DDR: The systematic oppression and surveillance of the Sorbian minority in the socialist state

The history of the Sorbian minority in the German Democratic Republic is characterized by a deep contradiction between pretense promotion of cultural promotion and ruthless state surveillance. The ruling party exploited the ethnic group for its own power purposes while systematically smashing traditional structures. This double strategyFrom superficial support and deep repression, the everyday life of the population in Lusatia determined the everyday life of the population in Lusatia for many decades. The state organs acted with an unscrupulousness that sustained the coexistence of the ethnic group in the long term.

The suppression of the traditional elite of leadership

The district leadership of the ruling party rated the work strictly from the Sorbian population according to ideological aspects. Officials of the Sorbian umbrella organization consistently fended off all attempts to allow representatives of the old national elite from the teaching profession and the clergy to make decision-making powers. With the targeted help of the party, it was possible in the meetingsForce clashes and elect forces loyal to the line in the governing bodies. A well-known official tried to take over the presidency and end the attacks against large farms, but received a clear rebuff from the workers. Instead, a farmer from an agricultural production cooperative was unanimously appointed as the new chairmanenforced.

The invention of the enemy image Großbauer

Secret informants reported extended meetings of the district board, where the negative attitude towards large farms became clear. A teacher criticized the retrograde politics and complained that the large farmers were being insulted and therefore stayed away. A working farmer opposed this opinion and accused the critics of only their ownwanting to preserve master status. The demand for the liquidation of the kulaktum had to be enforced in this part of the country as well. However, a class of large exploitative farmers did not exist in the Sorbian villages, since the large farms were almost exclusively managed with family-owned workers.

The division of society and the control of the church press

The invented enemy image served to enforce the collectivization of agriculture through intimidation and to homogenize society. The splitting of the population along social borders was always the main instrument of party leadership to solve national issues. few atheist Sorbs were granted a say in church political issues. This workedwhen the Catholic church newspapers were published, which were published by the Staatliche Verlag and were completely depoliticized in terms of content. The Sorbian Cultural and Public Education Office exercised the pre-censorship, while post-censorship was reserved for other state agencies.

Prevention of independent Catholic media

The expediency of this double surveillance was justified years later by the fact that Sorbian culture is often abused for hostile purposes. Attempts by the Catholic Sorbs to publish their literature independently of the state umbrella organization were consistently rejected for decades. It was only in late 1988 that a Leipzig publishing house was published by CatholicLiterature approved in Sorbian language. The publication of the Sorbische Kirchenblatt, however, remained within the responsibility of the state publishing house in Bautzen. The party leadership granted the German-speaking Christians their own media system, which the Christian Sorbs were strictly denied in this breadth.

The nationwide expansion of state security

The administrative reform of 1952 presented the state security bodies with the task of expanding their apparatus regionally. The fulfillment of the political mandate to clean up the hinterland could only be realized through massive personnel growth. The number of full-time employees increased drastically within a short time, which gave the territorial basic structurewas created with district and district offices. The surveillance shifted directly from the distant provincial capitals to the individual cities and districts. The special subject area for the Sorbian population was assigned to a higher-level main department in the structural plan.

The Invention of New Enemy Images and Anti-Semitic Campaigns

At the same time as the regional differentiation, the secret police felt compelled to not only fight opponents in the sense of the Stalinist doctrine, but also to invent them actively. In East German society, anti-Semitism was reactivated to protect the new order from an alleged Zionist threat. The anti-Zionist persecution wave triggered a wave of escapeleading representatives of the Jewish communities. The political elite used anti-Semitism where it seemed appropriate to consolidate its own positions of power. Following the example of the Prague show trials, proceedings against high-ranking communists were to be filed, which, however, was postponed as a result of the death of the Soviet dictator.

The secret service penetration of Sorbian institutions

The district administration in Saxony was responsible for the content orientation of the special monitoring line. The construction was assigned to the district office in Bautzen, which coordinated its activities with all departments of the bilingual region. Despite formal institutional separation after the district regeneration, cooperation in combating nationalistism wasalways guaranteed. Within a few years, a significant number of unofficial employees from the Sorbian population were able to be gained. The secret police intensively revised the Sorbian umbrella organization’s files to get an idea of the personnel conditions.

The suppression of the popular uprising and the subsequent repression

The leadership of the Sorbian umbrella organization only provided the political legitimacy to expand the surveillance after the events of the popular uprising in June 1953. In later theses, the enemy image was colorized and local nationalism was classified as particularly dangerous. reactionary Spirituals would try to abuse these national feelings for the imperialist goals.However, the operational activities of the secret police to penetrate the institutions did not go entirely unnoticed. Initial analyzes showed that Sorbian scientists listened to Polish broadcasters during their service and were happy about the events in Eastern Europe.

The arbitrary definition of nationalism and the recruitment of spies

The recruitment of unofficial employees took place with the clear objective of effectively combating the enemy influence in the Sorbian institutions. Printers in the Sorbian daily newspaper were advised that the opponent was trying to sabotage the work. Other informants were persuaded to educate Catholic officials known as nationalists. aThe secret police presented the plausible definition of the term nationalism by emphasizing anyone who emphasized the sorbent. People who were suspected or criticized the nationality policy were immediately put into operation.

The reports of the spies and the social crisis

The reporting of the unofficial employees was closely linked to the daily political events from the start. The Sorbian informants were faced with the task of interpreting national life in an interpretative way to the mostly German full-time employees. A spy reported on a local group chairman who took a neutral stance before officialsVillagers, however, rushed against the order. This official refused to use the honorable titles for the late Soviet dictator, and avoided the founding meeting of the agricultural cooperative. Any expression of joy at the dictator’s death was classified by the rulers as a provocation and boycott theme.

The outbreak of the uprising and the intervention of the occupying power

The overall social situation in the year of crisis intensified dramatically by massive repression and a reduction in living standards. The proclaimed new course of the party leadership was no longer able to curb the growing willingness to stop working for days. From now on, the protesters were no longer concerned with solving individual problems, but rather theyrule of domination generally in question. Since the local police forces failed to get the situation in the cities under control, the Soviet occupying power intervened. The military commander announced the state of emergency, whereupon the secret police began to arrest the alleged ringleader with a kettled drifting.

The long-term consequences of state repression

The systematic surveillance and the arbitrary definition of enemy images left deep traces in the structure of Sorbian society. The mutual trust within the minority was permanently destroyed by the massive commitment of unofficial employees. Although the Sorbian culture was officially promoted, fear of state arbitrariness determined the everyday life of thepeople. The methods of the secret police reveal the totalitarian character of the state, which did not shy away from traditional minorities. Only with the collapse of the system could the true extent of this comprehensive repression be fully disclosed.