V a t t e n f a l l - Sweden´s other face

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Historical background
The term Wend is the name given to all Slav peoples, or tribes, who during the great migration in the sixth century settled in the eastern part of present-day Germany. Today, around 60,000 descendants of these West Slav tribes live in the Lausitz (English: Lusatia) region of eastern Germany along the Polish and Czech borders. 20,000 descendants of the ancient Sorb tribe of the Lusizer live in Lower Lusatia (Niederlausitz) in the Federal State of Brandenburg, and speak the particular dialect of this tribe, that once gave its name to the countryside (Lužica: marshland). 40,000 Sorbs live in Upp er Lusatia (Oberlausitz), in the Federal State of Saxony, and are the descendants of the ancient Sorb tribe of the Milzener, using the idiom peculiar to this tribe. There are considerable differences between both Sorb dialects, that more or less impede mutual understanding. In both dialects the people call themselves Serbske. Those Serbske living in Upper Lusatia call themselves Sorben in German, and their language sorbisch; those living in Lower Lusatia call themselves Wenden, and their language wendisch.
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The name Sorb was for hundreds of years only used by scientists. Also in Upper Lusatia the name Wend was used by the population. In view of the fact, that the name Wend was a generic term of German origin, which did not correspond with the proper names of the Slavs living in the Lausitz, after 1945 one began in official usage to use the actual name, Sorb. The DOMOWINA, with its headquarters in Cottbus, in Brandenburg, was founded in 1912 and refounded in 1945 as an umbrella organization of all Sorb institutions.
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The accompanying map was drawn up by the DOMOWINA during the GDR period,, which accounts for the fact that it only shows Sorb settlements west of the River Neiße. Until the end of the Second World War, the Sorb/Wend settlement area extended, of course, east of the River Neiße. But as the National Socialists had ordered by decree the Germanizing of Wend village names in 1937, so after 1945, everything to the east of the River Neiße – behind the so-called "peace frontier" – that was a reminder of pre-war Germany, including, tragically, the Wend villages, was expunged from public perception.
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Brown coal strip-mining before and after German reunification
During the course of the 20th Century 117 villages in the Lausitz were sacrificed to brown-coal strip-mining. At least two-thirds of them had a majority Sorb/Wend population. Up to 1989, 25,351 people were resettled. The expansion of the brown-coal industry during the GDR regime contributed significantly to this assimilation pressure. The population of the Lausitz grew steadily in the period from 1950 through the influx of workers from all corners of the GDR, seeking employment in the brown-coal industry. One after another, Sorb/Wend villages were sacrificed to brown-coal mining. Between 1945 and 1989 73 Sorb/Wend villages were destroyed, their inhabitants resettled in high-rise tenements in cities such as Hoyerswerda and Cottbus, where they were quickly assimilated in the majority German population.
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