Futtera, Ladislav: Pillars of a Bridge. The Regional Perspective of Czech-Sorbian Relations in the Interwar Period
Lětopis Abstract 2021 1: Futtera, Ladislav: Pillars of a Bridge. The Regional Perspective of Czech-Sorbian Relations in the Interwar Period
The regional specifics of Czech-Sorbian relations in the interwar period are considered in this article, using the examples of three areas of
investigation in the Northern Bohemian region around the river Iser (Jizera). Interest in the Sorbs was not only derived in this part of the country
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 in their 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: There needed to be 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 demonstration on Mužský hill in favour of the rights of the Sorbs 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 from a sense of disillusionment. The Sorbian problem was swiftly overtaken by other
topics.
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