Brusnica und Brunica. Gedanken zu einer Mentalitätsgeschichte des Lausitzer Reviers
Brusnica und Brunica. Thoughts on the History of Mental Attitudes in the Lusatian Mining Area

Summary/Abstract: In 1924 the first settlement in Central Lusatia, Neu-Laubusch/Nowy Lubuš, fell victim to open-cast mining for lignite. Thus arose a conflict about cause and effect in an industrial society, and the history of discourse relating to this extends into the present day, developing as a result into an important element in individual identity in this area. This essay uses selected examples from fiction, poetry and functional literature to trace some dominant features of this discourse. This process results in a division into three parts, which coincide with historical turning points. Up to 1945 a basic nar-rative pattern develops, which oscillates between welcoming progress and melancholy over the loss of the traditional rural homeland. In the GDR period this bipolar narrative structure is continued against the background of the construction of socialism, in which the search to locate “the Sorbian component” together with that for a new image of the homeland appear as additional facets. The period after 1990, which was initially characterised by a reduction in industrial activity, and finally a discussion over the future energy policy of Germany, resulted in a diffuse picture of narratives, which were partly competing with each other, and which reveals a broken, shifting identity landscape for Lusatia.

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