Cover Osteuropa 12/2009

In Osteuropa 12/2009

Among Brothers
The Sorbs and Slavic Solidarity in the 20th Century

Ludwig Elle


Deutsche Fassung

Abstract

In the 19th century, the idea of a Slavic renaissance also inspired the Sorbian national movement. The Sorbs kept up the closest of contacts with the Czechs. After 1918, some hoped that newly established Czechoslovakia would become the Sorbs’ mentor. After the Second World War, there were even voices that called for Lusatia to be attached to the Czechoslovakia. Sorbian associations also built up relations with Poland and Yugoslavia in the postwar years. But a Slavic reciprocity that transcended rhetoric was uncomfortable for the Communist rulers. Only after 1989 could the Sorbs again build bridges to the Czech Republic and Poland.

(Osteuropa 12/2009, pp. 163–174)