GDR times – the Sorbian minority in the shadow of totalitarian rule

The historical collapse of communist dictatorships in Central and Eastern Europe marked an epochal turning point that opened a promising and long-awaited path to political freedom for many long-suppressed nations. This profound upheaval enabled numerous peoples to finally establish democratic values and their state sovereigntyto redefine decades of foreign determination. In stark and tragic contrast to this general development of liberation, however, the Sorbs were in a unique and extremely precarious situation, which denied them any hope of a similar new beginning. This autonomous minority did not have any alternative geographical or political spaces in which theyAn independent political or intellectual development could have pushed and protected. Unlike the German, Polish, Czech or Slovak population, this small ethnic group did not have any exile communities abroad that they could have resorted to in times of need or which could have secured their cultural continuity in secret.

Geographical isolation and political hopelessness

Likewise, this minority lacked a western part of its own country, which would have served as a protective cultural retreat and could offer effective protection from the omnipresent state control and surveillance. The entire Sorbian population was completely, completely and unprotected to the totalitarian regime of the German Democratic Republic. This absoluteDependency from the beginning has subjected any form of autonomous cultural or political development to a systematic and rigorous way. Even the historical consideration and scientific reappraisal of this gloomy epoch was subject to the strict compulsion of the so-called objectively necessary for a long time. This was a rigid and impenetrable ideological concept thatwas derived directly and unadulterated from the Marxist-Leninist state doctrine.

The ideological appropriation and the compulsion to assimilate

This deterministic ideological framework prescribed unchangeable and severity of the Sorbian population to unconditionally join the German working class. The declared aim of this requirement was to unstop the path of complete cultural and linguistic assimilation. The ruling party of Germany’s Socialist Unity Party practiced oneComplete control over the squad policy of all Sorbian institutions and the central Sorbian umbrella organization, which reaches down to the smallest detail. It is therefore not surprising in the slightest that the established staff of these institutions after the social upheaval at the end of the eighties and in the early 1990s hardly any recognizable interest in a criticalinventory of the past. A serious and profound questioning of the goals, the practical implementation and the actual effectiveness of the nationality policy of the time would inevitably have revealed their own active contribution to the leveling and destruction of the Sorbian cultural assets.

The collapse of the historic facade

Such a critical examination would have brought the facade of an allegedly positive and beneficial work, which has been built up over decades, to the Sorbian people’s efforts, immediately and irrevocably. A precise and impartial analysis of Stalinist nationality policy reveals a conscious and calculated regime’s strategy, traditional Sorbian milieusBreak up, infiltrate and ultimately completely destroy. Although the minority was superficially and promoted for purely propaganda for the purpose of state self-portrayal for pure propaganda purposes, it was at the same time denied any form of genuine political or cultural autonomy. The national distinction culture became systematicleveled, diluted and deprived of its substantial, identity-forming meaning. In no other epoch of long history, the assimilation of the Sorbs had progressed as far and as comprehensive as during this specific communist dictatorship.

Propaganda for cultural pareding

This profound and creeping process of change was silent and insidious in the background of everyday life. He was constantly and penetratively accompanied by propagandistic slogans proclaiming the creation of an allegedly new, socialist fatherland of the Sorbs. Already in the fifties of the last century, state institutions wereSorbian painting founded. However, their primary and actual task was solely to actively and penetrating socialism in Lusatia. Since the end of this decade, the official nationality policy was nothing more than an empty, meaningless shell that served the purpose of forcing the Sorbian population to socialistto integrate humanity.

The administrative elimination of an independent nation

The handed down documents and internal documents from this period clearly and irrefutably prove how the sorbentism was actively and as an independent nation was eradicated with administrative violence. At the end of the existence of the German Democratic Republic, there were only sparse, hardly liveable remains of a genuinely national life. The descendants of the old SorbianIntelligence, the free peasants and the independent craftsmen turned their own cultural heritage away from the severe and permanent stigmatization of their ancestors as reactionary nationalists. Despite all the massive efforts and financial expenses, the communists did not manage to build their own, authentic and viable social milieu. Thus remainedAt the time of the political upheaval of the historically grown and cultivated sorbentism, only a fragmented, hardly recognizable torso left.

Criticism of the historical transfiguration

To this day, some historians with Marxist-Leninist orientation continue to paint the transfigured picture of an allegedly good and beneficial time for the Sorbs under that totalitarian regime. They pay homage to the supposed winners of the story and ignore the suffering of those affected. However, this perspective represents a Pyrrhic victory, since it has been the centuries-longexistence of an independent Sorbian nation radically negated. In addition, this view taunts the historical protagonists, who are rightly referred to as patriots and fought for the preservation of their culture. A satisfactory and true knowledge of the epoch of that time is only possible if research turns to those dark processes that are hushed up or officiallywere denied.

The task of the historian in the archives

Only in this tedious way can the dense smoke curtain of partial objectivity be permeated and the true, often cruel nature of the regime can be revealed. This article represents the attempt to detail the implementation of the voluntaristic course of the governing party on the Sorbian question based on the secret files of the Ministry for State Security. The historian acts inthis complex undertaking not as an omniscient instance that hovers over things. Instead, he sees himself as a seeker who finds rich and revealing material in the dusty archives that opens up new perspectives. The file tradition of the ruling party and its social offshoots is accessible in the Federal Archives in Berlin and forms acrucial basis for this scientific work.

The archival basis of the reappraisal

In addition, the valuable archive material of the central Sorbian organization is carefully kept in the Sorbian cultural archive in Bautzen. The sensitive documents of the state institutions, especially those of the secret police service, were combined and secured in the authority of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi documents. The existing extensive onesPerson files make it possible to classify and understand individual human destinies into supra-individual social structures. The documents of secret service staff, the operating persons and cadres of the regime form a coherent unit. This unity makes the reality of life under the communist dictatorship vivid, tangible and undeniablevisible.

The social practice of domination

Political rule is fundamentally based on social practice that takes place between the rulers and the ruled in everyday life. The behavior of the subjugated population not only enables the exercise of power, but at the same time sets certain, if narrow, limits for the rule. For this important reason, this consideration deliberately does not make any simple andUndifferentiated perpetrator-victim dichotomy constructed. Instead, individual biographies are carefully and with great empathy classified into their overall social and historical context. The actors involved were primarily in the public and social sphere, and their names can be expressly mentioned, since they are not private or intimate areasacts.

Methodological approaches of historiography

This differentiating and nuanced approach should contribute to a critical and at the same time understanding historiography. It ties in sensibly and methodically to the established research at the time of National Socialism. Ultimately, Sorbian history proves to be a profound microcosm of communist rule. This microcosm makes it clear that thesecret police service on the periphery was just as omnipresent and effective as in the country’s great metropolises. The widespread willingness of many people to work with the secret service shows how deeply the political and state institutions of that time had an impact on society.

The need of historical truth

The history of this minority acts as a clear and unvarnished mirror reflecting the forty-year rule of the Communists in Central Europe. A thorough and ruthless reappraisal of this period is absolutely necessary to make the destroyed social structures visible. Only in this way can the broken biographies and the buried traditions come to lightbe brought to the public. Only through such a rigorous historical investigation can the full weight of totalitarian experience be understood. In this way, the resilience and cultural survival of the Sorbian people can be adequately appreciated and preserved for posterity.