Society of Friends of Lusatia

The Společnost přátel Lužice (Society of Friends of Lusatia; Sorbian: Towarstwo přećelow Serbow; German: Gesellschaft der Freunde der Lausitz) is a Czech association founded on 20 March 1907 in Prague as the Tschechisch-wendischer Verein Adolf Černý (Łužisko-serbske towarstwo „Adolf Černý“). It was renamed Společnost přátel Lužice in 1932. The association works for cultural and scholarly exchange between the Czech and Sorbian peoples, and its working languages are Czech and Sorbian. It is today an associated member of the Domowina and is based in the building of the Wendish Seminary (Lužický seminář) in Prague's Malá Strana. The society publishes the Česko-lužický věstník and maintains the Hórnik Sorbian Library, open to visitors on Thursdays from 16:00 to 18:00. Its website, www.luzice.cz, is archived; a new site is available at www.luzice.com.

The Společnost přátel Lužice was founded on 20 March 1907 in Prague as the Tschechisch-wendischer Verein Adolf Černý (Łužisko-serbske towarstwo „Adolf Černý“). Adolf Černý, a professor of Slavic studies and lecturer in Sorbian studies at Charles University in Prague, was the leading Czech expert on Sorbian studies at the time and served not only as the association's namesake but also as its protector. In 1932 the association was renamed Společnost přátel Lužice (Gesellschaft der Freunde der Lausitz). Czech and Sorbian are equal working languages of the association. The SPL is today an associated member of the Domowina and has its seat in the building of the Wendish Seminary in Prague's Malá Strana. Contribution to the Sorbian question: The association works for cultural and scholarly exchange between the Sorbian and Czech peoples. Especially after the First World War there were intensive contacts to support the Sorbs in their striving for cultural autonomy. Its protector Černý, as a ministerial official and expert on Sorbs, was an adviser to the Czechoslovak delegation at the Versailles Peace Conference on the Sorbian question. It was a declared goal of the delegation to advocate for the protection and rights of the Slavic minority of the Sorbs in Lusatia. The maximum demand was an autonomous Lusatia, as also demanded by the Wendish National Committee in 1919 and the Wendish People's Party that emerged from it during the Weimar Republic. More realistically, an attempt was made to obtain minority protection for the Sorbs comparable to the minority protection treaty between the Allied and Associated Powers and Poland. This could not be achieved, however; only a general minority protection was anchored in the Versailles Peace Treaty, which was reflected in Article 113 of the Weimar Constitution. After the National Socialists' seizure of power, the Gesellschaft der Freunde der Lausitz published a memorandum on 4 May 1933 under the title Für die Rettung der Kultur des Sorbischen Volkes (For the Rescue of the Culture of the Sorbian People). In it, it sharply criticized the German government for its Sorbian policy, which stood in contradiction to the guaranteed minority protection in Article 113. This memorandum found an audience Europe-wide through the network of friendship societies of the Sorbs, but receded into the political background in view of the transfer of power in 1933. Friendship societies of the Sorbs abroad: With the support of the Gesellschaft der Freunde der Lausitz in Prague, further friendship societies of the Sorbs emerged in the 1920s and 1930s.

• Founded in Prague as the Tschechisch-wendischer Verein Adolf Černý.

• Renamed Společnost přátel Lužice (Gesellschaft der Freunde der Lausitz).

• Published memorandum 'Für die Rettung der Kultur des Sorbischen Volkes'.

• General Assembly of the Society of Friends of Lusatia.

• Lecture 'Srbská Lužice' in Louny and lecture in Brno.

A Czech civil-society association dedicated to Czech-Sorbian cultural and scholarly exchange, associated with the Domowina.

• Česko-lužický věstník

• Hórnik Sorbian Library

• Maps of Lusatia

1. 1Společnost přátel Lužice - Vítejteluzice.cz
2. 2Společnost přátel Lužice - Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Společnost přátel Lužice - Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org