I wonder why this is the case, Palivec. Surely the Italian-speaking population is as capable of learning German bilingually as the the German population of learning Italian being as they have long cohabitated-:)
The reason must be psychological.
The Wends or Sorbs have long since dwelt in German lands, therefore their presence as minority-German speakers of a Slavic mother tongue is not really analogous to Silesian Germans in current Poland or Sudeten Germans in the now Czech Republic, both of whom claim German descent, yet often speak little to no German! The same applies to former German nationals, now well over 70, living in present-day Romania, in cities with dual names as well, e.g. Cluj/Clausenberg, etc... Many of them often speak a broken German, albeit fluent Rumanian, their actual native tongue or language of school instruction. Their children usually speak zero German, ONLY Romanian-:)
"Polabia back to Slavs?" Slavs in Gemrany Poles in Germany - Could be up to 3 mil Serbs- around 700,000 Croats- around 350,00 Sorbs- about 60,000 + many more If they all clump together and hold a referendum in Lusatia then you can get that area back. However that requires a lot of dedication and the Germans will be ****** off.
It also requires that they'd want to. In a country where political parties, pressure groups and lobbying organisations are easy to form, there isn't any sign that a. Millions of Poles or b. Tens of thousands of Serbs (by the way those cultures are different) want their homes to be in a different country.
not saying they want to, but its the only feasible situation where at least part of Polabia will be returned to slavic people a lot of these people are "German citizens" so I am assuming they are staying in Germany now. Its a good counter-attack if the Germans insist on that "German land" they want back.
I did not start this thread, and surprisingly neither did Crow. This will only happen if people are really dedicated to it, which is currently not the case now. But this is what the thread is about. Let enough slavs in Germany and let them clump in Lusatia and it really is good leverage for Poland for those Germans demanding "German" land back
Because I seen Crow posting stuff about Poland flexing its muscles and liberating Lusatia, so I was interested and looked around the forums, you know healthy curiosity
+ someone revived the thread about giving land back to Germany
Hmm. There's no suggestion of Poland 'liberating Lusatia' (Germany's about as free a county as it gets, by the way) so not much point dwelling on Crow's nutty obsessions.
Probably the people who ban him from this forum from time to time, plus the people who run all the other forums he gets banned from are in a good place to judge. As is anyone who reads his ravings.
And who's to say it isn't your nutty obsession too.
"Polabia back to slavs" Lusatia 1.first it needs a larger Slavic Population (to make a majority for referendum) 2.needs a incentive for independence 3. needs support and backing from other countries (Slavic countries preferably to fund the new state) 4. needs E.U to go on board (needs slavic countries to collectively put pressure on E.U) 5. Needs Sorbian culture and language to flourish among newcomer slavs Germans can stay, but they will be a minority...yes they can stay. and the ethnic majority will be Slavic and all cities will have Slavic names. Poles and Serbs can form this new country if they work together, yes it is possible and will bring closer ties between the two countries. Germany would also develop better relations with Poland and Serbia (EU pressure) too and everything would be ok.
This is just for fun and this is just a what if scenario, But hey, anything can happen. In fact this is kind of fun, I might do more of these sort of things
It seems quite an interesting alternative to alternative history. None of those points are realistic though and the Sorbs seem happy as they are. Around the Polish and German borders (and sometimes not that near) there are little pockets of people who some might think suit the other side of the border more, however all live peacefully and happily where they are.
About 500 Sorbs demonstrated in Berlin in May against cuts in public funding and the community is stepping up its campaign in the coming months with another demonstration and a petition against the planned bulldozing of further villages to make way for mining. Open-cast mining for brown coal - a cheap but highly polluting source of power - has forced 30,000 people and 136 Lusatian villages to move since 1924.
however all live peacefully and happily where they are.
According to this article, pollution does not make them happy, and bulldozing away villages is not peaceful. If there is 70,000 Sorbs now, 30,000 Sorbs is a huge percentage.
You miss the point that they aren't demonstrating for remotely nationalistic reasons - austerity measures affect the whole community at the moment. I wonder how much of your deportations in Germany "since 1924" happened many years ago.
The Sorbs are perfectly fine, dude. They don't need Serbian, Canadian or Polish right-wing nuts to tell them what they have to think or do.
That's whats in the article, I am not telling them anything.
And now a look across the border...
The point is their home land is rather small and putting a coal mine there has been the major source driving them out. their population has been declining, that's not what you would call prospering
The point is that the mining has been providing jobs there for a century and most of the open cast has now been restored. You seem to be whinging (on behalf of a community you have no connection with, in a country you don't visit, in a continent you don't live in) for no reason at all.
No, actually you're whinging about some people who have a situation that doesn't concern you as a non-European, that involves people's livelihoods (a theoretical matter for a teenager) and which most people over here are fine about.
I think the correct term is raising awareness, In Germany almost no one knows they exist. Which is sad because they are the last few remaining Wends (Polabians).
