Wobsah / Contents

Franc Šěn:
„Měsacne Pismo k rozwučenju a k wokřewjenju“ – prěni serbski ćišćany časopis
(“Měsacne Pismo k rozwučenju a k wokřewjenju” – The First Printed Sorbian Journal)

The subject of this article is the only number of the Sorbian “Monthly Journal for Instruction and Leisure” to appear in Bautzen in August 1790. The appearance of the journal is considered against the background of the development of the Lusatian press and the conditions relating to the provision of Sorbian religious literature. The Leipzig publisher, Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, played a large part in this, when he extended his business to Bautzen and Görlitz at the end of 1788. His plan to publish an annual Sorbian Calendar led to friction with the Bautzen printer, Monse. Two probationary students of theology, Karl Gottlob Schirach and Johann August Janke, exploited the situation to bring out a secular journal in Sorbian for the rural population. The preface setting out its programme and the individual articles are presented here: a sample from a religious textbook, the translation of a moral tale, a natural history essay and a serialised story against believing in ghosts. The ban on the journal was linked with the outbreak of the peasant revolt in the Electorate of Saxony and the resulting stricter censorship regulations. Further documentation is provided by a copy of the text of the journal, reproduced for the first time.

Lubina Mahling:
Pietistische Lehrerbildung in der sorbischen Lausitz. Die Belowsche Schulanstalt in Großwelka und das Gräfllich Dohnasche Institut in Uhyst/Spree
(Pietistic Teacher Education in the Sorbian Part of Lusatia – The Below School in Großwelka and the Dohna Institute of the Count in Uhyst/Spree)

The school in Großwelka, founded by August Adolph von Below in 1746, and the training college established by Heinrich Ludwig, Count of Dohna, in 1804, are often cited in the literature as the first Sorbian teaching establishments, however without placing in more detail the content and personnel of both institutions. Using a biographical approach, the present study puts the two institutions into the contemporary context placing them between Pietism and public enlightenment, and develops connections between both institutions and the Halle orphanage, the Herrnhut Brotherhood, the pietistic aristocracy of Lusatia and educational reforms in Saxony. Particular attention is given to the significance of both institutions for Sorbian educational and cultural history; both educational establishments trained a large number of people who had a decisive influence on Sorbian religious and cultural life in the transitional period (Sattelzeit) leading to modernity.

Michael Richter:
Drei Episoden aus der zweisprachigen Oberlausitz während des Zweiten Weltkriegs
(Three Episodes from the Bilingual Area of Upper Lusatia during the Second World War)

When considering the Second World War we conjure up images of the Eastern Front, the genocide of the Jews, concentra-tion camps, the bombing of German towns or the flight from the eastern provinces of Prussia. However, there were also less significant events on the margins of these dramatic happenings, which help us to understand the many facets of the war better. What happened in the war cannot be reduced to the fighting between the 16th April and the 8th May 1945, as is illustrated by three selected episodes.

The first episode gives an insight into the formation of the Hitler Youth (HJ) in the Sorbian area, as well as the subtle methods of the Nazi regime to observe and influence Sorbian farmers, using members of the HJ at the beginning of the war. This is followed by a description of the support given to teachers, using funds for the “furtherance of German culture”, in communities in the Lower Silesian district of Rothenburg, which contained a high proportion of Sorbs. This sketch contains important data about the composition of the bilingual district in 1941 and 1942. Thirdly, friction between the Upper Lusatian population and members of the Italian air force, who were stationed at the Litten airfield from August to October 1944, is described.

Petr Kaleta:
Die Zeitschrift „Serbski student“ – eine Brücke zwischen Totalitarismus und Demokratie in der sorbischen Lausitz
(The Journal “Serbski student” – A Bridge between Totalitarianism and Democracy in Lusatia)

The changes, which occurred in the Soviet Bloc following the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev in1985, did not have a marked effect on politics in the GDR, and the same applies to Sorbian Lusatia and its organisations, headed by the Domowina. Only at the end of the 1980s did a group of Sorbian students, led by Timo Meškank, attempt to react to the situation in the GDR and the life of the Sorbs by writing critical texts in the newly established journal, “Serbski student” (Sorbian Student), published during the period 1988–1990, which was designed to continue the democratic tradition of the journal with the same name from the interwar period. The editors of the journal, however, came into conflict with officials from the Sorbian organisation, the Domowina, headed at that time by its First Secretary, Jurij Grós, because of its open criticism in relation to topics on which the regime of the GDR remained meticulously silent. This is why the publication of the journal was stopped immediately following the first year of its publication in 1988. Only the political changes in the GDR in the autumn of 1989 enabled the journal to be published again and thus to contribute to the democratisation of Sorbian society. In 1990, when the GDR became part of unified Germany, publication of the journal permanently ceased. “Serbski student” became an important element in society-wide changes in Lusatia between the 1980s and 90s and, to a certain degree, even a symbol of the transition from totalitarianism to democracy in Sorbian society.

Anja Pohončowa:
Zarys hornjoserbskeje słowotwórby přitomnosće
(A Summary of Contemporary Upper Sorbian Word Formation)

This article provides an overview of the most productive processes of word-formation in present-day Upper Sorbian. After a short summary of the current research situation on morphology in Upper Sorbian, significant tendencies in word-formation since the middle of the nineteenth century are sketched out, with particular reference to the influence of German as a contact language. Derivation and composition are the most productive elements in the written language of Upper Sorbian. Reduplication and blending are less important; examples of back formation and word creation were not found.

Thomas Menzel:
Flexionsmorphologische Komplexität im Ober- und Niedersorbischen: Genus und Flexionsklassen
(Inflectional Morphological Complexity in Upper and Lower Sorbian: Gender and Classes of Inflection)

This work represents the first attempt at a comparative analysis of selected phenomena of inflectional complexity in Upper and Lower Sorbian. We start from the assumption that complex structures in inflectional systems do not appear by accident, but are dependent on general tendencies in language change. The conditions for the preservation or extension of inflectional complexity can be ascertained by a comparison of genetically related languages and are geared to the sociolinguistic circumstances. In this sense a linguistic comparison for Sorbian is also interesting when raising theoretical questions relating to language contact and language change. Only those grammatical categories are examined in the present study, which have an internal morphological basis, as they serve to classify paradigms: gender, subgenera (animacy and personality) and the system of inflectional classes. It transpires that the inflectional system of Upper Sorbian is less homogeneous with regard to its category base and is more complex than that of Lower Sorbian. However, Lower Sorbian is more complex in the structure of its inflectional classes: standardising innovations, which are typical of Upper Sorbian, or at least of some of its dialects, occur infrequently in Lower Sorbian. Also, the relationship between dialects and the written language can influence the diachronic development of the inflectional categories.

Materialije / Miscellaneous

Edmund Pech:
Zum Einfluss des Nationalsozialismus auf das kirchliche Leben der evangelischen Sorben in der niederschlesischen Oberlausitz. Aus Berichten über die Kirchengemeinden Hoyerswerda, Lohsa und Schleife
(The Influence of National Socialism on the Religious Life of the Lutheran Sorbs in the Lower Silesian part of Upper Lusatia. From Reports on the Parishes of Hoyerswerda, Lohsa and Schleife)

At the beginning of the 1920s there were 17 parishes in the Lutheran Consistory of Silesia, in which Sorbian was used in services. The growing lack of Sorbian probationary candidates for the clergy became a great problem from the middle of the 1920s. As a result, the Lutheran Consistory in Breslau provided financial subsidies for Sorbian language courses and grants to students of theology.

This continuing financial support for the future generation of Sorbian clergy and for Sorbian parishes was initially maintained, even after 1933. The language policy of the Church authorities changed in 1938, when Sorbian candidates for the ministry were no longer appointed to posts in bilingual parishes. The Sorbian graduates, of whom there were only a few, were placed in other areas of the Church Province of Silesia. In addition, there was conflict with supporters of the Confessional Church. This ultimately led to the transfer of two Sorbian pastors. Pastors Jurij Malink (Georg Mahling) in Lohsa and Gottfried Rejsler (Gottfried Rösler) in Schleife were removed from their Sorbian parishes in 1938.

Rozprawy / Conference reports

Ines Keller/Fabian Jacobs:
Internationale Konferenz „Dimensionen kultureller Sicher-heit bei ethnischen und sprachlichen Minderheiten“, 17.–19. November 2016, Bautzen

Hilžbjeta Stefanowa/Till Wojto:
„Celto-Slavica 8“. Mjezynarodny wědomostny kolokwij w Heidelbergu, 1.–3. septembra 2016

Renata Bura:
Konferencja naukowa „Polsko-łużycko-niemieckie kontakty kulturalne“ w Katowicach, 7.–8. października 2016

Fabian Jacobs:
„Dobre (serbske) žywjenje – perspektiwy wuwiśa za Łužycu / Das (sorbische) Gute Leben – Entwicklungsperspektiven für die Lausitz“. Tagung der BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg und des Sorbischen Instituts, 26. November 2016, Cottbus

Jubilej / Anniversary

Susanne Hose:
Dr. Ludwig Elle zum 65. Geburtstag

Recensije / Reviews

Elke Mehnert:
Dietrich Scholze: Jurij Brězan. Leben und Werk, Bautzen 2016.

Bernhard Brehmer:
Ines Neumann: „Weil es eine sprechenswerte Sprache ist“. Einstellungen von Schülern des Niedersorbischen Gymnasiums Cottbus zur sorbischen Sprache und Kultur, Bautzen 2014.

Thomas Pastor:
Tove H. Malloy, Alexander Osipov, Balázs Vizi (Hgg.): Managing Diversity Through Non-Territorial Autonomy. Assessing Advantages, Deficiencies, and Risks, Oxford 2015.

Friedrich Pollack:
Frank-Lothar Kroll, Miloš Řezník, Martin Munke (Hgg.): Sachsen und Böhmen. Perspektiven ihrer historischen Verflechtung, Berlin 2014.

Inge Bily:
Janusz Siatkowski: Studia nad słowiańsko-niemieckimi kontaktami językowymi, Warszawa 2015.