Pfeiler einer Brücke
Pillars of a Bridge.

The Regional Perspective of Czech-Sorbian Relations in the Interwar Period

Summary/Abstract: The regional specifics of Czech-Sorbian relations in the interwar period are considered in this article, using the example of the Northern Bohemian region around the Jizera ­river in three probes. In this part of the country, interest in the Sorbs was not only derived from the concept of Slav reciprocity, latently experienced, as also in other Czechoslovak regions, but equally from an identification of the Sorbs with the so-called Czech “frontier inhabitants”. The Sorbs were in particular treated as equals, especially in the support of the Sokoł association. The example of the local group of the Czech-Sorbian association in Jabkenice then shows that the Sorbian question, which was above all treated sympathetically by people living in towns, could also be attractive for country people, but only under certain circumstances: These included a clear goal for any project, as exemplified by the regular holiday visits by children, as well as a capable organiser. Finally, any consideration of the the demonstration in favour of the rights of the Sorbs on Mužský hill on 5 June 1933 has to be confronted with its image in historical writing. After the memorandum adopted during the demonstration was ignored by the League of Nations, the interest in the Sorbs, which had been strong up until then in the region, disappeared as a result of disillusionment. The Sorbian problem was swiftly overtaken by other topics.

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