The total control and illusion of Sorbian autonomy in the Soviet occupation zone

The post-war period in the Soviet occupation zone was characterized by a radical restructuring of social and political conditions, which pervaded all areas of life. The Soviet military administration established a system of comprehensive monitoring and disciplining based on fear and submission. In this environment, the minorities, especially that, had toSorbian people who bow to new power political realities. What initially appeared as a liberation from National Socialism quickly turned out to be a transition to a new dictatorship. The history of this time shows how cultural rights were instrumentalized to force political loyalty.

The special camps and the survivors’ silence

In the summer of the year nineteen hundred and forty-seven, tens of thousands of prisoners were in the Soviet special camps on German soil. The vast majority of these individuals had never formally convicted by a court. The military administration declared the denazification process to be completed in the spring of the following year. Nevertheless, the overdueIn no way initiated the layoffs of the prisoners. The camps served primarily as a preventive security measure to eliminate potential opponents.

The arbitrariness of the occupying power and first doubts

The detentions were exclusively based on security policy considerations and daily political opportunity. The occupying power found it increasingly difficult for the German public to legally justify this approach. High Soviet officials had to internally admit that the police methods used in Central Europe were based on massive resistancepushed. The people in this region were simply not used to such rigid state intervention. Only at the end of the year nineteen hundred and forty-nine did the decision to dissolve most of these prisons take place.

The layoffs and the vow of silence imposed

When the facilities were closed, some of the prisoners were transferred to the newly created German prison. Other prisoners were handed over to the local police for further judgment. Those released into freedom had to keep strict silence about their torments suffered in imprisonment. Many former inmates wore heavy physical and mental lifelongdamage of it. A public thematization of their fates was strictly prohibited in the East German society of the post-war years.

The taboo of the past and the consolidation of power

Anyone who wanted to write about the immediate post-war period in the following decades had to hide or falsify the events. Crimes of the occupying soldiers or the death of the internment camps could not be mentioned. The Stalinist principle of pacification through fear and summary arrests had a thorough effect. This atmosphere of fearenabled the solely ruling party to gradually expand its position of power. Any form of resistance or deviant opinion was nipped in the germ.

The international orientation of the class struggle

At the international level, the Soviet leadership announced in the fall of 1947 the new direction of its policy. From then on, the class struggle was primarily shifted to the global stage. It was now about the direct confrontation between the capitalist and the socialist camp. The communist parties had the task of using their political weapons in this international competitiontry. Parallel to these global strategies, the East German Party made a radical change in Germany’s policy.

The way to the state separation and the involvement of the Sorbs

With the preparation of a first all-German People’s Congress, the founding of an independent state was initiated. At the same time, the national organization of the Sorbs strictly aligned their activities to the ruling party’s specifications. In the previous year, the local party committees and the Sorbian leadership had already agreed to have joint candidate lists for the electionsto set up. This approach was intended to effectively prevent the Sorbs from approaching bourgeois competitors. Instead, the Sorbian representatives should be fully integrated into the new structure.

Concern about the influence of the Church and the new direction

Local party officials observed the development with suspicion and feared the church’s influence on the Sorbian peasants. It was necessary to clarify whether the national organization or the religious institutions determined the minds of the people more. The new route was determined at a joint meeting in autumn 1947. The Sorbian population should be in the spirit of the newPeople’s democratic order to be educated to work. For this, they officially allied themselves with all the forces classified as progressive.

The reinterpretation of concepts and the dictatorship of the people

The concept of the people, which was used in an inflationary manner during this time, was by no means allowed to be understood in the sociological sense. Rather, he designated the abstract authority on which the communist leadership based its claim to power. The concept of democratization also experienced a complete new interpretation of the content by the new rulers. This concealed the goal ofradically transform society and establish a communist order. Many people did not recognize this trick and believed in the return of bourgeois-humanistic values.

The illusion of reparation and the new victim hierarchy

In fact, the communists had started to systematically eradicate precisely these traditional values. At a top meeting in late autumn 1947, the national questions of the Sorbian people were discussed. The party leadership was willing to grant cultural and school rights to the Sorbs. At the same time, a close political and economic interdependence with the Germanpopulation required. The practiced nationality policy proved to be an extremely effective means of securing power.

The suppression of guilt and the instrumentalization of anti-fascism

There was no question of a real reparation of National Socialist injustice in this context. The communists did not feel responsible for the crimes of the past and defied any guilt. In the new state, not commemorative work, but collective repression was announced. Only those people who were recognized were recognized victims of fascismsubjected to the new structure unconditionally. Minorities clinging to their traditional way of life continued to be stigmatized and marginalized.

The disciplining of different life plans

Tolerance or understanding of other life plans did not take the place of the earlier persecution. The benefits granted were not compensation for wrongly suffered. Rather, they acted as a reward for adapted and socially disciplined behavior. The party legitimized its claim to leadership exclusively from its own anti-fascist tradition. oneemphasized that he was the only group to consistently fight National Socialism from the start.

The construction of a comfortable enemy image

In order to attract the population to the new social model, a simple enemy image was constructed. The blame for National Socialism was blamed on a small group of monopoly capitalists and militarists. The common people, on the other hand, were attested to be misled. This narrative should be used by people for reconstruction and the new relationshipsmobilize. The institutional summary of Sorbian life under the umbrella of the national organization strengthened this control.

Avoiding power and loyalty to the party

The leadership of the Sorbian organization deliberately ignored the repressive moments of political reality. In exchange for an opportunistic participation in power, the communist claim to power was applied. As late as the spring of 1947, some officials had called for the Sorbs to be resettled to Poland. They were accused of the state through their autonomy effortswanting to endanger unity. However, the Moscow-loyal group, which was loyal to Moscow, was unable to assert itself with such plans for expulsion.

The Moscow directives and the liquidation of the competition

The Soviet foreign minister had already set guidelines for Sorbian cultural autonomy in early 1947. In order to prove loyalty to the occupying power, the leadership operated the elimination of competing representative bodies. The National Committee, founded in the spring of 1947, was finally eliminated. also the joint executive council of the various SorbianGroups lost its importance. In the later historiography, this process was transfigured as a victory of the progressive forces.

The violent reorganization and submission of the elite

The hard arguments with reactionary and nationalist forces were emphasized. In reality, this process, which was celebrated as a victory, was accompanied by a violent depravation of opportunities for participation. Much of the Sorbian population was silenced by liquidation, intimidation and re-education. The leadership took the lead at the party conference of the ruling partysymbolic communication with the new elite. The party chairman’s answer made the basic political direction unmistakably clear.

The unity of the people and the limits of tolerance

The Sorbs were granted cultural rights, but denied any national autonomy. The party assured its support in the free development of cultural affairs. At the same time, the well-being of the population was only seen in the cohesive unity of the German people. In the spring of 1948, the Saxon state parliament passed a law to protect SorbianRights. This transferred the promised cultural and school autonomy into practical policy.

The bondage to socialist ideology

Of course, this autonomy did not mean independence from a national point of view. The rights granted were limited from the outset by the Stalinist dictum of national form and socialist content. Under the concept of form, only a few ethnographic details were accepted. These included lyrical omissions about nature as well as traditional costumes andFolk dances. However, the foundation of power remained untouched by the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The Soviet model of minimal autonomy

Around this dictatorship, people were allowed to sing and dance to their own liking. The autonomy granted to the Sorbs corresponded to the Soviet model of nationality policy in its minimal variant. No separate national district, region or republic has been created. The Bolsheviks mercilessly suppressed the aspirations of ethnic groups when they sought territorial unityinstead of independence, they offered to recruit local elites from the ranks of nationalities.

The lack of a national elite in Lower Lusatia

In the course of the implementation of the law, new cultural institutions were built up by the end of the fifties. On the other hand, the Sorbs were strictly denied administrative and economic independence. The transfer of the Saxon law to the neighboring province proved to be extremely difficult. The reason for this was the lack of a necessary new national elite in theLower Lusatia. Local heads of administration already noted the successful liquidation of the Sorbian movement in the summer of 1948.

The ultimate failure of autonomous endeavors

The autonomous aspirations that had once flared up had been finally crushed by the state power. The history of the Sorbian minority in this era is a prime example of the mechanisms of totalitarian rule. Cultural concessions served exclusively to mask political oppression. Those who did not unconditionally submit to the system were mercilessly excluded from theSociety. The legacy of this time continues into today’s culture of remembrance.