Sorbs
The Sorbs are a relatively small west Slavic people, living as a minority in the region known as Lusatia in the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg (in former GDR territory). They are also known as Lusatians, Wends Lusatian Serbs or Serbs of Luzice.
Demographic
Since ethnicity is not a legal category in Germany for German citizens, their number can only be guessed. Current estimates speak of 20,000 to 30,000 active speakers of Sorbian (almost all of them are bilingual) and about 60,000 people who subjectively consider themselves Sorbs.
History
Historically, the Sorbs are the last remainder of the once-mighty Polabian Slavic peoples living in most of what is now eastern Germany until the high Middle Ages. Most Slavs in the area were Germanised or driven away during the German Drang nach Osten of the 12th and 13th centuries. The Sorbs have been a much-persecuted group of western Slavs, especially in Nazi Germany, which viewed Slavs as a people designed to be slaves for the Aryan race. In today's Germany they have certain minority rights, for example the right to send their children to Sorbian-language schools, the right to use Sorbian in dealings with local government, and the right to bilingual road signs.
Sorbian communities in overseas
During the mid 19th century many protestant Sorbs emmigrated to Texas and Australia. The town of Serbin in Lee County, Texas was founded by these Sorbian immigrants. There they established a Missouri Synod Lutheran church. Most of these Sorbian immigrants spread throughout central Texas and were subsequently assimilated into the German culture of the region. Ironically, the fear of assimilation into German culture and language is exactly why they left the old world. However cultural identity remained important to some families and has led to the establishment of the Texas Wendish Heritage Society which every September hosts "Wendish Fest" in Serbin. Wendish Fest activities include traditional Sorbian cultural pastimes such as egg painting, dancing, sausage-cooking, noodle-cooking, and beer drinking.
Culture
The Sorbs are very well known for their Easter traditions:
- very artistically painted Easter eggs
- Osterreiten (riding tradition during Easter) - Radibor and Bautzen are well known
Toponyms
A number of toponyms in Eastern Germany have Slavic names, and some cities in south-eastern part of Germany even have name derived from the Sorbs, witnessing Sorbian ancestry in these territories.
Examples
- Schrabits
- Zerbst Zerbst web page
- Zoerbig Zoerbig web page (near Leipzig)
- Schrenz Schrenz web page (near Zoerbig)
A lot of cities in the German Lausitz area have city signs with both the German and the Sorbian name.
Famous Sorbs
Ernest Mason Satow, British diplomat, was of Sorbian heritage, as was the philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, most famous for having independently discovered differential calculus along with Isaac Newton.