Language Research

Updated (November 2002)

SORBS STRUGGLE TO SAVE THEIR LOCAL SCHOOLS

According to "Domowina," the Sorbian umbrella organization located in the German city Bautzen (Budzyn), the situation of the Slavic minority language is not the best. Sorbs struggle to save their local Sorbian-language schools.

The background for this concern is a school reform in the province of Saxony requiring a minimum of twenty students to launch a class in the Sorbian language. However, Crostwitz, the town located close to Bautzen, has only 1,200 inhabitants and thus cannot fulfill these criteria. As a result, two classes from the Sorbian school in Crostwitz currently have to take a bus every morning to a neighboring school to get lessons in Sorbian.

The fatal consequence of this tendency could be that Sorbian parents will not send their children to Sorbian schools in the future anymore.

Thus it is inevitable to push for education in Sorbian. Parents in Saxony intend to influence the educational system of the province in order to preserve small schools and small classes via a public referendum. A petition initiative hopes that by the next summer a sufficient number of signatures will have been collected so that a referendum at the provincial level can be held.

DOMOWINA

"Domowina," (home or native land) was founded in 1912 as an umbrella organization for a number of cultural movements that evolved under the strict rule against the Sorbian language during the Prussian times.

From 1937 until 1945 Domowina was prohibited and the Sorbian House in the town Bautzen was burnt down by the Nazis in 1944. During the GDR (German Democratic Republic) regime, the Sorbs enjoyed renewed support, when a Sorbian high school was established and Sorbian media proceeded.

When the two Germanys united in 1990, the German-German agreement contained also an article about protection of the Sorbian minority. Today both provinces with this minority, Saxony and Brandenburg, guarantee protection and support of the minority interests in their Constitutions.

Source: Eurolang News, Copenhagen, October 17, 2002, by B. Alfter, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=3884

DANISH MINORITY LOSES AN ACCESS TO THE DANISH RADIO

Numerous members of the Danish minority in northern Germany lost without prior warning an access to the Danish radio via a cable antenna.

Due to a technical problem, the German provider "Kabel Deutschland," can no longer broadcast the Danish radio "DR1" in Germany.

The Public Broadcasting Committee (ULR - Unabhängige Landesanstalt für das Rundfunkwesen) of the Schleswig-Holstein province also refers to the technical problems. ULR is responsible for distribution of the broadcasting licenses

Previously, minority representatives were also in the Committee; however, after a change in the broadcasting legislation of Schleswig-Holstein, minority members as well as the representatives of other groups and NGOs disappeared and have not been represented in ULR for the past two years.

Currently only those living in the region very close to the Danish border can receive Danish broadcast media by antenna.

Source: Eurolang News, Copenhagen, October 21, 2002, by B. Alfter, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=3890

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Updated (April 2003)

THE NORTH FRISIAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE UNDER THREAT

In northernmost German province of Schleswig-Holstein, the Frisian minority¹ struggles for the future of its language. The North Frisian Institute has just published last year's financial results and the budget for this year, and while last year showed a deficit of €28,000, this year's budget increased this deficit of another euro;36,000 - even though one part-time staff member has already been laid off earlier this year. The Institute will have to cut back its staff to only four full-time employees. Currently thirteen staff members share five full-time positions. The chairperson of the Institute, Tede Boysen, is not sure whether they will be able to recover after such difficulties.

Being the sole institution in the language area, the Institute provides books and educational materials for children in kindergartens and primary schools as well as conducts academic research. Future plans are educational materials for adults.

Public funding, mainly from the province of Schleswig-Holstein but also from the county of Nordfriesland, Denmark and the city of Bredsted, has been frozen for years, while wages and costs have continued to grow. Funding from the projects is hardly an option, as it usually requires extra work, which the Institute in its current situation is not able to cover.

Frisians intended to cooperate with other minorities to gather experiences; however, the special situation of the North Frisian language and its nine dialects means that learning materials have to come from the North Frisians themselves.

Moreover, funding for the other minorities of the Danish-German border Region (Danes, Frisians, Sinti and Roma in Germany as well as Germans in Denmark) has also been reduced.

Source: Eurolang News, Copenhagen, April 21, 2003, by Brigitte Alfter, http://217.136.252.147/webpub/eurolang/pajenn.asp?ID=4211

¹ The North Frisian language is estimated to have 10,000 active speakers with nine different dialects.

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Updated (April 2004)

SAXON GOVERNMENT ASKED TO RECONSIDER ITS POLICY ON SORBIAN SCHOOLS

The Council of Europe (CoE) has asked the government of the Province of Saxony to reconsider its attitude towards Sorbian schools. Last summer the only traditional (not mixed) Sorbian secondary school in Crostwitz was closed for lack of students. After the closure the children were moved to nearby mixed German-Sorbian schools.

According to the Council of Europe, the number of Sorbian schools has already been reduced from twelve to six because the Province of Saxony applies school legislation requiring a certain amount of students per class and per school in order to keep the class or school going. The Advisory Committee of the Council of Europe believes that for minorities like the Sorbians other quotas should be applied than for German schools where a class has to have at least 20 pupils.

However, the Saxonian Ministry of Education has rejected this demand because in practice many Sorbian primary schools are already operating with only seven students. This happens even though the minimum number of students to keep a primary school open is 15 and for secondary schools it is 40 students.

The school in Crostwitz was run for years with less than 20, sometimes even with less than ten students per class.

Germany signed the European Framework Convention on National Minorities, and thus both federal and provincial authorities are obliged to comply with it. However, due to the German federal system, the Federal Commissioner for Minorities has no influence upon education because the German provinces only are responsible for that.

Source: Eurolang News, Copenhagen, April 7, 2004, by Brigitte Alfter, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4505

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Updated (June 2004)

FRISIAN GROUPS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT A DRAFT LANGUAGE LAW

During a recent hearing with Frisian organizations, the draft Frisian Language Bill for the North Frisian minority in the German Land of Schleswig-Holstein was broadly welcomed. Only minor suggestions were put forward and those anyway will be implemented soon.

The bill's Preamble recognizes the efforts of the Frisians to protect their language and identity, as well as the fact that they do not have a kin-state. The European Framework Convention for Minorities and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages are also mentioned here. Even though the general rules are outlined in the Charter, regional legislation is important as well.

According to the bill, the Frisians can use their language while approaching public authorities in Northern Frisland and even some state authorities. Schemes and official documents can be also written in Frisian. Furthermore, knowledge of Frisian will be considered an asset when applying for jobs in public administration.

The draft bill urges the introduction of bilingual place name signs and requests bilingual signs on public buildings. Finally the Frisian flag (gold, red and blue) can be used alongside the flag of the Land of Schleswig-Holstein in the bilingual region.

The representatives of the Danish-Frisian Minority Party (SSW) in Parliament are very optimistic as to the support of the other parties for the bill. Both the Conservative and the Green Party were ready to go ahead immediately, while the Social Democrats and the Liberals had a few more questions.

Even though it has not been passed yet, the draft language law has already caught attention of some other minority groups as it is considered as a possible model for them. At the hearing Frisian organizations from Northern and Eastern Frisland in Germany, Western Frisland in the Netherlands and also representatives of the Sorbian minority in Eastern Germany were present.

One of the vice-presidents of the Federal Union of European Nationalities from Cornwall currently has a closer look at the text of the bill.

Source: Eurolang New, Copenhagen, June 9, 2004, by Brigitte Alfter, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4610

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Updated (August 2004)

SORBIAN NEWSPAPER THREATENED BY CUTBACKS

Since 1996 the circulation of Serbske Nowiny, a newspaper of the Sorbian community in Eastern Germany¹, has increased by about 15 percent to 2,000 subscribers. Many of the new subscribers are young people.

The newspaper, as well as many other Sorbian cultural activities, receives public funding both from the federal German government and from the governments of the two provinces (Brandenburg and Saxony). However, the federal funds will be reduced in next year's budget and also Brandenburg is considering cutbacks.

For Serbske Nowiny, published five days a week on four to eight pages, this would mean a massive blow because 90 percent of its funding come from the public purse, whereas 10 percent are from subscriptions and advertisements.

The current editor-in-chief, Benedikt Dyrlich, fears that the paper will not be "a real paper" anymore. Since Sorbian is not spoken in any kin state, the Sorbian newspaper has to be produced or translated into Sorbian by the office staff (six full-time workers).

The Sorbian institutions will look for the possibilities how to reduce costs both on the provincial and on the federal level. The federal debates will continue after the summer holiday and a decision is expected in November.

Source: Eurolang News, Brussels, August 8, 2004, by Brigitte Alfter, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4722

PUBLIC PROTEST AGAINST PROHIBITION OF SORBIAN IN A HOME FOR THE DISABLED

In the middle of August, an open letter² has been sent to the abbess of the convent St. Marienstern in Upper Lusatia protesting against the prohibition to use Sorbian in one of the convent's homes for the disabled.

The abbess of the Maria-Martha home repeatedly warned their employees not to speak the Sorbian language during their shift in the presence of German-speaking employees or the disabled residents.

According to Mr. Bernhard Ziesch, the chairman of "Domowina" (the Union of Lusatian Sorbs) the prohibition of speaking Sorbian as a colloquial language at work is in no way tolerable, considering the law at the regional, national or international level. Public attention on the case led to the fact that the threat of disciplinary measures has been already taken back.

Source: Eurolang News, Brussels, August 19, 2004, by Simone Klinge, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4745

¹ 60,000 Sorbian speakers in the provinces of Brandenburg and Saxony

² The letter was written by the participants of the 14th International Summer Course for the Sorbian language and culture, which took place in Bautzen in August.

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Updated (January 2005)

GERMAN ELECTORAL PRACTICE FOR MINORITY PARTIES TAKEN TO COURT

On February 20, 2005 the German province of Schleswig-Holstein will hold an election for its parliament. According to the opinion polls, the Danish-Frisian minority party, SSW, could expect four percent of the votes thus playing a decisive role in parliament¹.

However, the party now faces a possible legal obstacle. In 2000, a group of citizens raised a complaint about electoral practice in the province, which grants minority parties an exemption from the usual minimum of five percent of votes in order to obtain a seat in parliament. Though in November 2004, the Federal Constitutional Court dismissed this issue for procedural reasons, at present the regional court has announced that it will deal with the complaint again in order to clarify it.

One of the supporters of this initiative, a former professor of veterinarian medicine, Helmut Henkel, proposed to limit the privileges for minority parties to the northern part of Schleswig-Holstein, the area where the Danish and the Frisian minority traditionally live. In 2000, in an interview for "Flensborg Avis", he claimed that the exception in favor of minority parties is unconstitutional.

The basic exception was made following the bilateral German-Danish Bonn-Copenhagen declarations (1955) in order to safeguard political representation for the minorities². However, in 1999, the Electoral Law of the province was revised. Previously only voters in the northern part of the province could vote for SSW. After the revision all citizens of the province, including the areas beyond the traditionally bilingual regions, can vote for it.

A formal complaint in the renewed case has not yet been filed, and no date has been set for further proceedings.

SSW is confident that the minority privilege will not be changed, even if the case is tried again at the Constitutional Court level.

Source: Eurolang News, Brussels, January 10, 2005, by Brigitte Alfter, http://www.eurolang.net/news.asp?id=4866

¹ Opinion polls show a tight run between the red-green coalition currently in government, and the conservative-liberal opposition.

² Equally the German minority in Denmark enjoys certain rights guaranteed in the declarations.

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Updated (March 2006)

POLISH MPs DEMAND THAT A SORBIAN SCHOOL STAYS OPEN

In an open letter addressed to the Saxon Minister of Culture, fifty-four members of the Polish Parliament have demanded the maintenance of the Sorbian secondary school in Panschwitz-Kuckau in Germany. Among other things, they have mentioned that Sorbian is a threatened language; therefore, it must be strengthened at its geographical boundaries.

The initiator of the letter is the Polish Member of the European Parliament Sylwester Chruszcz. He together with his Czech colleague, J. Kohlicek, have already criticized the Federal Government of Germany for not fulfilling its obligations as a signatory state to the European Union and under international treaties for the cultural and educational protection of national minorities.

The Sorbian schools in Saxony, the federal state in Germany, are affected by the decision of the government, which decided to close several schools. As a reason they stated the decline in birth rate and the financial problems of the state. On behalf of this controversial issue Judith Walde, a YEN board member, stressed out that closing Sorbian schools is a cut into their Sorbian lives and they demand that the government of Saxony withdraws its plans. She said that they couldn't accept the closure of the school in Panschwitz-Kuckau and the closing of the school in Radibor in the future.

Source: Eurolang News, Marc 21, 2006 by Robert Brytan http://www.eurolang.net/ and http://www.yeni.org/default.php?s=news&p=news/newsitem.php&id=384&m=&l=english

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Updated (August 2006)

CLOSURE OF ANOTHER SORBIAN SCHOOL IN PANSWITZ-KUCKAU

In April 2005, the Local Government of the German Land of Saxony decided not to authorize the opening of a fifth-year class in the Sorbian secondary school in Panschwitz-Kuckau (district of Kamenz), a decision that would result in the school being closed in 2007. The school, however, plays an important role as an educational and cultural center for Sorbian minority in the region.

It is relevant to note that Sorbian schools in Germany are still not classified as national minority schools and that the Saxony Government is actively seeking to dismantle the existing network of such schools. The schools in Crostwitz, Radibor, Schleifen and Witichenau are in the process of being closed or have already been closed. The protest from Sorbian organizations and community members as well as statements by the European Parliament aimed at finding a constructive way out of this situation are being totally ignored by the Saxony Government and the German Federal Government despite the fact that the Federal Government has already signed a large number of international agreements on the protection of national minorities, including the Council of Europe's European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

Concerned by this latest decision Polish MEP Sylwester Chruszcz (NI) wrote to the European Commission on 10 July 2006 to denounce the closure of Sorbian schools in Germany and to know the position adopted by the Commission on this subject.

Source: Eurolang News, July 28, 2006 by Daniel Sanchez http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2686&Itemid=1&lang=en

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Updated (February 2007)

NORTH FRISIANS ARE AFRAID OF THE RE-DIVISION OF THE COUNTIES

A group of North Frisians from all political parties has recently launched an on-line petition to prevent the Kiel government's plan to reduce the number of counties in the Schleswig-Holstein region.

The government proposal is to reduce their number from 11 to 4 or 5 in the year 2010. North Friesland on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein would then merge with at least one of the counties on the east coast. There is no proposal yet for the exact borders of the new counties, but it is expected to be published within the month. However, the final decision will not be made untill 2009.

According to the North Frisians, the plan would further weaken their language and culture. President of the Frisian Society, Joergen Jensen Hahn, has asked therefore all North Frisians to support the Internet campaign to help save their land. North Friesland is already one of the largest counties of the republic and the existing borders fit very well with the historic identity of its population. It is obvious that the preservation of North Frisian unity would serve the interests of the North Frisians best.

On a legal basis, the eventual merging of North Friesland with neighboring counties may contravene the Charter for Regional and Minority Languages of the Council of Europe, Article 7.1.b., where the geographical area of the language must be respected.

According to the North Frisian proposal, the counties may be dissolved only if the population accepts it. If the North Frisians succeed in collecting enough signatures, the Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein (Landtag) is obliged to discuss the proposal not to change the borders against the wishes of the population.

On the other hand, if the Landtag in Kiel does not accept this proposal, Frisians intend to continue collecting signatures in order to force the government to organize a referendum on the issue.

Source: Eurolang News, February 5, 2007 by Onno P. Falkena http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2809&Itemid=1&lang=en

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