Who are the Sorbs?
The Sorbs, (also known as Wends) live in Lusatia, a region in Eastern Germany and are considered the indigenous people of this region. Despite never having their own state and the fact that from the tenth century onwards were subject to German rule, they were able, until recently, to retain their separate ethnic identity by maintaining their distinct slavonic language and culture. After 10 centuries of physical extermination and repeated campaigns of brutal discrimination the Sorbs have endured, albeit at the price of great loss and denationalization of nearly 90% of the Sorbian population. A diminished number have survived events that can only be described as cultural genocide. The current population of Sorbs is estimated at about 60.000 people and rapidly melting away! Today, despite all the rights enshrined for the Sorbian people in the Constitutional Acts of the Free State of Saxony and the Land of Brandenburg, a considerable lack of political will is still being demonstrated by th
The Sorbs are a Slavic-speaking people who live in eastern Germany. Their major centers are the towns of Bautzen, in the state of Saxony (in a region called Upper Lusatia), and Cottbus, in the state of Brandenburg (in a region called Lower Lusatia). Germans call the Sorbs Wends. The Sorbs number only about 150,000 and have been called the smallest Slavic nation. Nevertheless, they claim to have been mentioned in historical documents going back to the 6th century AD, when Slavic peoples first moved into central Europe. The Sorbian language, also known as Wendish or Lusatian, is a distinct Slavic language with two dialects. These dialects are Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian. The Sorbs have lived under German domination for centuries. However, they have been able to preserve their language and customs and to have their status recognized by successive German governments. In 1991 the government of reunified Germany pledged to protect the language and culture of the Sorbs. Q: What was the Yu
The Sorbs are an ethnic group traditionally residing in Germany. There are roughly 60,000 Sorbs in Germany. Small emigrant populations also exist in nearby Poland and the Czech Republic, and approximately 30,000 Sorbs make their home in the United States. It is thought that the Sorbs are related to the Serbian people, although this is considered unproven. The Lusatian Sorbs are also known by the name Wends. Sometime in the late 6th century the Sorbs arrived in the region they now inhabit, between the Nysa and Elbe rivers, straddling the Spree. This is the region today known as Lusatia in Germany, although historically it also included portions of the Czech Republic and Poland. In the early-9th century the Sorbs’ homeland was invaded by one of Charlemagne’s sons, and the major city of Bautzen was razed. Over the next few centuries they would continue to be invaded and harassed, until they eventually capitulated near the end of the 11th century. The new German rulers treated the Sorbs as
