Turning department

The Wendenabteilung was an administrative office in Bautzen that existed from 1920 until the Second World War . Their task was to monitor the cultural and political activities of the Sorbs , which at the time were called Wenden in German . Since the tasks of the Wenden department were not compatible with the citizens' rights of freedom guaranteed in the Weimar constitution , the existence of the authority was largely kept secret.

history

For the establishment in 1920, "state and regional authorities interested in the problem of the Wende" (statement of the founding protocol) but also nationalist associations (e.g. the German Protection Association ) came together. By the state governments were Prussia and Saxony as well as some Prussian circles and Saxon Amtshauptmann teams in the settlement area of the Sorbs involved. The offices of the Bautzen authorities were chosen as the headquarters of the Wenden department because the capital of Upper Lusatia was the cultural and political center of the Sorbs.

The officials involved were of the opinion that, above all, the political activities of the Sorbs were pursuing anti-imperial goals and should therefore be monitored and, if possible, prevented. Essentially, the work of the Wende department was limited to collecting information, some of which was obtained from informers and partly through translations of Sorbian publications. It was then forwarded to ministries and regional administrations, which they used for their day-to-day business, for example when it came to deciding on the approval of Sorbian events.

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists, the Wende department was continued in the usual way. As a result, their work made a decisive contribution to the ever sharper oppression of the Sorbs, who were initially viewed as a " foreign minority " and later as originally a " German tribe ". Finally in 1937 almost all Sorbian organizations were banned from operating; From 1939 on, publications in the Sorbian language were no longer allowed. Based on the information from the Wenden department, particularly active Sorbian teachers and pastors from Lusatia were also forcibly transferred to German-speaking areas from 1939.

The end of the Wende department came in 1945 at the latest; The activities of this authority up to 1943 can be proven by means of archive material.

literature

• Dietrich Scholze: The turning department. In: Dieter Grande , Daniel Fickenscher (Ed.): One Church, Two Nations. German, Sorbian and Latin source texts and contributions to the history of the Dresden-Meißen diocese from the re-establishment from 1921 to 1929. Bautzen / Leipzig 2003, ISBN 3-7462-1642-7 / ISBN 3-7420-1926-0 , pp. 576-578 .