Die Situation der Sorben in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart
Abstract: Economic modernisation and structural changes, the dominance of German-speaking communication in almost all areas of life and declining demographic development have caused the bilingual region in Upper Lusatia (in the east of Saxony) and...
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Abstract: Economic modernisation and structural changes, the dominance of German-speaking communication in almost all areas of life and declining demographic development have caused the bilingual region in Upper Lusatia (in the east of Saxony) and Lower Lusatia (in the south-east of Brandenburg) to shrink since 1990. At the turn of the millennium, there were hardly any more than 40,000 Upper and 20 000 Lower Sorbs (called ”Serbja” or ”Serby” in Sorb and also called “Wends” in German). Their ancestors, the ”Surbi” who were mentioned in 631 for the first time in the chronicle of Fredegar, once farmed a territory ten times greater (approximately 40,000 km2 between the Elbe and Saale Rivers in the west and the Oder, Bober and Queis Rivers in the east). At the end of the Great Invasions they made their way from their original home north of the Carpathian Mountains along the northern edge of the low mountain range or the Moravian gate to the Elbe and Saale Rivers. Since the Elbe River Slavs had no
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