Wendish People's Party
| Wendish People's Party Serbska ludowa strona |
|
|---|---|
| Party leader | Jakub Lorenc-Zalěski (1919–33) |
| founding | November 2, 1919 Dissolution: 1933 |
| Place of foundation | Bautzen |
The Wendish People's Party , in Sorbian , was a political party active in Upper and Lower Lusatia from 1919 to 1933 , which represented the interests of the Sorbian (Wendish) people.
The Serbska ludowa strona (today Lusatian Alliance ), founded in 2005, sees itself in the tradition of the Wendish People's Party.
history
The party was founded in connection with the Sorbian national movement, which grew stronger after the German defeat in the early phase of the Weimar Republic, on November 2, 1919, initially as the "Lusatian People's Party" (Łužiska ludowa strona) and renamed the "Wendish People's Party" in 1924. In terms of personnel and content, it emerged from the Wendish National Committee , as the political arm of which it was to function from then on. These tasks were assigned to her on December 6, 1919 at a meeting of the National Committee, whose chairman Arnošt Bart-Brězynčanski , who was arrested at the time, was also the main initiator of the founding of the party. The imprisoned beard was demonstratively nominated as a candidate for the 1920 Reichstag election by the Lusatian People's Party .
As early as April 1920, the Cyrill Methodius Association , which was of major importance in the Catholic areas of the Sorbian settlement area, distanced itself from the party's program because it went too far. The association recommended that the Catholic Sorbs continue to vote for the German Center Party , as they did before the First World War . This was also due to the fact that in 1919 the Wendish National Committee had publicly toyed with the idea of an independent Sorbian state or an annexation of Lusatia to the newly founded Czechoslovakia and was therefore largely rejected by the more conservative, Saxon-loyal parts of the Sorbs. As a leading figure in the autonomy movement, Arnošt Bart was sentenced to three years imprisonment for "attempted treason" on January 21, 1920, but was released in September. In the Reichstag election that took place during his imprisonment, the party received 8,050 votes. For the Reichstag election in May 1924, however, the Cyrill Methodius Association recommended the election of the Wendish People's Party, which then became the strongest force in the Catholic-Sorbian electoral districts and achieved its historically best result with 10,827 votes.
1925 was the Wendische People's together with the umbrella organization sorbian associations, the Domowina , and scientific association Maćica Serbska the Wendische MRP , which was intended for the task of a common Sorb body. Jan Skala represented Sorbian interests as a party member in the Association of National Minorities in Germany founded in 1924 and edited its magazine Kulturwehr . In 1925 a delegation from the party took part in the European Nationalities Congress in Geneva . However, this cooperation was ended again in 1927, as the organization increasingly represented the interests of the German Foreign Office .
The chairman of the Wendish People's Party was the writer and publicist Jakub Lorenc-Zalěski . Other important representatives were Jan Skala and Marko Smoler .
The Wendish People's Party was observed through the secret Wenden department throughout the 1920s . After the National Socialists came to power, it was banned in 1933. Its chairman Lorenc-Zalěski was briefly imprisoned and was banned from writing and publishing.
program
The main goal of the Wendish People's Party was the full national, linguistic and cultural equality of the Sorbs in Lusatia, further political, economic and school self-determination rights and cultural autonomy, but also the implementation of the land reform . She explicitly addressed Sorbian voters, but tried to be eligible for election to the latter with her ideas for peaceful coexistence between Sorbs and Germans.
Although the Wendish People's Party never reached the majority of the Sorbian population, small parts of its program - especially in the education system - were taken up by the “Wends loyal to Saxony” in 1919/20 under the impression of the radical demands for independence and in cooperation with the local ones Authorities and all other parties active in Upper Lusatia have been implemented in part to prevent further radicalization and to weaken the movement around Arnošt Bart. At the same time, from now on, the state specifically promoted “German work” and the accelerated assimilation of the Sorbs in the background.
Election results
Results of the Reichstag elections , in which the Wendish People's Party took part until 1930 as part of the "Reichsliste National Minorities":
| June 6, 1920 | 8,050 votes |
| May 4, 1924 | 10,827 votes |
| December 7, 1924 | 5,585 votes |
| May 20, 1928 | 3,111 votes |
| September 14, 1930 | 288 votes |
literature
- Ludwig Elle : Wendish People's Party. In: Franz Schön, Dietrich Scholze (Hrsg.): Sorbisches Kulturlexikon. Domowina-Verlag, Bautzen 2014, ISBN 978-3-7420-2229-5 , p. 504 f.
- Timo Meškank : The inter-war period. Sorbian national movement under suspicion of irredenta. In: Edmund Pech, Dietrich Scholze (Hrsg.): Between compulsion and assistance. German policy towards the Sorbs from the Congress of Vienna to the present (= writings of the Sorbian Institute. 37). Domowina-Verlag, Bautzen 2003, ISBN 3-7420-1960-0 , pp. 39-72.