Sorbian (or Wendish, Lusatian) is a West Slavic language which in the Middle Ages was spoken in a vast area south of Berlin, between the rivers Oder (Odra) and Neisse in the East, and Elbe in the West. The Sorbs settled here in the 6th century AD (around the same time as the Czechs settled in Bohemia). Their neighbours to the north and partially to the west were the Polabians, which in the Middle Ages yielded to Germanisation (the last Polabian group, the Drevani, held their ground in the region of Lüneburg, more specifically Lüchow-Dannenberg area, until the 18th century). In the 12th century the German feudal lords began their expansion on the Sorbian territory, while Frankish, Thuringian and Flemish people began their colonization of the same territory. This was shortly followed by the overt discrimination of the Sorbian language. Its use in public life (especially in the courts) was prohibited around 1250 in the region of Upper Main, in 1293 in Anhalt and in the region of Jüterbog, in 1327 in Leipzig (Lipsk), in Zeitz (Žič) and Altenburg (Srarohród), and in the 15th century in the region of Meissen (Mišno) and Dresden (Drježdźany). At the same time, individuals of Sorbian origin were prohibited from guilds. In the 16th century, the majority of Sorbs lived in Lusatia, given that Lusatia opposed the Germanisation to a greater degree than other regions. However, even in Lusatia the Germanisation eventually advanced (teaching in Sorbian was prohibited in schools; in 1667, Friedrich Wilhelm, the Prince of Brandenburg, ordered that all printed material in Sorbian be destroyed, while at the same time he prohibited that the Holy Mass be delivered in Sorbian). During the protestant reformation, the majority of Sorbs accepted the Lutheran doctrine, with only a limited number of parishes in Upper Lusatia keeping the Catholic faith. Starting 1706, Sorbian Catholic theologians undertook their studies in Prague; their strong ties with the Czech environment contributed to strengthening the standing of the Sorbian language in Catholic parishes in Lusatia. The turning point in the Protestant transition to the German language took place around the same time as World War I. A key feature of Sorbian denationalization has always consisted of ironizing and ridiculing the Sorbian language by people who came from other regions. This, in turn, resulted in deep feelings of shame for anything or anyone of Sorbian origin. In the Hitler era, the use of Sorbian was completely prohibited. After the War, Sorbian was spoken in only a few Catholic parishes in Upper Lusatia; however, many spoke Sorbian in Central Lusatia, in particular in the Slepo Parish. Officially, the Democratic Republic of Germany supported the use of Sorbian (it funded the publishing of Sorbian books, as well as schools with Sorbian as the main language of teaching), but in reality it tolerated discretely the discrimination of Sorbs in everyday life and encouraged Germanisation. The deadliest strike brought against the Sorbs in Central Lusatia was the building of the industrial plant Čorna Pumpa/Schwarze Pumpe (1955), which certain Sorbian intellectuals tried to oppose to and which brought tens of thousands of immigrants from all the parts of the Democratic Republic of Germany to Central Lusatia. These settled especially in the City of Wojerecy/Hoyerswerda, which after World War II had 10,000 inhabitants and was surrounded by settlements which were almost entirely Sorbian. After the arrival of these immigrants, the City had more than 70,000 inhabitants. This numerical majority of German-speaking people settled in the region meant in fact the end of the Sorbian language and culture in the everyday life of Central Lusatia. While, for example, the French are aware of their Celtic roots, Germans from the Wendish area of Germany usually do not know anything about these ancestors of theirs, and even if they do, they think of these as foreigners, completely distinct from them. Today, Sorbian-speaking communities exist only in Catholic-predominant settlements. Given the importance of Catholicism in preserving the Sorbian language and culture, we consider this publication of two Catholic Holy Masses in Sorbian to be extremely important.

• published: 20 Dec 2014
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