songs being replaced by new attitudes towards vocal tradition. The progressive, also methodologically advanced Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences in 1805, 1827, and 1836 launched an appeal to collect Sorbian folk songs. Among the stimulated researchers, JAN ARNOST SMOLER came to the fore with his monumental collection "Pjesnicki hornych a delnych Luziskich Serbow" (Grimma 1 8 4 1 / 4 3 ) , an eminent achievement concerning folk music which was highly praised by contemporary experts. The "Pésnicki" emerged not only as a monument of Sorbian national rebirth. Its edition with L. HAUPT ( 1 7 9 7 — 1 8 8 3 ) , the secretary of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences, as a "German-Wendish work" testified to the commitment of conscientious democrats for values of Sorbian culture and was thus a clear symbol of the revolutionary pre-March 1848 period in Germany.18 Now that there were projects and research results regarding musical education and musical folk art, also Sorbian middle-class musical life attained a new quality permeated with a patriotic and democratic spirit. In accordance with the mode set by the Saxon male-voice choir festivals (since 1842), Sorbian singing festivals were launched in 1845. The founder of a Sorbian national musical' art and its "classic" was KORLA AWGUST KOCOR (1822—1904) from Zahor (Berge, Upper Lusatia).19 As a graduate of the Bautzen normal school which he attended from 1838 to 1844, he obtained a solid musical education from his teacher K. E. H E R I N G (1807—1879), a capable composer and musicologist, even though he was primarily devoted to "música sacra". With moving patriotic songs (also with the Sorbian national anthem to a text by H . Z E J L E R ) , KOCOR. started work as a composer having close ties with

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the people and as the acclaimed conductor of the 1st Sorbían singing, festival. These singing festivals were launched as regular events. They became important not only as musical heydays but also as an opportunity for democratic manifestations and political demonstrations — e.g. for the Frankfurt National Assembly (5th singing festival in 1848). Thus the Sorbian singing festivals became a direct driving force of the period before the March 1848 Revolution in Germany. With the worldly oratorio "Serbski kwas" (text by H . Z E J L E R ) in which also folk songs quotations emphasized the national idea, KOCOR'S artistic development and Sorbian music in general reached their first climax in 1847. With the printing of his polonaise for choir and piano accompaniment "Zelena ta meja" (text by H . Z E J L E R ) in 1 8 4 7 another important impulse was given to the artistic upsurge of Sorbian middle-class music. The example set by German and Slavic popular and national operas (in 1821, K. M . V . W E B E R "Der Freischütz"; in 1826, F. SKROUP "Dráteník"; in 1836, M . G L I N K A "Ivan Suzanin") inspired Z E J L E R and KOCOR to bring to an end their project of a first Sorbian dramatic work. However, its completion and performance was opposed by the unfortunate end of the revolution in Dresden (in 1849) which was followed by new oppression of the Sorbs and of their cultural aspirations. In the following decade, during which the Sorbian singing festivals were languishing under the unpleasant social conditions, KOCOR gained great reputation for his chamber music. Works like the "Drei Sonatinen für Violine und Klavier" ( 1 8 5 1 / 5 2 ) which corresponded with the composer's studies on WOLFGANG A M A DEUS MOZART but also showed his attitude to the Romantic art of FELIX MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY ( 1 8 0 9 — 1 8 4 7 ) , were in line with the unbroken mental vigour of the middle classes.With the "democratic wave", which later developed in Saxony, and with a constitutional monarchy emerging in Austria, which took into account the autonomy of national minorities (October diploma 1862), liberal-minded hopes found an artistic expression also in Lusatia. This became evident during a concert in Bautzen in 1861 when a soprano from Dresden presented songs from KOCOR'S just published cycle "Sésc serbskich spéwow". The Sorbian composer's mastership developed fully that year of which his wordly oratorio. "Nalèco" (text by H . Z E J L E R ) was proof. With this probably best-known work by KOCOR the tradition of Sorbian singing festivals revived again. When KOCOR'S work was for the first time documented in K . A . FIEDLER'S (1835—1917) treatise "Serbske spéwanske swjedzenje wot 1845 do léta 1851", which appeared in 1860 in the journal of the Sorbian scientific society Macica Serbska, interest in KOCOR'S life and work was growing increasingly in the Slavic and German environment. In 1862, the just founded Czech monthly review "Dalibor" turned its special attention to him.

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Also a representation of KOCOR'S oratorio "Izraelowa zrudoba a tróst" at the Dresden Frauenkirche church caused a lasting response to Sorbian musical art. The entire vocal work of K. A. KOCOR, which was representative of Sorbian music, was presented in "Pocasy", a worldly cycle of oratorios. This book covers, together with the already mentioned oratorio "Naléco", the oratorios "Podléco" (1883), "2né" (1849, 1883), "Nazyma" (1886) and "Zyrna" (1887). These works unite popular tunes with artistic intentions. The earlier religious oratorio "Izraelowa zrudoba a tróst" was followed in the same genre by "So zwoni mér" (1871), and by "Serbski rekwiem" (1894). The social roots of KOCOR'S artistic aspirations were also testified by an opera set in his time and called "Jakub a Kata" ( 1 8 7 2 ) and by the singspiel "Wodzan" (1896). However, it became difficult to play these dramatic works in imperial Germany (since 1871). Also chamber music (string quartet, piano trio, etc.) and treatment of folksongs are contained in KOCOR'S important lifework. However, his real significance was not highlighted by individual printings in Leipzig and London (in 1879,1880). With the general development of special branches of knowledge in the 19th century, which had also led to the foundation of the Sorbian scientific society Macica Serbska, there emerged among the Sorbs not only musical folklorism and musicology (SMOLER, FIEDLER). The revival of song collecting by Sorbian as well as Czech and German investigators, resulted in more detailed studies on folk music in the 1880s and a more comprehensive picture of its specific features. Whereas the collections of M . HÓRNIK, A . MUKA and others helped to refine further certain genres of songs (e.g. religious folk songs) or promoted the opening up of special or of historical facts, the works of the Czechs L. KUBA and A. CERNY published in the journal of the Macica Serbska (CMS) contributed to elucidate further questions. Since that time roughly specialist circles have developed well-founded ideas on specific features of Sorbian folk music tradition, on instrumental traditions in the field of folk songs and folk dances as well as on typical popular musical instruments, such as the bagpipe (dudy, kozolméchawa in F), Schlèife three-stringed (D, A, E) big or small (F, C, G) violin (huslicki). K. KONRAD, a Czech church music specialist, investigated Sorbian hymnology. For the first time, he interpreted the tonal and formal components of traditional Sorbian melodic patterns in historical interrelations (CMS in 1889). In contrast, K . A . KOCOR studied musicological issues connected with the development of songs and with organology (CMS in 1888). The subsequently growing independent Sorbian musical culture was increasingly based on specific foundations. The necessity of elucidating some recognized problems, led to the foundation of a music department within Macica Serbska in 1896. The management of this section of the Macica Serbska was taken over in

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1897 (until 1906) by JURIJ PILK (1858—1928) from Goda (Hodzij, Upper Lusatia),a® a historian and specialist in local history and geography whose knowledge of musical disciplines and skills as a composer offered a guarantee for trendsetting theoretical and practical activity. As a serious friend of music, PILK took into consideration the level of knowledge of general musical folklorism and knew about the aspirations of contemporary composers which were aimed at a specific form of national art. In his male-voice choir collection "Dwajadwaceci narodnych hlosow" (1899), the choice of songs and various aspects of musical presentation reflected the efforts for the first time undertaken in Sorbian music to grasp typical features by means of style. In his singspiel "Smjertnica" (1901) PILK succeeded in creating a dramatic work which continued folkloristic tradition in its best meaning as an entertaining genre. In the same year, the Bulgarian music journal "Kawal" informed its readers about the composer's work, thus promoting the interest of Slavic musical experts in Sorbian musical work. The first performances of the "Smjertnica" (in 1912 and 1925) confirmed PILK'S purposefulness with regard to the further development of Sorbian music. In the second half of the 19th century, reactionary policies were pursued by the Junkers, by the upper-middle class and by the imperialist German empire. These efforts raised severe obstacles before social and cultural life. Despite many impediments, Sorbian music had become a factor of musical culture. This music acquired an increasing reputation (by original works, concerts, and cultivation of traditions). It benefited from growing respect in the musical environment. At that time which established standards in the works of RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883) and of JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) and brought about new impulses for further artistic developments, BJARNAT K R A W C (SCHNEIDER, 1864—1948)21 was born, a Sorbian musician who must be considered the most important successor to K. A. KOCOR. Born in Milstrich (Jitro) near Kamenz he chose his father's profession, graduated from Bautzen normal school which he attended from 1874 to 1882, and then entered school service in Konigswartha (Rakecy). In 1883, the patriotically-minded young man accepted a teaching post at the Mochmann Institute in Dresden, in the city of the arts which provided the best opportunities for further musical education. The development of the musical talents of B. K R A W C were in the experienced hands of H. SCHULZEBEUTHEN (1838—1915), so that K R A W C was able to pass an entrance examination at the Royal Saxon Conservatory in Dresden in 1887. As a student of Professor FELIX DRASECKE (1835—1913), K R A W C was until 1894 the first Sorbian student of a conservatory. K R A W C entertained a friendly relationship with the Czech singer Miss THERESIE SAKOVA at the Dresden Court Opera. Both of them advocated the work of BEDRICH SMETANA (1824—1884). In Dresden, B. K R A W C wrote his first songs, putting to music poems by J. BART-CISINSKI (1856—1909), compositions which

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united skill and aspects of popular tradition making them the aesthetic programme of Sorbian music. In his string quartet C minor (in 1893), KRAWC increasingly abandoned the neo-classicist principles of his teacher and turned to the artistic examples of SMETANA and ANTONIN DVORAK, whose compositions regarded folk music as basis of a national style. Also in his orchestra suite in five movements "Ze serbskeje zemje" ( 1 8 9 4 ) which was intellectually stimulated by SMETANA'S cycle "Ma vläst", KRAWC adopted a similar aesthetic maxim. As a Sorbian composer, KRAWC found a representative editor in a Berlin publishing house. In 1910, together with RIES and ERLER, his "Sechs Lieder für eine Singstimme mit Klavierbegleitung" appeared whose artistic rank justified the publication in two languages without reservations. As a paedagogue who considered folk song as the main item of school music, KRAWC first brought about in Saxony a progressive change in music instruction. He devoted quite a deal of investigation to German and Sorbian folk song which he endeavoured to preserve and to propagate as a valuable cultural heritage. By founding the "Zwjazk serbskich spewanskich towarstwow" in 1923, KRAWC wanted to consolidate Sorbian choirs and musical life, which became ever more necessary in view of the growing political instability of the pseudo-democracy of the Weimar Republic. Choir collections like "Wulka lubosc" (1923), "Zorlesko" ( 1 9 2 3 ) and others in this context gained the same importance as his awareness promoting songs "O serbska zemja!", "Hurra bratfa zahrimajce", "Ja sym Serb", and others. As a guardian of folk music and folk art traditions, KRAWC was alien to any nationalist thinking. He also compiled quite a number of arrangements of German songs, such as "Sonne, Sonne scheine!" ( 1 9 2 3 ) , " 3 3 sächsische Volkslieder" ( 1 9 2 5 ) , "Aus güldenen Bronnen" ( 1 9 2 6 ) etc. When KRAWC presented the Sorbian choir "Lumir" at the exhibition "Music in the life of the peoples" in Frankfurt-on-Main in 1927, his views on cultural policy had also greatly changed. In the Sorbian music review founded by him in 1926, "Skowronck ze serbskich honow" ( 1 9 2 6 — 1 9 2 8 ) he pointed to the Soviet exhibits at the Frankfurt exhibition as exemplary testimony of well-planned, effective promotion of national cultures. Whereas the musical work of 70-year old B. KRAWC was the subject of a monograph study by a Czech musicologist in 1932,22 the Third Reich ousted the humanist and opponent of the fascist state from public life by banning all his works and by reprisals. KRAWC' work as a representative of Sorbian music was from now on limited to lecture tours, concerts of chamber music and to publications in Slavic countries, where he found assistance and quite a number of friends. His "Missa solemnis" ( 1 9 3 2 ) which was performed in Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia ( 1 9 3 4 , 1 9 3 6 , 1937), was less strictly confessional, but rather per-

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vaded by a spirit of national consciousness and anti-fascism owing to the relevance of Sorbian folk songs. When all Sorbian institutions were abolished, the language and any Sorbian activities forbidden, B. KRAWC clandestinely produced two gramophone records in 1938 in a bid to uphold the resistance of the Sorbian people. The victory of the Red Army near Stalingrad once more filled him with new creative power. "Wojna a mer" (1943/44) testified his firm confidence in the end of the war and in the liberation of his and of all peoples from the yoke of fascism. After the liberation, KRAWC may probably have visualized the significant implications the social reforms introduced in the Soviet occupation zone would have in store for Sorbian musical culture. He was officially invited to the newly emerged Czechoslovak Republic where he died in 1948 as an honorary citizen of Varnsdorf. Gratitude for the liberation from fascism was expressed by the joint concert of Sorbian singers and a singers' group of the Red Army at the Bautzen Municipal Theatre in August 1945. The hymnic mass song by J U R I J WINAR (born in 1 9 0 8 ) "Wulkeho Siowjanow splaha" (text by J . BREZAN; 1 9 4 6 ) was an eloquent proof of newly awakening Sorbian patriotism.23 The democratic renewal of society and culture in the Soviet occupation zone also contributed to the formation of Sorbian choirs and cultural groups (teachers and girls' choirs, cultural teams). J. WINAR set out to rebuild Sorbian musical life which had been forgotten, and to resuscitate it among the public and in school work. He provided a new organizational setting for and elaborated anew printed music that had been destroyed. The active support on the part of the competent German institutions brought about the rediscovery of important works of Sorbian music. In 1947, the Dresden Philharmonic, conducted by WINAR, accompanied Sorbian singers in a represention of "Naleco" by K. A. KOCOR — a symbolic sign of the new flourishing of Sorbian culture. Under the "Law on safeguarding the rights of the Sorbian population" ( 1 9 4 8 ) and due to the Marxist-Leninist cultural policy of the German Democratic Republic Sorbian music was for the first time enjoying comprehensive promotion. The growing impact of Sorbian choirs which led to the annual "Autumn Concerts" under JAN BULANK (born in 1931), symphony and chamber music concerts as well as the work of the radio (Sorbian Editorial Department of Cottbus Radio) — all these manifold activities resulted in an musical upsurge which culminated in the foundation in 1951 of a State Troupe for Sorbian Folk Art. Apart from continuing the creative folkloristic traditions under new social conditions the works of the Sorbian musical heritage (KOCOR, PILK, KRAWC) had at last found a homestead and were now able to impart at home and abroad the best Sorbian musical traditions with high artistic standards. The wide-ranging scope of Sorbian musical development in advancing socialist

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society was documented by publications on school music, song books and especially by an anthology on Sorbian musical culture entitled "Wson klincec dyrbi serbski kraj!" edited by the conductor and composer J. BULANK in 1965 (2nd edition in 1977). Unprecedented standards have been set by the Upper Lusatian. choirs "Budysin", "Lipa", "Meja" and the Sorbian high school in Cottbus. They were awarded prizes at choir concerts or at workers' festivals in the German Democratic Republic. A comprehensive appreciation of all fields of the Sorbian musical heritage was also confirmed of dramatic works which had remained inconspicuous in the past. In 1965, J. PILK'S "Smjertnica" was included into the repertoire of Bautzen Municipal Theatre, and in 1966, KOCOR'S opera "Jakub a Kata" was given its first performance there. Recordings of classical and contemporary works by the Eterna gramophone company helped to publicize and to deepen the understanding of Sorbian music. Special forms of light entertainment drawing on folkloristic traditions and on modern arts became apparent in the Upper and Lower Lusatian song and instrumental groups "Judahej" and "Sprjewjan", founded in 1968 and 1969, which especially met the requirements of the young generation. The Schleife Folklore Ensemble was founded by A. JANCA (born in 1933) as a folk music troupe which took up the local bagpipe tradition, developed it further and made it widely known and appreciated. The festivals of Sorbian culture have since 1966 become not only a firm framework but also a multi-faceted stimulus for Sorbian music. They were held every two and later every four years, and the response to them in the German Democratic Republic as well as in other socialist and in capitalist countries testifies to the vigour and the advance of the Sorbs under socialism. In this development, Sorbian musicology began to continue the legacy of the former Macica Serbska. At the Institute of Sorbian Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R. issues of folk music had first been high on the agenda, later, however, on the occasion of K. A. KOCOR'S 150th birth anniversary, research tasks in musicology were at last drawn up.24 In the Letopis C of the Institute, the history of Sorbian music was covered by a variety of articles. These materials include treatises on Sorbian church music. Likewise, contributions were published on folk music and on Sorbian middleclass musical activities in the 19th century. All these publications also pointed to the necessity of joint German and Sorbian research into the regional (Lusatian) musical historiography. The importance of this subject became increasingly clear owing to the fact that since 1974 it has been treated in lectures at colleges and universities, and in panel discussions of the Association of Composers and Musicologists of the G.D.R. In 1974, DETLEF KOBJELA (born in 1944), a music teacher and musician, was

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appointed full-time scientific secretary of the study group of Sorbian musicians in the Association. In the same year, KOBJELA outlined "Die Entwicklung der sorbischen Musik in der DDR" in the anthologies on the musical history of the G.D.R. An integral part of Sorbian music in the past had met with no noteworthy response. Now it had developed to become a tangible artistic genre. KOBJELA proved this point in his essay on "Die Sinfonik Jan Raupps als Beitrag des sorbischen zeitgenössischen Musikschaffens zur sozialistischen Musikkultur in der DDR". This investigation appeared in 1975 in Letopis of the Institute of Sorbian Ethnography. — The new edition of "Pesnicki" by J. A. SMOLER ( 1 9 5 1 and 1 9 8 4 ) as well as the enlarged new edition of JAN R A W P - R A U P P ' S ( 1 9 2 8 ) treatise "Serbska hudzba — Sorbische Musik" in 1978 gave a systematic survey on the emergence and development of an artistic component of Sorbian culture in the past and in the present. In the work of numerous folk art teams, Sorbian folk music is today resounding in all its beauty. The work of the representatives of the Sorbian musical heritage is gaining growing numbers of competent friends in the overall system of concerts, and a young and maturing generation of composers such as J . RAWP, J . BULANK, J . P . NAGEL ( 1 9 3 4 ) , D . KOBJELA a n d JURO M£T§K ( 1 9 5 4 ) , h a s s e t t o

work in order to continue a characteristic, venerable tradition in a variety of ways and to fill it anew with life.

References and footnotes 1 RAUPP, J. } Zur Geschichte der elbslawisch-sorbischen Volksmusikanten, in: Sorbische Volksmusikanten und Musikinstrumente, Bautzen 1963, pp. 2 5 — 5 0 ; idem, Zur Problematik der elbslawisch-sorbischen Musikkultur, in: Letopis C 15(1972), pp. 101 to 107 2 Cf. RAUPP, J., "Serbow dobyca" (The victories of the Sorbs) (Eine Entgegnung zum Diskussionsbeitrag W . Gesemanns), in: Letopis C 10(1967), pp. 93—97 3 Cf. MFET§K, F., Einige Bemerkungen zur schriftlichen Überlieferung des niedersorbischen "Kriegsliedes" (Versuch einer A n t w o r t auf die Ausführungen K . Horaleks), in: Letopis C 5(1961/2), pp. 1 3 8 - 1 4 2 4 Cf. RAUPP, J., Einige Quellen zur Lage und zum Wirken elbslawischer Volksmusikanten v o m 13. bis 16. Jahrhundert, in: Sorbische Volksmusikanten ..., pp. 50—63 5 Cf. ibidem, p. 58 6 Cf. ibidem, pp. 59—60; Cf. also FINDEISEN, P., Die Briesener Wandmalerei von I486, in: LStopis C 14(1971), pp. 7 3 - 8 9

7 M£TSK, F., Zur urkundlichen und zur volkskundlichen Tradition des Uckroer A u f standes, in: M6TSK, F., Studien zur Geschichte sorbisch-deutscher Kulturbeziehungen, Bautzen 1 9 8 1 , pp. 2 3 7 - 2 4 1

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8 Cf. Bergreien. Eine Liedersammlung des 16. Jahrhunderts in drei Folgen. Herausgegeben von G . H E I L F U R T H , E. S E E M A N N , H. SIUTZ und H . W O L F , Tübingen 1959, pp. 7 6 - 7 7 , 249 9 Cf. R A U P P , J., Die sorbische Kantionalliteratur und Kirchenmusik, in: R A U P P , J., Sorbische Musik, Bautzen 1978, pp. 4 0 - 4 9 10 Cf. R A U P P , J . , Sorbische Volksmusikanten ..., pp. 64—118 11 Cf. R A U P P , J., Sorbische Musik, p. 42. Also F. M £ T § K expressed his opinion on the advancing research on S. SKODA, in: M E T S K , F., Studien zur Geschichte sorbischdeutscher Kulturbeziehungen, p. 181 12 Cf. also R A W P , J., Lusatus Jan Krygar — "Berlinski hudzbny direktor" (Lusatus Jan Krygar — Berlin chief conductor), in: Nowa doba 23. 6. 1984 1 3 D I E H L E , H., Musikgeschichte von Bautzen, Bautzen 1 9 2 4 , p. 4 foil. 14 Cf. ibidem 15 L U S C A N S K I - W Ü S C H A N S K Y , J., M . J. Waidas Orgelbuch aus dem Jahre 1787, in: Letopis C 16(1973), pp. 8 1 - 8 5 16 Cf. R A U P P , J . , Anfänge des weltlichen sorbischen Musikschaffens, in: idem, Sorbische Musik, pp. 50—57 17 Cf. M U S I A T , S., Über die volkskundlichen Werke von Johann Hortzschansky und Michael Conrad, in: Letopis C 10(1967), pp. 1 0 2 - 1 4 0 . 1 8 The third edition of H A U P T , L . / J . E. SCHMALER (ed.), Volkslieder der Wenden ..., Bautzen 1984 contains the history of its formation and a present overall assessment (Preface by J . R A U P P ) . 1 9 R A U P P , J., Sorbische Musik, pp. 6 2 — 7 1 ; Kosciöw, ZB., Korla August Kocor — Wobraz ziwjenja a skutkowanja (Korla Awgust Kocor — Life and work), Budysin 1972

20 Kosciöw, ZB., Jurij Pilk — Wobrys Ziwjenja a skutkowanja (Jurij Pilk — brief survey of his life and work), Budysin 1968 21 R A U P P , J., Sorbische Musik, pp. 82—92 22 K E F E R , J., Bjarnat Krawc. K sedmdesatinam luzickosrbskeho hudebniho skladatele a spisovatele (Bjarnat Krawc. On the occasion of the 70th birthday of the Sorbian composer and writer), V Praze 1931 23 R A U P P , J., Sorbische Musik, p. 98 foil. 24 R A U P P , J . , Forschungen zur sorbischen Musikkultur, in: 30 Jahre Institut für sorbische Volksforschung 1951 — 1981, pp. 63—65. The specialized literature in the G . D . R . , but also in other socialist and in capitalist countries, is increasingly devoting, more detailed attention to Sorbian music and to its representatives.

Connections between Russian and Sorbian Culture and Science in the 19th and early 20th Centuries (until 1914) B y LUDMILA P . LAPTEVA

It is a well-known fact that international scientific and cultural connections belong to phenomena and processes of the superstructure in the history of society, and as such are dependent on the basis. However, this regularity is sometimes mediated in multiple degrees. A direct influence on scientific and cultural contacts is exterted above all by the political situation which in its turn is determined by phenomena of the basis. In the concrete case of contacts between Sorbs and Russia it is these factors that were decisive. A political event which created ample possibilities for first visits by Russians to Lusatia were the Napoleonic Wars in the course of which the Russian armies, pursuing the French army, passed also through the areas inhabited by Lusatian Sorbs. Nowadays it is known that these conditions for getting acquainted with the Slavs of Germany were well used. The socio-political processes that took place in Russia in the second third of the 19th century necessitated the development of the sciences, of knowledge about neighbouring and distant peoples. The setting-up of Chairs of Slavic Studies at Russian universities was predetermined by these very circumstances, and in its turn, made it necessary to send young scientists to Slavic regions, to prepare them for holding such Chairs. The process of national rebirth taking place in the Slavic countries in the wake of historical developments in Europe also embraced the Lusatian Sorbs. From that moment, contacts between Russians and Lusatian Sorbs ceased to be a matter of chance and became regular, acquaintances became mutual, and assumed a new quality: observations attained the level of contacts which were practically not interrupted until the end of the period under consideration, although some political upheavals did affect them directly. Thus, the contacts weakened and were even temporarily suspended during the; Revolution of 1848 to 1849, and especially in the years of the First World War, when a front-line was running through Russia and Germany. This goes to show that an influence of the historical situation on RussianSorbian contacts is beyond any doubt. But it is also clear that the mediated character of this influence produced a periodization of contacts different from that of universal history. This is completely natural, considering the subjective factor

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of scientific and cultural contacts, the same as in general the factor of backwardness of phenomena of the superstructure to those of the basis. Taking the above-mentioned aspects into account, we assume that it is possible to divide Russian-Sorbian relationships in the 19th and early 20th centuries into three stages. The first stage was from the beginning to the 40s of the 19th century, a period, when Russia became acquainted with the Slavic world, including the Slavic culture in Germany, when information was accumulated about European Slavic culture in general, including that of the Lusatian Sorbs. The information was passive as yet and was no vehicle of contacts, so that contacts as phenomena of communication did not exist. This stage can be described as a preparatory one. The second period was from the 40s to the early 80s of the 19th century. This period saw representatives of a generation communicate who had been educated in the spirit of Slavic reciprocity and of a Romantic Slavophilism. A large variety of forms and a deepening content of the contacts which developed along an ascendant line, particularly after the early 60s, were to be observed. The third stage was from the early 60s to the end of the period under consideration. This stage is characterized by changing concepts and a search for new forms, but also by a flexible utilization of existing forms. Representatives of Russia began to get acquainted with Lusatian Sorbs practically as early as in the first years of the 19th century. In 1804, the Russian students of Göttingen University A. I. TURGENEV (1784—1845, a friend of the great Russian poet A. S. PUSHKIN) and A. S. K A J S A R O V (1782—1813, a future professor in Dorpat), who were interested in Slavs and did not know anything about their lives, decided to go on a tour of Slavic countries. On 12 April 1804, they set out from Göttingen to Leipzig and Dresden with the intention of seeing in Görlitz the Lusatian scholar K. G. VON ANTON, who was known to them by his essay "Erste Linien eines Versuches über die alten Slawen ...". The Russian students wanted to see VON ANTON'S rare collection of books in all Slavic languages. On their way to Görlitz, TURGENEV and K A J S A R O V visited Bautzen and became acquainted with Slavic antiquities of interest to them. In Görlitz, the travellers met VON ANTON, who received them very well, giving them books and letters of recommendation for Vienna and Prague. "He enriched my information [about Slavs. — L.L.] and showed me new sources", TURGENEV wrote about VON ANTON. K A J S A R O V , too, having perused a number of manuscripts in VON ANTON'S library, put down data about them in his note-book1. In fact, the information of the first Russian travellers on the Sorbian people was superficial, but their interest in the Sorbs leaves no doubt, and the contacts with VON ANTON can be classified as literary and cultural relations. Unfortunately, the journey of the Russian students from Göttingen did little to promote the enrichment of Russian society by information on Lusatian Sorbs. The materials of this journey were not publicized,

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details about TURGENEV'S and KAJSAROV'S stay in Lusatia became known only more than a century later, when the archives of the TURGENEV family were accessible to researchers, and were published thereafter2. For the 19th century, the most detailed information on Lusatian Sorbs and their areas of settlement is contained in the "Putevoj dnevnik" of V A S I L I J FEDOROVIC TIMKOVSKIJ. This diary, written in 1814, has not been published 3 and until quite recently was unknown to scientists4. The author of the diary TIMKOVSKIJ (1781 to 1832), a high-ranking public servant of the Russian Empire, stayed in Lusatia twice: first, in 1813, within the Russian Army engaged in combat against NAPOLEON on the territory of Germany, and then, in late September—early October 1814, when he was on a journey on the route Berlin—Storkow—Beeskow— Friedland—Fehrow (Psewoz)—Cottbus—Spremberg (Grodk)—Hoyerswerda (Wojerecy)—Neschwitz (N j eswacidlo)—Hochkirch (Bukecy)—Löbau—Herrnhut—Zittau (Zitawa)—Görlitz (Zhorjelc), on his way to Warsaw, obviously on business5. On his way, TIMKOVSKIJ stopped in a number of places, so as to study the customs of the population. He talked with local people, saw representatives of the clergy, visited some libraries, penetrated deeply into the life of towns and villages through which he was passing, turning his attention primarily to the Slavic people of the region, to their economic, social and national situation. All in all, the "Putevoj dnevnik" of TIMKOVSKIJ is a unique source. It constitutes the first more or less detailed Russian description of the Lusatian Sorbian people in Prussia and Saxony, is authentic to a great degree and of great scientific value in our times. In the early 19th century the contents of the "Putevoj dnevnik" did not meet with any social response. After his return to Russia TIMKOVSKIJ did not publish the diary, the source was kept in private hands and fell into oblivion. Ignorant of TIMKOVSKIJ'S notes was also 1.1. SREZNEVSKIJ, who assumed that it was he who was the first Russian scholar to have visited the Lusatian Sorbs in 1840 and taken an interest in them. In 1822, M. K. BOBROVSKIJ 6 stayed in Lusatia. He was a clergyman of the United Church, who was sent to Europe by the University of Wilna especially to get acquainted with the teaching of theological disciplines, but at the same time he established contacts with the European Slavic culture and discovered numerous Slavic manuscripts in archives and libraries. In Bautzen, BOBROVSKIJ met H. LUBENSKI, with whom he discussed Sorbian philology. BOBROVSKIJ also visited Görlitz, where he saw the library and was particularly interested in the manuscript dictionary of CHRISTIAN HENNING (1705), from which he made ample excerpts "about the Wends". M. K. BOBROVSKIJ'S report on his stay in Lusatia was printed in the journal "Vestnik Evropy" in 18257, supplying the Russian reading public with quite important information about the language of the Lusatian Sorbs and its state of development, about the places inhabited by these people, and about Sorbian literature.

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The Russian scholar P . I . KOPPEN had even some more distinct ideas than on literary life in Lusatia in the first quarter of the 19th century. In 1825, in the "Bibliograficeskie listy" edited by him, he published an article on Sorbian literature in Lusatia8. Here, to the information of Russian readers, a list of Sorbiaii works was added, news of which KOPPEN had received from J. DoBROVSKY, and as a result of his own searching in European libraries during his journey9. All in all, however, it can be said that knowledge about Lusatian Sorbs in the first quarter of the 19th century in Russia was accidental and not profound. There were some notions about the language and writing system, but neither data about the number of Sorbs, nor about their region of settlement, nor about their way of life were known in Russia. This situation changed only in the early 40s of the 19th century, when young Russian scholars sent abroad to study the Slavs, visited the land of the Lusatian Sorbs and learnt about it in greater detail from a number of sources. Standing out from these scholars was 1.1. SREZNEVSKIJ (1812—1880). In 1839 he went abroad to prepare himself for professorship and a subsequent appointment as head of the Chair of Slavic studies at Kharkov University. From 1847 to the end of his life, he was a professor of Slavic studies at Petersburg University. 1 . 1 . SREZNEVSKIJ was the greatest Russian scholar of Slavic studies in the 19th century, one of the founders of this discipline in Russia19. The principal sources of information on SREZNEVSKIJ's stay among the Sorbs are his official reports to the Ministry of Education11 and unofficial personal letters to relatives and friends in Russia, to Slavic scholars etc. The most valuable information is contained in letters to his mother, which were printed only after the scholar's death12, and to well-known Slavists of that era — V . HANKA 1 3 and P. I. §AFAftfK 1 4 . Letters of SREZNEVSKIJ to Sorbian scholars and eminent personalities in cultural life are not extant. The above-mentioned materials provided the basis for a series of articles on SREZNEVSKIJ'S connections with Lusatian Sorbs15. The rich funds of his private archives were left almost unused in elucidating this issue16. SREZNEVSKIJ arrived in Lusatia in September 1840 and stayed there about two months. Together with J. A. SMOLER he travelled across the region, lived in the very midst of the people, and studied their life. SREZNEVSKIJ paid special attention to the Sorbian language which he considered not only an object of observation in its own right, but also material revealing the regularities of development in Slavic languages in general. SREZNEVSKIJ'S stay in Lusatia played a great role in his formation as an ethnographer and folklorist. When SREZNEVSKIJ'S journey with SMOLER is dealt with in literature, the Russian scholar often comes into the foreground, while SMOLER is assigned the role of a "guide" 17 , of a "nice and wellinformed fellow traveller" 18 . Such a lowering of SMOLER'S role appears unjustified. SMOLER was a mentor, who took SREZNEVSKIJ on a purposeful tour of the country, BOBROVSKIJ

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to show his guest the best and original of what had remained among the Lusatian Sorbs, who had been subjected to intense Germanization. This is shown by the sources, notably the letters from SREZNEVSKIJ himself. SMOLER beforehand arranged meetings for SREZNEVSKIJ, organized performances of Sorbian songs and dances, the presentation of Sorbian costumes, the staging of rituals of marriage and other occasions. As far as the collection of Sorbian songs by SREZNEVSKIJ is concerned, he could only record, whatever was already well known to SMOLER. SREZNEVSKIJ's independence during the journey was also considerably limited by the language barrier: He only knew the language from books, and did not understand its spoken form as yet, mastering it only gradually. Obviously, SREZNEVSKIJ is indebted to SMOLER also for the abundance of folklore material acquired during his stay in Lusatia. SREZNEVSKIJ made a great contribution to the study of the ethnography of Lusatian Sorbs in the first half of the 19th century. He studied the history of ancient Lusatia. Very valuable are the results of his research into the Sorbian language. Much credit goes to SREZNEVSKIJ for helping create the orthography accepted for Sorbian folksongs, a collection of which was already prepared for publication by SMOLER in 1840. After returning to Russia SREZNEVSKIJ wrote an "Istoriceskij ocerk serbo-luzickoj literatury" 19 , which was the first work in Russia about the Lusatian Sorbs, a first experience in presenting the history of Sorbian literature. The material compiled by this scholar on the Sorbian language, folklore and ethnography was the basis for a number of scientific investigations, and was actively used also in teaching activities. In Petersburg, SREZNEVSKIJ held lectures on Slav philology not only at the University, but also at the Principal Pedagogical Institute (until 1854). Throughout his life SREZNEVSKIJ took a vivid interest in Sorbian literature. He wrote reviews on unpublished works by Lusatian Sorbs (at the request of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences and other institutions), reviews on investigations published among the Sorbs, contributed to journals published by Sorbian personalities and corresponded with a number of people. SREZNEVSKIJ was well acquainted with all eminent Sorbian personalities of the period of resurgent nationalism: he met H. ZEJLER, was on friendly terms with L. HAUPT, J . P. JORDAN, and others. He established especially close ties with SMOLER — he exchanged letters with him and was a friend of him until the end of his life. In I860, SREZNEVSKIJ visited Lusatia once more, and made the acquaintance of M. H6RNIK. Extant letters of Sorbian national activists20 bear testimony to the vast fruitful cultural and scientific connections between the Russian scholar and his Sorbian colleagues. Thus, it is possible to draw a conclusion on the fundamental importance of 1.1. SREZNEVSKIJ for establishing Sorbian and Russian scientific and cultural connections in the 19th century. In substance, SREZNEVSKIJ "discovered" the Lusatian Sorbs for Russia. Before his communications, the cultivated Russian 9

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society had only extremely dim notions of the small Slavic people. It is from SREZtime on that investigations of the Sorbian language started in Russia. In his "Istoriceskij ocerk" he revealed the Sorbs not only to the Russians, but also to the other Slavs, he provided incentives for developing a genuine interest in them, and stimulated the Sorbs themselves to work on the development of their own literature. Having made a deep impact on the emergence of national consciousness among Lusatian Sorbs, SREZNEVSKIJ was conducive also to their national awakening. However, without the active cooperation, scientific assistance and the benevolent participation of Lusatian Sorbs, in the first place, of SMOLER as well as of other Slavic-oriented Sorbs, it would have been impossible for SREZNEVSKIJ to fulfil many tasks as well he as did. In this manner, SREZNEVSKIJ laid the foundation for the further development of Sorbian-Russian contacts. In 1842, the Sorbs were visited by O. M. BODJANSKIJ (1808—1877), then a young scientist, who was sent abroad for specialization in the field of Slavic studies, and later became a Professor of Moscow University, a founder of Russian professional Slavic studies, and for many years Secretary of the Society of Russian History and Antiquities (Obscestvo Istorii i Drevnostej Rossijskich-OIDR) at Moscow University and editor of the "Readings" (Ctenija) of this Society (COIDR), that are well known in Slavist circles. The work of BODJANSKIJ has been extensively studied. His relationships with Lusatian Sorbs have been treated in full by the literature21. BODJANSKIJ spent six weeks in Lusatia in 1842, became acquainted with the state of development of the Sorbian literature and language, set up contacts with several patriotic-minded Sorbs and became a close friend of SMOLER. After his return to Russia and his appointment as Professor of Moscow University, BODJANSKIJ devoted great attention to Sorbian themes: he held lectures on the Sorbian language and literature, incited the students to do independent work on philological Sorbian sources22. One of his students, E . P. NOVIKOV, compiled a dictionary of Sorbian Lusatian23, and in 1849 wrote a Master's thesis "O vaznejsich osobennostjach luzickich narecij", which became a remarkable event for Russian philology in the 1840s. This study was the first in the history of language science to deal with the position of Sorbian Lusatian among the other Slavic languages. Apart from teaching Sorbian language and literature, BODJANSKIJ actively exchanged scientific information with Sorbian scholars. Evidence for this is provided by his correspondence, notably with SMOLER24. A major role therein was reserved to the exchange of books. BODJANSKIJ was an active customer of books from the firm SMOLER & PECH, and it is owing to this fact that practically all publications of Sorbian literature were to be found in his library. Thus BODJANSKIJ assumed a great role in consolidating Russia's relations with Lusatian Sorbs. By disseminating ample knowledge on Lusatian Sorbs among his students, he stimulated research on Sorbian language and literature, infused sympathy with this NEVSKLJ's

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small people and sympathy for their national movement. The Professor himself was conspicuous for these very features. Among the first Russian scholars to be sent abroad in the 1840s, to be prepared to hold Chairs of Slav Studies at Russian Universities were P . I . P R E J S (1810 to 1846)25 and V . I . GRIGOROVIC (1815—1876)26. Unlike SREZNEVSKIJ and BODJANSKIJ, P R E J S and GRIGOROVIC did not stay in Lusatia, but took an interest in the language, literature and history of Lusatian Sorbs and used the knowledge they had accumulated in theoretical studies of sources, in order to teach Slavic languages and literatures after returning home from their journeys across Slavic countries. An eminent disseminator of Sorbian literature in Russia was P. P. DUBROVSKIJ (1812—1882) — a philologist who studied Russian and Slavic literature. In 1841, he visited Slavic countries, including a visit to Lusatia. After returning to Russia, he began to publish in Russian and Polish the journal "Dennica", in which he informed the readers particularly about the literary movement among the Lusatian Sorbs. DUBROVSKIJ reviewed articles from Sorbian publications, wrote about new literary works in Sorbian newspapers, published major articles on Sorbian literature and life. In this context, he published an article "Putesestvie v Luzicu vesnoj 1839 goda" by Slovak poet and national politician L ' u D O v f T STUR27. Even more valuable are the articles of Sorbian authors on Sorbian literature published in "Dennica". SMOLER wrote for the journal "Kratkoe obozrenie serbskoj literatury v Verchnej Luzice ot ee nacala do 1767g."28 and J . P. JORDAN "Novejsee napravlenie serbskoj literatury v Verchnej Luzice" 29 . These articles provided the first detailed information in Russian on Sorbian literature. In the "Dennica'' DUBROVSKIJ published extensive surveys of Sorbian periodicals which apart from information contained appeals to the Slavs to provide assistance to the Sorbs' literary activities30. Examples of Sorbian folk poetry in the original language with translations into Russian and Polish were also printed in the "Dennica" 31 . More than 20 papers on the Lusatian Sorbs were printed in the journal, which existed only from 1842 to 1843. The information was unique. In those years there was no other Russian-language journal to inform so thoroughly and extensively about the Sorbian movement and literature. The Warsawbased "Dennica" of DUBROVSKIJ took the first place among 19th century Slavic journals outside Lusatia in regard to its informedness and ample material on this small Slavic people. Despite this fact, the importance of the "Dennica" in the dissemination in Russia of knowledge on the Lusatian Sorbs was practically insignificant. The Warsaw journal had very few subscribers and ceased to exist in 1843 for lack of funds. Indeed, DUBROVSKIJ continued to study Slavic literatures and to publish in the journal "Moskvitjanin" his communications, including those on the Lusatian Sorbs' national life and on Sorbian books32. On the whole, DUBROVSKIJ's activities constitute a colourful page in Russian9*

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Sorbian relations in the 1840s. The material presented by him in the two journals mentioned continues to be even in our times a most valuable source on these connections which has as yet not been used in elucidating them. Lusatian Sorbs on their part, began to publish materials on Russian literature from the time when their own printed periodicals appeared. In the dissemination of ample information on Russian literature not only among Lusatian Sorbs, but also in the whole of Germany and outside its borders, most credit is due to JAN P£TR JORDAN (1818—1891), a noted personality in Sorbian national rebirth 33 . In 1842 he published the newspaper "Jutnicka", in which he placed a number of materials on Russia. From 1842 to 1848, when JORDAN was lecturing on Slavic languages and literatures at Leipzig University, his connections with Russian scholars broadened. From the very first issue of his journal "Jahrbücher für slawische Literatur, Kunst und Wissenschaft" (published from 1843 to 1848) JORDAN printed Russian material in it. The most extensive and scientifically most valuable material on Russian literature published in the "Jahrbücher" from 1843 to 1844 were extracts from V . G. BELINSKIJ'S monograph on PUSHKIN entitled "Kurze Skizze der Geschichte der russischen Literatur" (Jahrbücher I, pp. 265—270, 344—350; II, pp. 91—93, 143—147). In 1846, JORDAN completed this material and published it as a separate book entitled "Geschichte der russischen Literatur. Nach russischen Quellen bearbeitet von J. P . JORDAN (Leipzig 1846, 190 pp.)" 34 . Admittedly, the name of the great Russian critic was not mentioned in that book, nor in earlier translations of individual articles published by JORDAN. Besides JORDAN himself, also other authors wrote on Russian literature in the "Jahrbücher". Publications included translations of reviews of the most important Russian works of literature, surveys. The publication of an anthology of Russian literature was analyzed, and notes on some articles were printed. JORDAN'S journal provides much interesting material on the history of Russian literature and journalism. Concerning the extent of information on Russian cultural life in the 1840s the "Jahrbücher" obtained the first place in Europe. No other periodical, neither in Germany, nor in Slavic countries, treated Russian literature in such a systematic manner, nor did it contain so much information on it. Moreover, the "Jahrbücher" themselves often served as a source of information for the German press and journalism on Russian culture. It is also important, that JORDAN essentially was shedding light on progressive phenomena of Russian literature. In 1848 he handed over the editing of the journal to Smoler. Little is known about JORDAN'S personal connections with Russian scholars. He had an exchange of letters with A . A . K U N I K , a Russian slavist of German origin 35 , and later on, with SREZNEVSKIJ 3 6 and B O D J A N S K I J 3 7 . He was also acquainted with a few other Russian scholars. JORDAN'S literary activity was of great importance for developing SorbianRussian contacts. In substance, he was the first to make Western Europe acquaint-

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ed with Russian literature in its progressive manifestations, notably, with the work of BELINSKIJ. JORDAN'S translations and compilations for some decades became a source of information about Russian literature for western scholars-and publicists. Thus, the Sorbian national writer made a very essential contribution to the dissemination in Europe of knowledge on Russia. The revolutionary upheavals from 1848 to 1849 led to a temporary suspension of Russian-Slavic connections in general. But in the mid-50s, Sorbian-Russian contacts were reestablished and their scale was widened and deepened. SMOLER renewed his correspondence with Russian scholars. Sorbian journals continuously published information on Russian scientific and cultural life, and the Macica Serbska accepted as its members Russian scholars and sponsors. On the other hand, the interest in Lusatian Sorbs became more vivid in Russia. Young people, sent abroad in increasing numbers to study the life of Slavs, visited Lusatia. Russian journals and newspapers published theoretical articles, travel notes, and stories about the travellers' stay among Lusatian Sorbs; scientific societies and individuals sent literature to Sorbian organizations, and individuals, and provided material assistance to almost all major national initiatives undertaken by Lusatian Sorbs. The contacts between first-generation Russian slavists and the older generation of Sorbian patriots were continued. Besides, personal contacts were entered into by new eminent personalities from Russia and from among Lusatian Sorbs. Gf the Russian slavists of the 1850s— 1870s who were interested in Lusatian Sorbs, A. T. HILFERDING (1831—1872)38 assumed an outstanding position. He was a scholar, publicist and an eminent personality in social life. He said much that was new in the history and ethnography of Slavs, as well as in Slavic linguistics. HILFERDING was primarily concerned with investigating the life of Western and Southern Slavs (although he also wrote on Russia) and devoted most of his attention to their history39. In 1855 he stayed in Lusatia and, immediately upon his return to Russia, wrote the work "Narodnoe vozrozdenie serbov-luzican v Saksonii" 40 on his recent impressions and field studies of relevant material. This article describes the course of Sorbian rebirth in the 1840s and 1850s. Many facts are reported, individual representatives of the Sorbian national movement characterized. Generally, detailed and multi-faceted information on the life of contemporary Sorbs is provided. The facts accumulated from reliable sources are beyond any doubt. However, their selection and sometimes interpretation are subjected to a certain tendency. As a result, the assessment of ways the Sorbs defended their nationality against Germanization was running counter to historical reality. In spite of this fact, HILFERDING'S work remained in Russian literature a source of information on the Sorbian national rebirth in the 1840s and 1850s, for some authors up to the early 20th century. HILFERDING'S connections with Sorbian writers, established during his stay in Lusatia, did not cease until the end of the scholar's days. Most active were his contacts with SMOLER, who translated into German and published

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some of HILFERDING'S works. As is indicated by J. CYZ, the editor of SMOLER'S correspondence, SMOLER translated and published four works by HILFERDING 41 . The translations of another three articles were printed in the "Zeitschrift für Slawische Literatur, Kunst und Wissenschaft" (1862—1865)42. Letters handed down to us contain information about the translation of yet another work by HILFERDING " H U S . His Attitude to the Orthodox Church" 43 . But obviously, this translation did not appear in print. Interest for the activities of HILFERDING in Lusatia was shown not only by SMOLER. The journal "Luzican" mentioned the publication in Russia of new works of the scholar44 and published in 1872 an obituary written by M. HÓRNIK 45 . HILFERDING did not lose sight of the Sorbían people and its outstanding national personalities. Having become chairman of the St. Petersburg Philanthropic Committee in 1869, the scholar constantly stimulated this organization to assist Lusatian Sorbs46. Thus, HILFERDING was the first Russian scholar to give press coverage to the contemporary national life of Lusatian Sorbs. He continued a tradition begun in Russia by SREZNEVSKIJ. From the 1850s to the 1870s active coverage was given to the present and past of Lusatian Sorbs by the Russian press — by journals (theoretical, educational and pedagogic, and popularized), weeklies, newspapers, omnibus editions and Surveys. The task of the press was to keep the readers up-to-date about this small Slavic people, to make them sympathetic with its difficult national situation, and to convince them of the need to assist it in preserving its Slavic character. An important way of keeping the Russian public aware of the investigation of Lusatian Sorbs was the publication of reports and other papers by Russian scholars who had stayed in Lusatia. As a rule, they were Slavist Professors, persons preparing themselves to become such, as well as those who were in general studying Russian history, philology, and culture. At that time the following persons visited the Lusatian Sorbs, put down their impressions and wrote articles: the future Academician M. I. SUCHOMLINOV, P. A. LAVROSKIJ, Professor of Kharkov University, and P. A. ROVINSKIJ, who later became famous as an ethnographer and historian of Montenegro. In 1861, Professor J. K. GROT was in Bautzen, who was later to become an Academician and Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences in Petersburg, and in 1862, V. I. LAMANSKIJ, then an M. A. who was later to become a Slavist Professor and an eminent social personality; at that time Lusatia was visited by M. FORTUNATOV, then a doctor of Petersburg University. In 1863, two more Russian scholars — A. VESELOVSKIJ and O. MILLER — visited Bautzen. A. A. KOCUBINSKIJ, a lecturer and future Professor of Novorossijsk University familiarized himself very thoroughly with Lusatian Sorbs. From 1874 to 1876 he studied Slavic philology in Slavic countries. An intensive exchange of scientific publications took place. In 1864 alone, the Macica Serbska received'from Russia publications of the.Academy of Sciences, of the Archaeological Society, of the Geographical Society, and of the Public Library 47 . Some Russian scientists and

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sponsors were members of the Macica Serbska48 in various years. In that period special reviews of Sorbian literature, including its history, appeared. Most important of these was a chapter in the "Obzor istorii slavjanskich literatur" ( 1 8 6 5 ) by A . N . PYPIN and V . D . SPASOVIC. The chapter was written by PYPIN ( 1 8 3 3 — 1 9 0 4 ) , an eminent Russian scholar and art historian. Although in the material of facts, P Y P I N made quite a few mistakes, the shedding of light on the process of development of literature in the "Obzor" was of an innovative character. While the preceding (and later) reviews only enumerated names and data, PYPIN viewed Sorbian literature as a phenomenon which had organically emerged from the national environment, as a regular development of ideas and of the epoch's conditions. The "Obzor istorii slavjanskich literatur" attracted much attention from all Slavs. SMOLER wrote an extensive review in the journal "Luzican" 49 . Apart from reviews materials, such as songs and poetical works of the Sorbian people were printed in Russia. The song texts, taken from the famous collection by L. H A U P T and SMOLER, were given in Russian translation60. Published were also works of a statistical nature51 and a great number of popular articles on various aspects of life of the Lusatian Sorbs. In general, the Russian press in the third quarter of the 19th century devoted much attention to general problems — the revival and development of literature, the process of Germanization and the future destiny of the Sorbs in terms of their history, ethnography, and culture. Only rarely was information published on the socio-economic situation of the Sorbian ethnic community, and little on national and cultural life. As far as information on Russia, in Sorbian printed publications from the same period was concerned, the picture was somewhat different.52 We found German-language periodicals of Lusatian Sorbs, such as the "Zeitschrift für slawische Literatur, Kunst und Wissenschaft" (ZSLKW), which was published by J. A. SMOLER in Bautzen from 1862 to 1865. The task of this journal was to familiarize the European public that did not know any Slavic language with Slavic theoretical works, literature, art, and bibliography. Naturally, from this point of view, the works of Russian authors figured prominently in the periodical. The ZSLKW carried an article by A. A. KUNIK on Russian-Byzantian coins53, extracts from an article by V. A. ELAGIN on Lithuania54, and some articles by A . T. HILFERDING 5 5 . From the works of SREZNEVSKIJ, who by that time had become one of the most eminent Russian philologists, a review of monuments of Old Slavic Glagolitic writing was published56. Printed were articles by the Slavist Professor V. I. LAMANSKI J 5 7 , by M. P. POGODIN 58 , Professor of Russian history from Moscow University, and others. Apart from investigations, theoretical informative materials were published. Each issue of the journal contained communications on the latest Russian literature. Owing to the "Russica" published in the "Zeitschrift", readers who did not know the Russian language, received a good notion of the development of Russian slavistics and of studies on Russian history. Another organ to

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publish information on Russia was the journal "Luzican", which appeared in Upper Sorbian in Bautzen. Founded by M . H 6 R N I K , it appeared from 1 8 6 0 onwards as a monthly literary journal. It contained translations of the classics of Russian literature, articles on the study of literature (including writers' biographies), geographical and ethnographic works on Russia, articles on historical personalities and on events of past epochs, impressions of Sorbs on their stay in Russia, information on new Russian books, newspapers and journals, information on the activities of Russian slavists, on scientific organizations and events, on musical life and other news, obituaries and other communications on the death of writers, scholars, etc., responses to mentions of Lusatian Sorbs in Russian literature. The "Luzican" carried a profound article on PUSHKIN 5 9 . M . R J E N C published the first independent composition on TURGENEV in the Sorbian language60. Tales and stories by these writers were printed. A chapter on Lusatian Sorbs from the "Istorija slavjanskich literatur" (2nd ed., 1 8 7 9 — 1 8 8 1 ) 6 I by PYPIN and SPASOVIC translated by SMOLER was published in three issues of the "Luzican". Among the historical personalities, Tsar PETER THE G R E A T enjoyed the greatest attention of the journal's editors: an article on PETER'S sojourn in Holland was printed in a translation from Russian by G. WARKO 62 , as well as other information on the Russian emperor. Of considerable interest is also material which throws light on Russia. It was collected by Sorbs who had stayed there at different periods. In particular, in the course of 1 8 6 6 , the "Luzican" published a note by M . A. K R A L entitled "Tri leta w Ruskej" 63 . The strong side of the "Luzican" was information on Russian books, journals, and newspapers. It can be said without exaggerating that no Russian journal from the period under study (except perhaps, for special bibliographical periodicals, such as the "Kniznyj vestnik") could compete with the little "Luzican" in being well informed on the Russian printed publications. Generally, the response of Sorbian journals to Russian scientific, social and cultural life allows to draw a number of conclusions. The overall amount of information on Russia among the Sorbs was by far greater than the amount of communications on Lusatian Sorbs in the Russian press of the period under consideration. This fact appears as natural, since the cultural, scientific and social life of Lusatian Sorbs cannot be compared to that of Russia, and the Russian press simply lacked great objects for investigation and information. Another comparison is of interest here. The newspapers and journals of the Czechs, of the Southern Slavs etc. were by far inferior not only to the scientific "Zeitschrift", but also to the popular "Luzican" in terms of completeness of information. In this field Slavic-Russian relations, the Lusatian Sorbs of the 1850s—80s were far ahead of their Slavic brothers. The Russian and Sorbian press played a positive role in the cultural life of both peoples. The Russian press had a warm sympathy for the oppressed ethnic com-

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munity, for its endeavours, and was searching for means to counter the Germanization of their "fellow tribesmen". Information on Russia in Sorbian newspapers supported and consolidated the Slavic consciousness of the Sorbs, which helped them survive also the extremely unfavourable conditions of rapidly developing capitalism and an accompanying aggravation of Germanization. A central figure of Sorbian rebirth in the 19th century is J A N ARNOST SMOLER (1816—lSS^^.^It was SMOLER who made the principal contribution to the development of Sorbian-Russian relations in the period mentioned. His contacts with Russia were vast and varied. SMOLER translated Russian scientific investigations for his journals and newspapers, he kept a correspondence with scholars and other eminent personalities and societies in Russia, and gave assistance to Russians staying in Lusatia. SMOLER cooperated with Russian scientific societies (among them with the Academy of Sciences), with Russian philanthropic organizations which supported the Slavs, exchanged literature with teams and individuals, wrote articles for Russian publications, and publicized Russian culture and science in the Sorbian and German languages. SMOLER knew Russian comparatively well, going to Russia four times during his lifetime. In contrast to his connections with other Slavs, the distinctive feature of his contacts with Russia was the fact that it was there that he received material aid practically for all the measures that were necessary in support of the national activity and of the Sorbian national spirit. SMOLER himself was convinced by long experience that without Russian help the Lusatian Sorbs would perish as an independent ethnic group, and that it was impossible to expect material assistance from the other Slavs, because they, too, were fighting for their very existence. SMOLER'S attitude towards Russia was very friendly and obviously sincere. He was an enthusiast of Russian culture, highly appreciated its creators in the past and present, and saw in Russia the defender of all Slavs. In his public statements SMOLER always sided with Russia. In popular, teaching and other articles which were in plenty filling the columns of his journals and newspapers, SMOLER endeavoured to imbue his readers with respect and love for Russia, which he presented as an example, as the source of a great Slavic self-awareness and national pride. In Russia, SMOLER'S name was well known to all who were interested in Lusatian Sorbs. It was with his name that the rebirth of Lusatian Sorbs was associated. A certain literature emerged on SMOLER65 also in Russia, so as to give an idea of his life, work and activity as a leader of Lusatian Sorbs in the course of four decades in the 19th century. In general, SMOLER'S connections with Russia were so vast, that they deserve special investigation66. In the early 1880s, a new stage began in the development of Sorbian-Russian relations. It is due to a qualitative change in the process of the two peoples' historical development, as well as to a change in generations of outstanding personalities in cultural and scientific life. It was then that the Germanization process

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of Lusatian Sorbs was reinforced, and their cooperation with the Slavs began to be regarded as an anti-German activity directed against the state. They led to changed concepts among many eminent social personalities in regard to foreign Slavs. At the same time, the transformation in the 19th century of Russia, the greatest Slavic power, into a centre for studying the Slavs, increased the number of Slavist scholars that turned their attention to Sorbian Lusatian subjects. The significant literature on Lusatian Sorbs published in Russia now attained a higher qualitative level than that of the preceding period. Sorbian Lusatian scholars more frequently than before published their works in Russian journals, and Russian scholars, in Sorbian periodicals. The carriers of Russian-Sorbian connections in the period under consideration were in principle of the younger generation, but the older generation continued to contribute to the contacts. This applies in the first place to M . H6RNIK (1833—1894). In connecting the entire Sorbian movement with Russia, H6RNIK was a supporter of SMOLER, and, after his death, continued to maintain them. One of the Russian scholars who visited the Lusatian Sorbs in the 1880s, was I. S. PAL'MOV67, a well-known investigator of the Community of Czech brothers, who had contacts not only with H6RNIK, but also with A. M U K A , and who left an interesting description of his journey to the Lusatian Sorbs68. In 1882, the Russian slavist K. J. GROT stayed in Bautzen. Later he wrote the most profound article on H6RNIK in Russian literature69. Very fertile were the contacts the Russian scholar V. A . FRANCEV (1867—1942) had with Lusatian Sorbs. FRANCEV later became an eminent slavist investigating the Czech national rebirth and, especially, Russian-Slavic scientific and cultural connections. FRANCEV first stayed in Bautzen in 1894, but already as a student he had dealt with literature on the Sorbian movement. In 1896 FRANCEV started a correspondence with M U K A , and these contacts were not interrupted until the latter died in 193270. In the journals "Luzica" and "Casopis Macicy Serbskeje", FRANCEV published letters from outstanding personalities of the Sorbian revival to representatives of other Slavs, which he had come across in various archives. M U K A and FRANCEV continually exchanged scientific literature, the Russian scholar regularly subscribed to the "Luzica" and "Casopis Macicy" and printed articles on Sorbian themes in Russian journals. In 1897, FRANCEV dedicated three articles to the Macica to mark its 50th anniversary71. Besides M U K A , the Russian scholar knew M. SMOLER, M. ANDRICKI, K. A . FIEDLER, JAKUB SKALA, JAKUB CI§INSKI and others. He took a vivid concern for the needs of Lusatian Sorbs and helped them raise funds to build the "Dom Macicy". One of the remarkable facts of Russian-Sorbian scientific connections in the early 20th century are L. V. SCERBA'S (1880—1944) stay in Lusatia and his contacts with the Sorbs. SCERBA was a Russian linguist who was later to become a Soviet academician. On the advice of M U K A , SCERBA settled in the surroundings of Bad Muskau in 1907, to investigate the influence of one language on another

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among the same carriers or speakers of both. After familiarizing himself with the local population, SCERBA again visited this area in 1 9 0 8 and lived among the Sorbs a total of four months "benefiting from their hospitality and having found among them sincere friends" 72 . In 1 9 1 3 , SCERBA, apart from Bad Muskau, stayed in Bautzen and in other places and met M U K A in person in Freiberg, Saxony73. In 1 9 1 5 SCERBA'S monograph "Vostocno-luzickoe narecie" was issued which had a great significance for investigating the Sorbian language, and even for the development of Slavic linguistics in general74. SCERBA'S connections with M U K A continued over many years and were of a friendly character, which is reflected by the Russian scholar's letters to the Sorb. ARNOST M U K A (1854—1932)75 became a central figure of the Sorbian national movement in Lusatia after HORNIK'S death. M U K A ' S active connections with the world of the Russian intelligentsia began in the late 80s and early 90s, when he started publishing his works in' Russian journals and, consequently, opened a correspondence with the publishers and editors of a series of periodicals. In 1896 M U K A travelled to Russia76, established contacts with some Russian scholars and maintained a correspondence with them for a long time. Some Russians turned to him for consultation on scientific issues as he was editor of a scientific journal and, in general, an eminent personality of Sorbian culture. Each Russian Slavist staying in Germany and working on comparative Slavic linguistics, highly appreciated M U K A ' S authority and considered it his duty to meet the Sorbian scholar and have an interview with him. An ample bilateral correspondence is extant from the contacts of Russian scholars with M U K A . It is possible to enumerate about three dozen Russian correspondents of MUKA77. The investigation of this correspondence deserves a separate study. A special place in M U K A ' S contacts with Russia is reserved to his relations with the Academy of Sciences. The Academy awarded to M U K A the order of Stanislaus of the 3rd grade for his investigations in the field of Slavic languages78. In 1901, M U K A completed work on a Lower Sorbian dictionary. The Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences suggested to him to have the dictionary printed in Petersburg, and allocated funds to this effect. Printing of the dictionary began in 1911, but was not completed by the Revolution. An incomplete first volume was issued only in 192179. In 1913 the Russian Academy, highly appreciating M U K A ' S merits in developing Sorbian literature, elected him a corresponding member of the Department of Russian Language und Literature80. The great appreciation of M U K A ' S scientific achievements in Russia was also reflected by the fact that Russian literature on him is more aboundant than that on other eminent Sorbian personalities. In 1932, when the news came of M U K A ' S death, a meeting at the Institute of Slavistics of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. was devoted to his memory (Leningrad, November 1932). Thus, during the 30 years before the First World War and in the post-war period M U K A was the most famous Sorbian scholar in Russia.

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To conclude the presentation of the basic facts regarding Russian-Sorbian contacts from the 19th to the early 20th century, it is possible to state that these connections were limited to contacts between individuals and unofficial social organizations. The Russian government and government circles were indifferent to these connections. The relations were maintained on either side basically by moderate and conservative circles of society. This phenomenon was an issue based on social laws. The development of intellectual life in Russia in the 19th century was characterized by the existence of a number of currents, among which, however, from the 1840s onwards an interest in foreign Slavs was taken above all by the Slavophils, a current which was moderate in its very substance. On the other hand, the Sorbian ethnic community had only one chance to be saved from assimilation. It was to preserve loyalty to the ruling nation and its administration. This determined a conservative tendency among leading Sorbian personalities, if only they wanted to preserve their situation and to safeguard at least remnants of original life to this small people. The distinctive features of the national existence of Sorbs and of the endeavours to preserve the ethnic community consisted in the fact that this small people lacked material prerequisites for preserving and developing its national culture. Therefore, it is impossible to overestimate what contribution was made to preserving the Sorbian nationality on the part of a certain section of the Russian intelligentsia, which provided funds for all major national Sorbian measures. Despite the moderate and conservative worldoutlook of the absolute majority of those who maintained the Russian-Sorbian connections, these people had a great significance for developing many branches of Slavistic studies and of other sciences. From this angle, prominence is given to Slavic linguistics, but remarkable achievements must also be stated in the study of literature, in ethnography, mythology, and historiography. The contacts also led to a mutual enrichment of the material basis of the developing sciences, and hence to new successes in a number of fields of knowledge.

References and footnotes 1 Cf.: ISTRIN, V., Russkie putesestvenniki po slavjanskim zemljam v naiale XIX veka. Po dokumentam archiva brat'ev Turgenevych (Russian travellers of Slavic lands at the beginning of the 19th century. From documents of the archives of the brothers Turgenev), in: 2MNP, 1912, Nr. 9. There is also an article: KULMAN, V., Rusove v Luiici g. 1804 (Russians in Lusatia in 1804), in: Ceskolufcicky Vestnik (Praha), 15. 3. 1926, Nr. 3, pp. 17—18; it is however based on the above-mentioned article of V . ISTRIN and does not contain any new information. 2 Cf.: Pis'ma i dnevniki Aleksandra IvanoviCa Turgeneva gettingenskogo perioda ( 1 8 0 2 - 1 8 0 4 ) i pis'ma ego k A. S. Kajsarovu i brat'jam v Gettingen 1 8 0 5 - 1 8 1 1

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(Letters and diaries of Alexander Ivanovich Turgenev from the Goettingen period (1802—1804) and his letters to A. S. Kaisarov and his brothers in Goettingen from 1805 to 1811). — Archiv brat'ev Turgenevych (Archives of the Turgenev brothers) SPb 1911 3 It is preserved in the Department of Manuscripts of the Central Scientific Library of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian S.S.R. in Kiev under code number f. I 2332. 4 For the first time, T I M K O V S K I J ' S diary is mentioned in the press in the article: A P A NOVIC, E . M., Archiv A. I. Stepanovica, in: Sovetskoe slavjanovedenie (Soviet Slavic Studies) 1982, No. 5, p. 100. An article of L. A. SEJMAN, Vasilij Timkovskij i ego dnevnik putesestvija po Luzice (Vasily Timkovski and his Lusatian travel diary), in: Létopis B 30(1983) 1, pp. 12—52, unfortunately, contains a number of serious mistakes, although it is the first detailed description of this source. For critical remarks on the article of S E J M A N see: L A P T E V A , L . P . , Unikal'nyj russkij istocnik o luáickich serbach X I X v. (Unique Russian source on the Lusatian Sorbs in the X I X century) (printed in the journal "Voprosy istorii"). 5 The itinerary has been established on the basis of entries in the "Diary". 6 See: B O B R O V S K I J , P . , Ucenoe putesestvie M. K . Bobrovskogo po Evrope i slavjanskim zemljam (1817—1822) (Study trip by M. K. Bobrovsky to Europe and Slavic lands), in: Slavjanskie izvestija (1889), 18, pp. 4 5 1 - 4 5 3 ; (1889), 24, pp. 5 9 3 - 5 9 5 . On p. 595, there is a brief statement on M. K. BOBROVSKIJ's stay in Lusatia. This part of the text was published by M. HÓRNIK. See: HÓRNIK, M., Micha! K. Bobrowski a Izmail I. Sreznewskij wo Serbach (Mikhal K. Bobrovsky and Izmail Sreznevsky on the Sorbs), in: CMS XLII(1889), pp. 4 3 - 4 4 7 Vestnik Evropy, fevral' (February) 1825, No. 4, pp. 2 5 2 - 2 6 4 8 K O P P E N , P . I., Inostrannaja literatura . . . Sorabskaja (serbskaja) v Luzacii (Foreign Literature . . . Sorbian Literature in Lusatia), in: Bibliografiöeskie listy (1825), No. 41, pp. 6 1 1 - 6 1 3 9 P. I. K O P P E N did not stay in Lusatia. In February 1824, on route to Russia, he stayed in Dresden, from where he went to Berlin. Conjectures about K Ö P P E N S ' S stay in Lusatia are not corroborated. 10 The literature on him is very important. See: S R E Z N E V S K I J , 1 . 1 , in the book: Slavjanovedenie v dorevoljucionnoj Rossii. Biobibliograficeskij slovar' (Slavonic Studies in pre-revolutionary Russia. Biobibliographical dictionary) Moskva 1979 (below — S.D.R.), pp. 318—321. The basic bibliography is given here. 11 Donesenie adjunkta Sreznevskogo g. ministru narodnogo prosveäöenija iz Veny ot 8 (20) fev. 1841 g. (Report by the adjunct Sreznevsky to the minister of state for education from Vienna of February 8 (20), 1841, in: 2 M N P X X X I (1841) 6, Dpt. 4, pp. 9 - 3 6 Extracts from the translation of the "Donesenie" into German were published in the periodicals: Das Ausland (1842), 117; Neues Lausitzisches Magazin, XX(1842), 7, pp. 1 3 0 - 1 3 4 12 First published (abridged) in the journal "2ivaja starina", edition 1, SPb 1890; in full in the book: Putevye pis'ma Izmaila Ivanoviia Sreznevskogo iz slavjanskich zemeP 1839—1842 (Travel letters from Izmail Ivanovich Sreznevsky from Slavic

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lands 1839—1842), SPb 1895. For a translation of the most important extracts into Sorbian, see: HOLAN, A . , Listy z pudowanja I . I . Sreznevskeho (Travel letters from I . 1 . Sreznevsky), in: t u i i c a 1 8 9 5 , pp. 1 3 — 1 4 , 2 0 — 2 1 , 2 7 ; the translation of the letters into German in 1 9 6 3 is based on the edition of the "2ivaja starina" by P. NEDO, see: Briefe von 1.1. Sreznevskij aus derLausitz, in: Letopis C 5 ( 1 9 6 1 / 6 2 ) , pp. 9 2 — 1 1 0 I . SREZNEVSKIJ'S letter to V. HANKA written in Dresden on 1 November 1 8 4 0 , was first printed in Czech in the "Casop. Ces. Mus." 1 8 4 0 , pp. 4 0 3 — 4 1 2 . For the last complete Russian edition see: FRANCEV, V. A., (ed.), Pis'ma k VjaCeslavu Ganke, iz slavjanskich zemel' (Letters to Vyacheslav Ganke from Slavic lands), Warsava 1985, pp. 9 4 9 - 9 5 3

14 For SREZNEVSKIJ'S letters to S A F A R I K s e e in the book: FRANCEV, V . A., (ed.), Korespondence Pavla Josefa Safarika s ruskymi ufienci (1825 — 1861) (Correspondence of Pavel Josef Safarik with Russian scholars), II, Praha 1928, pp. 853—859 15 Cf. e.g.: NEDO, P., 1.1. Sreznevskij i serbo-luiickaja fol'kloristika (Sreznevsky and Sorbian folk art), in: Russkij fol'klor (Russian folk art), VIII — Narodnaja poezija slavjan (Folk poetry of the Slavs), Moskva—Leningrad 1963, p. 290; LEVINS'KA, S. J., Z istorii Rossijs'ko-luiic'kich literaturnych zv'jazkiv XIX st. I. I. Sreznevs'kij i serbo-luiifiany (From the history of Russo-Lusatian literary relations of the 19th century. 1.1. Sreznevsky and the Sorbs), in: Pytannja istorii ta kul'tury slov'jan, No. II, Kiev 1963, p. 41; KRJUKOV, A. V., 1.1. Sreznevs'kij i serbo-luii6any (Sreznevsky and the Sorbs), in: Narodna tvorCist' ta etnografija, (1975) 5, pp. 66—70 16 For a brief characterization of Sorbian Lusatian materials in SREZNEVSKIJ'S archives see the article: LAPTEVA, L. P., Svedenija o serbach-luiifianach v archivach Moskvy i Leningrada (Information on Lusatian Sorbs in archives in Moscow and Leningrad), in: Letopis A 17(1970), 2, pp. 189, 2 2 0 - 2 3 0 17 PATA, J . , tJvod do studia luiickosrbskeho pisemnictvi (Introduction into the Studies of Sorbian Literature), Praha 1925, p. 95 1 8 FRANCEV, V . A . , Sreznevskij i slavjanstvo (Sreznevsky and the Slavs), in: Pamjati 1.1. Sreznevskogo (Memoirs by 1.1. Sreznevsky), in: vol. II, Pg., 1916, p. 122 19 SREZNEVSKIJ, 1 . 1 . , Istoriieskij oierk serbo-luiickoj literatury (Historical survey of Sorbian Literature), in: ZMNP XLIII (1844), No. 7 20 The letters from Sorbian scholars to SREZNEVSKIJ are preserved at the CGALI (Moskva), f. 436 (Sreznevskij). J. A. SMOLER'S letters to SREZNEVSKIJ were published in the article: CY2, J., Z ruskeho listowanja Jana Arnosta Smolerja (From the Russian correspondence by Jan ArnoSt Smoler), in: Letopis A 15(1968) 2, pp. 228 to 244 21 Cf. LAPTEVA, L . P., Professor Moskovskogo universiteta O. M. Bodjanskij i ego svjazi s luiickimi serbami (O. M. Bodyansky and his relations with Sorbs), in: Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta, serija 8 — istorija (Information bulletin of the Moscow university, series 8 — history) 1983, No. 6, pp. 30—39 22 A great number of student works on Sorbian Lusatian subjects are kept in the archives of BODJANSKIJ (Manuscript department of the T. G. Sevcenko Literature Institute in Kiev, f. 99) 23 ORIL, f. 99, No. 220 — a manuscript of 93 pages in folio. It contains entries from letters A to P (in Latin characters) in alphabetical order.

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letters to O . M . B O D J A N S K I J ate kept in the mentioned funds 9 9 of O R I L . The most important of these were published by J . CYÍ, see: Lëtopis A 1 7 ( 1 9 7 0 ) , 1 , and A 2 0 ( 1 9 7 3 ) 1 . The correspondence between B O D J A N S K I J and other Sorbían activists was brief, and, essentially of an official nature. See, e.g. M. H Ó R N I K ' S letter to the O I D R of 29 December 1865 - O R G B L , f. 203, vol. 17, p. 292 25 Principal data on P R E J S ' S life, and literature about him are available in S.D.R., pp. 183 — 185. For his extant archives materials concerning the Lusatian Sorbs, see: LAPTEVA, L. P., Svedenija o serbach-luïifianach v archivach Moskvy i Leningrada (Information on the Sorbs in the archives of Moscow and Leningrad), in: Lëtopis A 17(1970) 2, pp. 2 1 8 - 2 1 9

2 4 J . A . SMOLER'S

26 On G R I G O R O V I C see: S.D.R., pp. 131 — 134. His interest in Lusatian Sorbs was reflected in documents and in university lectures. See: Donesenija V. I. Grigorovica ob ego putesestvii po slavjanskim zemljam (Report by V. I. Grigorovich on his trips to slav lands), Kazan' 1915, pp. 251—253; Slavjanskie nareôija. Lekcii prof. V . I. Grigorovica (Slavic idioms. Lectures by professor V. I. Grigorovich) Warsaw 1884, pp. 1 2 4 - 1 4 0 27 Dennica, 1842, No. 1, pp. 3 - 8 28 Dennica, 1842, No. 8, pp. 1 0 0 - 1 0 5 29 Dennica, 1842, No. 7, pp. 9 0 - 9 2 , No. 8, pp. 9 7 - 9 9 30 See e.g. : Dennica, 1843, No. II, p. 66 31 See e.g.: Dennica, 1843, No. I , pp. 2 6 - 2 8 , No. II, p. 206 32 D U B R O V S K I J ' S communications see: Moskvitjanin ( 1 8 4 5 ) No. 9, pp. 6 0 — 7 9 ; ( 1 8 4 6 ) Nos. 9 and 10; (1846) Nos. I and 4

33 About him see : Serbski biografiski slownik (Sorbían biographical dictionary), Budyiin 1 9 7 0 , pp. 1 1 4 — 1 1 6 . Here you find also a literature list on JORDAN^ 34 See: ALEKSEEV, M., Belinskij i slavjanskij literator J . P. Jordan. K voprosu ob izvestnosti Belinskogo na Zapade u slavjan v 40-e gody X I X v. (Belinskij and the slavic literator J . P. Jordan. On the question of the knowledge of Belinskij in the West among Slavs in the 40s of X I X century), in: Literaturnoe nasledie (Literatury heritage), 56, Moskva 1950; HORÁK, J . , Belinskij a Jordan (Belinskij and Jordan), in: Slavia (1951), 2 - 3 Incidentally, only one letter from J O R D A N to K U N I K is known, it is kept in A A N L , f. 95 (A. A. Kunik), op. 2, e.x. 1019; it was published in the book : Russko-evropejskie literaturnye svjazi. Sbornik k 70-letiju so dnja roidenija akad. M. P. Alekseeva (Russo-European literary relations to mark the 70th birthday of academician M. P. Alekseev). Moskva—Leningrad 1966, p. 392. 36 CGALI, f. 436, op. 1, e.x. 1471 35

3 7 F o r JORDAN'S letter t o BODJANSKIJ see i n : O R I L , f. 9 9 , N o . 8 0 , p p . 5 1 — 5 2

3 8 F o r information on HILFERDING see i n : S . D . R . , pp. 1 2 1 — 1 2 5

characterization of H I L F E R D I N G as a historian is contained in the article: L A P T E V A , L. P., Razvitie russkoj istoriôeskoj mysli v X I X v. v oblasti slavjanovedenija (The development of Russian historical concepts in the field of Slav Studies in the X I X century). — Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta, serija 8 — istorija, 1983, No. 1,

39 A

pp.

35-36.

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40 GIL'FERDING, A., Narodnoe vozroidenie serbow-luïican v Saksonii (National rebirth of the Sorbs in Saxony). — Russkaja beseda (1856), vol. 1 (also separately — Moskva 1856) 4 1 Under the title: H I L F E R D I N G , A . TH., Geschichte der Sorben und Bulgaren. Bautzen 1856; idem, Geschichte der Baltischen Slaven (1857); idem, Die slawischen Denkmäler der Drewjaner und Glinjaner Elbslaven im Lüneburger Wendelande (1857); idem, Reise durch Bosnien und Herzegowina (1857), in: Lëtopis A 17(1970) 1, p. 78 42 The following articles were printed there: Die Überreste der Slawen auf der Südküste des Baltischen Meers; Bosnien zu Anfang des Jahres 1858; Ein unediertes Zeugnis eines Zeitgenossen über Vladimir den Heiligen und Boleslaw den Kühnen 43 About this SMOLER wrote to V. I. L A M A N S K I J from Bautzen on 16 (28) April 1872, see in: Lëtopis A 16(1969) 1, p. 72. 44 tuiican (1868), 9, p. 144, (1869) 2, p. 31 45 tuzican (1872), 8, p. 128 46 Information about this is contained in the "Otcety Sanktpeterburgskogo Slavjanskogo Blagotvoritel'nogo komiteta" (Report of the St. Peterburg Slavic charitable commitee), in: 2 M N P (1872), 1, No. CLIX, p. 123. 47 For a list of the organisations sending their publications to the Macica Serbska, see in: tuiiëan 5(1864) 4, p. 62. 48 See: CMS 4(1867), p. 614 49 tuiican (1865) 8, pp. 1 2 7 - 1 2 8 ; (1865) 9, pp. 1 4 3 - 1 4 4 ; (1865), 10 (this last issue was inaccessible to us) 50 We should like to indicate two collections : Pesni raznych narodov. Perevod N. Berga (Songs of various peoples. Translation by N. Berg), Moskva 1854; Poezija slavjan. Sostavil N. Gerbel' (Slavic Poetry. Compiled by N. Gerbel') SPb. 1871 51 See: MAJNOV, V., Germanizacija luzickich slavjan (The Germanization of the Lusatian Slavs), in : Izvestija Russkogo GeografiÈeskogo obscestva X(1874), 1, p. 62 52 Material on Russia in Sorbian publications was analyzed in the article: MLYNK, J., Ruske wothlosy w serbskim pismowstwje 19. lëtstotka (Russian influence on 19th-century Sorbian Literature), in: Sorabistiske pfinoski k VI. mjezy-narodnemu kongresej slawistow w Praze 1968 (Sorabistic contributions to the 6th International Congress of Slavists in Prague in 1968), Budysin 1968, pp. 115—128. 53 ZSLKW, I, H. 1, pp. 2 9 - 3 4 , H. 2, pp. 5 7 - 6 7 . 54 ZSLKW, I, H. 1, pp. 5 - 1 0 55 Z S L K W , I, H. 2, pp. 8 1 - 9 7 , H. 3 , 1 2 foil., H. 4, pp. 2 3 0 - 2 3 9 ; II, H. 2, pp. 8 1 - 1 1 1 , H. 3, pp. 179 foil, (for the titles of the articles, see above) 56 Z S L K W I, H. 3, pp. 170 foil., H. 4, pp. 2 5 5 - 2 6 1 ; II, H. 1, pp. 3 foil. 57 Z S L K W II, H. 2, pp. 1 4 8 - 1 4 9 ; II, H. 3, pp. 215 foil., H. 4, pp. 252 foil. 58 ZSLKW, I, H. 2, pp. 9 5 - 1 0 5 59 tuiican (1871), 4, pp. 5 3 - 5 9 60 tuäiöan (1876), 9, pp. 1 4 0 - 1 4 3 61 Luïiôan (1879-1881), 11, pp. 8 1 - 8 3 ; 12, pp. 8 9 - 9 4 ; 13, pp. 9 7 - 9 9 62 Luäiöan (1869), 7, pp. 1 0 2 - 1 0 5 63 Luiißan (1866), 1, pp. 3 - 1 1 64 The most recent work on S M O L E R : CYÎ, J., Jan Arnoät Smoler. 2iwjenje a skut-

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65

66

67 68 69 70 71 72 73

74 75

kowanje serbskeho wotöinca (Jan Arnost Smoler. Life and work of the Sorbian Patriot), Budysin 1975 See : LAPTEVA, L . P . , Annotierte Zusammenstellung russischer Literatur über die Lausitzer Sorben und die Sorbische Lausitz, in: Létopis B 16(1969), 2 To a certain extent, this task was fulfilled in the monograph of LAPTEVA, L . P., Russko-serboluìickie naucnye i kul'turnye svjazi s naöala XIX v. do pervoj mirovoj vojny (1914 g.) (Russo-Sorbian scientific and cultural relations from the beginning of the 19th century to the First World War [1914]), (in print). An extensive chapter is devoted to SMOLER'S connections with Russia. Data on archives materials regarding SMOLER'S connections with Russia are presented in the article: LAPTEVA, L. P., Svedenija o serbach-luiiöanach v archivach Moskvy i Leningrada (Information on Lusatian Sorbs in the archives of Moscow and Leningrad), in: Létopis A 17(1970), 2. About one hundred letters from SMOLER to Russian scholars and to other persons and institutions are known; they are kept in various archives of the USSR, the most important were published by J. CYÌ in: Létopis A 15(1968), 2, A 16(1969), 2, A 17(1970), 1, A 20(1973), 1. For the connections of PAL'MOW with the Lusatian Sorbs see: LAPTEVA, L. P . , Der russische Slawist I. S. Pal'mow (1856—1920) und die Sorben, in: Létopis B 23(1976), 2, pp. 151-160. PAL'MOW, I. S., Iz poezdki k serbam-luiicanam (From trips to the Lusatian Sorbs), i n : Christianskoe ötenie (1883) Nos. 3—4, pp. 446—464 GROT, K., Michail Gornik, in: Slavjanskoe obozrenie, SPb (1894), pp. 170-194 The relations between V. FRANCEV and A. M U K A are presented in detail in the article : LAPTEVA, L. P., Die Beziehungen des russischen Slawisten V. A. Franzev zu Arnost Muka anhand seiner Briefe, in: Létopis B 14(1967), 1, pp. 23—24. The most extensive of them is the historical review: FRANCEV, V . A . , Matica Serbskaja v Budisine (1847-1897), in: ZMNP, CCCXI(1897), 6, pp. 3 0 2 - 3 3 1 Letter of L. SCERBA to A. M U K A from 5 February 1909 — LAPNP, pozoustalost A. Muky (Literary bequest of A. Muka) L. V. SCERBA came to Lusatia for the last time in 1913. In the article: PETR, J., L. V. Söerba jako slavista a sorabista (L. V. Söerba as a slavist and sorabist) — Pràce z déjin slavistiky (Works on the history of slav. studies) III, Praha 1986, it is affirmed on p. 13 that SCERBA'S last journey to Lusatia took place from 8. to 15. 9. 1915. This is a mistake. It is due to a wrong reading of the date on SCERBA'S letter to M U K A from the 5. 9.1913 (J. PETR read "5. 9.1915"). SCERBA'S stay in Lusatia in 1915 is completely improbable, not only, because in biographical materials about him 1913 is indicated as the last date of SCERBA'S visit to Lusatia, and also, because a Russian subject in 1915, when a war was going on between Russia and Germany, could not travel freely in a country hostile to Russia. SCERBA, L. V., Vostocnoluäickoe nareöie (The east Lusatian dialect), vol. 1, Petrograd 1915 (there is also a photostatic facsimile edition — Bautzen 1973) The most recent work on M U K A is : PETR, J . , Arnoät Muka. 2iwjenje a skutkowanje serbskeho prócowarja (Arnost Muka. Life and work of the Sorbian patriot), Budysin 1978.

10

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76 See: AANL, f. 2, op. 1 — 1913, e.x. 14 and 32 — biographical data on M U K A 77 This correspondence was partly published in the study: KORABLEV, V. N., E . J . Muka v ego pis'mach k russkim ucenym (E. J. Muka in his letters to Russian scholars), in: Trudy Instituía Slavjanovedenija AN SSSR, II, Leningrad 1934 78 A note of A. A. SACHMAXOV of 24 May 1899 - AANL f. 9, op. 1, No. 729 79 The second and third volumes of M U K A ' S Lower Sorbían Dictionary were published in Prague by the Czech Academy of Sciences from 1927 to 1929. The history of the publication of the dictionary is presented on the basis of documents in the mentioned article by V. N. KORABLEV. Some details are given in the article of B. M . L J A P U N O V published ibidem. 80 AANL f. 2, op. 1, 1913, ed. chr. 14, e. 41

The Lusatian Sorbs (Wends) as an Object of Interest and Study in Great Britain B y GERALD STONE

Before they left their continental homeland for the Romano-Celtic island of Britain our Anglo-Saxon ancestors were neighbours of Slavic tribes known to history as Wends. The accounts of voyages to the Baltic by Ohthere and Wulfstan, recorded by KING ALFRED in the ninth century, contain references to Wends and to Wendland on the Baltic coast. In connection with the location of a port between the lands of the 'Wends and Saxons and Angles' ALFRED notes that "in that land dwelt Englishmen ere they came hither"1. However, the notion that some of these Baltic Wends (the first Slavic people recorded in an English source) sailed to Britain together with their Germanic neighbours and settled in Wiltshire2 is probably no older than the nineteenth century and has no basis in fact. Particularly doubtful is the idea3 that the name of the city of Salisbury is somehow derived from the name of the Sorbs. In any case, the Baltic Wends are quite different and separate from the. Wends (or Sorbs) of Lusatia. In modern times a good deal of the British interest in Sorbian matters has been motivated by a supposed similarity between the situation of Celtic minorities in Britain and that of the Sorbs in Germany. But in the early eighteenth century the mere strangeness of the language, dress, and customs of the Sorbs was enough to attract the interest of the editor of the periodical "Memoirs of Literature" and to make him invite an anonymous correspondent who had visited Lusatia to write "An Account of the People call'd Wenden in Germany" which he published on 20 August 17114. This correspondent's experience of the Sorbs may well have been restricted to Upper Lusatia judging by the fact that he was under the impression that the majority of Sorbs were Catholics. "As for what concerns their religion, they are generally Roman Catholics, and very zealous. In some few villages they profess the Lutheran religion. All of them have their own churches, not only in the villages, but also in Bautzen arid Görlitz, the two chief towns of Upper Lusatia, where divine service is performed in their own language." The name of the author of this account is not known, but the only Englishman known to have taken an interest in the Sorbs at about this time is ROBERT HALES (died 1735), an emissary of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, who visited Lusatia and caused one of the Society's pamphlets to be translated into Upper 10*

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Sorbian and published in 1704. The "Account of the People call'd Wenden in Germany" may well have emanated from his pen5. Another instance of British interest in Wendish things resulted from a letter written in 1 7 1 4 by DANIEL ERNST JABLONSKI ( 1 6 6 0 — 1 7 4 1 ) , court preacher to the King of Prussia, and sent to JOHN CHAMBERLAYNE ( 1 6 6 6 — 1 7 2 3 ) , a prominent member of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. The occasion of this letter was a consignment of books which had been sent to JABLONSKI by CHAMBERLAYNE, among which was Rev. JOHN RICHARDSON'S tract "A Proposal for the Conversion of the Popish Natives of Ireland, to the Established Religion" (Dublin 1 7 1 1 ) . RICHARDSON had a theory that the use of thé Irish language was the key to persuading the "popish natives" of Ireland to abandon Catholicism and join the Church of Ireland. He therefore pleaded in his pamphlet for the provision of clergy able to conduct services in Irish, for the publication and distribution of religious books in Irish, for the establishment of free schools for the children of Irish peasants, and for funds to realize this programme. These plans encountered strong opposition from the Church of Ireland and they were eventually thwarted, but they made a favourable impression on JABLONSKI, who saw a parallel with measures taken in Prussia to spread the Gospel and literacy among the Sorbs by using Sorbian rather than German6. JABLONSKI'S letter, which was written in Latin, referred in particular to the fruitless efforts of German schools and German-speaking ministers in situations where "the Pastor did not understand his Flock, nor the Flock their pastor" 7 . This state of affairs had, however, (according to JABLONSKI) been remedied by the late King of Prussia, FREDERICK I ( 1 6 8 8 — 1 7 1 3 ) , with the assistance of GOTTLIEB FABRICIUS ( 1 6 8 1 — 1 7 4 1 ) , translator and publisher of the Lower Sorbian New Testament. FABRICIUS'S initiative in founding village schools in the parish of Peitz (Picn) had produced "a plentiful harvest, for not only several hundreds of young people learned to read, but their parents, who thought their Children might very well be as ignorant as themselves, being at last affected with a sort of Jealousy, desir'd to learn to read of their own children, and continue to do so every'day . . . " JABLONSKI'S letter to CHAMBERLAYNE subsequently came to RICHARDSON'S attention, and he (RICHARDSON) included it as an appendix (in both the original Latin and in an English translation) in a volume which he published in Dublin in 1727 entitled "The Great Folly, Superstition and Idolatry of Pilgrimages in Ireland; especially of that to St. Patrick's Purgatory. Together with an Account of the Loss that the Publick sustaineth thereby; truly and impartially represented". RICHARDSON'S aim was to draw a parallel between the situations of the two politically subordinate languages : Sorbian in Lusatia and Irish in Ireland, and thus to use JABLONSKI'S arguments to support his own design for the use of the vernacular. The letter is introduced by the following paragraph : "And the case of the Irish, as to their Instruction, being in many Respects parallel with that of the Venedi, or

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die Wendens, a People in the King of Prussia's Dominions who speak the Sclavonick Tongue; it is hoped, that the following Letter, written by that Pious and very learned Divine, Doctor Jablonski, First Chaplain to the King of Prussia, may not be unacceptable to the Reader." 8 Soon after its receipt in 1714 the letter had been entered (together with an English translation) into the abstract letter book of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, where it may still be read. It was probably through the Society that RICHARDSON gained access to it, and the Society's archives show that its secretary later ( 1 7 1 7 ) cited JABLONSKI'S ideas in correspondence with an opponent of RICHARDSON'S proposals. An English translation of JABLONSKI'S letter had actually appeared in print, it seems, some years before its publication in RICHARDSON'S volume of 1727. This was in volume IV of the journal "Memoirs of Literature" (mentioned above), which presumably appeared about 1716.1 have not yet been able to locate a copy of volume IV (and it is by no means certain that it survives at all), but the fact that the letter did appear there is attested by another journal9, which over a century later re-printed it with notes to the effect that it had been "translated out of Latin by the Author of the 'Memoirs of Literature'" and "extracted from vol. IV. p. 191 of the 'Memoirs'". The version in "The Cambro-Briton" is almost (but not quite) identical with the translation in the archives of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, whereas the rendering published by RICHARDSON in 1727 is quite different. The reproduction of JABLONSKI'S letter in "The Cambro-Briton" is the last of three Wendish digressions in that journal. The first10 commented on an alleged affinity between the Welsh and Wendish languages. It referred to "an account given by a Prussian, that, in the seven years war of Frederick the Great, he and others were much surprised at seeing some Wendish soldiers talking to those, who were from England, but who, he was told on inquiry, were Welshmen; and, in consequence of this account, a correspondence was opened with Dr. Anton, of Gorlitz, in Lusatia, by which the connection between the Welsh and the Wendish was fully confirmed." The Dr. ANTON referred to is obviously K A R L GOTTLOB VON ANTON (1751 — 1818), but the identity of his Prussian correspondent remains obscure. It seems unlikely that the generally well-informed VON ANTON would have confirmed the belief that Welsh and Wendish were mutually comprehensible. The second Wendish episode in "The Cambro-Briton"11 referred again to the "presumed affinity of the Wendi with the ancient Cymry" and reprinted the account originally published in "Memoirs of Literature" on 20 August 1711 (mentioned above). When W I L L I A M RICHARD MORFILL ( 1 8 3 4 — 1 9 0 9 ) gave his first course of lectures at Oxford in 1870, within the provisions of the newly instituted Ilchester

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Fund, he chose as his subject the "Ethnology, Early History, and Popular Traditions of the Slavonic Nations", and the book, largely based on these lectures, which he published thirteen years later, contains a chapter entitled "The Wends in Saxony and Prussia". 12 Here he briefly surveyed the literature of the Sorbs from its beginnings. For some unknown reason he attributed the title of the "first printed book in the Sorbish language" to WARICHIUS'S translation of LUTHER'S Little Catechism ( 1 5 9 7 ) , although he undoubtedly knew of the existence of A L B I N MOLLER'S Hymnal and Catechism ( 1 5 7 4 ) . It is interesting to note that M O R F I L L knew of the existence of G E O R G KÖRNER'S manuscript dictionary ( 1 7 6 7 / 6 8 ) , which has only recently been re-discovered and published (KÖRNER). Like some other English observes, M O R F I L L did not overlook the superficial similarity between the Sorbian struggle for existence and that of the Welsh and other Celts. Referring to German "eagerness to uproot the Wendish language", he writes: " I t is just the same talk which we constantly hear from the English Philistines, whose object is to stamp out the Welsh language".13 M O R F I L L corresponded with at least two prominent figures in the Sorbian national movement, viz. E R N S T M U K A ( 1 8 5 4 — 1 9 3 2 ) and MICHAL HÖRNIK ( 1 8 3 3 — 1 8 9 4 ) . The letters received by M O R F I L L have all been lost owing to the fact that, in accordance with his instructions, all his private papers were destroyed after his death. The letters he sent to M U K A and HÖRNIK, on the other hand, have survived. Most of them deal with fairly humdrum matters, but one to M U K A , dated 2 1 November 1 9 0 1 , is a little longer than the others and reveals MORFILL'S pro-Slavic leanings: " I t is unfortunate that the English take so little interest in the Slavonic populations of Europe. I have all my life struggled to do what I could for them. The fact is that the rich English of the upper class are very German in their proclivities, owing to the German elements of our court, and the German thrusts out the Slav and depreciates him wherever he can." 14 In the same letter M O R F I L L indicates his willingness for his name to be used to support a research project envisaged by MUKA. The precise details are unknown, but it seems likely that MORFILL'S support may have been solicited in connection with MUKA'S expedition to the Lüneburg Heath to search for Slavic remains there, leading in 1904 to the publication in Cracow of his "Szcz^tki j^zyka potabskiego Wendöw lüneburgskich". MORFILL'S letters to HÖRNIK, which for the most part are written in Russian, deal with routine matters, such as the supply of books and journals. They are preserved in the State Library in Prague. Interest in the Sorbs in Victorian England was also manifested in a number of articles and reviews printed in popular magazines. A long anonymous review in "The Saturday Review" for 31 January 1874 acquainted its readers with the contents of RICHARD A N D R E E ' S "Wendische Wanderstudien" (Stuttgart 1 8 7 4 ) and drew some rather unlikely parallels, such as the similar inability suffered by Germanized Wends and by Cockneys to pronounce their aitches. Though gen-

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erally accepting ANDREE'S view of the supposedly benevolent nature of Germanization, the author expresses his admiration for the national movement and its leader JAN ARNOST SMOLER : "What he and his small band of colleagues have done towards improving the education and raising the moral tone of their countrymen is known to but few persons beyond Wendish and Panslavist circles; but their labours are of a truly noble kind, and deserve to be fully and generously appreciated."15 Whether MORFILL was the author of this review is difficult to tell, but its degree of support for the Sorbian cause is somewhat less than that expressed in a review signed by MORFILL and published in 1881 in "The Academy" (No. 462, pp. 184—5). Here, discussing the German translation of the second edition of the "Istorija slavjanskich literatur" by A. N. PYPIN and V. D. SPASOVIC (St. Petersburg 1879—81), MORFILL wrote: "This complete and well-written work concludes with an account of the scanty literature of the Lusatian Wends, who form a small island, as it were, in a Teutonic ocean. It is indeed astonishing and may console any depressed nationality, when we reflect what this courageous little people has done, cut in two as they are and divided between Saxony and Prussia. In spite of vexatious laws and the affected contempt of their German masters they still publish a variety of useful books and their Casopis or journal appears twice a year." MORFILL was a member of the Sorbian national organization, the Macica Serbska, from 1892 until his death in 1909. His name may be found mentioned from time to time in the pages of "Casopis Macicy Serbskeje", usually in connection with the receipt of small donations from him. In 1904, on the occasion of the opening of the Sorbian House in Bautzen, a congratulatory message was received from him. He wrote: "I can only say in the phrase of the ancients: Stet fortuna domus, and give my heartiest congratulations." An article entitled "The Wends in the Spreewald" was published in vol. 55 of "Macmillan's Magazine" for 1886—1887 (pp. 268—74). Though generally wellinformed, its style does not resemble that of MORFILL and the identity of the author remains a mystery. From his graphic descriptions of the externals of Sorbian life, including the landscape, costume and customs, the author appears to have visited Lusatia and to have been an accurate observer. His interest was evidently particularly attracted by Sorbian superstitions, but it seems likely that he culled his information more from some published source than from personal observation. ( E . VECKENSTEDT'S "Wendische Sagen, Märchen und abergläubische Gebräuche" had been published only a few years earlier, Graz, 1880.) Sorbian superstitions also figure prominently in an article by HENRY W . WOLFF, entitled "The Remnant of a Great Race", published in "The Westminster Review" (London) for May 1892 (pp. 538—56). The author, who was born in Leeds in 1840, studied at the universities of Bonn and Heidelberg, and is the author of

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several travel books on Germany, including "Rambles in the Black Forest" ( 1 8 9 0 ) . Assuming total ignorance of the Sorbs on the part of his readers, W O L F F hoped to stimulate interest in what he called "an interesting race", which he expected to disappear "a generation or two hence, in the making of a new German people". It appears from his allusions to his own experiences in Lusatia that he had lived there for some time. The large number of words and expressions correctly quoted in his text suggest that he had some knowledge of the Sorbian language. It is, however, difficult to weigh the degree to which he draws on his own experience against his reliance on published descriptions of Sorbian customs and beliefs. He appears to have had personal experience of the eccentricities of Sorbian clergymen, for he wrifes: "There are some queer characters among that forestclergy. One in my neighbourhood was a good deal given to second-hand dealing" (p. 5 4 6 ) . Less well-informed and written in the style of a tourist brochure, an article by a certain BEATRICE MARSHALL, called "Among the Wendish Meres" and published in "The Sunday Magazine" (London) for October 1 8 9 5 (pp. 6 9 9 — 7 0 5 ) , is concerned more with the external appearance of the Lower Lusatian landscape than with its Sorbian inhabitants, who (we are told) "were a tribe of Central Asia, part of the great Sclavonic horde that, marching westward, poured into Europe and settled in the country between the Elbe and Danube" (p. 700). Despite this kind of inaccuracy, however, the general tone is one of benevolence towards the Sorbs. The fact that "the people converse in the Sclavonic language" and that "the women wear a delightfully picturesque costume" seems to be regarded as an added attraction for tourists in this "country, where, instead of roads, there is a puzzling network of streams [...] where every village of any importance is a miniature rustic Venice, with high-gabled log houses for palaces, and many a wooden Bridge of Sighs." It is impossible to tell whether the author had ever spent any time in the country she described, but her article is accompanied by several interesting engravings which have the air of authenticity. The artist's name is not revealed, however. An Englishman who took an interest in Sorbian affairs towards the end of the nineteenth century is E. S. DODGSON, an Oxford philologist who is best known for his work on Basque. In November 1899 he visited Lower Lusatia, but next to nothing is known of the circumstances of this visit. It'seems likely that he was accompanied by GEORG SAUERWEIN ( J U R O SUROWIN), the well-known champion of national minorities and Lower Sorbian poet. The visit is attested by an inscription in a copy of SAUERWEIN'S "Serbska pseza", now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, which reads: "Lubemu Knezoju E. S. Dodgsonoju Serbskich luzi psijaseloju z wjelikim cescenim wot spewarja. Borkowach. 5 . November 1 8 9 9 . " During this visit DODGSON appears to have met M J E R T Y N K O R J E N K ( 1 8 4 1 — 1 9 1 6 ) , at that time pastor of Borkowy and president of the Lower Sorbian Macica Serbs-

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ka. The copy of HAJNO JORDAN'S "Cytanka" (Bautzen 1883) which he received from KORJENK on that occasion (now in the Library of the Taylor Institution, Oxford) bears the inscription: " T o the Library of the Taylorian Institution in Oxford 16 July 1904, E. S. Dodgson, a present from the Pfarrer of Burg bei Vetschau 6 November 1899". The surviving letters from SAUERWEIN to DODGSON (now in theBodleian Library), written in 1901 and 1904, reveal an enduring common interest in languages (mainly Welsh), but contain no mention of Sorbian. Early in the twentieth century the attention of one FRANCIS P. MARCHANT (1870—1938) was attracted to the Sorbs, possibly as a result of his friendship with MORFILL. Before the First World War MARCHANT gave a lecture to the Viking Society in London on the Sorbs, and he also published several articles on Sorbian subjects, including one in "The Outlook", which appeared in August 1914, just after the outbreak of War. In July 1919 in " T h e Asiatic Review" (London) MARCHANT published an article entitled " T h e Serbs of Lusatia" (vol. 15, pp. 436—40), in which he drew attention to the implications for the Sorbs of the adjustments then being made in European frontiers. He referred to the activities of ARNOST BART and to demands for the independence of Lusatia. " T h e issues before the Peace Conference", he wrote, "concern the future careers of whole continents and countless millions, and unless notice were drawn to these Lusatian Serbs they might easily be overlooked, through obscurity and paucity of numbers, even by their brother Slavs" (p. 440). Sentiments such as these, however, were destined to have no effect whatsoever on the subsequent history of the Sorbs. In 1922 OTAKAR VOCADLO (1895—1974) came to England from Prague to take up a post as Lecturer in Czech at the School of Slavic Studies in the University of L o n d o n . A m o n g his students was FRANCIS MARCHANT. VOCADLO was twenty-

five years younger than his pupil, and we may surmise that his subsequent interest in the Sorbs was at least partly due to the influence of MARCHANT, who was, in addition, a fervent Czechophile 16 . In 1926 VOCADLO visited Lusatia 17 , where he m e t BOGUMIL S W J E L A , E R N S T M U K A , a n d t h e f a m i l y o f MICHAL NAWKA. H e

travelled to several villages and was present at a Sorbian wedding. His visit stimulated him, on his return to England, to publicize the position of the Sorbs. On 31 January 1927 a reception was given in South Kensington at which VOCADLO lectured on the Sorbs in the presence of a distinguished audience. The chair was taken by the novelist JOHN BUCHAN, who, as a Gaelic-speaking Scot, was naturally interested in national minorities. In arousing BUCHAN'S interest in the Sorbs VOCADLO was assisted b y the Serbo-Russian journalist BOZIDAROVIC G . DE WESSE-

LITSKY, an ardent propagator of the Sorbian cause, though by this time already an old man 18 . VOCADLO continued his campaign for publicizing the Sorbs by giving another lecture two days later (2 February 1927), this time at King's College, London, in

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which he referred to translations into Sorbian of English literaiy works, particularly JAN BOHUW£R PJECH'S translations from SHAKESPEARE. TWO years earlier VOCADLO had published an article surveying English comment on Lusatia and the Sorbs in the journal "Slovansky pfehled". 19 He later published further articles on aspects of the Sorbian question in the journals "Nove Cechy" and "Ceskoluzicky vestnik". During the 1930s two articles on Sorbian subjects appeared in the "Slavonic and East European Review", the organ of the School of Slavic and East European Studies in the University of London. The first of these was "The Sorbs of Lusatia", signed with the pseudonym SORABICUS and included in volume 14 (1935/36, No. 42, pp. 616—21). The "Slavonic and East European Review" no longer has any records relating to the contributors who wrote for it in the 1930s, and the identity of SORABICUS might well have remained a secret forever, were it not for a Lusatian source (of which the precise details remain hidden) indicating that the author of this article was JAN SKALA (1889—1945), the well-known poet and journalist. SKALA, as the editor of "Kulturwehr" (a monthly journal representing the interests of national minorities in Germany) and as a leading left-wing activist in the Sorbian national movement, was under constant threat of arrest. It is therefore not surprising that his article directed at the English-speaking world was (like a number of his writings) published under a pen-name. (The true identity of SORABICUS is revealed in " M y " (supplement to "Nowa Doba"), dated 16 June 1979, p. 6.) In March 1 9 3 8 SKALA was arrested by the Gestapo and held for interrogation in Dresden until the end of that year. The editors of the "Slavonic and East European Review" were plainly aware of the dangerous circumstances in which Sorbian intellectuals were operating and appear, after SKALA'S article, to have decided not to publish anything critical of German policy towards the Sorbian minority. In 1937 they received the manuscript of an article by the Polish literary scholar JOZEF GOLABEK ( 1 8 8 9 — 1 9 3 9 ) , but decided for diplomatic reasons not to accept it. The situation later changed, however, and GOLABEK'S article "SorbLusatian Literature. A Survey" appeared in volume 1 9 ( 1 9 3 9 — 4 0 , pp. 2 7 6 — 9 0 ) just after the outbreak of the Second World War. It was accompanied by the following editorial note: "This article was prepared for this review in 1937, but was not accepted by the Editors as long as the Nazi regime showed reasonable consideration for the cultural rights of national minorities. These have since been completely over-ridden, and the cultural institutions mentioned in this article have been entirely abolished. The writer, too, has perished — killed, we believe, in the bombardment of Warsaw. — Ed." (p. 276). During the 1930s there was a young English Slavist at the University of London who, though at this time working on other Slavic languages, was beginning to take an interest in the Sorbs. This was R . G. A. DE BRAY, subsequently holder

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of the Chair of Russian Language at the University of London and later Professor of Russian at the Australian National University, Canberra. His "Guide to the Slavonic Languages", first published in 1951, contains the only comprehensive description of the Sorbian language ever published in English. The Sorbian section of this book covers 117 pages and is larger than any of the sections devoted to the other Slavic languages. Following the general pattern of the whole work, the Sorbian section is introduced by an account of the geographical features of the Sorbian homeland, and a few details of Sorbian history. There is also a brief history of Sorbian literature, in which most attention is devoted to the achievements of JAN ARNOST SMOLER and JAKUB BART-CISINSKI, and which closes with an expression of the uncertainty of the situation in 1951: "Since the end of the second world war the Lusatians have been allowed a certain amount of freedom and given support in cultural matters. It will be interesting to see if the younger generation can make any progress. If they do not and the Lusatian language dies out, it will not be entirely their own fault. Their failure will be due to harsh treatment from the Germans and the indifference of all the Great Powers at present (1951) occupying Germany, who have consistently ignored the appeals and claims of this small nation. The Lusatians have always shown a strong will to live and survive. The peace treaty should bring justice to the weak and give this remarkable people, their language and literature a chance to survive." 20 Although DE BRAY had met a few Sorbs in London after the War, he had never visited Lusatia at the time when his "Guide" was published, and he was obliged to depend entirely on the written sources available in Britain. He was therefore unable to take into account the changes in Upper Sorbian spelling introduced in 1948. The description of Sorbian morphology is no less comprehensive and accurate than that given in the other grammars of Upper Sorbian available at that time. It provides the main paradigms for nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs. Appended to the grammatical survey are ten pages of extracts from works of Upper and Lower Sorbian literature. Among the writers represented here are HANDRIJ

Z E J L E R , HERTA WICAZEC, JAKUB BART-CISINSKI, JAN

RADYSERB-

W J E L A , MERLIN NOWAK, FRYCO ROCHA, a n d MATO KOSYK.

In 1957 the "Slavonic and East European Review" published an article by an Englishman who, unlike DE BRAY, had been able to visit Lusatia and get some idea of the changes that had taken place since the end of the War. Entitled "Lusatian in the German Democratic Republic Today", it aimed in particular to inform English readers of the change in the official status of the Sorbian language. The author, W. B. LOCKWOOD, had recently visited a number of towns and villages between Bautzen and Cottbus, and had been able to discuss recent reforms with representatives of the Sorbs. His interest was particularly drawn to the recently established schools with Sorbian as the medium of instruction. Attempting an assessment of the total number of persons able to carry on an ordinary conversa-

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tion in Sorbian, LOCKWOOD said that estimates of up to 2 0 0 , 0 0 0 had been put to him. However, his own assessment put the figure at not more than 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 . Though well aware of the difficulties faced by such a small minority with two separate literary languages, LOCKWOOD was full of optimism. The question of a rapprochement between Upper and Lower Sorbian was, he knew, somewhat remote, and he was conscious of the problems caused by the resettlement in Lusatia of Germans expelled from what was now Western Poland. But he summed up his impression of the hopeful spirit which was abroad at that time by quoting a slogan which he had read over the door of "a somewhat ancient building" being used as a school with Sorbian as the medium of instruction: Stary dorn, nou>y duch ("Old house, new spirit"). 21 Interest in Sorbian is also reflected by collections of Sorbian books in British libraries. There are, for example, at least four copies in Britain of the "Casopis Macicy Serbskeje" ( 1 8 4 8 — 1 9 3 7 ) (in the British Library in London, in the Cambridge University Library, and in the Bodleian and Taylor Institution Libraries at Oxford). (Not all these copies are complete.) Among the older and rarer Sorbian books held by the Bodleian Library are: JOHANNES FRANKE, Hortus Lusatiae ( 1 5 9 4 ) ; ZACHARIAS BIERLING, Didascalia seu orthographia vandalica ( 1 6 8 9 ) ; ABRAHAM FRENCEL, De originibus linguae sorabicae ( 1 6 9 3 — 9 6 ) ; J. H. SWETLIK, Vocabularium Latino-Serbicum ( 1 7 2 1 ) . An especially interesting item in the Library of the Taylor Institution at Oxford is A. HERSEN'S collection of translated hymns entitled "Ton loß teje newesty Jesußoweje" (Bautzen 1 7 5 0 ) , which is not recorded in any of the published bibliographies.

References 1 SWEET, H. (ed.), King Alfred's Orosius, in: Early English Text Society, No. 79, 1883, p. 19 2 Cf. SCHAFARICK, P. J., Slawische Alterthümer, Leipzig, 11(1844), p. 553 3 WOLFF, H. W., The Remnant of a Great Race, in: The Westminster Review, London 1892, pp. 5 3 8 - 5 5 6 4 Memoirs of Literature. Containing a Weekly Account of the State of Learning, both at Home and Abroad, vol. I (for the years 1710 and 1711), London 1712, p. 299 5 BROCK, P., Daniel Ernst Jablonski and Education in Lower Lusatia, in: Slavonic and East European Review, London, XLIV(1966), p. 452 6 Ibid., pp. 4 4 4 - 4 4 8 7 Ibid., p. 449 8 RICHARDSON, J . , The Great Folly. Superstition and Idolatry of Pilgrimages in Ireland, Dublin 1727, p. 137; as quoted by BROCK, P., Daniel Ernst Jablonski..., p. 446 9 Cambro-Briton, The, London, June 1822, p. 477

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Cambro-Briton, The, London, November 1820, p. 97 Cambro-Briton, The, London, May 1822, pp. 433/434 MORFILL, W . R., Slavonic Literature, London 1883, pp. 2 4 0 — 2 4 7 Ibid., p. 245 STONE, G., Morfill and the Sorbs, in: Oxford Slavonic Papers, New Series, IV(1971), p. 176 [Anon.] Andree's Wendish Studies, in: The Saturday Review, London, 31 January 1874, p. 150 VOCADLO, O., Anglické listy Karla Capka (Karel Capek's English letters), Praha 1975, p. 45 LEBEDA, J., Otakar Voöadlo a Luiiöti Srbové (Otakar Voöadlo and the Sorbs), in: Lidovà demokracie, Prague, 13 February 1981, p. 10 VOCADLO, O . , Anglické listy ..., p. 248 VOCADLO, O . , Anglické hlasy o Luiici a budoucnost luìické otäzky (English contributions on Lusatia and future of the Sorbian issue), in: Slovansky pfehled ( 1 9 2 5 ) , pp. 33—37 DE BRAY, R. G. A., Guide to the Slavonic Languages, London—New York 1951 (Revised edition 1969), p. 684 Cf. LOCKWOOD, W. B., Lusatian in the German Democratic Republic Today, in : Slavonic and East European Review (1957), p. 472

The Polish-Sorbian Cultural Relationships in the 19th Century B y RAFAL LESZCZYNSKI

The 19th century began under the banner of the Napoleonic Wars. The mutual contacts between Polish and Sorbs were shaped under the same influence. On the Lusatian part it is testified by the memoirs of one of the Great Army veterans marching to Moscow in 1812. He remembered Warsaw from his passage through Poland and he recollected with gratitude the kindness of Poles, who had given him some money. 1 In the following year, the retreating Napoleonic Army fought in Lusatia for some months. To satisfy the needs of the soldiers of the multinational armies JAN ZYGMUNT BJEDRICH SYNDLAR, renowned for the preservation of the Lower Sorbian language in the church-life senior from Picnjo (Peitz), compiled and published in Cottbus a "Kleines deutsch-wendisch-russisch und polnisches Wörterbuch". In this small dictionary 228 Polish words were listed, among them 179 nouns, though only 11 verbs, 18 adverbs, 9 pronouns, 9 adjectives, 2 numerals. There were also 44 phrases useful for travelling, at an inn, greeting etc., e.g.: hello, bone sdruw (b%dz zdröw), to lay the table — nakrywac stull (nakrywac stol), would you like red or white wine — Schondasch Pane wino tscherwene lub biale (zyczy Pan sobie wino czerwone czy biale). I prefer the red one — prschenossam tscherwene (wol§ czerwone), show us the way — pokasch nam droghe (pokaz nam drog§), is it far away from here — tschi daleko stond (czy daleko stond), saddle a horse for me — siodlä mi konia (siodlaj mi konia). As it can be seen, the Polish words were written according to the German spelling, so the pronunciation was not precisely rendered. SYNDLAR was recording by ear: Dyschsch pada, Sul (instead of söl), Pajunk (paj^k — spider), Wiäsna (instead of wiosna — spring) etc. from an informant resp. informants speaking with the distinct dialectal features. While recording the Polish words the author made several mistakes and there were inconsistencies. A German or Sorb could hardly hold intercourse with a Pole with the aid of this dictionary which remained rather a product of the author's good intentions and evidence of the consciousness that the juxtaposed Lower Sorbian, Russian and Polish words belong to the mutually related languages. On the Polish side, General JÖZEF ZALUSKI, coming from an aristocratic and influential family, gave proof of his interest in „Wends, who spoke hardly any

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German as early as in 1813"2, as in his diary he devoted significant reflections to the inhabitants of this country, "who are not German, and even less Prussian and who could easily comprehend that annexing them to Poland would be mainly profitable for them" 3 . The similarity of the Sorbian to the Polish language was also observed by Captain HENRYK DEMBINSKI, who was later one of the most talented generals of the Polish army. A clever observer stated quickly, that "the government wants to root out this language and introduce the German one, so it maintains only the German schools".4 The rarely printed reminiscences commemorated the trace of contacts between Poles and Sorbs in the Napoleonic Wars' period, but the meeting with the related population made an impression on the greater number of soldiers; it remained in the family tradition. For instance, one of the PARCZEWSKI family fought at that time in Lusatia, and contacts with the local people remained alive in the family when TEKLA PARCZEWSKA got married to ROMAN ZMORSKI in 1 8 4 5 , the later editor of Bautzenian "Stadio", the author of the poetic fragments under the title "Swi^to Majowe", concerning the Sorbian topic, and of many dissertations and reports from Lusatia. It was usually assumed, that ZMORSKI'S decision to go to Lusatia, where he then lived for almost two years, was influenced by his acquaintance with the outstanding propagator of the Sorbian national rebirth, JAN ARNOST SMOLER, whom he met during his studies at Wroclaw University. The case was so presented by ZMORSKI himself when he quarrelled with his wife's family. 5 But from PARCZEWSKI'S home, where he found shelter, he got some knowledge about Lusatia, and TEKLA could easily have been persuaded to leave for Lusatia, about which she was to write with affection years later. Her cousin ALFONS PARCZEWSKI showed a very friendly attitude to the Sorbs and liberally spent his money to satisfy their needs. MELANIA PARCZEWSKA continued to inform readers about the Sorbs' life. It will not be a mistake to seek the sources of this favour in the family tradition dating back to the Napoleonic Wars. In the stabilization period after the Peace Treaty of Vienna the character of travelling to Lusatia changed. Scientists and writers travelled there and consciously sought contact with the Slavic population of Lusatia. Such a trip was made by STANISLAW STASZIC as early as in 1 8 0 4 , who recorded in his Journal from the Journey, that in Budysin "the Slavic language is widely the language of the common people", though he was mainly concerned with economic problems. FRYDERYK SKARBEK, professor of economy at the University of Warsaw, was also interested in production and trade during his journey through Lusatia in 1822, but he was pleased to observe: "It is interesting to hear the language close to Polish and having many words in common with it many miles away from one's native country" 6 . MICHAL BOBROVSKIJ, a Slavist from Wilno University who stayed in Lusatia from 16 to 18 June, 1822, got acquainted with the language superficially, made notes of some words, held conversations with archbishop FRANC

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a scholar and writer and a Lusatian Sorb conscious of his nationality, and with the deacon HANDRIJ LUBJENSKI, paroemiologist, translator etc., from whom he obtained a newly published New Testament in Upper Sorbian. BOBROVSKIJ published notes from this journey in the "Willenian Journal". The information the readers of this publication could get from it was actually the only profit gained from BOBROVSKIJ's stay in Lusatia, as he himself did not maintain his contacts with the Sorbs. ANDRZEJ KUCHARSKI was much longer in Lusatia, preparing himself to succeed to a Slavic Department at Warsaw University. He made prior preparations for his scientific travel through Lusatia, studying Upper Sorbian on the basis of a printed grammatical outline by JAKUB TICIN, orthography by CASPAR ZACHARIAS BERLINK, and a manuscript by H. LUBJENSKI, containing a grammatical outline of this language. KUCHARSKI stayed in Lusatia from October 1826 to the end of January 1827, studying linguistics and folklore at the same time. He began these studies in Upper Lusatia, but spent his last few weeks in Lower Lusatia, also getting acquainted here with the language and gathering folk songs and tales. The outcome of this journey was abundant scientific material, which unfortunately he managed to take advantage of in a report printed in "Pami^tnik Warszawski Umiej^tnosci Czystych i Stosowanych" in 1829 and short pieces scattered in various journals. He did not get the directorate of the Slavic Department as the Russian government ordered to close Warsaw University; it was one of this government's reprisals for the 1830/31 uprising. A part of the folk songs gathered in Lusatia by KUCHARSKI was published by F . L. CELAKOVSK^,

J U R I J LOK,

a C2ech.

During his visit to Lusatia KUCHARSKI made several acquaintances, among others with the above mentioned H . LUBJENSKI and young HANDRIJ ZEJLER, who was later to become a distinguished Sorbian poet, owing much to the inspiration of the Slavist from Warsaw. It is saicl that ZEJLER, under KUCHARSKI'S influence "with whom he got acquainted during his stay in Lusatia, created the Sorbian alphabet on the basis of the Polish and Czech ones, making use of the Latin letters" in place of the Gothic writing 7 . Also "thanks to Kucharski ... Zejler became a devoted collector of folk songs"8, which some time later were to become the fabric of his own poetic work. The above-mentioned defeat of the 1831 insurrection, which ruined KUCHARSKI'S hopes of a university career, made also the wave of political emigrants going from the Kingdom of Poland to Western European countries cross Lusatia. The manifestations of favours for the fighting insurgents and the kindness shown the emigrants from the Kingdom by the inhabitants of Lusatia, both Germans and Sorbs, were presented extensively in the works of Polish and foreign scholars.9 Let us just point out, that the founder of Sorbian journalism, JAN D E J K A , published systematically in the German magazine "Oberlausitzer Landbote" edited by

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him, information on the Polish-Russian warfare and provided news and comments favouring the Poles, and then he reported the reprisals against the insurgents. It is also worth mentioning, that among numerous poems written in Germany in connection with this revolt there was one published in Budysin, too. The local lawyer, called WEBER, published in 1 8 3 2 a collection of poems glorifying NAPOLEON and the Polish insurrection.10 Also in Leipzig, the printing and publishing centre, many publications appeared stimulated by the Polish uprising, and the bestsellers among them were the publications of music and texts of Polish patriotic songs. After 1831, some Sorbian poems were written, to be sung to the popular Polish melodies; their rhythm and content referring to Polish patterns. The Polish Legions' Song by J6ZEF WYBICKI, which after years became the Polish national anthem, was one of these melodies, the popularity of which was revived during the 1830/31 insurrection. This popularity was widespread in the countries, Polish emigrants had fled to after the defeat of the uprising. Considerable expression of interest in the Legions' Song may have been observed also among Germans. This led to the fact that the firm J. H. G. Hiibner in Gottingen published the music and text of the Song translated into German under the title "Noch ist Polen nicht verloren. Polnisches Nationallied fur Piano-forte und Guitarre" in 1 8 3 1 . This publication became the model for H . ZEJLER, the first Lusatian poet of considerable calibre, to write a well-known paraphrase of the Legions' Song under the title "Serbow narodny spew". Following the example of the original version of " J e s z c z e Polska nie zgin^la", the Sorbian paraphrase proclaims equally optimistically: Hisce Serbstwo njezhubjene. Zejler's imitative song must have represented Sorbian public feeling well enough, because in a few years it became an unofficial national anthem — unofficial, because under German rule it could have gained this standing only on the basis of general approval and not by official proclamation. "Serbow narodny spew", though it has lost its position as national anthem, is still contained in Sorbian song-books with the annotation: polski hlos (the Polish melody). The song was taken over from ZEJLER by the Lower Sorbian poet MATO KOSYK, when he went to the U.S.A. and settled in El Reno, Oklahoma, as a parson of a local Lutheran parish. His poem "Serbstwo za Atlantom" expressed the hope of Sorbian national development on the other side of the ocean: Hysci Serbstwo njezgubjone, Rozkwisuje za morjom, Hysci Serbstwo njeskazone, Chowa se za Atlantom. He wrote another variation of this poem, also based on a Polish model in the last resort a quarter of a century later on occasion of meeting the Sorbian emigrants in Sterling, Nebraska. After the example of the Polish patriotic song "The Third of May Polonaises", MICHAL DOMASKA, one of the minor poem-writers of the Sorbian national rebirth period, wrote "Nowe Serbstwo" before August 1846. Until 1945, this Sorbian paraphrase of the Polish song used to be sung willingly 11 Lusatian Sorbs

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at the Sorbs' meetings and has still remained in the older generation's memory, it was also contained in a school song-book. A translation into Lower Sorbían exists, too. After all, to the Polish melody composed by A L F R E D B O J A R S K I to WINCENTY POL'S text: W krwawym polu srebrne ptasz^ (thematically also connected with the fight for liberation from Russian occupation) the Sorbian teacher and lexicographer KÜESCAN BOHUWÉR P F U L wrote a poem "Hory módre, ja was znaju", which remained the only one still known of all P F U L ' S posthumous literary work and became a permanent part of the repertoire of Sorbian choirs. From the early forties of the 19th century, a considerable revival of public nationalistic feeling among Sorbs may be observed. It was connected with the belief, that their national development would be possible by relying on other Slavic' nations and in cooperation with them, especially with Czechs and Poles. J A N PÉTR JORDAN was a fervent adherent of such a cooperation, he was a lecturer of Slavic languages and literature at the University of Leipzig. It was he who in 1846 explained to his students the newly written Non-Divine Comedy by ZYGMUNT KRASIISISKI, and as early as since 1843 he had been editing the "Jahrbücher für slavische Literatur, Kunst und Wissenschaft". The unfavourable political situation of the majority of Slavic countries in contemporary Europe, their subordination to the Habsburg and Hohenzollern states, made the German language, a vehicle of expression for them. JORDAN also wished, that other nations, mainly the Germans themselves and the Hungarians, knowing the German language should get acquainted with Slavic nations' culture, their opinions and aspirations, to get rid in this way of old prejudices against the Slavs. He was editing his magazine in German, therefore, assigned for multi-national readers. He sought his collaborators in all Slavic countries; the main informant as far as the Polish problems were concerned became AUGUST MOSBACH, an historian from Kraków. MOSBACH, a colleague of J. A . SMOLER of Wroclaw University, had been a contributor, and later co-editor, of the "Jahrbücher" since 1847; though SMOLER soon took over the whole editorial work. MOSBACH supplied JORDAN and SMOLER with information about cultural life in Poland, and in turn informed the Poles about literature and culture of Sorbs in "Tygodnik Literacki", which was the best, most interestingly edited Polish periodical of those times, of unique importance in the history of Polish Romanticism. In the fourth annual set of "Tygodnik Literacki" (1841) he printed extensive information on Lusatian Sorbian literature with a translation of some poetic works. The same periodical welcomed the establishment of the "Jahrbücher"; whereas this Sorbian periodical edited in German repeated the Polish periodical's opinions concerning Polish literature. The second source of information about Polish literature was for the "Jahrbücher" editors the Poznaá "Rok", evaluated as "the most ambitious magazine among the contemporary scientific Polish periodicals",11 later "Gazeta Warszawska" and "Bibliografía Krajowa" were added to this list. So in the magazine edited

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by JORDAN and SMOLER the readers could find abundant information concerning Polish cultural life, especially in the fields of literature and drama. We are in possession of evidence, that the young Sorbian intelligentsia, following their periodical's information or independently searched for knowledge concerning Polish culture directly in Polish books and the press. The above-mentioned H. ZEJLER, J. A. SMOLER and some other Sorbs subscribed to "Tygodnik Literacki" as early as in 1840 expressing through this choice the right understanding of Polish magazines. After having come back home from his studies in Wroclaw SMOLER continued reading it. He took advantage of bringing the Slavic woiM closer to his compatriots. JAN W J E L A - R A D Y S E R B , the creator of low-brow literature, called a meeting of the Bautzen seminar pupils with SMOLER in August 1839 at Hucina (Guttau): "Sitting with us, he opened not only the Sorbian, but the whole of the Slavic world to us. Our ears were ringing with the names: Safarik, Kollar, Mickiewicz, Pushkin, and others, completely new to us at that time". 12 SMOLER knew many Poles holding significant positions in the political and scientific life of his country. Besides the already mentioned historian MOSBACH, mention should be made here of an historian of law, WACLAW ALEKSANDER MACIEJOWSKI, ofthe Silesian regional writer JOZEF LOMPA, the author of books written in Kashubian dialect, FLORIAN CEYNOWA, and a poet, ROMAN ZMORSKI. The latter lived in Bautzen and neighbouring Sorbian villages for about one year and a half, and since January 1849 was editing the magazine "Stadlo" which appeared irregularly with an eclectical content. In Lusatia ZMORSKI carried out ethnographical research, translated into Polish some folk songs and the legend of Christ and St. Peter, in a poem "Cicha noc w Luzyckich gorach" he followed the phraseology of Sorbian folk poetry; it was written to the tune composed by KORLA AUGUST KOCOR, the leading Sorbian composer of that time. ZMORSKI based the poetical fragments under the title "Swi^to majowe" on a Sorbian folk custom to celebrate joyfully the first night of May, as the holiday of spring. "Tygodnik Ilustrowany" in 1862 printed ZMORSKI'S comprehensive report under the title "Lusatian Serbs, their land, customs and relics of the past". Years later, ZMORSKI found himself again near the Sorbs' land and revived his relations with them. The growing political tension in Warsaw, anti-Russian manifestations in which ZMORSKI took part, his arrest in 1862 on a charge of editing an illegal magazine "Straznica" forced the poet to emigrate after his acquittal. He found himself in Dresden eventually, where he got acquainted with MICHAL H6RNIK, a Sorbian national agitator, translator of the New Testament into Upper Sorbian, editor, linguist and polonophil. According to HORNIK their meeting took place in the spring of 1863 and this acquaintance lasted almost until ZMORSKI'S death in a hospital, where he was visited by SMOLER and HORNIK. However, as long as his health allowed it ZMORSKI left Dresden several times 11*

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to visit his Sorbian friends in Bautzen. In his posthumous memory H6RNIK wrote about ZMORSKI, that he was "our Sorbs' friend, a lover of our native language" though we learn from the same H6RNIK'S letter to ALFONS PARCZEWSKI, that ZMORSKI, in spite of his long stay in Lusatia, never learned to make active use of the Sorbian language. 13 For reasons similar to those that forced ZMORSKI to emigrate at the beginning of 1 8 6 3 , a Polish writer, J6ZEF IGNACY KRASZEWSKI, had to emigrate. He was the author of a great number of novels, dramas, journalistic articles, historical works etc., a man of great fame and authority in Polish society. He, too, took up residence in Dresden. This city was situated relatively close to Poland and at the same time free from the anti-Polish legislation of the three states which occupied Poland. Dresden was the capital of Saxony, whose rulers were more friendly to the liberational aspirations of the Poles than the Prussians, Austrians and Russians. KRASZEWSKI lived in Dresden from February 1863 till 1884 and very soon became familiar with the native inhabitants of Saxony — the Sorbs and met the representatives of this nation, who preserved their ethnical identity in Lusatia. While comparing the historical and present state of the Sorbian nation and undoubtedly taking also the Poles into consideration, KRASZEWSKI was reflecting upon a problem, which he put into these words: "We know from tradition, that a part of Saxony is still a Slavic land, that Lusatian Sorbs still live here, speak their language, write in it, pray in it, did not let themselves be denationalized; maybe fewer people know, that German Dresden, pra-Slavic Drazdany ... was also a Sorbian settlement, that Slavic Laba, which changed its name into Elbe, waters the banks, over which ancient songs may be still heard. Having met here the rest of the tribe oppressed away by provident Germans, one constantly asks oneself, why were they stronger, what constituted this power, why did they get possession of other people's property with this humble face, and were we disinherited?"14 What is significant is this "we", which burst from KRASZEWSKI'S lips, and it is proof of the fact that he identified the Poles and Sorbs and observed the union of their situation, so. when his literary jubilee brought KRASZEWSKI an increase in income, he allocated 2,000 Marks as a fund in 1879, the interest from which was supposed to be used for scholarships for those Sorbian secondary school pupils, who would be best at learning their native language. The allocation presented by KRASZEWSKI became the initial fund of a Society for Assistance to Sorbian Students, which elected the donor its honorary member. KRASZEWSKI also promoted the raising of funds for bringing in Slavic preachers for the Sorbs of the evangelical — Augsburg creed. In some of his historical novels KRASZEWSKI created literary characters of Sorbian origin though neither his generous gift for the Sorbian youth, nor his letters of recommendation, with which he supported the raising of funds for the

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Sorbían objectives, nor, eventually, the creation of Sorbían literary characters caused the immediate translation of KRASZEWSKI'S works into the Sorbían languages. Translation of KRASZEWSKI'S posthumous works began as late as in 1934 and 1936, and its scale increased only after 1950. It is assumed though, that at least some Sorbs who knew the Polish language used to read KRASZEWSKI'S works in the original before one began to translate them into Upper Sorbian. Nevertheless, the magazine "Luzican" was bringing relatively full reviews of the new works by KRASZEWSKI from as early as 1861, arid in 1879 in its 5th issue it brought, on occasion of the writer's jubilee, a comprehensive article about him plus his photograph. It was stressed there, that KRASZEWSKI was the most voluminous writer in the world, and his novels wrested the French works out of the hands of the Poles. On September 30, 1879, SMOLER sent KRASZEWSKI on behalf of the Sorbian writers a congratulatory telegram marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Pole's literary work, and HÓRNIK delivered a lecture on the jubilee. It is evident from references in correspondence, that Sorbs used to send their publications to KRASZEWSKI and to pay him visits in Dresden. MICHAL HÓRNIK was already interested in the Polish language when he was a secondary school pupil and he developed his interests during his theological and philological studies in Prague. During friendly meetings at the Serbowka Society grouping the Sorbian students in Prague he was reading to them his translations of the Polish Renaissance (by KOCHANOWSKI) and of Romantic literature (by A . MALCZEWSKI, W. POL, B . ZALESKI, A . MICKIEWICZ). H e also translated s o n g s

of Polish folk origin. In the years 1852—56, this outstandingly talented, though young translator translated from Polish at least 13 works, and after his return to his homeland from his studies he translated another two. The first printed translation (1857) was just written by HÓRNIK. As editor of the magazine "Luzican" HÓRNIK took care to place in it much information concerning the literary life in Poland. He taught Polish to the adults and secondary school pupils, wanted to draft a Polish language manual for Upper and Lower Sorbs, but difficulties in his way made him give up. The main reasons for HÓRNIK encouraging his compatriots to learn the Polish language and for teaching them, were expressed by him in 1877 in a letter to the Serbowka Society members : " I would like to tell you, how close to us is and shall remain the Polish tongue because of its ample literature and its usefulness for the scientific study of our native language!" HÓRNIK maintained correspondence with many Poles, appealed to them for help in the hope to satisfy the financial needs of the Sorbian national organizations, including with priestly care. The Polish catholics, who were in Bautzen, Dresden and the neighbourhood, willingly showed his guests from Poland around the monuments of millenary Bautzen. Among HÓRNIK'S correspondents from the Polish side were ALEKSANDER PETRÓW, WILHELM BOGUSLAWSKI, A L F O N S PARCZEWSKI a n d h i s s i s t e r MELANIA.

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BOGUSLAWSKI got acquainted with Lusatia in 1858, wheq he was gathering material for his historical works. Three years later, he published an outline of SorbianLusatian history, and in 1862, the "tuzican" published his work on the Polish reign in Lusatia. BOGUSLAWSKI'S historical synthesis was brought out in the Upper Sorbían language in 1884 in a translation by HÓRNIK, whom BOGUSLAWSKI met while staying in Lusatia. In accord with his financial possibilities BOGUSLAWSKI supported the Sorbían organizations and efficiently helped the Macica Serbska, which was negotiating a loan for building a Sorbían House in Bautzen, to repay only a part of the debt. It is worth adding, that for building a Sorbían House, in which several Sorbían institutions like a museum, a library, bookshops etc. were to find an abode, a gift of 2,000 Marks was presented by the Polish Prince ADAM SAPIEHA. A. PETRÓW, the Polish Slavist-linguist was working on a Lower SorbianPolish-Russian dictionary and this enterprise was the topic of his correspondence with HÓRNIK. He assigned also a sum of money for the publication of a concise grammar of the Lower Sorbían language; eventually it was to be compiled by a young Sorbian linguist, BOGUMIL BRONIS. With time BRONIS devoted himself to dialectological studies of Polish, to be more precise of Kashubian dialects spoken on the Baltic coast. . A lot for the Sorbs was done by A. PARCZEWSKI, a successful solicitor and, late in his life, rector of Vilnius University. He devoted his money and organizational talents to rescue, first of all, the Lower Sorbs, who were most threatened with Germanization as they were living closer to the big city of Berlin and subjected to Prussian administration which was much more hostile to Sorbs than the Saxonian one, under which the majority of the Upper Lusatians were living. Very few books were printed in the Lower Sorbian language, and they were almost exclusively religious texts. PARCZEWSKI decided to publish a calendar under the title "Pratyja" in this language at his own expense. Its content was supposed to be varied, with an extensive information column, pragmatic pieces of advice. "Pratyja" was expected to awake in Lower Sorbs the feeling of unity with Upper Sorbs and other Slavic nations and to restore in them the consciousness of their own identity and dignity. In June 1879, PARCZEWSKI'S project became reality. Sorbs wrote the texts and in 1880 the first Lower Sorbian calendar was published, strengthening the role of Lower Sorbian as a literary language, a vehicle for communication in writing and printing. PARCZEWSKI also bore the costs of publishing this calendar in the following years, even when, in order to avoid the German administration's suspicions, he stopped acting as a figure-head in "Pratyja" — as a citizen of the Russian Empire. PARCZEWSKI'S next initiative was the edition of a first rudimentary manual for learning Lower Sorbian entitled "Cytanka". The Polish solicitor then established a Lower Sorbian department of the Macica Serbska headquartered in Cottbus, a national institution occupied with educational and research activities. All these enterprises considerably contributed to the

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consolidation of the national consciousness of the aboriginal population of Lower Lusatia. PARCZEWSKI also campaigned for fund raising among Poles for a Sorbían House and became an advocate of this plan, when HÓRNIK and SMOLER came to Warsaw in March 1881. He wrote for some Warsaw magazines articles explaining the aim, for which these two Sorbs came to Warsaw, and a more comprehensive study under the title: "Jan Ernest Smoler. Ustfp z historii odrodzenia narodowego Górnych Luzyc". In the same year, the magazine "W^drowiec" concerned with acquainting readers with their native land, published PARCZEWSKI'S memoirs, and notes "Z Dolnych Luzyc" about his tour of the country. For the "Stownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego" PARCZEWSKI elaborated an entry in "Luzyce" (vol. 5, 1884), and at the turn of the century a paper concerning the students from Lusatia at Kraków Academy in the 15th and 16th centuries. The further work of PARCZEWSKI, who died in 1933, for the benefit of the Sorbían nation cannot be dealt with here because it exceeds the scope of the period under review in this article. MELANIA PARCZEWSKA, his sister, was showing no less fondness for Sorbs. She translated into Polish thepoemsofthe Sorbían poets JAKUB BART-CISINSKI, KORLA AWGUST FIEDLER, JAN WALTAR. M . HÓRNIK became a literary character of her short story entitled "Proboszcz" soon translated into Upper Sorbían (Katolski Posol, 1897). She wrote many reports on Lusatian topics for Polish magazines. HÓRNIK'S circle of friends also included BRONISLAW GRABOWSKI, the popularizer of Slavic literature, teacher at Grammar Schools in this part of Poland, which belonged to the Russian sector of the partitioned country. GRABOWSKI translated into Polish some poems of the Sorbían poets H. ZEJLER and M . KOSYK, and folk poetry. He wrote in the Polish press about contemporary problems of Sorbían life and was the author of a review of the history of Sorbían literature. His Slavist activities awakened the Russian educational authorities' objections, and they moved GRABOWSKI to a small provincial town to make his contacts with the Eastern and Southern Slavic nations difficult. JÓZEF CHOCISZEWSKI, the author of the popular works assigned to low-brow (trivial) literature, was a member of the Sorbían St. Cyril and Methody Society. He wrote quite a lot about Sorbs in the magazines "Lech", "Przegl^d Síowiañski" edited by him. From a naive Catholicism position he wrote a book for the Polish people called "Bojomir", i.e. inauguration of Christianity in Lusatia, which appeared in Upper Sorbían translation in 1889. CHOCISZEWSKI, a bookseller and editor, made the Macica Serbska library a present of books. HÓRNIK'S and SMOLER'S mission in Warsaw did not quite yield the expected results. They did not manage to raise enough money in Poland to solve all the problems connected with buying a property in Bautzen for the Macica Serbska to build its planned Sorbían House. The needs of Polish society were so extensive, that it constituted utmost effort to support the Sorbían plans. In addition, the

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Russian invasion authorities multiplied the obstacles in the way of the Poles' willingness to help. We already mentioned the reprisals against GRABOWSKI, and when PARCZEWSKI wanted to arrange a lecture on Lusatia by him in Warsaw, the Russian censorship prohibited it. PARCZEWSKI wrote to HÓRNIK complaining, that Slavic goodwill was forbidden to be manifested in Polish. This was meant to give the impression, that the Poles were hostile to other Slavic nations, which in turn was intended to deprive us of their goodwill and lead to the isolation of Poland in confrontation with the Russians. For some other reasons, but equally energetically, the German authorities opposed close Polish-Sorbian relations in the part of Poland annexed by Germans. Nevertheless, besides direct financial results the Sorbian deputies in Warsaw achieved an important propaganda success. During their stay there they won new friends for Lusatia. It was particularly important to win the good will of the young generation, which was expected to continue the activities for the benefit of further friendly Polish-Sorbian relations. There are at least two people in this circle worth mentioning. The first is ZENON PRZESMYCKI, pen-name Miriam, the outstanding representative of modernistic literature and later minister of culture in reborn Poland. The columns of the papers he edited were open to Sorbian literature and themes, on condition that the contributions entered, satisfied the demand for high quality of ambitious standards of "2ycie". He also wrote a poem devoted to a Sorbian patriarch — to SMOLER. The second one is KAROL SIJKOWSKI, who in a small volume entitled " Z chwil wolnych. Wig,zanka prac literackich" (Warsaw 1884) published the Polish translation of seven poems by the Sorbian poets H . ZEJLER, J. BART-CISINSKI, M . KOSYK, and J . E. DOBRUCKY. These translations were later reprinted a number of times thus contributing to familiarize Polish readers with the works of our compatriots. The reports on the journeys through Lusatia published by the industry and trade people were a valuable supplement to these publications. In 1856, KAROL LANGIE, the agent of the Economic-Agricultural Company in Kraków, stayed in Lusatia to recruit workers for large agricultural farms (granges) in Little Poland. In his published account he praised the Sorbs' laboriousness and perseverance and their aptitudes to farming. In the following year, ZYGMUNT FUDAKOWSKI, organizer of the sugar industry in Poland, stayed in Lusatia. He met SMOLER, HÓRNIK, and other Sorbian patriots. Writing about numerous signs indicating a Sorbi annational rebirth he did not forget to present their polonophil point of view: "They learn the Polish language avidly. Smoler teaches it in a 'Bautzen grammar school, and the older people do not omit any opportunity to familiarize themselves with our tongue." 15 At the end of the century, a Warsaw journalist, WILHELM JELSKI, used to send to the weekly "GIos" fragments of relations under the title "Luzyce". They were impressions from a journey preceded by a short description of the country and its history, which were published in 1891 in the form of a book. The

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reports from Lusatia in "Przegl^d Powszechny" were published by

169 JULIAN

BUKOWSKI i n 1 8 9 0 , T Y T U S SOPODZKO i n 1 8 9 4 , a n d JAN BADENI i n 1 8 9 5 .

After the death of SMOLER ( 1 8 8 4 ) and H6RNIK ( 1 8 9 4 ) there appeared also in Lusatia some new people working for close relations and better mutual understanding among Poles and Sorbs. To them belongs MIKLAWS ANDRICKI, whose translations of Polish literature began to appear at the end of the century, and BART-CI§INSKI, translator of the sonnets of the Polish literary classic, ADAM MICKIEWICZ, and imitator of the ingenious "Arabeski" by CZESLAW JANKOWSKI. BART-CISINSKI did not know Polish well enough to make greater numbers of translations. Generally speaking translations of Polish poetry into Sorbian are not impressive as far as their quantity is concerned, as they only amount to about 20 per cent of the total volume of translations of Polish literature. In spite of the close relationship of these languages, their versification structures differ a lot, the reasons being mainly the differences of accents and prosodies. So it is easier for a Sorbian reader to understand a Polish poem in the original with the help of a dictionary than to translate it into his native tongue. In spite of the fact that BART-CISINSKI did not translate much from Polish, the Polish influence on this writer, generally considered the greatest Sorbian poet, was enormous, particularly the influence of Polish Romantic and Messianic poetry. BART-CISINSKI was too powerful and creative an individual for this influence to manifest it mainly in the sphere of fiction or stylistic imitations. He took from the Polish poets first of all the idea of the special role of an inspired poet-bard. The ancient "vates" in the concept of the Polish Romanticists, especially that of MICKIEWICZ, was transformed into the ruler of souls, who can best express the common national feelings and be the highest moral authority. BART-CISINSKI assumed this role, which was played in Polish society by MICKIEWICZ, KRASIIVSKI, SLOWACKI and others, whom the Sorbian poet at the end of his life called "the crystal stars" fixing also his way. It seems significant that BART-CISINSKI was reciting to his friends the fragments of "Dziady" by ADAM MICKIEWICZ, also the one which is called The Great Improvisation, and in which the Polish poet expressed his intention to perform "the ruling of souls" over the nation to the highest degree. MICKIEWICZ achieved such a high-degree position among the Poles, whereas BART-CISINSKI'S claim to a similar position among the Sorbs was not accepted by his contemporaries, perhaps he was not even appreciated. The intention to transfer the Polish relationships to Sorbian society contributed to the poet's isolation in his own environment, gave rise to unfriendly reactions to his attempts at instructing and judging his contemporaries. After the many years which had passed since the death of BART-CISINSKI who had criticized pusillanimous and "lukewarm" people, this attitude of the poet-moralist, often pathetic and prophetic but always expressed in a highly artistic form, strengthened

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his leading role among Sorbian men of letters. It should be remembered, that such an uncompromising attitude of a judge and bard had been formed in B A R T CI§INSKI both under the influence of reading the Bible and the Polish Messianic poets. At the end of the period under review the hitherto existing Polish-Sorbian contacts were enriched by scientific interrelations in the field of linguistics. Former Sorbian interests, manifested by J A N BAUDOUIN DE COURTENAY, the worldfamed Polish linguist, were renewed by H E N R Y K U L A S Z Y N , connected with Leipzig University. As once BAUDOUIN DE COURTENAY was on friendly terms with HÖRNIK, so U L A S Z Y N valued B A R T - £ I S I N S K I . On the Sorbian side, in addition to M . B. BRONI§, who was investigating the Kashubian Baltic dialects, A R N O S T M U K A was maintaining various connections with the Poles. This grammar-school teacher and fearless Sorbian national leader was a linguist of considerable calibre, who in more favourable conditions would undoubtedly have succeeded to one of the university departments. His nationalist attitude made an academic career impossible for him in Germany, but M U K A ' S scientific qualifications were appreciated enough in some neighbouring countries, also in Poland. The Academy of Sciences in Krakow, the most important Polish scientific institution, on 20 April, 1895, elected M U K A an associate member. There were some more scientific honours for M U K A from the Polish side as late as in the 20th century. Besides his strictly scientific work M U K A found time in 1891 to translate into Upper Sorbian a comedy by a Polish author MICHAL B A L U C K I entitled "Polowanie na mgza". A survey of Polish-Sorbian cultural relationships revealed two phenomena so characteristic of them in the 19th century that they are worth to be further dealt with. Firstly: they fell under the banner of individual proceedings from both sides — Polish and Sorbian. Attempts at systematic, close relations with Sorbs in the twenties directed by the universities in Warsaw and Vilna were followed by the break-up of the institutional contacts of this kind, because of the liquidation of these Polish universities by the Russians and of the general repressive policies pursued by the three invaders Austria, Prussia and Russia against Polish society. The Polish institutions and associations were limited in their work and dissolved. At the end of the century, therefore in the Austrian sector of partitioned Poland, which gained some autonomy after 1870, Polish institutions were established, such as the Academy of Sciences which elected M U K A its member and shortly afterwards financed his scientific trip to Lüneburg to conduct research among the Germanized descendants of the ancient Polabian Sorbs. Sorbian organizations came into being relatively late and had a limited work scope. The largest of them, the Macica Serbska, cherished the Polish contacts by mediation of the succeeding presidents, SMOLER and HÖRNIK, and willingly accepted the Sorbian nation's friends, Poles too, as its members. Some of them were even given the status of honorary members of the Macica Serbska. However, it was the organization

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whose aim was cultural and educational work among Sorbs, and therefore statutorily limited its foreign connections. It had to observe the statutes to avoid German repressive administrative measures, it also lacked the funds for considerably more foreign enterprises. On the Sorbian side the cultivation of contacts with the Poles depended on the individuals' good will and their understanding of the importance of these contacts for the cultural and national development of the Lusatian Sorbs. Fortunately, such people existed on both sides. However, this state of affairs made it necessary to present the Polish-Sorbian relationships in the 19th century in the form of a survey of individual initiatives and achievements. The second significant feature in Polish-Sorbian cultural contacts in the last century is their limitation almost exclusively to the sphere of literature. Sorbs very highly esteemed the rich Polish literature expressing profound national and universal aspirations. They themselves were developing their literary output in the 19th century from the inconspicuous and utilitarian to the highly artistic standards of Bart-Cisinski. Some relations may be noted also in the field of music, but they consisted in the one-sided utilization of Polish melodies by the authors of some popular Sorbian lyrics. No contacts were established in the fields of drama and dramaturgy with the exception of the incidental translation of one of Baluchi's comedies by Muka. This is not surprising if we take into consideration the fact, that 1862 saw the first-ever Sorbian theatrical performance and that throughout the whole period under review performances were staged solely by amateurs, whereas the Polish theatre was presenting an ambitious repertoire and top standard actors and directors whenever it could overcome the obstacles put up by the hostile censorship. Nothing can be said about co-operation in the fields of craftsmanship, painting, sculpture, architecture, as these skills were not yet developed in Sorbian society oppressed for centuries, in the 19th century. Multi-faceted cultural contacts between Poles and Sorbs developed only in the 20th century, especially after 1950 in connection with the professionalization and institutionalization of the cultural life of the Sorbian nation. Obviously they go beyond present considerations. The 19th century achievements in Polish-Sorbian relations were actually more unostentatious compared with present century accomplishments. When compared with 18th century developments, however, they look remarkably good. The new and valuable phenomenon was that in the 19th century, Sorbs were no longer the passive subjects of Polish interests but became partners actively seeking communication with the Poles. We also observe a spreading on both the sides of close linguistic and ethnic cognation. In earlier centuries, some few erudite historians were conscious of this relationship, such as Juro K r y g a r , the author of the Latin dissertation "De Serbis Venedorum natione vulgo dictis die Wenden" (1675), in which he said, referring to Polish histo-

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rians: "Est autem extra omnem controversiae aleam positum, Serbos non esse nationem novam, sed cum aliis Venedicis seu Slavicis populis a veteribus Sarmatis ortam, id quod eorum lingua et mores satis docent." 16 The spreading of consciousness of common origin and close relations was accompanied by the Sorbs' confidence in Polish help, and they received such help according to Polish potentialities, which were limited by the fact, that also the Poles were deprived of political freedom in the 19th century. The Sorbs' chances were even smaller than those of the Poles, but at least with regard to individual contacts they endeavoured to manifest hospitality, friendliness and help as for instance, by visiting the Lusatian district. The generation, which was to work in the 20th century already, grew up in the conviction that mutual contacts contribute both to better understanding and more efficient fulfilment of national objectives.

References and footnotes 1

2

3 4

5

6 7 8 9

10

K R A L , M . A., Tri léta w Ruskej. Historiska originalna powjesc z Napoleonowych wójnow (Three years in Russia. An original historical news item from the Napoleonic Wars), in: Luiican (1866), pp. 1 3 2 - 1 3 3 ZALUSKI, J., Wspomnienia o pulku lekkokonnym polskim gwardii Napoleona I (Reminiscences of the Polish regiment of the light cavalry of the guards of Napoleon I), Kraków 1862, p. 295 Ibid., p. 296 DEMBIÑSKI, H . , Niektóre wspomnienia o dzialaniach korpusu polskiego pod dowództwem ksigcia Józefa Poniatowskiego w roku 1813 przez naocznego swiadka ... (Recollections of an eye-witness of the operations of the Polish corps under the command of prince Jozef Poniatowski in 1 8 1 3 ) , in: Pami^tniki polskie^Polish recollections), vol. 3, Paryz 1845, p. 141 PIESCIKOWSKI, E., Poeta — tulacz. Biografia literacka Romana Zmorskiego (Poet — vagabond. Literary biography of Roman Zmorski), Poznañ 1964, p. 81; PIGON, S., Znad Gopla na gór? Lubin (From Goplo to the Lubin mountain), in: Przegl^d Wielkopolski, vol. 2 (1946), p. 113 Podróze Polaków na tuzyce w XIX wieku (Travels of Poles to Lusatia in the 19th century), Wroclaw 1975, p. 45 GOL^BEK, J., Literatura serbskoluzycka (Sorbian literature), Katowice 1938, p. 104 MATYNIAK, A. S., Polsko-luzyckie stosunki kulturalne do Wiosny Ludów (PolishSorbian cultural relations before 1848/49), Wroclaw 1970, p. 60 F . e.: MATYNIAK, A . S . , op. cit., pp. 6 8 — 7 7 ; PETR, J . , Polská úcast v íivoté luzickych Srbú v I. pol. XIX stol. (The Polish share in the life of the Sorbs in the first half of the 19th century), in: Slavica Pragensia, vol. 1 (1959), pp. 2 0 7 - 2 2 0 MosAK-KtosopÓLSKi, K. A., Politiske hibanje 1. 1848 a 1849 (Political movements between 1848 and 1849), in: Rozhlad 5(1955), p. 140

Polish-Sorbian Contacts 11 12 13

14 15 16

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ZAKRZEWSKI, B., Tygodnik Literacki 1838-1845 (Literary weekly 1838—1845), Warszawa 1964, p. 42 CYZ, J., Jan Arnost Smoler, Budysin 1975, pp. 39, 67 HORNIK, M., SpomjenkanaRomanaZmorskeho (Reminiscences on Roman Zmorski), in: tuiiöan (1867), p. 72; LESZCZYNSKI, R., Listy Michala Hörnika do Alfonsa Parczewskiego (Michal Hornik's letters to Alfons Parczewski), in: Letopis A 31 (1984), 1, pp. 2 0 - 7 0 KRASZEWSKI, J. I., Wieczory drezderiskie (Dresden nights), Lwow 1866, p. 48 FUDAKOWSKI, Z., Cztery listy o Luzacji do hr. A. O. (Four letters on Lusatia to Duke A. O.), Warszawa 1859, p. 14 KRUEGER, G . [ J . K R Y G A R ] , Disputatio historica de Serbis ..., in: Scriptores rerum Lusaticarum, Lipsiae et Budissae 1719, vol. 2, p. 239

Czech-Sorbian Cultural Relations B y J A N PETR

The theory and practice of Slavic interrelations reveal among the Sorbs centuriesold traditions, their origins are going back to the Middle Ages. On a theoretical level, these interrelations constituted an ideology of resistance by the Sorbian people against Germanisation due to coercion by feudal and capitalist classes, of emphasizing the magnitude of Slavic peoples and nationalities as a whole, of promoting the Sorbs' concept of themselves as an integral part of the Slavic world. Indeed, this was concomitant with processes regarding the development of identity of the Sorbs as an ethnic group and of their national awareness. On a practical level, Slavic interrelatipns were aimed at an individual and collective exchange of cultural values, at social and national impulses based on political programmes, at support of the education of Sorbian intelligentsia in Slavic countries, at material subsidies for the Sorbian national movement, at promoting Sorbian studies, at propagating abroad the Sorbs and their topical problems, etc. Slavic interrelations among the Sorbs were cultivated in the first place by intellectual strata, teachers, clergymen, but also by educated farmers and artisans. At the same time, they could rely on the Sorbian people as a whole. It is within this people that these interrelations found their real concrete form which was founded on an empirically conceived and recognized mutual proximity of Sorbs and other Slavs with regard to language, to material and intellectual as well as cultural, psychic and geographic aspects. It is for this reason that the idea of Slavic interrelations was transformed among the Sorbs into an issue of national programme, of consolidating national awareness and into an instrument for practically maintaining and preserving everything Sorbian in urban and rural areas. Wherever awareness of Slav culture did not exist, neither did Sorbian national consciousness, but at best only a territorial feeling of belonging to the Lusatian region. In those days Sorbian culture was considered an integral part of regional rural Lusatian culture, but rather an inferior component of German regional Lusatian culture, and sometimes its Slav origin was even denied or its existence discarded. German Lusatian culture was represented especially by urban dwellers and, moreover, by inhabitants of German villages, where it absorbed some featu-

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res of Slavic Sorbian culture from adjacent villages or relics of Sorbian culture after the Germanisation of the village involved. In the sphere of Sorbian-Slavic interrelations, Czech-Sorbian relationships are ranking first. Their primary character is derived from their duration, intensity and from the results which it brought to the two ethnical communities. They began in feudalism, when philologists from both nationalities discovered the kinship of the Czech and Sorbian languages, and individual personalities in towns and villages found out the possibilities of understanding the other, similar language. This was helped by travels abroad, by military service, by using Czech books during the Reformation in Lusatla, and not last by the flight to Lusatia and later work there of Czech refugees after the Battle near the Bila Hora (White Mountain). A tiny catholic enclave in the west of Upper Lusatia maintained relations with Prague, whereas the Reformation movement in Lusatia cultivated ideological and institutional contacts with Czech anticatholic currents. In this context, the Sorbian people could see the anti-feudal aspects of the new ideology and made efforts to use them within its limited possibilities, since sometimes it saw in them a way out of class oppression. In these endeavours, the Sorbian people allied themselves with individual progressive-minded Germans living in Lusatia. Since the 17th century, the catholic enclave in Upper Lusatia has been intensifying its confessional ties with the archdiocese in Prague, with Prague itself, where Sorbian clergy were educated in the interests of promoting catholic theology. This education was cosmopolitically oriented, devoid of any aspects of nationality issues. The Sorbian students could afford these aspects neither in Prague nor in other Bohemian places at clerical schools, most of them monastic. This situation prevailed at a time, before a Czech majority from artisan and peasant ranks gained ground at these schools and a complex process began which we characterize as the establishment of the modern bourgeois Czech nation. An important step to promote Sorbian interests was made by the brothers MiiRcfN and JURIJ SIMAN from Cemjercy (Temmritz) in 1 7 0 6 , when they purchased a house in the Mala Strana borough of Prague, and in 1728 built a two-storey so-called Lusatian Seminar (the house has been well preserved to this day). It was a boarding-school for theology students of Sorbian and German nationality from Lusatia. The purpose of this work of the SIMAN brothers was to concentrate these students at one place and thus ensure that they return to Lusatia after their studies to live and work among the Sorbs, their people. In this way they helped provide Sorbian parishes with Sorbian clergymen which, of course, positively influenced the nationality issue in the Sorbian villages. Before national rebirth set in already, there came forth from the Lusatian Seminar in Prague committed promoters of Sorbianism, such as MSRCIN NUK ( 1 7 2 0 to 1 7 8 0 ) , MIKLAWS FULK ( 1 7 5 4 — 1 8 2 9 ) , o r FRANC JURIJ LOK ( 1 7 5 1 - 1 8 3 1 ) ,

who

gained great credit for promoting Sorbian youth of either confession in Upper

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Lusatia. Earlier, such personalities had studied at various church schools also in Bohemia, as J U R I J HAWSTYN SWÉTLIK ( 1 6 5 0 — 1 7 2 9 ) , author of a Latin-Sorbian dictionary (in 1 7 2 1 ) , or MICHAL JAN WALDA ( 1 7 2 1 — 1794), author of a collection of Sorbían hymns ( 1 7 8 7 ) . JAKUB TICIN ( 1 6 5 6 — 1 6 9 3 ) took great credit for his Sorbían Grammar (Prague 1679) elaborated at the example of a Jesuitical Czech grammar. These Sorbs felt committed to their Sorbianism and made great, devoted efforts to make available Sorbían books with religious content to the Sorbían population, and thus substantially encouraged public use of the Sorbían language. They were joined by numerous village school teachers and clergy who helped preserve the Sorbían language and culture. Some of them distinguished themselves as champions of new economic and intellectual currents. Sorbían national rebirth, the process of establishing a modern Sorbían nationality which because of objective reasons could not attain the socio-economic level of a nation, is marked by the following factors : 1. After abolishing corvée, labour productivity increased in agriculture and in trade, which allowed the rural population freedom of movement, personal mobility and subsequently migration to urban areas. 2. Talented peasant children could attend school and thus increased the educational standards of the Sorbían population. 3. Awareness of the habitat of the Sorbian ethnic community and of its relations with neighbouring Slavic peoples increased. 4. Sorbian folk art developed and was enriched by new developments in neighbouring territories. 5. Socio-economic processes in Germany and in neighbouring Slavic countries were recognized all of which represented the process of establishing modern bourgeois nations. Mainly the last-mentioned fact had an impact on the cultivation of CzechSorbian interrelations in a modern sense and replaced previous individual contacts which primarily, though not exclusively, had been based on the recognition of the close proximity between the Zorbian and Czech languages and on the fact that the Sorbs and the Sorbian languide belonged to the big Slavic ethnical community. A staunch supporter of Czech-Sorbian interrelations since the 1840s was in the first place JAN ARNOST SMOLER (1816—1884) and, under his aegis, his generation of representatives of the Sorbian rebirth who founded the Macica Serbska in Bautzen in 1845 through 1847. This collective character of the interrelations deserves to be emphasized, otherwise it is impossible to explain the broad-based response among the Sorbs. With their impulses these interrelations, naturally, had to meet the social, political and economic situation as well as the expectations

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of the Sorbian population. The establishment-process of the Czech nation, which the Sorbian patriots were watching closely during their stays in Bohemia, its social and cultural manifestations, were at that time bound to meet in Lusatia living conditions that were propitious to their reception. The model of the Matice Ceskâ and of its journal met with response among the Sorbs because social conditions had matured to allow introduction of an analogous institution, and so had the necessity for the educated petty-bourgeois intelligentsia to create a national movement. J. A. SMOLER, a student of F. L. CELAKOVSKY and of J. E. PURKYNÈ at Breslau (today : Wroclaw) University, under their tuition grasped the ideological aspect of the Czech national rebirth, J. KOLLAR'S concept of Slavic interrelations and the socially committed aspects of the scientific activities of P . J. SAFARÎK. During his journey to Bohemia, he got acquainted with F. PALACKY, made himself familiar with the activities of the Matice Ceskâ and the national movement of the Czech people. It was on these examples that he based his considerations regarding an ideological Sorbian national programme and won over the members of the Macica for its implementation. In this a dominant role was played by a number of events : A uniform literary language was created (to overcome the Upper Sorbian language dualism). A uniform orthography was elaborated and implemented which represented the Slavic aspects of the Sorbian language. The use of the Latin alphabet was wide-spread. (In contrast, the Gothic Schwabach represented the German nature as the generation of that time saw it.) Sorbian national consciousness was spread among the Sorbs to help the endeavours of the Macica Serbska meet with a greater response from the population. The Slavic character of the Sorbian language and culture was emphasized and so was the fact that the Sorbs belonged to the big Slavic group. Thus the idea among the Sorbs of Slavic interrelations became an intellectual weapon of the national movement and a constituent part of national conviction and laid the foundation for cooperation with Czech, Polish, and Russian patriots. In fulfilling this programme which, though it had drawn inspiration from neighbouring Bohemia for its formulation, had firm roots in domestic Sorbian conditions, the Sorbian patriots had to master numerous economic, political and ideological difficulties, to defend themselves, of course, against nationalist inflammatory campaigns on the German side which accused the Sorbian national movement of Pan-Slavism and demanded its abolishment of the Saxon and Prussian governments. These attacks were aggravated especially at the time when Austrian reaction had succeeded in suppressing the 1848/49 revolutionary movement in Bohemia and in stabilizing the policy of oppression of the BACH régime. The Sorbs understood the influence of Slavic interrelations not only in their internal national life but also the ideological justification of the Slav neighbours' support of implementing the Sorbian national programme. They expected of 12

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them complete recognition as integral part of the Slav world, above all, as that part which was struggling for unlimited recognition of its political and cultural independence. They founded a series of representative national institutions, the Macica Serbska, journals, secular literature, developed a national culture and a national science meeting the ideological requirements of national rebirth. It needs no special proof to show how many ideological impulses Sorbian patriots took up from their Czech friends, how many social phenomena observed in Bohemia they tried to introduce and develop in Sorbian life. They were fully aware of a variety of aspects. They could not mechanically transfer this Czech experience to Lusatia. Differences existed in the process of establishing the Czech nation and the Sorbian nationality. Above all, this process among the Sorbs was not concomitant with an economic reinforcement of the nationally-minded (petty-) bourgeoisie and intelligentsia which was directly connected with material production. Not a (petty-) bourgeoisie stabilizing itself economically was growing among the Sorbs as was the case in Bohemia, but a numerically small, thin class of pettybourgeois intelligentsia established itself with great personal sacrifice which was not directly professionally involved in the sphere of production. But the programme of the Sorbian national rebirth, apart from arousing national awareness among broad working masses in towns and villages, also contained the universal promotion and education of a nationally-minded Sorbian petty-bourgeois intelligentsia able both to develop in the future Sorbian political and cultural life and to gain recognition for itself in the Slavic world. We know only too well that during the national rebirth the Sorbian intelligentsia had to make great efforts for this purpose and to overcome much distrust and skepticism. It is in this point of the national programme of the Sorbs that Czech patriots and Czech society in general gave them practical support unparalleled then in the Slavic world. For in Bohemia a major part of the patriotic and Slavic-oriented Sorbian intelligentsia were educated who, after returning to Lusatia, developed to the best of their abilities and objective opportunities those forms of national life which they had come to know and experience during their usually 9 to 10 years of studies in Prague. We have already highlighted the fact that in Prague a boarding-school had been set up for catholic students, the so-called Lusatian Seminar. Sorbian and German students from Upper Lusatia were living there, sometimes also from other regions of Saxony, and after completing their studies went to Sorbian regions where they were appointed to catholic parishes to work among Sorbs. Czech and Sorbian patriots knew very well about the opportunities for consolidating national consciousness among the students during their studies in Prague and for teaching them Sorbian language and culture as well as for offering them what, in regard to their mother tongue, schools at that time refused to offer in Lusatia, and what after their arrival in Prague the educational institutions there, grammar

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school and theological faculty, could not offer — they were attending the Mala Strana German Grammar School and studying at the German theological faculty. Beginning already in the late 18th century, therefore, JOSEF DOBROVSKY, regularly once a week taught the Sorbian students at the Lusatian Seminar their mother tongue and deepened their love for the Sorbian people and the Slavic world as a whole. His linguistic and philosophical views influenced also Sorbs as F. J. LOK and H. LUBJENSKI, who as advocates of the ideas put forth by the rising bourgeoisie met with a favourable response among the Sorbian young generation. After DOBROVSKY had familiarised himself with the Lower Sorbian language and contemporary Sorbian literature, he determined their place among the Slavic languages. On the basis of his Czech grammar he tried to elaborate a Sorbian grammar (he destroyed the manuscript); on the same basis he taught the students their mother tongue in the Lusatian Seminar. Thus he became the first Czech head of the boarding-school. For the Sorbian pupils and their instruction he interested and won over VACLAV HANKA, who after DOBROVSKY'S death came to the Seminar and, in accord with his example, taught the Sorbs studying in Prague their mother tongue and culture. A committed Slavophil he opened up to them vast horizons of the Slavic world and pointed to the role of Slavs in universal history. As librarian at the Prague National Museum he founded there a special department for Sorbian books and manuscripts. A talented pupil of his was JAN PETR JORDAN (1818—1891), who under his guidance and in accord with DOBROVSKY'S system wrote a grammar of the Sorbian language (1841) and submitted a suggestion for new Sorbian spelling as did J . A. SMOLER in his orthography at the time. A landmark in the cultivation of Czech-Sorbian interrelations was set by founding the students' association Serbowka at the Lusatian.Seminar in Prague in 1846. Under its statute the students were educated in national spirit, qualified in their mother tongue, did literary work, took first steps in scientific disciplines, learnt other Slavic languages and about their literatures. In these endeavours they were assisted by a competent tutor who at the same time presided at their weekly language courses and meetings. This honorary post was held in succession by one of the founder fathers of Serbowka, V. HANKA (until 1 8 6 1 ) , after his death by K A R E L JAROMIR ERBEN ( 1 8 6 1 — 1 8 7 0 ) , MARTIN HATTALA ( 1 8 7 2 — 1 9 0 3 ) and, finally, by M I K L A W S KRJECMAR, who between the two world wars took part in Serbowka meetings together with JOSEF PATA; after the Second World War he also ran the language courses at Serbowka. Serbowka became a centre of patriotic education for the catholic intelligentsia with a view to promote the Czech-Sorbian cultural relations and to stimulate its members' interest in literary and scientific work. From their ranks later came many patriots who spread their experience from Serbowka and Czech society among the Sorbs and used it to promote and preserve the Sorbian nationality. Of great importance were also personal contacts with Czech politicians, cul12*

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tural workers and scientists which Serbowka members established during their Prague studies. Often, they succeeded in enthusing Czech artists for Sorbian causes and in arousing their readiness to help in the future. In the same way they succeeded in convincing them of the active resolve of the Sorbs to preserve and develop all attributes of Sorbian nationality despite the sometimes extremely adverse social conditions in bourgeois Germany. Among the members of Serbowka were such ardent patriots as MICHAL HORNIK ( 1 8 3 3 - 1 8 9 4 ) , HANDRIJ DUCMAN ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 9 0 9 ) , JAN CESLA ( 1 8 4 0 - 1 9 1 5 ) , MICHAL ROLA ( 1 8 4 1 - 1 8 8 1 ) , JAKUB SEWCIK ( 1 8 6 7 - 1 9 3 5 ) , MIKLAWS BJEDRICHRADLUBIN ( 1 8 5 9 - 1 9 2 1 ) , JURIJ LIBS ( 1 8 5 7 - 1 9 2 7 ) , FILIP REZAK ( 1 8 5 9 - 1 9 2 1 ) , JURIJ KRAL (1864—1945), JAKUB BART-CISINSKI ( 1 8 5 6 — 1 9 0 9 ) , JOZEF JAKUBAS ( 1 8 9 0 - 1 9 5 8 ) , MIKLAW§ ANDRICKI ( 1 8 7 1 - 1 9 0 8 ) , JURIJ DELENK ( 1 8 8 2 - 1 9 1 8 ) ,

and many others. M. H6RNIK became the central figure of Czech-Sorbian cultural relationships. He aspired to raise the written Sorbian language on to a higher level in line with the example of Czech during the Renaissance, to use it in new stylistic forms, and to unify its spelling and grammar. Sometimes the Czech language served him as a source to enrich the Sorbian vocabulary. He also worked in order to turn the attention to Sorbian issues in each work (miscellany, anthology, or compendium) that was devoted to Slavic themes. He maintained multiple contacts with Czech personalities engaged in the cultural sector, appealing to them to support the Sorbs. Thanks to him the first major Czech encyclopedia (by RIEGER) accepted a keyword relating to the Sorbs. J. CESLA found in Bohemia the inspiration to translate the Czech drama "Rohowin Styrirohac" into Sorbian and to inaugurate the first Sorbian theatre in 1862. Some of his poems are coined by the artistic and idealistic forms of the Czech poet V . HALEK.

Literary influences of Czech poets can be found in the works of numerous 19th-century Sorbian poets chiefly regarding genre and themes, of course, taking Sorbian conditions into account. J . BART-CI§INSKI'S sonnets with their wideranging themes show references to J . VRCHLICKY'S poetic works. The feuilletons of J . NERUDA, a friend of M . H6RNIK'S from his school days, inspired M . ANDRICKI to take up this literary genre. K. J . ERBEN'S ballads left their traces in H . DUCMAN'S work. These inspirations were accompagnied by a multitude of translations of Czech literature into Sorbian; stories, novels, or poems were printed since the mid-19th century and are now printed in Sorbian journals and almanacs. Czech linguistics with its theories on language, notably on language culture, met with an intensive response among the Sorbs. Czech aspirations aimed at developing a modern written language as an efficient means of communication for the entire national life and able to replace the German language in public, repeat-

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edly aroused their interest. The generation active in the first decades of the Macica Serbska and which codified modern written Sorbian, was in its convictions and their implementation relying on the generation of J . DOBROVSKY and J . JUNGMANN. DOBROVSKY'S system of describing the grammar of a living national language was not only reflected in the work of J. P. JORDAN but also in that of M. H6RNIK, J . A. SMOLER, and K . B. PFUL. It goes without saying that this imitation also had negative effects, mainly because many specific phenomena of the Sorbian language were not seen precisely and the Sorbian language was codified according to the Czech model. This led to a widening of the rift between the.written and the spoken form of Sorbian, but on the other hand helped overcome the differences between catholic and protestant linguistic usage. The efforts of Czech representatives of the renaissance to enlarge the Czech vocabulary by modern terms and thus develop the written language, as represented above all by a group of philologists around JUNGMANN, provided valuable indications to Sorbian linguists as to how to improve the Sorbian language. From this aspect, the Czech theory was accepted by H6RNIK, PFUL and H. ZEJLER, the authors of the Macica (or PFUL) dictionary of 1866. Time and again, when assessing this codifying dictionary, loans from neighbouring Slavic languages are primarily pointed out, overlooking the multitude of newly created, archaic and dialect words constructed according to principles of Sorbian word formation and which have been included in modern written Sorbian. These principles of development of a Sorbian language in a poetic style were implemented by BART-CISINSKI who followed the example of Czech poetry and its language means. In his poems we nevertheless recognize almost no new borrowings from the Czech language but rather, in accord with the Czech example, a stylistically adequate artistic usage of indigenous Sorbian features. Together with relevant Czech publications, the journal of the Macica Serbska published numerous treatises on Sorbian language phenomena. Also the lexicographers J . KRAL, F. REZAK, and A. MUKA took up Czech examples when contemplating the structure of their projects and elaboration of the keywords. In accordance with V. ZIKMUND'S Czech syntax, M. R6LA wrote the first complete Sorbian syntax (it remained a manuscript in the Serbowka journal). J . LIBS consulted M. HATTALA when writing his syntax which appeared in 1884; he followed HATTALA'S syntax of the Slovak language, his " B r u s " of 1877. Thus this Sorbian syntax met urgent needs of the Young Sorbian Movement which considered syntax as the core of language and was convinced that in the syntax the soul and thinking of a people were reflected. It was elaborated on the basis of folkloristic popular language and not on the basis of the written literary language of the national rebirth. Under M. HATTALA'S aegis also J. KRAL'S Sorbian grammar was written in the Prague Serbowka, elaborated in conformity with the German textbook of the

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Czech language by J. MASARIK (1878). It contained a brief chapter on phonetics and a detailed formal morphology in surveys. Its importance lies in the fact that until after the Second World War it was considered to be the normative grammar of Upper Sorbian and that many generations of Sorbian intellectuals have conformed to it. According to its model (the 3rd edition of 1925), P. WOWCERK wrote an Upper Sorbian school grammar to meet the demand which had increased after the liberation; it is therefore indirectly influenced by the 19th-century Czech school of grammar. M. HATTALA'S linguistic views were included in the theory and practice of culture of language advocated by the Young Sorbian Movement about the 1880s and 1890s. In its social programme which was directed against the oppressive policy of the chauvinist German bourgeoisie since the 1870s, the necessity was emphasized of defending by all available means the Sorbian nationality and all its ethnical features against Germanisation by coercion. In addition, preservation of the Sorbian mother tongue among the people was accentuated and so was its further enforcement in public life and in literature, approximation of its written and spoken forms. The Young Sorbs chose the Sorbian folkloristic language as a starting point for codifying the written Sorbian language. This viewpoint was advocated by HATTALA in his "Brus". According to it, as already mentioned, L I B S conceived his syntax, and BART-CISINSKI, his language programme, part and parcel of his national programme. This orientation was aimed at eliminating those phenomena in Renaissance Sorbian which in the written language were alien to the popular language and made it unintelligible to the Sorbian people. The Sorbs and their problems met with long-lasting interest in Czech public opinion mainly since the time of national rebirth. Apart from J . DOBROVSKY'S and V . HANKA'S interests it is shown in the fact that also other Slavists treated the Sorbian language and culture in their works as an integral part of a Slavic ethnic community. First of all it was P . J . SAFARIK, F. L . CELAKOVSKY, and the folklore student and poet K . J . E R B E N . F. PALACKY approached the Sorbian problems from a historical angle and uncovered the territorial connections of Lusatia with Bohemia in the Middle Ages. Also L'UDOVIT STUR and J A N KOLLAR, and in their footsteps, M. HATTALA were sympathizing with the Sorbs. Great credit for the cultivation of Czech and Sorbian cooperation in literature was deserved by F . DOUCHA, translator into Czech of several Sorbian poems. He made selected poems by H . Z E J L E R , H . WICAZEC, M. HORNIK and others accessible to Czech readers and also turned their attention to development trends in Sorbian literature. Also F . VYMAZAL worked in this direction by including in his anthology of Slavic poetry DOUCHA'S and other translations of Sorbian lyrical poems (1878). Many Czechs, for instance E. J E I J N E K , wrote about Sorbian literature and culture. Personal relations with Sorbs were cultivated by almost all respected 19th-century Czech writers (for instance, V . HALEK, J . NERUDA, and

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J. VRCHLICKY), who also showed interest in their cultural achievements, and besides them many who already belong to the 20th century (P. BEZRUC, A. JIRASEK, and others). J. MACHAL was an ardent friend of the Sorbs anda lover of Sorbian folk art and literature, who later became Professor of Slavic literatures at Prague's Charles University and author of an extensive comparative history of Slavic literatures. In the 1880s, ADOLF CERNY (1864—1952) became the leading figure in CzechSorbian interrelations. His indefatigable work and his publications on Sorbian literature in Czech journals, his propagation of the Sorbian question, his original scientific work in the frame of. folkloristic studies, ethnography and Sorbian literary history, his translations of Sorbian literature into Czech and of Czech literary works into Sorbian as well as his organizational initiatives for CzechSorbian contacts — all this made him the founder of more recent Czech-Sorbian interrelations. As editor of the journal "Slovansky pfehled" he did outstanding work for the Sorbs. In 1901, he became the first lecturer of Sorbian at Prague Charles University and thus opened the way to Sorbian studies as an autonomous discipline in higher education. It is superfluous to assess this fact in detail since it is well known that for a long time yet the Sorbian language was not established at any other European university to such an extent and enjoying a status as in Prague. His ,lectures and language tutorials were not only attended by Czech students but also by the Sorbian students of the Lusatian Seminar since he was barred from entering the boarding-school and from taking part at Serbowka meetings on confessional grounds. LUDVIK KUBA, a Czech, was at that time working in the fields of Sorbian musicology, folkloristic studies and fine art. Apart from the Balkan Slavs, the Sorbs were of vital interest to him. He described his walking tours through Lusatia in captivating feuilletons and stories, his pictures of Sorbian national costumes and customs are in many galleries. In 1907, Czech-Sorbian relations were given an institutional form by the foundation of the Czech-Sorbian Adolf Cerny Association. Among its members were Czechs and Sorbs and its task was to disseminate information on the Sorbian issue in Bohemia and to promote mutual connections. JOSEF PATA ( 1 8 8 6 — 1 9 4 2 ) , lecturer (1922), associate professor (1933) and, posthumously, full professor (1946) at Prague University, particularly distinguished himself in the Association. These institutional and PATA'S personal contacts with the Sorbs essentially stimulated Sorbian cultural life, especially the publication of Sorbian books. Czechs, too, raised funds for building a Sorbian House in Bautzen and provided financial assistance to Sorbian students. ARNOST MUKA ( 1 8 5 4 — 1 9 3 2 ) was also materially supported by the Czech cultural public in his patriotic and scientific endeavours. The Czech Academy of Sciences in 1928 took care of publicationof parts II and III of his big dictionary of the Lower Sorbian language. A. CERNY ensured a financial basis for his ethnographic collections and settlement of the debts accumulated in connection with building the Sorbian House.

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Also after 1 9 1 8 , CERNY tried to promote the Sorbian question in the international arena, although without realistically classifying the cause of the Sorbian people. He assessed them isolated from the interests of the German people. Great political importance was also entailed in the work of Czech sponsors of the Sorbs after 1932 who had united in the Society of Friends of Lusatia. At public meetings they exposed the true face of fascism pressing for power and warned the peoples of Europe against its objectives. The anti-fascist activity of this Czech Society obtained a political character. By implication, the antifascist wing of the active Sorbian intelligentsia maintained clandestine links with Czech friends who organized numerous activities, both at home and abroad, in support of persecuted Sorbs. Apart from these activities, Czech friends of the Sorbs promoted the publication of Sorbian literature. J. PATA deserved great credit for educating and training patriotically-minded Sorbian intellectuals at the University, devoted himself to the introduction to the historiography of Sorbian literature and represented Sorbian science at conferences and congresses. In a series of studies, he described past and present Czech-Sorbian cultural relations. In his political anti-fascist activities, he was supported by the secretary of the Society of Friends of Lusatia, VLADIMIR ZMESKAL, and by M I K E A W S K R J E C M A R , lecturer of the Sorbian, language at the University, a Sorb, who had settled in Prague after his years of studies there. Students of K R J E C M A R and PATA were also the young poet J U R I J CHEZKA, who was killed in 1 9 4 4 , and HERMAN SLECA, who had obtained his doctorate in Prague with a thesis on J . P. JORDAN ( 1 9 2 6 ) . After the Second World War, the Sorbs enjoyed a qualitatively completely new position in their homeland. The German Democratic Republic — the anti-fascist democratic Germany which laid the programmatic foundations for a future society — provided all political and legal guarantees for the full development of the Sorbian nationality, for promotion of their language and culture, for the development of a Sorbian education system, and for Sorbian cooperation in state organs at all levels. In March 1948, a law on the preservation of the rights of Sorbs was passed in Saxony, and in 1950, an analogous government decree in Brandenburg. On this basis and in implementation of article 11 of the G.D.R. Constitution several ministries released corresponding enforcement regulations. As citizens of the G.D.R. enjoying equal rights, the Sorbs began to shape their relations with nations of neighbouring countries on a new basis. The cultural contacts were to help enrich Sorbian culture which is a national one in its form and democratic, socialist concerning content. The Czech-Sorbian contacts continued all progressive achievements which had formerly been attained in this respect. Individual Czech pro-Sorbian zealots

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and their intentions and undertakings came into conflict with the objective conditions of development in a state of workers and farmers. Czech friends of the Sorbs in the first post-war months began to set up Sorbian schools in Czechoslovakia which, however, lost their function at the moment when in Lusatia itself Sorbian schools were founded. Some Sorbian students studied at universities and colleges in the Czechoslovak Republic until 1953. In 1952, the Institute of Sorbian Ethnography was founded in Bautzen. This institute immediately established scientific contacts with partner institutions in Czechoslovakia and other Slavic countries. At Charles University in Prague, the chair of Sorbian language and culture, as well as the Sorbian lectureship continued to exist. A s professor to hold the chair ANTONiN FRINTA was appointed in 1945, and M. KRJE£MAR as lecturer. Both, Sorbian and Czech students studied Sorbian, and the latter made most translations of Sorbian literature into Czech (ZORA BERAKOVA, MILOSLAVA LORENCOVA, VLASTA NETOLICKA-STRAKOVA).

Also after FRINTA'S and KRJECMAR'S retirement, Sorbian studies continue at Prague University. JAN PETR was appointed their successor who, in addition to them, has been lecturing on Sorbian studies since 1955 already. Since 1959, he has also held Sorbian language exercises for foreign participants in summer courses for Slavic language and culture studies at Prague University. He established cooperation with the Bautzen Institute and, for instance, took part in its collection of dialectal material for the Sorbian linguistic atlas. Among his students is JIRI MUDRA, who focused his scientific research on Czech-Sorbian relations. ZDENEK BOHAC worked on Sorbian history and onomastics. The life and work of eminent representatives of 19th-century Sorbian culture was presented in belletristic form by BOHUMILA SRETROVA, who until her retirement has been working at the Prague Slavic Library and still translates Sorbian literature into Czech. Translation of Czech literature into Sorbian and of Sorbian literature into Czech constitutes a chapter of its own in Czech-Sorbian relations after the Second World War. It is also characterized by the new social conditions in the C.S.S.R. and the G.D.R., since the cultivation of Czech-Sorbian interrelations is part of the mutual relations between the two neighbouring states with the same political and social programmes. The Sorbs translate contemporary Czech literature which is based on socialist realism and has a part in education, in forming a new .social • consciousness (e.g. JAN OTCENASEK). Moreover, they choose literary works of the Czech people's progressive cultural heritage among them, of course, literature from the second half of the 19th century, by A. JIRASEK, K. SVETLA, J. NERUDA, B. NEMCOVA, J. S . BAAR, and from the first half of the 20th century, including by K. CAPEK, J . H A S E K , J . FufiiK, M. MAJEROVA, and J. OLBRACHT. An important role in this context is played by the Domowina Publishing House in Bautzen which closely cooperates with Czech publishers, above all, in publication of children's books by Czech authors translated into Sorbian (e.g. "Swet

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wokolo nas", 1964 by E. VEBEROVA and J. C E R N Y ) , many coloured picture books, collections of pictures, etc. Simultaneously Sorbian fairy-tales came out in Sorbian, German and Czech versions. In Czechoslovakia, the number of translations of Sorbian literature increased. Traditionally, translations of Sorbian classics were brought out, such as in post-war years, new editions of A . CERNY'S anthologies of the poetical works of H. Z E J L E R and J. BART-CISINSKI and of M. ANDRICKI'S prose. But also new Sorbian literature was translated, mainly works by J. BREZAN, W . B J E R O , K . LORENC, M . MLYNKOWA, M . NOWAK, J. KOCH, B. D Y R L I C H , and M. KUBASEC. Last but not least, some editions of selected Sorbian folk poetry and a representative anthology of Sorbian poetry were edited in Czech (J. SUCHY, editor, Vresovy spev, 1976). Translations of Sorbian literature into Czech were integrated into the C.S.S.R.'s cultural policy toward the G.D.R. and other socialist states. Czech-Sorbian relations are being consolidated and increased also by the Association for Sorbian Cultural Studies which since the 1950s has been working in the Society of the National Museum in Prague. It was founded, when the Society of Friends of Lusatia, after fulfilling its task in the framework of the struggle against German fascism, ceased its activities. The newly founded Association set out as its task to propagate Sorbian cultural life among the Czech people and to utilize for purposes of studies the rich Sorbian collections of the library of the National Museum, the more so, since the former library of the Prague Serbowka was integrated into its stock of books (this former library is situated in the building of the former Lusatian Seminar in Prague). The Association developed a lively activitity, arranged lectures and exhibitions, established contacts with the Domowina in Bautzen, invited speakers from Lusatia to its meetings. At present, it is headed by a historian, ZDENEK BOHAC, whose achievements were appreciated by conferring on him the Honorary Domowina Medal and the Honorary Silver Pin of the G.D.R. To summarize, Czech-Sorbian cultural relations have a continuous tradition which has existed for many centuries. They stemmed from the awareness of ethnical kinship and of language similarities and have developed on the basis of analogous social conditions of the Czech and the Sorbian people and of the understanding that fruitful cooperation was necessary and possible. They reached an important phase during national rebirth when also the ideological aspect of the Slavic interrelations' concept was understood. The Lusatian Seminar in Prague made it possible for Czech Slavists to contribute to the education of young Sorbian students in a national spirit. This influence increased after foundation of the Association Serbowka, the first institutional basis of these relations. Individual Czech-Sorbian contacts increased in the second half of the 19th century; all noted Sorbian patriots and Czech cultural figures shared in them. These

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ties were aimed at supporting Sorbian cultural life and at promoting the organization of the national movement. Czech friends of the Sorbs propagated the Sorbian question' and Sorbian culture abroad, made Sorbian literature accessible on a world-wide scale, and opened to the Sorbs the Slavic public. In this context, the Czech-Sorbian Adolf Cerny Association, founded in 1907, deserved much credit. Its work was continued by the Society of Friends of Lusatia, particularly in the struggle for preserving Sorbian national life under fascist terror after 1933. In the field of politics, J. PATA, Professor of Sorbian studies at Charles University, Prague, distinguished himself in this way. After the Second World War, Czech-Sorbian relations developed on a new basis. They have become part of the broad-based-relations between Czechoslovakia and the G.D.R. Dominant in these relations are exchange of views, acquainting each other with the socialist culture of the Sorbs and Czechs, and a flourishing patriotism on the basis of friendship and cooperation among the peoples. The universities of Leipzig, Berlin, and Prague as well as the competent Academy Institutes of the two countries have become centres of scientific cooperation in Sorbian studies. These working contacts have helped to increase the international authority of Sorbian studies in the w£>rld and, consequently, the prestige of the Sorbian people in the socialist community.

German Slavic Studies and the Sorbs B y WILHELM ZEIL

German Slavic studies developed in a multi-faceted contradictory process which on no account took a straight course. This development was determined by factors inherent in the specific scientific discipline involved and by factors of social policy. Therefore, this development does not only constitute the history of a specialized branch of science, but at the same time "the history of our relations with the Slavic peoples"1, part of the history of German-Slavic relations in the fields of science and culture. One thing has time and again clearly been shown over the centuries: Only when German scholars "abandoned the idea that German culture and Slavic lack of culture are opposites like sun and shadow" and realized that the point was not "the contradiction between culture and cultural vacuum", but rather "an interaction of two cognate cultures that were rich in forces of their own for their further development"2, could fertile Slavic studies be conducted within a framework of indispensable constructive German-Slavic cooperation and' in a creative scientific atmosphere. Most German Slavists have committed themselves to this fundamental attitude and have acted accordingly within the limits conditioned by the times and social classes. In this manner, despite their essentially conservative or liberal-conservative ideological and political positions and despite their integration into the existing power structure, an integration which was due to their education and social standing, they could obtain such results in their research which gave them well-deserved recognition also in Slavic countries. German Slavic studies have a long-standing tradition.3 Their precisely contoured beginnings date back to the 16th century. Explorers, diplomats, scholars and clergymen with varying positions and objectives in terms of world-outlook and politics cooperated in laying the foundations of German Slavic studies in the 16th and 17th centuries, studies which were determined by scientific, political, economic and confessional factors. To extend these studies at the turn of the 18th century under the influence of early rationalism and early pietism as an expression of bourgeois nation-formation, scientific interests were united with economic, political and confessional objectives. Marking and trend setting impulses were given to Slavic studies by late rationalism and Romanticism within the framework of the bourgeois transformation in Germany, as well as by the social movement

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in Russia, and by the national rebirth in the western and southern Slavic area during the decades preceding the 19th century and in the mid-19th century. These times were also characterized by new problems in social policy. Finally, within the second third of the 19th century, Slavic studies were established as a modern science and institutionalized. Causal and time-related factors between the emergence of comparative historical language studies and the establishment of Slavic studies as a modem science, together with still vivid traditions in terms of the history of science which affected the Slavic studies, led to their strong linguistic orientation. Slavic studies which had established themselves as Slavic philology liberated themselves only gradually from this basic tendency. The institutional and contentoriented cultivation of this science in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic contributed to this tendency. At that time the autonomy of Slavic studies as a science of the languages and literatures, of the customs and usages and of the material culture of the Slavic peoples was initiated. The transition of Germany to imperialism in the late 19th century did not deeply affect the history of Slavic studies, which were marked by a clear continuity. What was deeply changed was the influence exerted by the ruling classes on the teaching of, and research into, Slavic studies. Noteworthy was a differentiated response by the scholars to the ideology and policy of German imperialism, as in general to the major historical events. Leading forces of the imperialist power system stepped-up attempts to subordinate more comprehensively than before Slavic studies to their reactionary domestic and foreign policy concepts in which the Slavic peoples and countries played an important role as targets. Several German representatives of Slavic studies, especially of the historical disciplines, rendered ancillary services in this respect. The institutions of imperialist German Eastern and South Eastern European studies that were founded by the end of the First World War, notably in the decades between 1917/18 and 1945, establishments which had a far-reaching influence on the development of German Slavic studies, became the most important centres for a political abuse of teaching and research in the field of Slavic studies and for a purposeful subordination of German scholars to the science policy of German imperialism. This does not exclude that there were opportunities for unbiased research and for publishing valuable scientific results. Sorbian studies, i.e. the investigations into the history, as well as into the language, literature and folk art of the Sorbs in Upper and Lower Lusatia that were developing under the complicated conditions marked by a denial of national rights and by oppression, as well as by administrative, territorial and confessional split, these studies constituted a special part of German Slavic studies from the very beginning. 4 This is quite natural owing to the close ties between German and Sorbian history and given the multiple interrelations between Germans and Sorbs in the past.5 Due to the national discrimination and oppression of the Sorbs,

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of their language and culture, as well as to the purposeful attempts at Germanization made by the ruling quarters, the conditions for the development of Sorbian studies were extremely unfavourable. Apart from Sorbian researchers, it was several German scholars who, recognizing the completely equal value and equal rights and rejecting the oppression and forcible assimilation of the Sorbian population, explored and propagated its language, culture and history. In this context, independently of their immediate objectives, they could rely on close cooperation with their Sorbian compatriots. Under increasingly difficult conditions, Germans and Sorbs continued their constructive cooperation. It is owing to them that Sorbian studies in the German states, in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic produced solid research results and long-lasting impulses. During the fascist dictatorship, especially after 1937, German-Sorbian cooperation could be continued only to a considerably limited extent, partly clandestinely. Sorbian scholars have contributed the greater share of the materials accumulated by Sorbian studies and in the exploration and description of the language. They pursued their studies and their organizational activities as nationally committed, as a rule loyal Sorbian patriots. They were always fully aware of the importance attached to their scientific work and to the organization of Sorbian studies for both the cognitive advance and the national development of their people. For them, Sorbian studies were part of international Slavic studies and an immediate constituent in the Sorbs' struggle for equality of national rights, against discrimination and Germanization. It is under this aspect that at first they tried to establish close contacts with unbiased Germans friendly to the Sorbs, and, since the late 18th century, increasingly establish and extend more solid relationships with equally-minded Slavs. The "Slavic interrelations" in the field of culture, which, in principle, did not exclude a German-Slavic cooperation, had become an important basis for, and a special driving force of, Sorbian studies on the part of the Sorbian people since the early 19th century.6 The German share in the cognitive advance of Sorbian studies was also a contribution to understanding between the two peoples and first and foremost stemmed from the universal endeavours of German science, culture and education, as well as from a practical interest in the Sorbian language, especially in the confessional field and in the field of church policy and pedagogics. Political considerations also played a certain role. It can be stated that German scholars obtained valuable results bringing the two peoples closer together, whenever an absence of national prejudice, on the one hand, and tolerance and an endeavour for scientific objectivity, on the other, were the basis of their Sorbian studies. Apart from various treatises from the 17th century, this fact is highlighted by investigations of German scholars into Sorbian studies from the 18th century. As an example, let us mention relevant publications by JOHANN LEONHARD FRISCH, JOHANN GOTTLIEB HAUPTMANN, GEORG KORNER, CHRISTIAN KNAUTH, a n d K A R L GOTTLOB VON

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ANTON.7 They not only constitute scientific achievements in their times, but represent a resolute rejection of a wide gamut of discrediting opinions about the Sorbian people, of which also the rationalist movement based on reason and humanity was not at all free. Thus they belong to the progressive tradition in German-Sorbian interrelations. FRISCH, a member of the Brandenburg Society of Sciences which was founded in 1700 and which was later to become the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, in his third continuation of his "Historia Linguae Sclavonicae", in the treatise "De Dialectis Venedorum in Lusatia et in ducatu Luneburgico" (1730), among other things, underlined the stimulating influence of the Reformation on the development of Sorbian and enumerated various Sorbian writings to demonstrate the state-of-the art of scientific studies and of the practical utilization of the Sorbian language in Upper and Lower Lusatia. HAUPTMANN went one step further. In his "Nieder-lausitzsche Wendische Grammatica, das ist Möglichste Anweisung zur Erlernung der Nieder-Lausitzschen Wendischen Sprache" (1761), he expressly and insistently advocated this "so ancient venerable language", disassociating himself from the discrimination and oppression not only of the Lower Sorbian language, but also of the Sorbs in Lower Lusatia. His grammar, which at its time had a high scientific and practical value, for over a century continued to be the only printed book of this kind in the Lower Sorbian language area. Attached to it is the first collection of Sorbian proverbs. With his "Philologisch-kritische Abhandlung von der Wendischen Sprache und ihrem Nutzen in den Wissenschaften" (1766), KÖRNER was the first German to publish some results obtained by wide-ranging and solid research into the language and history of the Sorbs, a research which was conducted on a scientific basis. He also defended the Sorbian language against attacks on its existence and further development, and on its unimpeded use in social life. KNAUTH endeavoured to obtain due respect not only for the Sorbian language, but also for the Sorbian people. A testimony to his thinking and activity is his work "Derer Oberlausitzer Sorberwenden umständliche Kirchengeschichte ..." (1767) which was deservedly characterized as an encyclopedia of Sorbian studies by contemporaries because of its scientific solidity, its multitude of facts and ideas. It is not only a church history, but also an attempt'to describe history truthfully. This work contains, among other things, the first extensive bibliography of Sorbian printed editions (since 1574). The Wendish Preachers' College which was founded in Leipzig in 1716, became a centre for propagating progressive ideas of the Enlightenment, with an analogous body being set up in Wittenberg in 1749. Both colleges together with the Wendish Seminar founded in Prague in 1706 and inaugurated in 1727, in German-Slavic cooperation became important starting points for fostering the Sorbian language and culture under the banner of the Enlightenment and, thereafter, of Romanticism.8 The Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences9 created in Görlitz

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in 1779, also worked according to the progressive traditions of German-Slavic interrelations which were marked by rationalism as an emancipation movement of the bourgeoisie. This society had among its members German and Slavic scholars who enriched the science of the Slavic peoples, stimulating the development of the Sorbs' national awareness. The Slavic studies conducted in connection with the scholars' society of Görlit2 were an important contribution to developing Slavic studies, which, to a more modest extent, were also stimulated by the Jablonowski Society founded in Leipzig in 1775.10 The founder father and for many years spokesman of the scientific society of Görlitz, K A R L GOTTLOB VON ANTON, a philologist, historian and lawyer, who, when a student at Leipzig University, had been a member of the Wendish Preachers' College there, was one of the important German scholars of the Enlightenment, who devoted their particular attention to exploring and propagating the history, language and culture of the Sorbs, and defended the Sorbian people against slander and Germanization. His work "Erste Linien eines Versuches über der Alten Slawen Ursprung, Sitten, Gebräuche, Meinungen und Kenntnisse" (1783—1789), a summary of the then knowledge on the Slavs, laid an important foundation of German Slavic studies. It was the first important example of a general investigation by Slavic studies into the fields of early history, language comparison, cultural history, and ethnography. Especially the Sorbian language in Upper Lusatia and its dialects are dealt with in VON ANTON'S work "Etwas über die Oberlausitzische Wendische Sprache" (Lausitzische Monatsschrift 1797). As its most significant research result, this work contains an outline of the Upper Sorbian dialects which was elaborated in cooperation with the Sorbian researcher J A N HÖRÖANSKI. 1 1 V O N ANTON devoted his attention also to Lower Sorbian. This is shown by his great interest in Lower Sorbian books and, above all, by his "Kleines Niederlausitzisch Wendisches Wörterbuch ... nebst einem Anhange von Volksliedern in derselben Sprache" of 1788/89 which was not completed, but preserved in manuscript form. Until the Macica Serbska was founded in Bautzen in 1847, the Scientific Society of Görlitz was an important centre of Sorbian studies. Connected with this society were the journals "Lausitzisches Magazin" (1768—1792), "Lausitzer Provinzialblätter "(1781 -1783), "Lausitzische Monatsschrift" (1793-1799), "Neue Lausitzische Monatsschrift" (1799—1808), and "Neues Lausitzisches Magazin" (1822 to 1941). Before the appearance of the "Casopis Macicy Serbskeje" in 1848, these journals provided important possibilities for publishing many research results of Sorbian studies. The businesslike cooperation of VON ANTON and of other German researchers with Sorbian scholars was characteristic of this society. This is not altered by the fact that in the mentioned journals extremely varying opinions were published on the values and the perspectives of development of the Sorbian language and about the Sorbs themselves. These opinions were ranging from

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sympathy with the Sorbian population and from the defence of their rights as a national minority to a lack of understanding for their autonomous national development and its discrimination. The progressive tradition of German-Sorbian scientific cooperation reflected by the activities of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences finally resulted in an exemplary collection of "Volkslieder der Wenden in der Ober- und Niederlausitz . . . " ( 1 8 4 1 — 1 8 4 3 ) by J A N ARNOST SMOLER and LEOPOLD H A U P T . 1 2 This publication was part of a movement for collecting and opening up the folklore, a movement which was stimulated by late rationalism and Romanticism. It was due to an initiative of H A U P T , who was secretary of the Görlitz Society, and to its new appeal to systematically record Sorbian folk songs from 1836. By his main scientific and organizational contribution to this work, SMOLER led his endeavours devoted to the Sorbian folksongs to completing a monument of high standards. The result of his long activities in collection and research was far more than a mere compilation of songs of the Sorbian people. It was a solid scientific comment on this treasure of songs, due to well-founded explanations covering the language, way of life, the usages and customs, as well as the world of beliefs, ideas and legends of the Sorbs, including the national costumes of the rural Sorbian population. It was the "first major work of Sorbian ethnography and folkloristics, ... an ethnographic encyclopedia"13, which has been an important foundation of Sorbian ethnography up to the present day. This standard work of Sorbian studies, one of the best works of Slavic studies in Germany, had a tremendous model impact on subsequent generations of German and Sorbian collectors and researchers. In the decades about the mid-19th century, several German ethnographers and collectors participated in the processing of materials of Sorbian folk art which were represented in specialized publications. Among them were HEINRICH GOTTLOB G R Ä V E with his book "Volkssagen und volkstümliche Denkmale der Lausitz" (1839), K A R L HAUPT with his "Sagenbuch der Lausitz" (1863), A D A L B E R T K U H N and WILHELM SCHWARTZ with their "Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche ..." (1848), a n d ' W I L H E L M SCHWARTZ with his "Sagen und alte Geschichten der Mark Brandenburg" (1871, 21886, 31895). They are in the line of tradition of fruitful German-Sorbian cooperation in opening-up and propagating Sorbian folk art. German-Sorbian cooperation marked also the activities of several clubs of Grammar School and University students which were founded or renewed in the first half of the 19th century for studying the history, languages and folk art in Lusatia. These clubs partly still in the 2nd half of the l'9th century played an important role in scientific life.14 These clubs, that existed especially in Leipzig, Breslau, and in Prague, as well as in Upper and Lower Lusatia, notably in Bautzen, were constituent parts of the institutional basis of Slavic studies in Germany. Pri13

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marily the Sorbian, but also their German members intensively dealt with the Sorbs' language, history and folk poetry. After the defeat of the bourgeois democratic revolution of 1848/49, conditions deteriorated for the development of Sorbian studies by German scholars and for German-Sorbian cooperation. Nationalistic moods and behaviour patterns increased in German public opinion and were more and more influencing culture and society. German chauvinism with its anti-proletarian and anti-Slavic tendencies, which constituted a particular danger to the Sorbian minority, attained a level unprecedented in the German Empire. For instance, the "Wendische Wanderstudien" (1874) by the German folklorist RICHARD ANDREE are pervaded by chauvinist opinions about the Sorbian people. This bunged-up piece of work, which was circulated in several thousand copies and appealed to the masses, and which still during the Weimar Republic was qualified as an "indispensable foundation of research into the Wends" (O. E. SCHMIDT, 1926), compared the Sorbian people with a „consumptive patient" whose disintegration was imminent, and tried to justify the complete Germanization of the Sorbs as an aim of Prussian German Sorbian policy. Similar opinions also pervade the popular-science book by FRANZ TETZNER "Die Slawen in Deutschland" (1902). It offers "contributions to the ethnography of the Prussians, Lithuanians and Latvians, of the Mazurs and Philipponians, of the Czech, Moravians and Sorbs, of the Polabians and Slovincians, Kashubs and Poles." Slavist ALEKSANDER BRÜCKNER, who was visibly excited, being a Pole, wrote a very critical review of this book. In this review, he accused the author of, above all, holding anti-Slavic views and belittling the Germanization of the Slavs in Germany. He qualified as valuable parts of the book particularly the ethnographic maps, and the pictures of national costumes and of farmsteads.15 The atmosphere in the decades between 1870/71 and 1917/18 was one of increasing calumniation of the Sorbs by the ruling classes and their advocates among the bourgeois intelligentsia. Sorbian cultural achievements and traditions were systematically disparaged, and attempts at a purposeful Germanization of the Sorbian people multiplied. At this time, only few German scholars continued the tradition of an unprejudiced exploration and propagation of Sorbian language and culture in cooperation with Sorbian scientists. Among them were above all ethnographers, such as W I L L I B A L D VON SCHULENBURG, ALEXANDER RABENAU, and EDMUND VECKENSTEDT. 1 6 A firm place in humanistic German-Sorbian cultural relations was taken by writer THEODOR FONTANE, poet, journalist and linguist GEORG SAUERWEIN, and publicist and translator GEORG ADAM.17 The latters' publication "Die wendische Renaissance" (Das literarische Echo, 2, 1900) is one of the few examples of objective information marked by sympathy with the Sorbs to appear in the bourgeois German press at the time of imperial rule.

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VON SCHULENBURG qualified to become an excellent expert in Sorbian folk art. To open it up for himself, he learnt the Lower Sorbian language. The results of his collections and studies about Sorbian issues are described in his two outstanding books "Wendische Volkssagen und Gebräuche aus dem Spreewald" ( 1 8 8 0 , 2 1 9 3 0 ) and "Wendisches Volkstum in Sage, Brauch und Sitte" ( 1 8 8 2 , 2 1 9 3 4 ) . A further fruit of his meritorious recording activities in the field of Sorbian folkloristics is a respectable collection of Sorbian folk songs ("Delnjoserbske a namjezne ludowe pesnje"/CMS 1 9 1 2 ) . In substance, VON SCHULENBURG limited himself to an uncommented reproduction of the material and to descriptive essays. His thorough and reliable records are valuable, but his attempts at interpretation are not scientifical, because they betray mythological tendencies. RABENAU'S extensive collection of Sorbian fairy tales which won him great credit for opening up Sorbian folklore, appeared under the title: "Originalmärchen der Wenden" in the work by ENGELHARDT KÜHN "Der Spreewald und seine Bewohner" ( 1 8 8 9 ) . His texts are based on oral traditions, but considerably worked-up in literary style. Also VEKKENSTEDT, who turned his attention to Sorbian and Baltic folk art, propagated the legends and fairy tales of the Sorbs as proof of the "individual creativity of a people" "which has preserved its nationality, although an alien language is engulfing its residential area, and an alien ruler exercising power over it". He was convinced that the Sorbian people had "always drawn fresh strength from the multitude of its traditions" which were suitable to "deepen its nature". 18 VECKENSTEDT's major work "Wendische Sagen, Märchen und abergläubische Gebräuche" ( 1 8 8 0 ) was scientifically controversial. As a Grammar school teacher who did not have a good command of the Sorbian language he himself recorded only little from common parlance. Above all, he had his pupils collect for him. Since he could not check the content, some questionable things entered his book, so that it is only of limited value as a source. Moreover, some erroneous interpretations are contained in his essays. The justified reservations against his method of collecting and its results, however, must not mislead us to underestimate the scholar's merits for initiating folkloristic collections and in the field of GermanSorbian interrelations.19 At the four University Chairs for Slavic philology that existed in imperial Germany in Breslau, Leipzig, Berlin and München, the language, literature and historical development of the Sorbs were also taken into account within survey lecture courses on the Slavic peoples, their languages and literature. Among the full professors, WLADYSL^W NEHRING, ERICH BERNEKER and PAUL DIELS (Breslau), AUGUST LESKIEN and M A T I J A MURKO (Leipzig), VRATOSLAV JAGIÖ and ALEKSANDER BRÜCKNER (Berlin), as well as ERICH BERNEKER (München) it is noteworthy that LESKIEN alone in the framework of his wide-ranging, internationally recognized Slavist research dealt more intensively with Sorbian. Apart from his introductory and survey lecture courses, he not only held special lec-

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tures about the Sorbian language in Upper and Lower Lusatia, but dealt with Sorbian also in scientific works. He, above all, occupied himself with the analysis of monuments of the Sorbian language, as for instance, the Sorbian New Testament of 1548 (Archiv für slavische Philologie, 1876), and with the Lower Sorbian dialects of Tharaeus (ibid., 1877). He also had an instructive and fertile scientific correspondence with ARNOST MUKA20, whom he assisted with advice and whose Sorbian research he especially supported in the interests of scientific cognitive advance. Political conservatism and a marked German national attitude prevented LESKIEN from understanding more deeply the national aspirations of the Sorbs, and temporarily brought him into an objectionable proximity with the antiSorbian opinions and practices of the ruling classes.21 However, Sorbian linguistics owes to him valuable research results on partial problems, and farreaching suggestions. Under his direction, the Leipzig chair of Slavic philology, which had been founded in 1870 to devote special attention to the Sorbian language and literature, became a leading centre of Slavic research at which, in LESKIEN'S lifetime and in the two decades after his death in 1916, Sorbian studies were cultivated as part and parcel of Slavic studies.22 In addition, LESKIEN exerted an essential influence on the Jablonowski Society which by its prize tasks stimulated Sorbian research and catalysed the development of Sorbian studies. Also the results obtained in the field of toponymy by several German scholars and Grammar school teachers who cooperated with their Sorbian and other Slavic colleagues promoted cognitive advance in Sorbian studies. Noteworthy in this context are, apart from K A R L PREUSKER'S studies, above all, the work by PAUL KÜHNEL "Die slawischen Orts- und Flurnamen der Oberlausitz" (1890 to 1899) and the work by GUSTAV H E Y "Die slawischen Siedelungen im Königreich Sachsen mit Erklärung ihrer Namen" (1893).23 KÜHNEL, who had a thorough knowledge of the Slavic vocabulary and of Slavic name formation, and successfully "used his Slavist knowledge in his investigations into toponymy", passes to be "one of the first representatives of Slavic onomastics conducted on scientific lines". His work abounds in evidence and has a special significance above all for research into field names, because of evidence which is inaccessible today. His investigations consist of testimony from documents and of suggestions for its interpretation. They are "a valuable and long-lasting contribution to uncovering the heritage of Slavic names in the German-speaking world". 24 This is in no way altered by some deficiencies due to the times or by many a wrong interpretation or controversial explanation. A milestone in the history of research on Slavic names in Germany is also represented by H E Y ' S work on Slavic settlements in the former kingdom of Saxony. It has "for decades essentially influenced the research on settlements and toponymy ..., because for the first time it presented an abundant material of names in a

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comprehensive manner and ... offered well-founded explanations from the viewpoint of the then state of research and that were acceptable at first sight". 25 As a result of many years of "arduous work, this publication meant an important step forward in opening up 'the material of Slavic names in the eastern part of the German-speaking world, especially in the historical ancient Sorbian language area. HEY'S work "faithfully represents the state of research into Slavic local names in Germany in the late 19th century with all its advantages and disadvantages".26 According to the judgement of ARNOST M U K A , it testifies "to a rather subtle understanding which the author has for all conditions of the ancient Sorbs". Despite critical objections and suggestions about obvious malinterpretation, M U K A certifies that the author always honestly endeavoured "to explore the truth and, to the best of his abilities, illuminate the darkness which is still enveloping the Sorbian times of his homeland".27 Despite some remarkable achievements in various fields, Sorbian studies'did not obtain a major autonomy within Slavic studies at German universities in imperial Germany. Also the meritorious endeavours of the Slovenian scholar M A T I J A MURKO failed. MÙRKO had succeeded LESKIEN in the Chair of Slavic Philology of Leipzig University, to extend the institutionalization of Sorbian studies by founding a lectureship for Sorbian "which ought to be exercised only by a philolbgically educated candidate". 28 The situation remained the same during the following years of the Weimar Republic. The chauvinist subversion against the Slavic national minorities assumed especially crude forms and met with various defensive reactions. The Sorbs were exposed to increasing attacks against their nationa lexistence. The Central Wendish Department founded in 1920 as a guiding institution of an entire system of establishments was assigned the task of paralysing the Sorbian national movement. This department belonged to the most important instruments of ideological struggle which with respect for the German minorities abroad was the main field of anti-Sorbian oppression policy conducted by the ruling classes.29 Among the political parties, only the Communist Party of Germany advocated the rights of the Sorbian population. When power was put in the hands of the fascists, ,a time of hardest tribulations began for the Sorbs. The most varied practices of oppression, Germanization, persecutions, bans, arrests and forcible expulsions, were to break the national resistance of the'Sorbian population and its will to exist as a national minority. An international protest movement in 1933'contributed at first to postponing the planned overt terror measures "because of resulting strong repercussions on the situation of German population groups abroad". 30 Finally, in 1937, the decisive campaign to destroy Sorbian culture was unleashed by dissolving the Domowina and all other national institutions of the Sorbs, and by a ban on using the Sorbian language in public. Thus, the cultivation of Sorbian studies for which Germans

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and Sorbs continued to deserve credit, was to a large extent driven into clandestinity. Between 1917/18 and 1945, the political and ideological differentiation process among the bourgeois German Slavists was aggravated. Among those representatives of German Slavic studies who mostly on conservative or liberal-conservative grounds disassociated themselves from the chauvinist and racist views of the ruling circles without, however, questioning the existing social order and power structure, were above all, M A X VASMER, REINHOLD TRAUTMANN and K A R L HEINRICH MEYER, as well as some of their students and associates. Special importance for Sorbian studies was assigned to the attitude, to the scientific suggestions, as well as to the organizational initiatives and purposeful stimulating measures taken by VASMER. He was a full professor for Slavic philology at the universities of Leipzig from 1920 to 1925 and of Berlin from 1925 and a Full Member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences from 1931. Within the framework of his comprehensive teaching and research activities, he always devoted his attention to the development of Sorbian studies.31 In Leipzig, he succeeded MURKO and continued the humanistic traditions of cultivating Sorbian studies at the University there. In Berlin, he provided ample opportunities for the Sorbian studies of German and Sorbian scholars at the Slavic Institute founded by him at the University in 1925, as well as within the Slavic Commission founded by him at the Academy in 1932 and headed by him until 1945. In the 20s and 30s, in the framework of German Slavic studies, he drafted a programme of fundamental research into Sorbian studies, whose implementation was started in the Slavic Commission. — It envisaged to elaborate a dictionary of the contemporary Upper Sorbian language, an ancient Sorbian dictionary, and a Sorbian language atlas. He instructed his two students PAWOL WIRTH and OTTO FRANCK to carry out the work, while he was skilfully making use of a temporary tolerance towards the Sorbs on the part of the fascist government. VASMER endeavoured to cultivate Sorbian studies in many directions. Thus he provided the series founded by him "Veröffentlichungen des Slavischen Instituts der Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin" (1927 ff.) to his students and associates, as well as to other German-speaking and Slavic scholars to publish their research results, which was also to the benefit of the development of Sorbian studies. Appearing in the series were, among other things, the doctor's thesis of his pupil HANS HOLM BIELFELDT "Die deutschen Lehnwörter im Obersorbischen" ( 1 9 3 3 ) , a research project initiated and guided by VASMER, which met with a favourable response among international critics, the second amended edition of the work "Wendisches Volkstum in Sage, Brauch und Sitte" by VON SCHULENBURG with contributions by JOHANNES BOLTE ( 1 9 3 4 ) and the book "Feste und Volksbräuche der Lausitzer Wenden" by EDMUND SCHNEEWEIS ( 1 9 3 1 ) which was published in a second edition in the G.D.R. under the title "Feste und Volks-

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bräuche der Sorben" (Berlin 1 9 5 3 ) . Apart from FRIEDRICH SIEBER ("Wendische Sagen" [ 1 9 2 5 ] ; "Sächsische Sagen" [ 1 9 2 6 ] ; "Lausitzer Sagen" [ 1 9 3 0 ] ; "Natursagen der sächsischen Oberlausitz und ihrer Nachbargebiete" [ 1 9 3 1 ] ) and from WILL-ERICH PEUKERT ("Deutsches Volkstum in Märchen und Sage, Schwank und Rätsel", 1 9 3 8 ) , SCHNEEWEIS belonged to those German scholars who at the time of the Weimar Republic and of fascist dictatorship made endeavours for unbiased research and for an objective elucidation of German-Slavic interrelations. Their works are agreeably contrasting against chauvinist bungled-up pieces of work. The latter include OTTO EDUARD SCHMIDT'S pamphlet "Die Wenden" ( 1 9 2 5 ) in which, in continuation of reactionary traditions of German science, the Germanization of the Sorbs was consciously belittled and the struggle of the Sorbian population against the discrimination and oppression of their national features, of their language and culture ignored. Pervaded by similar tendencies are also historical works such as the description "Geschichte des Wendentums in der Niederlausitz bis 1815 im Rahmen der Landesgeschichte" ( 1 9 3 0 ) by RUDOLF LEHMANN. This book is part of a generously planned, but only partly published, series "Die Wenden. Forschungen zu Geschichte und Volkstum der Wenden" which was edited on behalf of the Foundation for Research into German Ethnography and into the Area of German Culture in Leipzig by RUDOLF KÖTZSCHKE, and was to contain contributions on the past and the present, on the literature, on the folklore and language of the Sorbs. Into his series "Veröffentlichungen . . . " VASMER included works by Sorbían scientists, such as the "Wendische (sorbische) Bibliographie" by JAKUB W J A C S LAWK ( 1 9 2 9 ) and the investigation "Heinrich Milde. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der slavischen Studien in( Halle" by FRIDO METSK ( 1 9 4 1 ) . The inclusion into this series of the Sorbían bibliography took place against the opposition put up by reactionary circles of the German intelligentsia and by German public servants, as well as against the objections by ERICH BERNEKER, which on no account corresponded to his general attitude towards the Slavic peoples.32 It was after the fascists powers-that-be stifled Sorbían public cultural and scientific life in 1937 that VASMER printed contributions by Sorbían scholars in his journal "Zeitschrift für slavische Philologie" founded in 1924. Also in this manner he opposed an order issued by the fascist authorities in 1938, and reiterated later, to the German press to avoid any reporting on the Sorbs and not to use the name "Sorbs (Wends)". Special lectures and seminars on Sorbían studies were held at Leipzig University by K A R L HEINRICH MEYER in the 20s. Owing to a suggestion by his teacher MURKO, as a classical philologist and indogermanist, he had become familiar with Slavic studies, which he enriched by important works in the field of Russian, Bulgarian and Sorbian studies. By editing (in 1923) the Upper Sorbían catechism of WARICHIUS from 1 5 9 7 he deserved great credit for fundamental research in the

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field of Sorbian studies. His suggestions on the scientific and organizational expansion of Sorbian studies, contained in his correspondence, especially in his letters to ARNOST MUKA33, make us understand that he was deeply interested in this science. His close relationships with Sorbian intellectuals in the 20s indicate his readiness for scientific cooperation. Good relations between Germans and Sorbs were advocated also by REINHOLD TRAUTMANN, who was appointed to succeed VASMER in the Leipzig Chair in 1925.34 He continued the progressive tradition of cultivating teaching and research in Sorbian studies at Leipzig University. Together with HEINRICH FELIX SCHMID and other scientists he elaborated the programme paper "Wesen und Aufgaben der deutschen Slavistik" (1927) which reveals scientific and organizational perspicacity and a progressive bourgeois opinion about science and German-Slavic contacts. Journeys to the Soviet Union made him aware of the transformations going on there and also made him commit himself in public in favour of these developments.35 Within his ample activities in research and teaching in the field of Slavic studies, TRAUTMANN devoted his attention also to Sorbian. He did so in his survey lectures about the Slavic peoples, their languages and literatures, lectures which after the Second World War he summarized under the title "Die slavischen Völker und Sprachen" in a useful "Einführung in die Slawistik" (1947/48), as well as in special lectures devoted to Sorbian studies. This is especially shown by his publications, in the first place by his edition of the Lower Sorbian Psalter from Wolfenbüttel (1928), as well as by the suggestion and scientific guidance of the doctor's thesis by his student C U R T HOENICKE about this important document of Lower Sorbian (1930). Also the results and impulses from TRAUTMANN'S extensive research in onomastics which are mainly expressed in his works "Die wendischen Ortsnamen Ostholsteins, Lübecks, Lauenburgs und Mecklenburgs" (1939/1950), "Die Elb- und Ostseeslawischen Ortsnamen" (1948/49), and "Die slawischen Ortsnamen Mecklenburgs und Holsteins" (1950) became important for Sorbian studies. The overall picture presented in the opinions of German linguists, philologists and folklore specialists about the Sorbs and their national interests, about their language and culture, as well as about the conditions and perspectives of their development was extremely heterogeneous until 1945. Scientists were divided by two extremes. Progressive circles had an understanding for and sympathy with, the Sorbian people, their struggle for equal rights and for a free development of their national features. Conservative circles displayed neglect of and discrimination against the Sorbs and ignored their national aspirations. Between these two extremes existed a wide range of varying views and attitudes in which indifference prevailed towards the cultural achievements of Sorbs. This approach was connected with a polemic struggle against their national movement. In the decades between 1871 and 1945, the opinion was widely spread that scientific

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research and teaching have to be above the social and political disputes of the contemporary period. In this sense, attempts were made to draw a dividing line between the scientific and the ideological political position. The majority of those representatives of Sorbian linguistics and folkloristics who advocated this view regarded language and culture only as an object of research to which the Slavists turned their attention. Their principal rejection of the discrimination and Germanization directed against the Sorbian people is explained not only by the fact that they had partly close relations to its intelligentsia, but also by their insight that such attitudes are unworthy of human beings and finally made their science poorer. They could not be expected to provide public support for the Sorbs' national aspirations, since they did not have much interest in, and understanding for, the multi-faceted struggle of the Sorbian people for equal rights and for free development as a national minority. Partly, in public, they disassociated themselves from it as an anti-German movement or allegedly promoting pan-Slavist tendencies. A relatively small number of bourgeois German scholars until the end of the Second World War, under increasingly complicated social, political and scienceorganizational conditions in cooperation with Sorbian and other Slavic scientists contributed to cognitive advance, especially in the field of Sorbian linguistics and folklore studies, thus creating certain bases for the upsurge of Sorbian studies after the German and Sorbian peoples were liberated from fascist tyranny. It was only after the final smashing of Hitlerite fascism in May 1945, in the sequels of which the social, political, and national oppression of the Sorbian people was overcome, that a new stage of development was begun for German and Sorbian research in the field of Sorbian studies. The foundation of the German Democratic Republic on 7 October 1949 was preceded by almost four and a half years of an antifascist democratic transformation. After the victory of the Soviet Union and of its allies over Hitlerite fascism, by means of democratic reforms, which were milestones on the road of liberating the Sorbs from social and national oppression, prerequisites were created for a coexistence between Germans and Sorbs on the basis of equal rights. Thus, in the field of German-Sorbian cooperation, Sorbian studies were assisted in making a fundamentally new start and taking an impressive upsurge. For the Sorbs, the G.D.R. proved to be a state with which they could identify themselves with for the first time in their history, because their equal rights as citizens were enshrined in its Constitution.36 Thus, the German Democratic Republic became a true fatherland for the Sorbian population of about 100,000 who participated in building the foundations of socialism as partners with equal rights and equal duties.37 This state was the first on German soil to offer wide prospects for a comprehensive development of Sorbian research and teaching, notably under changed socio-political conditions and on new ideological and theoretical methodological foundations. The institutionalization and

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promotion of Sorbian studies at state-run research and education establishments was a novel phenomenon. So was the social position of scientists in Sorbian studies. For the first time in the history of the Sorbian people, Sorbian scientists were given the opportunity to explore, teach and propagate their history, language and culture in secure material conditions, supported by the state, without having to fear any discrimination and oppression as a response to their national commitment. In this context, it was for the first time that scientists of German nationality could assist them without any limitations and reservations. Centres of Sorbian studies became an urgent social requirement due to the necessity of setting up a Sorbian-language education system and with the development of Sorbian culture. There are the Institute of Sorbian Ethnography in Bautzen, which emerged in 1951 from the smallest beginnings to become a complex research institute which has been affiliated to the Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R. since 1952 and to the Institute of Sorbian Studies at Karl Marx University in Leipzig, an institute which was also founded in 1951. Both institutes substantially contributed to the fact that Sorbian studies from a science which has been discriminated in the past developed to become a complex science which is enriched and promoted by Sorbian and German scientists in the G.D.R. This was done in interdisciplinary and international cooperation with close ties uniting the peoples. This study is an integral part of Slavic studies in the G.D.R.38 In this development, much credit goes to, apart from Sorbian politicians and scientists, the directors of the Institute of Slavic Studies at the Academy of Sciences as the third centre of research in the field of Sorbian studies in the G.D.R., as well as to a number of other German scientists active at various scientific institutions of the G.D.R., notably linguists, ethnographers and historians due to manifold organizational initiatives and important research results.39 In continuing the bourgeois humanistic traditions, German-Sorbian cooperation on a new level became a constituent part in the history of Sorbian studies since 1945. After the liberation of Germany from Hitlerite fascism, substantial suggestions were made at first by M A X VASMER and REINHOLD TRAUTMANN, who passed on their extensive knowledge in the field of Slavic studies and their experience accumulated in many years of scientific work. As director of the Institute of Slavic Studies at the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, an institute which was founded on 1 April 1947 "to continue and expand the activities of the former Slavic Commission" 40 , VASMER promoted research in Sorbian studies to which his interest had been devoted already before 1945. As in former years, he placed great emphasis on close cooperation with Sorbian scientists. Thus he enrolled Sorbian linguist BOGUMIL SWJELA to work on a Lower Sorbian dictionary which he included as a project in the research plan of the Academy institute. Continuing the work of PAWOL WIRTH from the 30s, a further project in Sorbian studies at this Institute under VASMER was the elaboration of a Sorbian language atlas41, "which in the

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years since 1933 time and again has had to face difficulties, because nazism did not allow the exploration of the Slavs living in Germany" and because "its elaborator, Dr. Paul Wirth, a docent of Berlin University, had to do military service as an interpreter."42 Also V A S M E R ' S successor TRAUTMANN, who took an active part in the democratic reconstruction of Slavic studies and headed the Berlin Academy Institute from the end of 1949 until his death in 1951, in close cooperation with Sorbian scientists, carried out fertile initiatives in the field of Sorbian studies. He made valuable suggestions in regard to conceptions for cultivating and exploring Lower Sorbian which was threatened in its existence, a language which he had worked upon in the 20s and 30s already. Under the new sociopolitical conditions created by the foundation of the G.D.R., he regarded an expansion of Sorbian studies to an unprecedented extent as a bridge of understanding between Germans and Sorbs. Already in his work "Die slavischen Volker und Sprachen", which appeared in Leipzig in 1948, an introduction to Slavic studies which was based on lectures under the same title from earlier years, he paid due attention to the Sorbs, their language and literature. At his Institute for Slavic studies at the Berlin Academy, the Sorbian language played an important role. TRAUTMANN had far-reaching plans which he specified in close contact with FRIDO M S T S K . 4 3 He thought of a new edition of the "Historische und vergleichende Laut- und Formenlehre der niedersorbischen ... Sprache" (1891) by ARNOST M U K A , of a new edition of the "Grammatik der niedersorbischen Sprache" (1906) by BOGUMIL S W J E L A , of elaborating a Thesaurus linguae Sorabicae, "i.e., a dictionary of the living Lower Sorbian language including its differences in dialects"44 as a continuation and enlargement of the"Worterbuch der niedersorbischen Sprache und ihrer Dialekte" (1911 — 1928) by ARNOST M U K A , of recordings of the Lower Sorbian language, and of editing a "Sorbian library" which was to be initiated by the Lower Sorbian poetry of FRYCO ROCHA. The minutes of the Berlin Academy of Sciences show with what commitment and with what a far-sighted approach TRAUTMANN advocated the exploration of the Sorbian language and with what an active assistance he now met on the part of the Academy as opposed to former times. TRAUTMANN did not live to see his projects implemented. Neither did he witness the upsurge of Sorbian studies in the G.D.R. since the early 50s, although he had taken a great share in laying the foundations for it. The projects of Sorbian studies and the ideas of TRAUTMANN on which they were based, in conformity with the science and nationality policy carried out in the G.D.R., found a committed promoter in his successor as director of the Institute of Slavic Studies at the Academy of Sciences, H A N S HOLM BIELFELDT. Not only could BIELFELDT continue his Sorbian studies from the early 30s, but he could also emphasize his opinions which were formed then about Slavic studies as a science of international understanding. To deepen this attitude, he also included Sorbian studies in his plans and activities for expanding Slavic studies in

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organizational terms and with regard to content. In 1959, he wrote: "On the one hand, the work of our Institute is to contribute in Slavic studies to enriching the overall picture of Slavic languages and to completing it by the Sorbian language ... On the other hand, our work is also to provide support for the endeavours of the Sorbian nation to cultivate its language and its specific national features." 45 In close cooperation with the Institute of Sorbian Ethnography in Bautzen, it was possible to continue the conceptionally prepared and partly commenced projects in Sorbian studies, especially the tape recordings of Lower Sorbian dialects. The recording of the entire vocabulary of all Sorbian dialects was begun with the aim of "creating an overall historical dictionary of Sorbian in all its dialects", and work on an etymological dictionary of the Sorbian language was started. 46 By its activities in the field of Sorbian studies, the Institute of Slavic Studies under BIELFELDT continued the tradition of cultivating this branch of science at the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. A tradition that had been founded by VASMER and that TRAUTMANN had intended to continue and extend generously. 47 BIELFELDT has deserved great credit for the organization of Sorbian studies. At the same time, he also took an active part in the research and discussions in the field of Sorbian linguistics. Starting points for this were his insights into the significance of Sorbian studies and his conviction "that there existed a tremendous disproportion between the series of monographs on German loan words in the Slavic languages and the many other works in this field, on the one hand, and a lack of works on the converse picture, on Slavic in the German language, on the other". 49 From the 50s to the 70s, he published numerous works on this subject, with his special interest being devoted to the words which were borrowed from Sorbian into German. 34 relevant articles and reviews were reprinted in the volume "Die slawischen Wörter im Deutschen: Ausgewählte Schriften 1950—1978" (Leipzig 1982). In his article "Slawisches im deutschen Wortschatz"49, B I E L FELDT for the first time broached the subject of accepting Sorbian words into German. On this problem range, in subsequent times he made numerous fundamental and principal statements, mentioning not only details of German-Sorbian language contacts, and dealing with processes of integration, but also obtaining new theoretical positions. The results of his work in the field are a recognized part of German lexicology. In the 70s, BIELFELDT also returned to the investigation of German elements in Lower Sorbian which had not been taken into account by his doctor's thesis "Die deutschen Lehnwörter im Obersorbischen"50. B I E L FELDT'S studies on German loan words in Sorbian and on Sorbian loan word» in German, as well as his investigations into Sorbian etymology and SorbianGerman etymological relations show what importance he attributed to Sorbian research. BIELFELDT'S research and his suggestions expressed in reviews in the field of Sorbian studies are important contributions to this science. Apart from BIELFELDT, several other German linguists of the G.D.R. have

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devoted their attention to problems of Sorbian studies and published valuable investigations. Let us mention here ERNST EICHLER, RUDOLF FISCHER, FRIEDHELM HINZE, KARLHEINZ HENGST, RONALD LÖTZSCH, KLAUS MÜLLER, FRIEDRICH REDLICH, GERHARD SCHLIMPERT,

and

WALTER WENZEL,

as well as

SIEG-

FRIED KÖRNER, JOHANNES SCHULTHEIS, WOLFGANG SPERBER, a n d HANS W A L -

Special mention should be made of the rich results obtained within the framework of research in the field of Slavic and Germano-Slavic onomastics. sl The ancient Sorbian settlements in the region to the west of Upper and Lower Lusatia left a multitude of Sorbian toponyms, field names and personal names, as well as of loan words in German which have become the subject of major research •projects in Slavic studies in the G.D.R. RUDOLF FISCHER has a great share in this as a founder father of the series of publications "Deutsch-Slawische Forschungen zur Namenkunde und Siedlungsgeschichte" (1956 ff.). Noteworthy are the solid publications in which ERNST EICHLER (partly in cooperation with the historian and Germanist H A N S WALTHER) investigates Old Sorbian names. Let us mention the study "Die Ortsnamen im Gau Daleminze" ( 1 9 6 6 / 6 7 ) . Devoted to the history of Sorbian are EICHLER'S "Studien zur Frühgeschichte der slawischen Mundarten zwischen Saale und Elbe" ( 1 9 6 5 ) and his "Etymologisches Wörterbuch der slawischen Elemente im Ostmitteldeutschen" ( 1 9 6 5 ) , to Sorbian names, the "Ortsnamenbuch der Oberlausitz" ( 1 9 7 5 / 7 8 , with HANS WALTHER), and "Die Ortsnamen der Niederlausitz" ( 1 9 7 5 ) . An overall recording of Sorbian toponyms is what the compendium "Slawische Ortsnamen zwischen Saale und Neiße" ( 1 9 8 5 ) is aimed at. Several treatises by EICHLER are dealing with opening up the Old Sorbian vocabulary in overall Slavic relations, for example his work on the reconstruction of the Old Sorbian vocabulary.52 Already by his doctor's thesis on the specific innovations of the Sorbian dual number flexion ( 1 9 6 2 ) , RONALD LÖTZSCH made a substantial contribution to Sorbian linguistics. In this work, he proved that Upper and Lower Sorbian, independently of German influences, produced innovations in common distinguishing them from the other Slavic languages. In subsequent times, LÖTZSCH has repeatedly worked on themes of Sorbian linguistics.53 His publications on the language boundary between Upper and Lower Sorbian ( 1 9 6 3 ) , on the unity and subdivision of Sorbian ( 1 9 6 5 ) , on the morphological features of the transitional dialects between Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian ( 1 9 6 7 ) , on the German influences on the verbal system of Sorbian ( 1 9 6 8 ) , on questions of the morphological differentiation of the Sorbian dialects ( 1 9 6 8 ) , on German elements in Sorbian dialects ( 1 9 7 2 ) , on the modal passive forms of the modern Upper Sorbian literary language (1972/73) and on the processual passive forms of the modern Upper Sorbian written language ( 1 9 7 2 ) provide valuable research results and stimuli for further research. THER.

Supported by Marxist-Leninist sociolinguistics, LÖTZSCH made an essential

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contribution to elucidating the question as to the status of Sorbian. In his opinion, Sorbian can only be one language, since its speakers do not accept any group of dialects as a "language boundary". Furthermore, by referring to above all, the causative and to the indirect passive he has justified the thesis that the Sorbian verbal system contains more forms than presented by traditional descriptions. Whereas research into the history, literature, customs and way of life of the Sorbs is primarily conducted by experts at the Institute of Sorbian Ethnography, German philologists and historians of the G.D.R. — mainly scholars from the Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R. and from Karl Marx University Leipzig — actively participate in investigating the history of Sorbian studies and of GermanSorbian or intra-Slavic cultural and scientific relations. There are relevant monographs rich in material (e.g. EDUARD WINTER : Die Pflege der west- und südslawischen Sprachen in Halle im 18. Jahrhundert, 1954; ERNST EICHLER: Die slawistischen Studien des Johann Leonhard Frisch, 1 9 6 7 ; WILHELM ZEIL: Bolzano und die Sorben, 1967) and a great number of specialized studies, above all, by ERNST EICHLER, HEINZ POHRT, and ANTON RICHTER, as well as by W I L HELM ZEIL and LIANE ZEIL, which we can refer to only in general here.54 They open up valuable materials and elucidate significant interconnections, they try to trace development lines of Sorbian studies in Germany and to highlight culmination points, and, finally, give theoretical and methodological indications for future studies and descriptions. Due attention is paid to the development of Sorbian studies in several publications by German scientists of the G.D.R. on the history of Slavic studies in Germany until 1945. Scientists of Sorbian and German nationality in the G.D.R. have to a great extent used the ample opportunities offered under socialist conditions for comprehensive research into the field of Sorbian studies. In this context, they went on from the humanistic traditions of this branch of science in Germany prior to 1945 and continued the progressive heritage of the past by acquiring it along critical constructive lines under fundamentally changed social and political conditions on a new position in terms of world-outlook, with new theoretical methodological insights and with a better survey of facts and interconnections. By overcoming the narrow linguistic philological orientation of Sorbian studies, and their cultivation as a modern complex science in which historical science became an important factor influencing the overall development of Sorbian studies, it was possible to obtain valuable research results. The well functioning interdisciplinary cooperation and constructive international collaboration, especially with scientists from the Soviet Union and from other socialist countries, represent a special achievement in this context. Sorbian and German scientists have jointly contributed to the reconstruction and continuous expansion of Sorbian studies as a science with close contacts to the people, a science devoted to international understanding.

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References and footnotes 1

2 3

4

5 6

7

B I E L F E L D T , H. H., Materialien und Begriffe der Geschichte der Slavistik in Deutschland, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, in: Wiener Slavistisches Jahrbuch 8(1960), p. 41 SCHMID, H . F . / R . T R A U T M A N N , Wesen und Aufgaben der deutschen Slavistik. Ein Programm, Leipzig 1927, p. 65 Cf. B I E L F E L D T , H . H . , Materialien und Begriffe ..., pp. 2 8 — 4 1 ; Z E I L , W . / H . POHRT, Etapy razvitija slavistiki v Germanii do 1945 g. (Stages of the development of Slavonic studies in Germany until 1945), in: Metodologieeskie problemy istorii slavistiki, Moskva 1978, pp. 146—173; Z E I L , W., Slavjanovedenie v Germanii (s konca XVII v. do 1945 g.) (Slavonic studies in Germany [from the late 17th century to 1945]) in: Sovetskoe slavjanovedenie (1979) 4, pp. 67—85 Cf. Z E I L , W., Besonderheiten und Positionen der Slawistik in Deutschland bis 1945, in: Letopis A 27(1980), 2, pp. 195—206; idem, Zu einigen Grundfragen einer Gesamtdarstellung der Geschichte der Slawistik in Deutschland bis 1945, in: ZfSL 27(1982),pp. 69—75; idem, Gedanken zu einer Gesamtdarstellung der Geschichte der Sorabistik in Deutschland bis 1945, in: Letopis B 28(1981), pp. 3 4 - 4 1 Cf. B R A N K A C K , J./F. M £ T S K et alii, in: SOLTA, J. (ed.), Geschichte der Sorben, vol. 1, Bautzen 1977; SOLTA, J./H. Z W A H R et alii, in: Geschichte der Sorben, vol. 2 , Bautzen 1974; K A S P E R , M . , Geschichte der Sorben, vol. 3, Bautzen 1976 Cf. N O W O T N Y , P . , Die Bedeutung der slawischen Wechselseitigkeit für die Entwicklung der sorbischen Literatur und Wissenschaft, besonders in der 2. Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts, in: ZfSL 8(1963), pp. 211—221; K A S P E R , M., Der Kampf der Lausitzer Sorben gegen die faschistische Unterdrückungspolitik und die slawische Solidarität, in: Letopis B 25(1978), 1, pp. 1 - 9 Cf. E I C H L E R , E . , Die slawistischen Studien des Johann Leonhard Frisch, Berlin 1 9 6 7 ; J E N C , R., Stawizny serbskeho pismowstwa (History of Sorbian literature), vol. 1, Budysin 1 9 5 4 ; M £ T § K , F., Die sorbischen Aufklärer unter dem Einfluß des gesamteuropäischen Kulturbewußtseins in den fünf Jahrzehnten vor der Französischen Revolution, in: Z I E G E N G E I S T , G. (ed.), Slawische Kulturen in der Geschichte der europäischen Kulturen vom 18. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert. Internationaler Studienband, Berlin 1 9 8 2 , pp. 8 3 — 8 7 ; Z E I L , W . , Karl Gottlob von Anton und seine Beziehungen zu den Sorben, in: Letopis B 1 5 ( 1 9 6 8 ) , - 1 , pp. 1 — 1 7 ; 2 , pp. 175-220

8 Cf. J E N C , R., Stawizny serbskeho pismowstwa, vol. 1, pp. 93—98; J E N C , K. A., Serbske predarske towarstwo w Lipsku wot 1. 1716 to 1866 (Sorbian preachers' society in Leipzig from 1716 to 1866), in: CMS (1867), pp. 465 —540; idem, Serbske predarske towarstwo w Wittenbergu (Sorbian preachers' society in Wittenberg), in: CMS (1856/57), pp. 15—29; Z E I L , W., Bolzano und die Sorben. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des "Wendischen Seminars" in Prag zur Zeit der josefinischen Aufklärung und der Romantik, Bautzen 1967 9 Cf. Z E I L , W., Zur Bedeutung der "Oberlausitzischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften" in Görlitz für die kulturell-geistige Entwicklung der Slawen und für die Ge-

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schichte der Slawistik, in: Studien zur Geschichte der russischen Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts, vol. 4, Berlin 1970, pp. 291—299; KUNZE, P., Die Bedeutung der Oberlausitzischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften für die Entwicklung der Sorabistik 1789-1847; in: ZfSl 27(1982), pp. 8 8 - 9 8 10 Cf. MERIAN, E., Zur Gründungsgeschichte der Jablonowskischen Gesellschaft in Leipzig, in: Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin GSR XVII(1968), 2, pp. 269—273; idem, Die Bedeutung der Jablonowskischen Gesellschaft in Leipzig für die slawistische Forschung im ehemaligen Deutschland, in: ZfSl 21(1976), pp. 6 9 4 - 7 0 0

11 Cf. MICHALK, F., Karl Gottlob von Anton und die sorbische Mundartforschung, in: Letopis A 28(1981), 1, pp. 58—63; PÄTA, J., K. G.Anton wo hornjoluiiskich dialektach 1. 1797 (K. G. Anton about Upper Sorbian dialects in 1797), in: CMS (1928), pp. 7 7 - 8 7 12 HAUPT, L./J. SMOLER, Volkslieder der Sorben in der Ober- und Niederlausitz. Pesnicki hornich a delnich Luiiskich Serbow. Photomechanical reprint with a preface by J. RAUPP, Bautzen 1984 13 NEDO, P., Grundriß der sorbischen Volksdichtung, Bautzen 1966, p. 63 14 Cf. KUNZE, P., Die Rolle der sorbischen Studentenvereine im Prozeß des nationalen Bewußtwerdens in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts, in: Letopis B 24 (1977), 1, pp. 2 3 - 5 0

15 In: AfslPh 24(1902), pp. 6 1 6 - 6 2 0 16 NEDO, P., Grundriß der sorbischen Volksdichtung, pp. 71—73 17 Cf. MÜTSK, F., Theodor Fontane und die Sorben, in: Fontanes Realismus, Berlin 1972, pp. 183 — 190; idem, Volkskundliche Werte und nationale Spezifik in Georg Sauerweins Konzeption der sorbischen Kultur, in: Letopis B 23(1976), 2, pp. 171 bis 182; ZEIL, W., Georg Sauerwein (Juro Surowin) — ein Wegbereiter deutsch-sorbischer Wechselseitigkeit, in: ZfSl 24(1978), pp. 711—718 18 VECKENSTEDT, E., Wendische Sagen, Märchen und abergläubische Gebräuche, Graz 1880, pp. VI, X 19 Cf. M£TSK, F., Litauer, Letten und Sorben im volkskundlichen Werk Edmund Veckenstedts, in: ZfSl 23(1978), pp. 7 3 1 - 7 3 3 20 Cf. RICHTER, A., Zur Förderung der Sorabistik durch den Slawisten und Indoeuropäisten August Leskien, in: Letopis A 16(1969), 1, pp. 91 — 112 21 Cf. SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., August Leskien und die Sorabistik, in: ZfSl 26(1981), pp. 205—215; idem, Materialije wo pomerje nemskeho slawista Augusta Leskiena k Serbam (Material on the relationship between the German slavist Leskien and the S o r b s ) , i n : L e t o p i s A 2 8 ( 1 9 8 1 ) , 1, p p . 6 6 - 7 8

22 Cf. ZEIL, W., Die Pflege der Sorabistik am Leipziger Lehrstuhl für slawische Philologie (1870-1945), in: Letopis A 24(1977), 2, pp. 2 0 2 - 2 2 5 23 MORGENSTERN, J., Karl Preusker als Ortsnamenforscher. Zur Geschichte der slawistischen Ortsnamenforschung, in: ZfSl 26(1981), pp. 543—554; KÜHNEL, P., Die slawischen Orts- und Flurnamen der Oberlausitz. Neudruck der Originalausgabe aus dem Neuen Lausitzischen Magazin. Herausgegeben und mit einer Einleitung und Bibliographie versehen von E. EICHLER, Leipzig 1982; HEY, G., Die slawischen Siedelungen im Königreich Sachsen mit Erklärung ihrer Namen. Neuauflage mit

Slavic Studies in Germany

24 25 26 27

209

Nachwort und ergänzendem Verzeichnis zu den Ortsnamen Sachsens von E. EICHLER, Leipzig 1981 EICHLER, E., Einleitung zu: KÜHNEL, P., Die.slawischen Orts- und Flurnamen der Oberlausitz, pp. X—XIII EICHLER, E., Der Beitrag Gustav Heys zur slawistischen Namenforschung, in: Letopis A 27(1980), 1, p. 37; also idem, Nachwort zu: HEY, G., Die slawischen Siedelungen im Königreich Sachsen ... Ibd. MUCKE, E.,. review on: HEY, G., Die slawischen Siedelungen im Königreich Sachsen mit Erklärung ihrer Namen, Dresden 1893, in: AfslPh 17(1895), p. 282

2 8 MURKO t o MUKA, 15. 6 . 1 9 1 9 , p r i n t e d i n : ZEIL, W . , D e r B r i e f w e c h s e l z w i s c h e n K o r l ä

Arnost Muka und Matija Murko (1918 — 1931). Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Slawistik, in: Letopis A 16(1969), 2, p. 233 29 Cf. M£T§K, F., Z dzialalnosci Zentralstelle für Wendenangelegenheiten (Wendenabteilung) w latach 1920—1945 (From the activities of the central office for Wendish affairs [Wendish department] between 1920 and 1945), in: Przeglij,d Zachodni 12 ( 1 9 6 6 ) , 3, p p . 8 7 — 9 8 ; KASPER, M . , D i e A u s w i r k u n g e n d e s F a s c h i s i e r u n g s p r o z e s s e s

unter den deutschen nationalen Minderheiten in Polen und der CSR auf die sorbenfeindliche Politik des deutschen Imperialismus 1933 — 1937; in: Letopis B 18(1971), 2, pp. 1 3 8 - 1 5 2

30 KASPER, M., Die Auswirkungen des Faschisierungsprozesses ..., pp. 143 — 144 31 Cf. ZEIL, W., cf. footnote 22; ZEIL, L./W. ZEIL, Die Pflege der Sorabistik in Berlin von 1925 bis 1945 und ihre Bedeutung für die Sorben, in: Letopis A 25(1978), 1, pp. 22—24; ZEIL, L., Gründung und Tätigkeit der "Slavischen Kommission" an der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften (1932-1945), in: ZfSl 23(1978), pp. 1 2 0 - 1 3 1 32 Cf. POHRT, H., Zur Herausgabe und Aufnahme der Wendischen (Sorbischen) Bibliographie von J. Jatzwauk 1928-1932, in: Letopis A 23(1976), 2, pp. 2 2 8 - 2 3 5 33 MEYER to MUKA, 1921—1925, in: Literärni archiv Pamatniku Narodniho pisemnictvi v Praze; cf. also PETR, J., Arnost Muka. 2iwjenje a skutkowanje serbskeho pröcowarja (Arnost Muka. Life and work of the Sorbian patriot), Budysin 1978 34 Cf. ZEIL, W., Die Sorabistik im wissenschaftlichen Wirken Reinhold Trautmanns (1883-1951), in: Letopis B 29(1982), 2, pp. 2 0 0 - 2 2 2 35 Cf. ZEIL, L./W. ZEIL, Bekenntnis eines deutschen Slawisten zum jungen Sowjetstaat. Erinnerungen Reinhold Trautmanns an seine Reise in die Sowjetunion 1925, in: ZfSl 28(1983), pp. 8 6 8 - 8 7 9 36 Cf. CYZ, B., Die DDR und die Sorben, vol. 1 - 2 , Bautzen 1969—1979; NOWUSCH, H., Die Gleichberechtigung der Bürger sorbischer Nationalität in der DDR — verwirklichtes Menschenrecht, Bautzen 1978; NEDO, P., Die Sorben in der DDR. Vom Leben des kleinsten slawischen Volkes, Bautzen 1973; Die Sorben. Wissenswertes aus Vergangenheit und Gegenwart der sorbischen nationalen Minderheit, Bautzen 1979 37 Cf. SCHILLER, K. J./M. THIEMANN, Geschichte der Sorben, vol. 4, Bautzen 1979, pp. 101 foil. 38 Cf. 30 Jahre Institut für sorbische Volksforschung 1951 — 1981, Bautzen 1981; SCHUSTER-SEWC, H., Zur Geschichte der Sorabistik an der Karl-Marx-Universität, 14 Lusatian Sorbs

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in: Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig 1409—1959. Beiträge zur Universitätsgeschichte, Leipzig 1959, pp. 472—477; ZEIL, W., Sorabistische Forschungen in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, in: ZfSl 28(1983), pp. 1 6 1 - 1 6 8 ; MLYÏÎK, J., (ed.), Sorbische Bibliographie 1945—1957 mit Nachträgen bis 1945, Bautzen 1959; MLYNK, J. (ed.), Sorbische Bibliographie 1958-1965, Bautzen 1968; GARDO§, I. (ed.), Sorbische Bibliographie 1966 — 1970, Bautzen 1973; GARDO§, I. (ed.), Sorbische Bibliographie 1971-1975, Bautzen 1978; WALDE, M. (ed.), Sorbische Bibliographie 1976-1980, Bautzen 1983 39 Cf. Slawistische Publikationen der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik bis 1962, z u s a m m e n g e s t e l l t u n d b e a r b e i t e t v o n H . POHRT u n d H . RAPPICH, B e r l i n 1 9 6 3 ; POHRT,

H., Bibliographie slawistischer Publikationen aus der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1964-1967, Berlin 1968; idem, Bibliographie . . . 1968-1972 nebst Nachträgen

(1946—1967),

Berlin

1974;

GUTSCHMIDT, K./H. POHRT/J. SCHULTHEIS,

Bibliographie . . . 1973-1977, Berlin 1979; idem, Bibliographie . . . 1978-1981, Berlin 1 9 8 3 40 In: Jahrbuch der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1946—1949, Berlin 1950, p. 109 41 Cf. ZEIL, L., Der Neubeginn der Slawistik an der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin nach 1945, in: Lëtopis B (in the press) 42 Bericht Max Vasmers über die Slavische Kommission bei der Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Archiv der AdW der DDR, Bestand Akademieleitung, No 165 43 Cf. ZEIL, W., Die Sorabistik im wissenschaftlichen Wirken Reinhold Trautmanns (1183-1951). Zum 100. Geburtstag des Gelehrten, in: Lëtopis B 29(1982), 2, pp. 200—222; idem, Die sorbische Sprache und Kultur im Wirken R. Trautmanns, in: ZfSl 30(1985), pp. 3 4 0 - 3 4 4 44 Trautmann an die Klasse für Sprache, Literatur und Kunst der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1. 10. 1950, Archiv der AdW der DDR, Bestand Akademieleitung No 165 45 In: Mitteilungsblatt der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 5(1959), 4, p. 192 46 Ibd. 47 Cf. BIELFELDT, H. H., Die sorabistischen Arbeiten des Instituts für Slawistik der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, in: Lëtopis A 8(1961), pp. 124 bis 126 48 BIELFELDT, H. H., Sorbisch-deutsche Lehnwortforschung 50 Jahre später, in: ZfSl 2 7 ( 1 9 8 2 ) , p p . 1 3 - 1 9 , q u o t a t i o n o n p . 15

49 50 51 52

In: ZfSl 3(1958), pp. 663-667 Cf. BIELFELDT, H. H., Sorbisch-deutsche Lehnwortforschung 50 Jahre später, p. 16 Cf. footnotes 38 and 39 EICHLER, E., K voprosu o rekonstrukcii drevneluiickogo slovarnogo sostava (On the reconstruction of the old-Sorbian vocabulary), in : Issledovanija po serboluiickim jazykam, Moskva 1970, pp. 183-198 53 Cf. footnotes 38 and 39 54 Cf. footnotes 38 and 39

211

List of Chosen Journals and Archives AfslPh Cas. Nár. musea CMS Izvestija AN SSSR. Serija literatury i jazyka Létopis Památnik Národního pisemnictví Rozhlad Slavjanskie izvestija Studia z filologii polskiej i slowiañskiej Voprosy jazykoznanija ZfslPh ZfSl ZPSK ZSLKW ZMNP

14*

Archiv für slawische Philologie Casopis Närodniho musea (Journal of the National Museum in Prague) Casopis Macicy Serbskeje (Journal of the Macica Serbska) News of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.

Létopis Instituía za serbski ludospyt (Annual Journal of the Institute of Sorbian Ethnography) Monument of the national literature in Prague Casopis za serbsku kulturu (Journal on Sorbian culture) Slavic News Studies on Polish and Slavic philology Problems of linguistics (Journal of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. Institute of Linguistics) Zeitschrift für slawische Philologie Zeitschrift für Slawistik Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung Zeitschrift für slawische Literatur, Kunst und Wissenschaft 2umal ministerstva narodnogo prosvescenija (Journal of the Ministry of Education)

212

Authors Prof. Dr. Maja Ermakova, Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R., Institute of Slavonic and Balkan Studies, Moscow Doz. Dr. habil. Lucia Heine, Karl Marx University Leipzig, Institute of Sorbian Studies, Leipzig Prof. Dr. sc. Martin Kasper, Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R., Institute of Sorbian Ethnography, Bautzen Prof. Dr. Ludmila Lapteva, Lomonosov University Moscow, Chair of the History cif Western and Southern Slavs, Moscow Doz. Dr. habil. Rafal Leszczynski, Lodz University, Institute of History, Lodz Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Paul Nowotny, Bautzen Prof. Dr. habil. Jan Petr, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Czech Language, Prague Dr. Jan Rawp-Raupp, Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R., Institute of Sorbian Ethnography, Bautzen Prof. Dr. habil. Heinz Schuster-Sewc, Karl Marx University Leipzig, Institute of Sorbian Studies, Leipzig { Dr. rer. oec. et phil. habil. Jan Soha-Scholze, Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R., Institute of Sorbian Ethnography, Bautzen Prof. Dr. Gerald Stone, Dpt. of Slavonic Studies, Faculty of Modern Languages, Oxford Prof. Dr. habil. Konstantin K. Trofimovic, Lvov University, Chair of Slavonic Philology, Lvov Dr. Wilhelm Zeil, Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R., Central Institute of History, Berlin

Register Adam, Georg 194 Aitmatov, Cingiz 97 Alfred (King) 147 Andree, Richard 150, 151,194 Andricki, Alojs 100 Andricki, Miklaws 90, 91, 138, 169, 180, 186 Anton, Karl Gottlob von 26, 126, 149, 190,192 Baar, Jj S. 185 Bach 177 Bach, Johann Sebastian 113, 115 Badeni, Jan 169 Balucki, Micha! 170,171 Barg, M. A. 31 Bart, Arnost 17, 153 Bart, Jakub Bart-Cisinski, Jakub Bart-Öisinski, Jakub 16, 74, 86, 8 8 - 9 1 , 106,119,138,155,167, 167-171, 180 bis 182,186 . Barth Bart, Arnost Bartko, Jan 85 Baudouin de Courtenay, Jan 170 Belinski, V. G. 132, 139 Bëmar, Jan 73 Benno (bishop) 110 Berâkovâ, Z. 94,185 ' Bërlink, C. Z. 71,156,160 Berneker, Erich 195, 199 Bezruö, P. 183 Bielfeldt, Hans Holm 198, 203, 204 Bierling -> Bërlink Bjedrich-Radlubin, Miklaws 180

Bjerisowa, Hariia 104 Bjero, W. 186 Blahoslav, Jan 31 Blum, Robert 34 Bobrovskij, M. 83,159,160 Bobrovskij, M. K. 127 Bobrowski, Johannes 107 Bodjanski, O. M. 1 3 0 - 1 3 2 Boguslawski, Wilhelm 26, 88, 65,166 Bohäc, Zdenek 185, 186 Bojarski, Alfred 162 Bojtär, E. 32 Bolte, Johannes 198 Brahms, Johannes 119 Bräunig -> Brojnik Brezan, Jurij 9 4 - 1 0 5 , 121, 186 Brojnik, Bartholomäus 113 Bronis, M. Bogumil 166, 170 Brückner, Aleksander 194, 195 " Buchan, John 153 Budar, Ben 105 Budar, Jan Michal 30 Buk, Jakub 86 Bukowski, Julian 169 Bulank, Jan 1 2 1 - 1 2 3 Capek, K. 185 Celakovsky, F. L. 83, 84,160,177, 182 Cesla, Jan 88,180 Cern^, Adolf 91, 118,183,184, 186, 187 CernJr,J. 186 Ceynowa, Florian 163 Chamberlayne, John 148 Charlemagne 25

214

Register

Chateaubriand 91 Cechov, A. P. 91 Chezka, Jurij 92,184 Chociszewski, Jözef 167 Chojnan, J. 62 Cisinski Bart-Cisinski, Jakub Crüger - » Krygar, Jan Cyi, J. 134 Cyi, Michal 86 CyZ, M i k k w s 86 Cyi, Petr 86 De Bray, R. G. A. 154,155 Dejka, J. B. 82,160 Delerik, Jurij 180 Dembinski, Henryk 159 De Wesselitsky, Boiidarovic G. 153 Diels, Paul 195 Diesterweg, F. A. W. 87 D'jakov, V. A. 31 Dobrovsky, Josef 12, 26, 32, 83, 84, 128, 179,181,182 Dobrucky, J. E. 90,168 Domaska, Michal 86, 161 Domaskojc, Marjana 91 Doucha, F. 182 Dodgson, E. S. 152,153 Drasecke, Felix 119 Dubrovskij, P. P. 131 Ducman, Handrij 88,170 Dvorak, Antonin 120 Dyrlich, Benedikt 108, 186 Eichler, Ernst 205, 206 Elagin, V. A. 135 Erben, Karel Jaromir 179,180, 182 Erler 120 Fabricius, Bogumil 12, 62, 70, 72,148 Fabricius, Gottlieb Fabricius, Bogumil Fabrizius Fabricius, Bogumil Faßke, H. 52, 53, 76 Fiedler, K. A. 88,117,118,138,167 Fischer, Rudolf 205 Flicius, Jan 112

Fontane, Theodor 194 Fortunatov, M. 134 Francev, V. A. 138 Franck, Otto 198 Franke, Johannes 156 Frederick I 148 Frencel, Abraham 12, 70,156 Frencel, Michal 11, 31, 7 0 - 7 2 , 80 Frentzel Frencel Frinta, Antonin 185 Frisch 191 Fryco, J . B. 62 Fuöik, J . 185 Fudakowski, Zygmunt 168 Fulk, Mikiaws 175 Glinka, M. 117 Glowan, D. B. 87 Golabek, Jözef 154 Gosel, J . A . 114 Grabowski, Bronislaw 167,168 Grammaticus, Saxo 110 Graun, Chr. 116 Grave, Heinrich Gottlob 193 Grojlich, Pawol 103 Grollmuß, Maria 100 Grot, J. K. 134,138 Grigoroviü, V. I. 131 Hálek, V. 88,180,182 Hales, Robert 147 Hanka, Vaclav 83, 84, 128,179,182 Hasek, J . 185 Haska, Michal 86 Hatas, J. 115 Hatas, K. B. 84 Hattala, Martin 179,181,182 Haupt, Karl 193 Haupt, J . L. 83,116,129,135,193 Hauptmann, Johann Gottlieb 62, 190,191 Heine, H. 88 Helmold 110 Henning, Christian 127 Herder, Johann Gottfried 14, 115 Hering, K. E. 116

Register Hersen, A. 156 Hey, Gustav 196,197 Hilbjenc, Michal 81 Hilferding, A. T. 1 3 3 - 1 3 5 Hinze, Friedhelm 205 Hoenicke, Curt 200 Holan, Jan Arnost 89 Horöanski, Jan 12, 115, 192 Hornig -»- Hórnik, Michal Hórnik, Michal 16, 26, 29, 74, 87, 88, 90, 118,129,134,136, 138, 139, 150, 163 bis 170, 1 8 0 - 1 8 2 Hortzschansky -»• Horöanski, Jan Hus, Jan 29 Imis, J . H . 87 Imisowa, Mila 87 Iselt, R. 98 Iselt, R. 98 Jablonski, Daniel Ernst 148, 149 Jacsiawk, Miklaws 86 Jagic, Vratoslav 195 Jakubas, F. 76 Jakubas, Józef 180 Jakubica, Miklaw(u)s 11, 28, 58 Janea, A. 122 Janka, J . A . 82 Jankowski, Czeslaw 169 Jelinek, E. 182 Jelski, Wilhelm 168 Jenö, K. A. 88 Jene, R. 81,82,87 Jirásek, A. 183, 185 Jokis, Matej 73 Jordan, Hajno 153 Jordan, Hendrich 16 Jordan, Jan Pëtr 28, 33, 73, 83, 84, 86, 129, 131-133, 162, 163, 179, 181, 184 Jungmann, J . 181 Kajsarov, A. S. 126,127 Katzer Kocor, K. A. Klin, Adolf 83 Klopstock, 30, 81 Kmjec, Pawol 101

215

Knauth, Christian 190,191 Kobjela, Detlef 122, 123 Koch, Jurij 1 0 1 - 1 0 7 , 1 8 6 Kochanowski 165 Kocor, Kork Awgust 14, 85, 1 1 6 - 1 1 9 , 121, 122, 163 Kocubinskij, A. A. 134 Kola, Cyril 101, 104 Kollär, Jan 83,163,177,182 Koppen, P. I. 128 Korjenk, Mjertyn 152,153 Körner, Georg 150, 190, 191 Körner, Siegfried 205 Kornrad, K. 118 Kosyk, Mato 90,155,161,167,168 Kötzschke, Rudolf 199 Kral, Franc 91 Kral, Jurij 180,181 Kral, M. A. 136 Krasiriski, Zygmunt 162, 169 Kraszewski, Jozef Ignacy 164,165 Krawc, Bjarnat 18, 8 9 , 1 1 9 - 1 2 1 Krawc, Krescan 103, 104 Krawza, Jurij 1 0 2 - 1 0 4 Krjecmar, Miklaws 179, 184, 185 Krygar, H. 84 Krygar, Jan 113 Krygar, Juro 171 Kuba, Ludvik 118,183 Kubas-Workleöan, Jurij 103 Kubasec, Marja 91, 96,100,101,103,105, 186 Kucank, J. 86 Kucharski, A. 84,115,160 Kuhn, Adalbert 193 Kunik, A . A . 132,135 Kuprin, A. 97 Kühn, Engelhardt 195 Kühnel, Paul 196 Lahoda, J. 84 Lamanskij, V. I. 134, 135 Langa, Jan 73 Langie, Karol 168 Lajnert, Jan 91, 94

216

Register

Lavroskij, P. A. 134 Lehmann, Rudolf 199 Leisentrit, Johann 113 Lenin 44 Lermontov, M. 91 Leska, Bohumër 30 Leske, Nathanael Gottfried -*• Leska, Bohumër Les kien, August 195 — 197 Lock, Franz Georg -> Lok, Franc Jurij Lockwood, W. B. 155,156 Lok, Franc Jurij 28,160,175,179 Lompa, Jôzef 163 Lorenc, Kito 81, 82, 85, 86, 88, 92, 106 bis 108,186 Lorenc-Zalëski, Jakub 74, 92, 94 Lorencovâ, Miroslava 185 Lötzsch, Ronald 50, 51, 53, 205 Lubjenski, Handrij 83, 86, 127, 160, 179 Ludovici, Jurij 80 Luther, Martin 10, 11, 28, 29, 58, 60, 62, 112, 150 Mâchai, J. 183 Maciejowski, Waclaw Aleksander 163 Maeterlinck, M. 81 Majerovâ, M. 185 Malczewski, A. 165 Malink, Pëtr 100, 104, 105 Manlius, Chr. 111 Marchant, Francis P. 153 Marshall, Beatrice 152 Masaïik, J. 182 Matej, J. 71 M'-Bow, Amadou-Mahtar 7 Melanchthon, Philipp 28, 29 Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix 117 Mërcink, Jurij 101 Mëtsk, Frido 50, 92, 98, 199, 203 Mëtsk, Juro 123 Meyer, Karl Heinrich 198, 199 Michalk, F. 76 Mickiewicz, Adam 163,165,169 Miklaws z Drjeïdzan 29 Miller, O. 134

Milutinovic, Sima 84 Mjeri, Jurij 30, 81 Mjen, Rudolf 81 MJöiik, Petr 87 Mlynk, Jurij 92,94 Mlynkowa, Marja 100, 102, 186 Möhn, Georg -»• Mjen, Jurij Moller, Albin 12, 28, 70,112,114,150 Mollerus, Albinus —> Moller, Albin Morfill, William Richard 1 4 9 - 1 5 1 , 1 5 3 Morgenstern, Christian 95 Mosak-Klosopölski, K. A. 33 Mosbach, August 162,163 Mosig von Aehrenfeld, K. A. MosakKlosopölski, K. A. Moszczenski 81 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 117 Mucink, J. B. 87 Mucke Muka, Arnost Mudra, Jiri 185 Muka, Arnost (Ernst) 16, 74, 85, 88, 89, 118, 138, 139, 150, 153, 170, 171, 181, 183,196,197,200, 203 Murko, Matija 195, 1 9 7 - 1 9 9 Nagel, J. P. 123 Nalkowskä, Zofia 101 Napoleon 61 Nawka, Anton 76,100 Nawka, Micha! 90, 91, 94,153 Nedo, Pawol 19 Nehring, Wiadyslaw 195 Nemcovä, B. 185 Nepila, Hanzo 81, 82 Neruda, Jan 91, 180,182, 185 Netolickä-Strakovä, Vlasta 185 Neumann Nowak-Njechornski, Mercin Nikolaus von Dresden -»• Miklaws z Drjezdzan Novikov, E. P. 130 Nowak, Jözef 90, 91, 94 Nowak, Mercin -»- Nowak-Njechornski, Mercin Nowak-Njechornski, Mercin 18, 76, 92, 96-98,103,155,186

Register Nowotnik, Hawstyn 100 Nuk, Mercin 175 Olbracht, J. 185 Otcenäsek, Jan 185 Palacky, F. 84, 177, 182 Pal'mov, I. S. 38 Parczewska, Melania 159, 165,167 Parczewska, Tekla 159 Parczewski, Alfons 159,164—168 Päta, Josef 28, 179, 183, 184, 187 Pecelius, J. 114 Peter (I) the Great 31,136 Petr, Jan 185 Petri, J. S. 114 Petröw, Aleksander 165, 166 Peucerus, Caspar Peuker, Kaspar Peuker, Kaspar 2 9 - 3 1 Peukert, Will-Erich 199 Pfuhl Pfui Pfui, Krescan Bohuwer 73, 86, 162, 182 Pilk, Jurij 119,121,122 Pjech, Jan Bohuwer 154 Pogodin, M. P. 135 Pohrt, Heinz 206 Pol, Wincenty 162, 165 Portal, Roger 26 Potocki 81 Prejs, P. I. 131 Preusker, Karl 196 Przesmycki, Zenon 168 Purkyne, J. E. 83, 177 Pushkin, A. S. 126,132, 136,163 Pypin, A. N. 135,136, 151 Rabenau, Alexander 194, 195 Radyserb-Wjela, Jan 74, 85, 155, 163 Rak Aestecampianus, Johannes -»- Rak, Jan Rak, Jan 29 Rak, Jurij 81, 115 Rawp-Raupp, Jan 123 Rezak, Filip 180,181 Richardson, John 148, 149 Richter, Anton 206 15 Lusatian Sorbs

217

Rieger 180 Ries 120 Ritscher Rycer, Jan Rjeni, M. 136 Rocha, Fryco 90, 155, 203. R61a, Michal 180, 181 Rostok, Michal 87 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 12 Rovinskij, P. A. 134 Rozov, Viktor 106 Ruika, Handrij 81 Rycer, Jan 114 Safärik

Safafik, P. J .

Safafik, P. J. 83,128,163,177,182 Säkovä, Theresie 119 Sopieha, Adam 166 Sauerwein, Georg 152,153,194 Scerba, L. V. 138, 139 Schadäus 112,113 Schirach Serach, Hadam B. Schlimpert, Gerhard 205 Schlözer, August Ludwig 26 Schmaler, Johann Ernst -»• Smoler, Jan Arnost Schmid, Heinrich Felix 200 Schmidt, O . E . 194,199 Schneeweis, Edmund 198,199 Schneider ->• Krawc, Bjarnat Schulenburg, Wilibald von 194, 195, 198 Schultheis, Johannes 205 Schulze-Beuthen, H. 119 Schwartz, Wilhelm 193 Schwele Swjela, Bogumil Seiler, Andreas -> Zejler, Handrij Sekowski, Karol 168 Serach, Hadam Bohuchwal 12, 80 SSrach, K. B. 82 Sewc-Schuster, Heinz 50, 52 Sewcik, Jakub 180 Shakespeare 154 Sieber, Friedrich 199 Sienkiewicz, Henryk 90, 91 Siman, Jurij 175 Siman, Mercin 175

218

Register

Skala, Jakub 138 Skala, Jan 90, 91,154 Skarbek, Fryderyk 159 Skoda, Abraham -»• Schadäus Skroup, F. 117 Sleca, Herman 184 Slowacki 169 Smetana, Bedfich 119, 120 Smoler, Jan Arnost 14, 27, 28, 34, 83, 84, 86, 116, 118, 123, 1 2 8 - 1 3 8 , 151, 155, 159, 162, 163, 165, 1 6 7 - 1 7 0 , 176, 177, 179,181,193 Söpodzko, Tyfus 169 Sorabicus ->• Skala, Jan Spasovic, V. D. 135, 136, 151 Sperber, Wolfgang 205 Sperling, J. P. 114 Sretrová, Bohumila 185 Sreznevskij, 1.1. 83, 1 2 7 - 1 3 0 , 132, 134, 135 Stachowa, Angela 104 Starosta, M. 77 Staszic, Stanislaw 159 Stempel, K. F. 86 Stieber, Z. 50,51 Stur, L'udovit 131,182 Suchomlinov, M. I. 134 Suchy, J. 186 Surowin, Juro -> Sauerwein, Georg Svétlá, K. 185 Swétlik, Jan 114 Swétlik, Jurij Hawstyn 70, 71,156,176 Swjela, Bogumil 12, 17, 75, 76, 153, 202, 203 Syndlar, Jan Zygmunt Bjedrich 158 Sziklay, J. 32 Tamm, Andreas 30 Tara, H. 59, 60,196 Tesnar, J. B. 75 Tetzner, Franz 194 Tharaeus -»• Tara, H. Thietmar von Merseburg 110 Thomson 85 Ticin, Jakub 70, 71,160

Ticinus, Jacobus -> Tiemn, Jakub Timkovskij, Vasilij Fjodorovic 127 Tolstoy, L. N. 89, 97 Trautmann, Reinhold 198, 200, 2 0 2 - 2 0 4 Turgenev, A. I. 126,127,136 Ulaszyn, Henryk 170 Urban, Matej 90 Vampilov, Alexander 106 Vasmer, Max 198, 199, 2 0 2 - 2 0 4 Veberovä, E. 186 Veckenstedt, Edmund 151, 194,195 Veselovskij, A. 134 Vocadlo, Otakar 153, 154 Völkel, Pawol 76,102,104 Vrchlicky, Jaroslav 88,180,183 Vymazal, F. 182 Wagenheim, Fritsche Gradis von 111 Wagner, Richard 119 Walda, Micha! Jan 114, 176 Waltar, Jan 167 Walther, Hans 205 Warichius, Wenceslaus -> Warichius, Wjaclaw Warichius, Wjaclaw 11, 28, 70,150, 199 Warko, G. 136 Wawer, Jan 73 Weber 161 Weber, K. M. von 117 Wenzel, Walter 205 Wicaz, Jurij 103 Wicaz, Ota 92 Wicazec, Herta 87, 155, 182 Wilhelm II. 106 Will, Jan L. 62, 114 Winar, Jurij 94, 95, 98, 121 Winar-Jurk, Jurij Winar, Jurij Winger, Jurij 90 Winter, Eduard 28, 206 Wirth, Paul -s. Wirth, Pawol Wirth, Pawol 50,198, 202, 203 Witkojc, Mina 91, 94 Wjacslawk, Jakub 199

Register Wjela, Jan 85 Wjela, Jurij 76, 91, 103 Wjela-Radyserb, Jan —> Radyserb-Wjela, Jan Wjelan, Julius 86 Wolff, Henry W. 151,152 Wornar, Jan 104 Wowcerk, P. 76, 182 Wujes, Jurij 94, 95 Wybicki, Jözef 161

15*

219

Zahiski, Jözef 158 Zeil, Liane 206 Zeil, Wilhelm 206 Zejler, Handrij 14, 32, 74, 81, 8 4 - 8 6 , 91, 1 1 5 - 1 1 7 , 129, 155, 160, 161, 163, 167, 1 6 8 , 1 8 1 , 1 8 2 , 186 Zikmund, V. 181 Zmeskal, Vladimir 184 Zmorski, Roman 1 5 9 , 1 6 3 , 1 6 4