House of the Sorbs

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Main facade of the house of the Sorbs

The House of the Sorbs , Serbski dom in Upper Sorbian , is an administrative building at Postplatz  2 in the East Saxon city ​​of Bautzen , the cultural and political center of the Sorbs in Upper Lusatia . The building, erected between 1947 and 1956, is the seat of the Domowina and the Foundation for the Sorbian People as well as other Sorbian institutions and the Studio Bautzen of MDR Sachsen .

The new building was necessary after the Wendish House (also in Sorbian Serbski dom ) , which had been built 50 years earlier on the Lauengraben , was destroyed in April 1945. While the constant Sorbian name shows a continuity, the name change in German from Wendish / Wenden to Sorbian / Sorbs took place after the term “Wenden” was increasingly used pejoratively during the time of National Socialism and a symbolic new beginning seemed necessary.

history

prehistory

Wendish House (left) on Lauengraben, 1915

The idea for a house of the Sorbs goes back to the Sorbian culture and science society Maćica Serbska, which was formed in 1845 and finally founded in 1847 . At the endeavors of its co-founder Jan Arnošt Smoler , the society approved a fundraising plan in 1866 to build a society house. At his own risk, Smoler acquired a built-up plot of land on the Lauengraben in 1873, the house of which was to become the center of the club's life. Since most of the Sorbs were comparatively poor and there were no financially strong industrialists apart from a small middle class, he repeatedly traveled to Slavic countries, especially to Russia, to collect donations to finance the house and other cultural projects. The last trip took place in 1883, and Smoler died the following summer.

In view of the extensive library and the collection of folkloric exhibits, which were significantly expanded under the direction of Arnošt Mukas for the exhibition of Saxon handicrafts and arts and crafts held in Dresden in 1896 , the space available in the house was no longer sufficient. Muka used his contacts to the Dresden architect August Grothe and took care of the financing, so that the foundation stone for the new building in the early Renaissance style could be laid on April 21, 1897 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Maćica Serbska. A large part of the necessary funds was collected through donations from the Sorbian population.

Jurij Łusčanski , Apostolic Prefect of Meissen in Upper Lusatia and Chairman of Maćica Serbska, inaugurated the new building on September 26, 1904 after seven years. A hall was built by 1907, with which the Wendish House became the center of Sorbian cultural life. The scientific society with its extensive library, the Wendish Museum as well as the Smoler'sche print shop and bookstore found space in the building. Later, Domowina , founded in 1912, and Wendische Volksbank (Serbska ludowa banka) , founded in 1919, were added.

After the seizure of power by the National Socialists, the Sorbs should be incorporated into the new structures. After this was unsuccessful due to the resistance of Domowina, from 1937 onwards the Wenden department first banned this and then the other Sorbian associations as well as the Sorbian media and severely restricted the use of Sorbian in public. The building was confiscated, the Sorbian café inside was renamed Schöne Lausitz , the hall was used as an NSDAP assembly room, the printing shop was closed and the collections (library and museum) were smashed, sold, destroyed or brought to the Ortenburg . In the last days of the war the SS set the building on fire and it was also bombed.

New beginning after the Second World War

View through Goschwitzstrasse to Postplatz with the Lessing School (center, left) and the post office (center, right), 1914

After the end of the Second World War, Sorbs were allowed to cultivate their language and culture again. By resolution of the Bautzner city parliament, Maćica Serbska received the property of the destroyed Lessing School on Postplatz on March 6, 1947 as a replacement for the burned-out Wendish house. After an invitation to tender, the Dresden architecture firm Högg & Rötschke won the architecture competition and on August 24, 1947 the foundation stone was laid with numerous domestic and foreign guests, especially from Slavic countries. Linked to this was the 100th anniversary of Maćica Serbska.

The fund was funded through donation collections, both in Lusatia and in Slavic countries (especially Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia), which raised 1.5 million Reichsmarks. In addition, many young people from the surrounding villages worked free of charge in the Sorbian brigades of the Serbska młodźina youth organization during the Natwarjamy Serbski dom (= We are building the Sorbs house ) campaign. According to the new political conditions, the Maćica Serbska joined the Domowina. As a result of the currency reform in the Soviet zone of occupation in June 1948, the Domowina lost almost all of its money at an exchange rate of 10: 1, causing construction to stall. In the following year the state approved DM 500,000  for continuation. Shortly before completion, the Domowina transferred the house into public ownership . As part of the 2nd Sorbian People's Meeting (after 1950), the Sorbian house was officially opened on July 8, 1956.

As early as 1954, on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Arnošt Muka (1854–1932) and the construction of the Sorbs' house, the street from Gartenstrasse and Bergstrasse in Dr.-Ernst-Mucke-Strasse ran between Postplatz and August-Bebel-Platz renamed.

Postage stamp of the Deutsche Post, 1966

Kurt Heine produced a long-term documentary entitled Naš serbski dom , which accompanies the history of the House of Sorbs from 1947 to 1959. The 70-minute film, which was reconstructed and digitized as one of ten Sorbian film documents in a Saxon model project to “secure the audiovisual heritage” in 2017, shows, among other things, clean-up work, laying the foundation stone and construction as well as the use of the completed house.

For the 150th birthday of Jan Arnošt Smoler, Johannes Hansky and Gerhard Stauf designed two postage stamps for Deutsche Post , which were issued on March 1, 1966 and show Smoler (20 Pf.) And the House of the Sorbs (25 Pf.).

The interior of the house underwent a major renovation in 2012/2013 when, among other things, the hall was modernized and the former “Bjesada” café was turned into office space.

Building description

The listed building of the Sorbs in downtown Bautzner is a three-story building with three triangular gables, which are emphasized by honeycomb patterns in sandstone. While the first floor is emphasized on one side, the building is symmetrical from the second floor. The building is located on the north side of Postplatz between Karl-Marx-Strasse in the west and Kurt-Pchalek-Strasse in the east.

On the gable end facing Kurt-Pchalek-Strasse, the sandstone sculpture “Youth Brigadier Leader” reminds of the brigade movement during the construction phase.

use

The House of the Sorbs is the seat of the Domowina and the Foundation for the Sorbian People . It also houses the Sorbian cultural information , the Sorabia-Film-Studio that emerged from the Sorbian Film production group , the Bautzen studio with the Sorbian broadcasting company of the MDR and other cultural workers.

Sources and further reading

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b Mike Schmeitzner , Clemens Vollnhals , Francesca Weil (eds.): From Stalingrad to the SBZ: Saxony 1943 to 1949 (=  writings of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research . Volume  60 ). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2015, ISBN 978-3-647-36972-3 , pp. 515 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Gerald Stone : The Smallest Slavonic Nation: The Sorbs of Lusatia (=  History: Bloomsbury Academic Collections ). Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4742-4154-0 , pp.  29 f . ( limited preview in the Google book search - new edition, first edition 1972).
  3. ↑ Gerald Stone : The Smallest Slavonic Nation: The Sorbs of Lusatia (=  History: Bloomsbury Academic Collections ). Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4742-4154-0 , pp.  21 ( limited preview in Google Book Search - new edition, first edition 1972).
  4. ^ History. Serbski muzej - Sorbian Museum , accessed October 18, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Andreas Bednarek , Jonas Flöter , Stefan Samerski : The Upper Lusatia from the end of the First World War to the present (1918-2000) . In: Joachim Bahlcke (Hrsg.): History of Upper Lusatia: Rule, society and culture from the Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century . Second, revised and expanded edition. Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2004, ISBN 3-935693-46-X , p.  230 ( limited preview in Google Book search). Peter Kunze : History and culture of the Sorbs in Upper Lusatia . In: Joachim Bahlcke (Hrsg.): History of Upper Lusatia: Rule, society and culture from the Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century . Second, revised and expanded edition. Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2004, ISBN 3-935693-46-X , p.
     301 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  6. ^ The Wendish House (Serbski dom) in Bautzen - built national symbol in urban space. Research - cultural studies. Sorbian Institute , accessed October 17, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Lessing School. Photo taken before 1910. In: Image index of art and architecture . Retrieved October 16, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Edmund Pech : The Sorbs Policy of the GDR, 1949–1970: Claim and Reality (=  writings of the Sorbian Institute . Volume  21 ). Domowina-Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-7420-1807-8 , p. 43 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  9. ↑ SMWK: Model project for "Safeguarding the Audiovisual Heritage". In: Flurfunk Dresden. March 18, 2017, accessed October 18, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Naš serbski dom. In: Filmportal.de . Retrieved October 18, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Uwe Menschner: The Sorbs' house in Bautzen is being rebuilt . In: Lausitzer Rundschau . September 28, 2012 ( online ).
  12. ^ Cultural monuments in the Free State of Saxony - monument document. House of the Sorbs. State Office for Monument Preservation Saxony , accessed on October 18, 2018 .

Web links

Commons : Serbski dom  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 41.7 "  N , 14 ° 25 ′ 44.3"  E