Lusatian Treasure Hunt

Lusatian Treasure Hunt

Tomaš Kappa / Ralph Th. Kappler

"A thousand years and longer we have lived like dear brothers. 
You, you endure that I breathe. And I endure your rage" 
(Heinrich Heine "An Edom")

This is a story about Germany’s biggest secret and a scandal, its treatment of the Sorbian people. They are allowed to perform their folk-dances for German crowds. Yet, despite their minority rights and despite Lusatia’s abundant mineral riches, the German authorities continue to close down Sorbian schools and kindergartens. As Germany’s State television station MDR revealed recently, irreplaceable landscapes and many Sorb villages have been and continue to be destroyed on the basis of a Nazi law. The Sorbs are the smallest Slavonic nation and a national minority within Germany living in a region called Lusatia. They cultivated Lusatia and have been living there for over 1,600 years, always under German pressure to give up their own Slavonic culture.     
                                 

This Nazi law which was never eliminated, has made it possible to confiscate privately owned houses and commercial properties in Lusatia on a huge scale up to the present day. The original purpose of the law was to feed Hitler’s war machine with the brown-coal of Lusatia. The present German government has allowed the Swedish State energy trust, Vattenfall, to use it to destroy an area in Lusatia the size of Luxemburg.

Lusatia briefing at Foreign Press Association, London May 2002
(Jan Nuk, Domowina Chairman, left / Tomaš Kappa / Ralph Thomas Kappler, centre)

The German authorities have systematically hidden this abuse of Sorb lands, culture and property from the public view. The role-model State of Sweden profits from this abuse and from this Nazi expropriation law. It is only by threatening forced expropriation, that Vattenfall is able to blackmail the Sorbs living there to leave their homes and land. This alone enables the Swedish State company to expand its brown-coal mining at the expense of both the beautiful landscapes and of the people living there.



                                     

"A quarter of our entire nation has been forced to leave our homelands by the mining lobby. We Sorbs are being forced over the cliff", warned Jan Nuk, chairman of the Sorbian umbrella organisation, Domowina, through the Foreign Press Association in London. Shortly afterwards, the gates of Buckingham Palace opened for Sorbian representatives. Sorbs brought the first foreign gift to London during the "Golden Jubilee" of Queen Elizabeth II. Sorbs have not campaigned in the British capital since the end of WW II. In 1946 they tried, in vain, to lobby in London for Lusatia to join with Czechoslovakia.

Up to this day Lusatia is located in the federal states of Brandenburg and Saxony. Lusatia is blessed with the largest gold, copper and rare earth resources in Germany. Despite its natural riches it is continually denigrated as a supposedly undeveloped region by the coal-mining lobby. However the region suffers mainly from a lack of courageous policies. Even twenty years after the collapse of the communist regime, Sorbs have no legitimate democratic representation of their own. 

There are also signs of hope. The SERBSKI SEJMIK tried to become the first grass roots movement towards a Sorbian parliament. Stanislav Tillich is the first Minister President of Sorbian origin. Musicians of the cult band Silbermond speak Sorbian. The 20th Century Fox studios distributed the KRABAT film, which featured renowned German stars such as Daniel Brühl and Robert Stadlober. However, the German film-makers failed to mention that the bestseller KRABAT was originally a Sorbian epic freedom story, published by Měrćin Nowak-Njechorński.

Girl from Sorbian Lusatia (Foto by Iwajla Klinke)

       


      136 obliterated villages 

      Werner Domain and his wife were the last inhabitants of the Sorbian village of Horno. The seventy year old, retired couple tried to withstand the ongoing intimidation of mining operators. They managed to plant a linden tree in front of their house while giant coal excavators approached amidst deafening noise and clouds of dust. By then, Horno was already deserted and destroyed as if by war.

136 villages disappeared in Lusatian lignite coal craters, right in the heart of Germany.  Germany, the self-proclaimed green technology and eco-champion! These brutal actions accelerated the dissolution of the Sorbian people. On the Internet site www.verschwundene-orte.de one can find the melodious names of destroyed Sorbian villages such as Publik, Bukovina, Horno, Barak, Rovno or Lacoma. 

Horno was destroyed by the Swedish state-owned energy company Vattenfall, although there was no exploitable coal under this village. Vattenfall took over almost the entire East German energy infrastructure during the fall of communism. This was no coincidence, since some of the most prominent East German politicians made a swift career under these lobbying wings. Sweden was also one of the main western trade partners and technology suppliers to the East German communist regime. Today, Vattenfall sponsors Sorbian communications and education infrastructures, which undermines Sorbian self-representation. The Lusatian mining company Laubag announced euphemistically, that they had “appropriated” more than 750 square kilometres of land. What they actually did through this massive land excavation was to destroy an area the size of the City State Hamburg. Prof. Joachim Katzur, head of the Institute for Mining Redevelopment, goes even further in a ZEIT interview: "Actually, the Lusatian mining operators have affected four times as much land, if we also count the land where the flow of below ground water is disturbed."

Thus over 3000 square kilometres of fertile urban Lusatian land were sacrificed to relentless coal mining. 3000 square kilometres of affected land is more than the size of Luxembourg and half the size of the Palestinian territories. The size of Lusatia as a whole is comparable to the size of the EU country Belgium. In Germany thousands of square kilometres of fertile land has disappeared in open cast lignite mining craters. This man-made intervention into nature is the biggest transformation of the earth's surface since the last ice age. 

Over 130 destroyed villages - Strip Mining by Vattenfall in Lusatia

       Fairy tales about clean coal 

      "If we take the global climate change seriously, we need to steer away from lignite coal as quickly as possible", said Claudia Kempfert of the German Institute for Economic Research. Due to its low efficiency and huge greenhouse gas emissions, lignite coal is extremely damaging to the climate. We are now losing more than just the struggle for climate protection. Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) is just a PR buzz word invented by Vattenfall, RWE & Co. The proclaimed aim of this experimental technique is the reduction of CO2 emissions and their underground storage. 

"CCS is in fact a tool to block investments in renewable energy technologies and thus to cement oligarchic fossil power structures," the energy expert of the Green Party, Astrid Schneider, explained. In Saxony, a parliamentary hearing failed recently to make the case for CCS. Vattenfall expert, Hubertus Altmann, admitted in Parliament that the CCS technology can not be industrially applied before the middle of the next decade, if at all.

Lusatian Village - Associated Press AP

        Matryoshka principle 

       Precious metals worth billions such as gold, platinum, silver, zinc and more than 2.7 million tons of copper shale were discovered in Lusatia. World market prices of up to 10,000 € can be reached for a single ton of copper. The Kupferschiefer KSL GmbH applied for mining rights in Lusatia. However, KSL operates under a murky Matryoshka principle. KSL is merely a subsidiary of the Panamanian Minera SA. Minera SA is in fact a subsidiary of the Canadian Inmet Mining. And Inmet Mining is headed by a German geologist from Aachen, its CEO, Jochen Tilk. Only citizen participation can provide contract transparency. And the Lusatian treasure hunt would find some sort of happy ending, if besides providing jobs and profits, substantial investments were to flow into the region’s educational system, universities and Sorbian language programs. Nuk’s successor, David Statnik, demands: "If mining rights are granted to companies for coal, copper or gold, they should have to invest in Lusatia as much as they would have to in Bavaria or North Rhine Westphalia.”

     Nazism,Communism and now imposed Democracy

     Sorbs were suppressed for centuries. They were forbidden to use their language. They weren't even allowed to keep dogs or horses. After a brief heyday during the period of Enlightenment, the brutal German assimilation pressure returned. Thousands of Lusatian families were forcibly Germanized. A key event dates back to the year 939, when German Count Gero advanced his martial career by inviting thirty Sorbian princes to a feast and assassinating them on the spot. In this way, Gero beheaded the Slav resistance against German land robbery.

What is the situation today? "Even after over two decades of the peaceful revolution, we have no self-determination rights as Sorbs. Sorbs are still ruled by others," Benedikt Dyrlich complains. As chairman of the Sorbian Artists’ Federation, he criticises the lack of Sorbian representation in their own homeland. The Sorbian umbrella organisation Domowina is still entangled in a GDR-like inertia and top down politics.

Markus Meckel is well-versed in the matter. He became the first freely elected East German Foreign Minister. And as such he participated in the 2plus4 negotiations with the WW II victorious powers. Recently, Meckel ironically remarked in Brussels: "Perhaps Sorbs would be better off, if, as First Nation, they made themselves a bit more independent with their abundant mineral resources." Meckel became evasive when asked about shortfalls in the carelessly patched German Unification Treaty. Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, patched this treaty hastily together with a “hot needle” and with Stasi-tolerated East German politicians. As Foreign Minister, “this Unification Treaty was not really my cup of tea”, Meckel said.

Thus, the question of who owns the ancestral Sorbian lands is still the focal topic which was neglected also by East German bureaucrats. Who are the rightful owners of the Lusatian land and its natural resources? This crucial question about the legitimacy of the hastily awarded excavation rights remains unanswered to this day.

Sorbian Wendish village Horno - destroyed by Vattenfall (Foto Gerard Petit)

      Silence is death, speech is gold

     Marka Macijowa, head of the Sorbian National Publishing House, focuses on the ground work of Sorbian-German language education. "The Sorbian language will only survive if parents pass it on to their children. Germans, on the other hand, must learn to discover and respect the Sorbian culture as an enriching aspect of their own culture”, Macijowa demands. Meanwhile, Sorbs have also established political links to Berlin, Prague and Brussels. The President of the EU Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, agreed to become the patron of this year's International Conference on Sorbian Music in Cottbus. As a young man Buzek organised the Polish Solidarity movement in Silesia from the political underground.

Help could also come from another source. Agricultural Commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, from Rumania is currently restructuring EU agriculture. His aim is to decentralize European agriculture and to make it greener. If these EU reforms are only partially implemented, it would be a sustainable policy push for the Lusatian region. For over sixteen centuries Sorbian has been spoken and sung in the Lužica region. Ruthless coal exploitation is now destroying the landscape from which the Sorbian culture emerged. 

Buckingham Palace Gates open for Sorb Delegation - Jan Nuk, Tomaš Kappa (2002)

At the reception in Buckingham Palace Jan Nuk and the author handed over a small blue-bound book entitled "Dwe Lubosci Ja Mam - Two loves I have in me”. Shakespeare's sonnets in Sorbian. Also, with the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk in mind, one could say, that Germans and Sorbs now must together learn to practise the techniques of joint survival. This know-how of joint survival is certainly the most substantial and yet undiscovered Lusatian treasure. Lusatia could still rise to become a cosmopolitan CleanTech country. Ironically, also the German majority would benefit from this change.

Only towards the end of his life did my father speak Sorbian again. After he passed away, I found a receipt slip on his coffee table. His living room appeared to have been tidied up as if he were expecting a visitor shortly. On this slip father had written just two sentences: "Witajci k nam" (warmest welcome) and below, also in Sorbian: "Blessings to whom who returns home”.

* Article "Schatzjagd im Sorbenland”, Treasure Hunt in Lusatia," published
  by Pogrom-Magazine of the "Society for Threatened Peoples - Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker“, Ralph Th. Kappler / Tomaš Kappa,  Göttingen 2012 


*  Press Release: Sorbian Delegation at the London based Foreign Press Association
   Joint statement of HALO ENERGY and DOMOWINA, London 2002 
   https://independent.academia.edu/RalphThomasKappler


* Sorb EU Memorandum to EU-President José Manuel Barroso,
   Sorbisches EU Memorandum an EU Präsident José Manuel Barroso,
   Brussels / Budyšin / Bautzen, 7th of June 2012   
   https://independent.academia.edu/RalphThomasKappler

* Ralph Th. Kappler / Tomaš Kappa founded the HALO ENERGY 
  CleanTech communications network in 2002 in London.
  https://www.halo-energy.com


Distributed by HALO ENERGY


Web: https://www.halo-energy.com

MORE INFORMATION  ON SORBIAN LUSATIA

Institucije | Institutionen | Institutions

Ludowe nakładnistwo Domowina/
Domowina-Verlag Bautzen/
Domowina People's press

Łužiska Alianca – Lusatia Alliance - Lausitzer Allianz

Serbski Sejmik
Za serbske ludowe zastupnistwo – Initiative for Sorbian Parliament

Němsko-Serbske ludowe dźiwadło
Deutsch-Sorbisches Volkstheater
German-Sorbian People's Theater 

Rěčny centrum WITAJ/Sprachzentrum WITAJ Bautzen/
Language centre WITAJ in Bautzen

Serbska kulturna informacija/Sorbische Kulturinformation Bautzen/
Sorbian cultural Information Bautzen 

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Sorbisches Kulturzentrum Schleife
Sorbian cultural centrum Slepo/Schleife 

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Sorbian institute 

Serbski ludowy ansambl/
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Sorbian National Ensemble 

Serbski muzej Budyšin/
Sorbisches Museum Bautzen/
Sorbian Museum Bautzen/Budyšin

Kubłanje & šule | Bildung & Schulen | Education & schools

Uniwersita Lipsk/Universität Leipzig
Institut za sorabistiku
Institut für Sorabistik
Institute of Sorbian Studies

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WITAJ-project

Towarstwa & organizacije | Vereine & Organisationen | Associations

FUEVFederalistiska unija Europskich narodnych skupin/
Föderalistische Union Europäischer Volksgruppen/
Federal Union of European Nationalities 

Sinti und RomaZentralrat deutscher Sinti und Roma,
Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrum

YIVO Yiddish Scientific Institute - יִדישער װיסנשאַפֿטלעכער אינסטיטוט

Karsten Troyke - Yiddish Singer - Publisher on Yiddish Music

YEN - JEV - MENS
Młodźina Europskich narodnych skupin/
Jugend Europäischer Volksgruppen/
Youth of European Nationalities 

Serbske ewangelske towarstwo z.t.
Sorbischer evangelischer Verein e.V. 

  

Texas Wendish Heritage Society & Museum 

Medije | Medien | Media 

"Katolski Posoł" - časopis katolskich Serbow/ 
Zeitschrift der katholischen Sorben/
Magazin of the Roman-catholic Sorbs 

Lusatia Verlag Bautzen Nakładnistwo Lusatia
Lusatia - publishing house 

Nowy Casnik Niedersorbische Wochenzeitung
Lowersorbian weekly newspaper

RBB - Serbski rozgłos 
RBB - Sorbischer Rundfunk
RBB - Lower Sorbian program 

RBB- Magazin "Łužyca - Sorbisches aus der Lausitz"

ROZHLAD 
Sorbische Kulturzeitschrift/
Sorbian cultural magazin 

RUNJEWONLINE.info - Swobodny online-magacin 
Upper Sorbian free online-magazine

Serbske NowinyObersorbische Abendzeitung
Upper Sorbian evening newspaper

www.sorbenland.info

Wikipedija - hornjoserbsce Wikipedia - obersorbisch 

HALO ENERGY

Schatzjagd im Sorbenland

Schatzjagd im Sorbenland

Tomaš Kappa / Ralph Th. Kappler

„Ein Jahrtausend schon und länger dulden wir uns brüderlich. 
Du, du duldest, daß ich atme. Daß du rasest, dulde ich.“  
(Heinrich Heine „An Edom“)

Erzählt wird hier die Geschichte von Deutschlands kleinem Geheimnis. Sorben dürfen Folklore für Sonntagsausflügler tanzen. Ihre Rechte aber werden missachtet. Wie der Staatssender MDR enthüllte, werden unwiederbringliche Kulturlandschaften und zahlreiche sorbische Dörfer der Lausitz unter Berufung auf in der Nazizeit eingeführte Braunkohleverordnungen zerstört. Die Sorben sind die kleinste slawische Nation und eine nationale Minderheit in Deutschland, die in der sich über die Bundesländer Brandenburg und Sachsen erstreckenden Lausitz lebt. Sie kultivierten die Lausitz und leben dort seit über 1600 Jahren, stets unter deutschem Druck, ihre Zivilisation und slawische Identität aufzugeben.

Der Rechtsstaat Deutschland drückt so bis heute mit Zwangsgesetzen im großen Stil Enteignungen von Wohnhäusern und Grundstücken durch. Also mit Zwangsgesetzen, die für Hitlers Kriegswirtschaft eingeführt wurden! Diese Willkür wurde von der Bundesrepublik systematisch vor dem Ausland verheimlicht. Damit nicht genug. Denn zur Zerstörung sorbischer Kulturwelten bedient sich Deutschland seit einigen Jahren auch des schwedischen Staatskonzerns Vattenfall. So sind wir Zeuge eines Skandals, bei dem selbst das Vorzeigeland Schweden auf sinisteren Umwegen von Nazi Verordnungen profitiert. Denn nur mit der Drohkulisse von Zwangsenteignungen kann Vattenfall den ungezügelten Braunkohleraubbau in der Lausitz forcieren.   

"Ein Viertel unserer Nation ist von der Kohlelobby aus der Heimat gezwungen worden. Sorben stehen mit dem Rücken zur Wand", warnte eindringlich Jan Nuk, der Vorsitzende des sorbischen Nationalverbandes Domowina in der Londoner Foreign Press Association. Wenig später öffnete sich das Tor zum Buckingham Palace für die Sorbenvertreter. Sorben brachten 2002 das erste Auslandsgeschenk überhaupt zum„Golden Jubilee“ von Königin Elisabeth II. nach London. Seit dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges wagten damit Sorben wieder einen Vorstoß in der britischen Hauptstadt. 1946 hatten sie dort vergeblich um die Angliederung des Sorbenlandes an die Tschechoslowakei geworben. 

Lusatia briefing at Foreign Press Association, London May 2002
(Jan Nuk, Domowina Chairman, left / Tomaš Kappa / Ralph Thomas Kappler, centre)

Bereits vor anderthalbtausend Jahren wurde die Lausitz von Sorben kultiviert. Die Lausitz, oder Lužica, wie das wasserreiche Land von dessen „First Nation“ zärtlich genannt wird, ist eine der ältesten und an Bodenschätzen wie Gold, Platin, Kupfer und seltenen Erden reichsten Kulturlandschaften Europas. Diese Schätze können sich als Segen für die von der Kohlelobby als strukturschwach stigmatisierte Region erweisen. Aber es fehlt an couragierter Politik. 

Doch es gibt noch einen kleinen Funken an Zuversicht. Unlängst gab es einen ersten Versuch, über den SERBSKI SEJMIK ein eigenständiges sorbisches Parlament zu schaffen. Stanislav Tillich ist der erste sorbische Ministerpräsident. Musiker der Kultband Silbermond sprechen Sorbisch. Im mit "brillianten Stars" wie Daniel Brühl und Robert Stadlober besetzten und von den 20th Century Fox-Studios vertriebenen Fantasy-Abenteuerfilm KRABAT fehlt jedoch der einfache Hinweis, dass der Bestseller KRABAT ursprünglich als sorbisches Freiheitsepos von Měrćin Nowak-Njechorński herausgegeben wurde.

Mädchen aus Sorbischer Lausitz (Foto by Iwajla Klinke)

136 ausgelöschte Dörfer

Werner Domain und seine Frau waren die letzten Bewohner des Dorfes Horno. Das Rentnerpaar hatte den mit Angeboten umkränzten Einschüchterungen der Kohlestromer bis zuletzt widerstanden. Sie waren beide über siebzig und pflanzten selbst noch einen Lindenbaum vor das Haus, als sich die Kohlebagger schon in brachialem Lärm und Staubwolken an den Familiensitz herangefressen hatten. Horno war da verlassen und zerstört wie nach einem Krieg. Über 136 Dörfer verschwanden mitten in Deutschland, dem Land der selbsternannten Technologie- und Ökoweltmeister, in Lausitzer Kohlekratern. Damit wurde auch die Auflösung des sorbischen Volkes beschleunigt. Auf dem Internetportal www.verschwundene-orte.de finden sich klangvolle sorbische Ortsnamen wie Publik, Bukowina, Horno, Barak, Rowno oder Lacoma.

Sie schweben noch als Echo über einer in Kohlegruben versunkenen Welt. Horno wurde vom schwedischen Energiekonzern Vattenfall zerstört, obwohl es dort nicht einmal erschließbare Kohle gab. Heute ist vor allem die sorbische Region Schleife bedroht. Die Lausitzer Bergbau AG verkündet euphemistisch, dass sie über 750 Quadratkilometer Land "in Anspruch genommen hätte". Dabei handelt es sich um die Zerstörung eines Gebietes von der Größe des Stadtstaates Hamburg. Prof. Joachim Katzur, Leiter des Institutes für Bergbaufolgelandschaften, wird in einem ZEIT-Gespräch konkreter: "Eigentlich beeinträchtigt der Lausitzer Bergbau eine viermal so große Fläche, wenn die Landstriche, in denen der Fluss des Grundwassers gestört ist, dazu gerechnet werden."

Damit wurden über 3000 Quadratkilometer fruchtbaren Lausitzer Landes dem unersättlichen Braunkohleabbau geopfert. 3000 Quadratkilometer Land sind mehr als die Fläche des Fürstentums Luxemburg. 3000 Quadratkilometer Land entspricht der Hälfte der palästinensischen Gebiete. Die Lausitz als Ganzes ist vergleichbar mit der Größe des EU-Staates Belgien. In Deutschland wurden tausende Quadratkilometer fruchtbaren Bodens in Braunkohle Kratern vernichtet. Dieser Menschen gemachte Eingriff in die Natur ist die schwerwiegendste Umwälzung der Erdoberfläche seit der letzten Eiszeit.

    Märchen von sauberer Kohle

„Wenn wir den globalen Klimaschutz ernst nehmen, müssen wir so schnell wie möglich von der Kohle weg“,fordert Claudia Kempfert vom Deutschen Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung. Denn gerade Braunkohle ist wegen ihres niedrigen Wirkungsgrads und des bei der Verstromung produzierten Treibhausgases CO2 extrem klimafeindlich. Doch es geht mehr verloren als nur der Kampf ums Klima. "Carbon Capture & Storage" ist ein aufgeblasenes Zauberwort von Vattenfall, RWE und Co. Ziel dieser Versuchstechnik soll die Verringerung von CO2-Emissionen durch unterirdische Lagerung sein. "CCS ist doch eher ein Instrument, Investitionen in regenerative Energien zu blockieren und so oligarchische Strukturen zu zementieren“, erwidert die Energieexpertin der Grünen, Astrid Schneider. In Sachsen wurde eine Landtagsanhörung kürzlich zum Offenbarungseid. Der als Sachverständiger geladene Vattenfall-Vorstand Hubertus Altmann gestand dem Parlament, dass die CCS-Technologie erst Mitte des nächsten Jahrzehnts großtechnisch verfügbar sein würde.

Lusatian Village - Associated Press AP

    Schatzgräber unter panamaischer Flagge

In der Sorbenheimat wurden Edelmetalle im mehrstelligen Milliardenwert entdeckt, darunter Gold, Platin, Silber, Zink und auch über 2,7 Millionen Tonnen Kupferschiefer. Schon für eine einzige Tonne Kupfer lassen sich Weltmarktpreise von bis zu 10.000 Euro erzielen. Die KSL Kupferschiefer GmbH bewirbt sich um Schürfrechte in der Lausitz. Bei der KSL dominiert das Matrjoschka-Prinzip. Denn die GmbH ist nur eine Tochter der unter panamaischer Flagge schürfenden Minera S.A.; die wiederum nur eine Tochter der kanadischen Inmet Mining ist. Inmet Mining steht dann unter Leitung eines Aachener Geologen, des CEO Jochen Tilk. Die ausstehende Bürgerbeteiligung könnte nun für etwas Vertragstransparenz sorgen. Ein Happy End wird die euphorische Schatzsuche aber nur finden, wenn neben Arbeitsplätzen auch satte Gewinne in die Region fließen; so Investitionen in Bildung, in Lausitzer Hochschulen und die sorbisch-deutsche WITAJ Sprachinitiative. Hier setzt der Nuk-Nachfolger David Statnik den Hebel an: "Wenn Schürfrechte an Konzerne für Kohle, Kupfer, Gold oder Platin vergeben werden, muss man wie im Ruhrgebiet auch in der Lausitz einen Obolus für jede Tonne geförderter Bodenschätze aus Steuereinnahmen entrichten." Damit ließen sich Infrastrukturen, sorbische Sprachprojekte und regionale Hochschulen finanzieren, wo mehrsprachige Angestellte Arbeit finden und zukunftsträchtige Branchen entstehen.“

Over 130 destroyed villages - Strip Mining by Vattenfall in Lusatia

    Nach der Diktatur nur gelenkte Demokratie

  Über Jahrhunderte wurden Sorben unterdrückt. Ihnen war es sogar verboten, Hunde oder Pferde zu halten. Auf die kurze Blütezeit der Aufklärung folgte wieder brutaler Assimilierungsdruck. Tausende Lausitzer Familien wurden zwangsgermanisiert. Ein frühes Schlüsselereignis datiert auf das Jahr 939. Da hatte Markgraf Gero martialisch Karierre gemacht. Den Aufstieg verdankte er einem blutigen Gastmahl. Mit Hinterlist lud er dreißig Sorbenfürsten zu einem Festessen, um sie zu meucheln. So nahm Gero den dem deutschen Landraub widerstehenden Slawen die Führungsschicht. Doch wie schaut es heute aus? "Auch zwei Jahrzehnte nach der friedlichen Revolution gibt es keine Selbstbestimmungsrechte. Wir Sorben sind weiterhin fremdbestimmt", klagt Benedikt Dyrlich an. Als Vorsitzender des Sorbischen Künstlerbundes kritisiert er das mangelnde Mitspracherecht der Sorben in ihrer Heimat. Bei der Domowina, dem Dachverband der Sorben, ruht man sich derweil noch auf aus DDR-Zeiten überkommenen Strukturen aus.

Auch Markus Meckel kennt sich in der Materie aus. Er nahm als erster frei gewählter und letzter DDR-Außenminister an den Zwei-plus-Vier-Verhandlungen mit den Siegermächten des Zweiten Weltkriegs teil. Ironisch bemerkte er kürzlich in Brüssel: "Die Sorben könnten doch besser fahren, wenn sie sich als First Nation samt der Lausitzer Bodenschätze selbständiger machen." Als Meckel nach dem von Innenminister Schäuble mit heißer Nadel zusammengeflickten Einigungsvertrag gefragt wird, weicht er aus. Der Einigungsvertrag "wäre als Außenminister nicht so seine Baustelle gewesen". Die auch von den DDR-Bürokraten nur pervertierte Frage, wem der angestammte Grund und Boden im Sorbenland gehört, bleibt das Zünglein an der Waage. Denn wer die rechtmäßigen Eigner der Lausitz und ihrer Bodenschätze sind, ist bis heute nicht geklärt und auch nicht die Legitimität der vergebenen Schürfrechte.

Sorbisches Dorf Horno - zerstört von Vattenfall (Foto Gerard Petit)

    Reden ist Gold

 Marka Macijowa, die Leiterin des Sorbischen Nationalverlages, konzentriert sich auf die Basisarbeit sorbisch-deutscher Sprachpflege. „Die sorbische Sprache wird nur überleben, wenn Eltern sie an Kinder weitergeben. Wenn auch Deutsche das Eigene im Anderen der Sorben respektieren“, mahnt Macijowa.

Derweil knüpfen Sorben auch Kontakte in Berlin, Prag oder Brüssel. So war Jerzy Buzek Schirmherr der diesjährigen Internationalen Konferenz sorbischer Musik. Buzek organisierte als junger Mann aus dem Untergrund die Solidarnosz-Bewegung in Schlesien. Heute ist er amtierender EU-Parlamentspräsident in Brüssel. Es könnte auch aus unerwarteter Richtung Hilfe geben. Denn der aus Rumänien kommende Agrarkommissar Dacian Ciolos baut zurzeit die EU-Landwirtschaft gründlich um. Sie soll dezentraler und grüner werden. Würden diese Reformen auch nur zum Teil umgesetzt, wäre das auch ein nachhaltiges Aufbruchsfanal für die Lausitz. Seit über 16 Jahrhunderten wird in der Lužica Sorbisch gesprochen und gesungen. Der Kohleraubbau jedoch lässt die Landschaft verschwinden, die das Sorbische bis heute hervorbringen konnte. 

Buckingham Palace Gates open for Sorb Delegation - 
Jan Nuk, Tomaš Kappa (Halo Energy, London 2002)

Beim Empfang im Buckingham Palace überreichten Jan Nuk und der Autor ein blau gebundenes Buch mit dem Titel "Dwe Lubosci Ja Mam - Zwei Lieben trage ich in mir": Shakespeares Sonette auf Sorbisch. In Anlehnung an Worte des Philosophen Peter Sloterdijk ließe sich ausrufen, Deutsche und Sorben müssen erst einmal die Techniken des gemeinsamen Überlebens einüben. Das Know-how dafür ist freilich der größte noch ungehobene Schatz. Auch die Lausitz kann zu einem kosmopolitischen CleanTech-Land aufsteigen. Wovon ironischer Weise auch die deutsche Mehrheit profitieren würde.

Vater hatte gegen Ende seines Lebens immer öfter sorbische Worte gebraucht. Nach seinem Ableben fand sich auf dem Wohnzimmertisch seiner wie für einen Besuch aufgeräumten Stube ein Quittungszettel. Auf dem Vater nichts weiter notiert hatte als: "Witajci k nam" und in der Zeile darunter ebenfalls auf Sorbisch: "Glück dem Heimkehrenden".

* Article "Schatzjagd im Sorbenland”, Treasure Hunt in Lusatia," published by Pogrom-Magazin of the "Society for Threatened Peoples – Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker“, by Ralph Th. Kappler / Tomaš Kappa, Göttingen 2012

* Press Release: Sorbian Delegation at the London based Foreign Press Association
  Joint statement of HALO ENERGY and DOMOWINA, London 2002

  https://independent.academia.edu/RalphThomasKappler

* Sorbian Wendish EU Memorandum to EU-President José Manuel Barroso,
   Sorbisches EU Memorandum an EU Präsident José Manuel Barroso,
   Brussels / Budyšin / Bautzen, 7th of June 2012    

   https://independent.academia.edu/RalphThomasKappler


* Ralph Th. Kappler / Tomaš Kappa founded the HALO ENERGY
  CleanTech communications network in 2002 in London. 

Distributed by HALO ENERGY

Web: https://www.halo-energy.com

MORE INFORMATION  ON SORBIAN LUSATIA

Institucije | Institutionen | Institutions

Ludowe nakładnistwo Domowina/
Domowina-Verlag Bautzen/
Domowina People's press 

Łužiska Alianca – Lusatia Alliance - Lausitzer Allianz

Serbski Sejmik
Za serbske ludowe zastupnistwo – Initiative for Sorbian Parliament

Němsko-Serbske ludowe dźiwadło
Deutsch-Sorbisches Volkstheater
German-Sorbian People's Theater 

Rěčny centrum WITAJ/Sprachzentrum WITAJ Bautzen/
Language centre WITAJ in Bautzen

Serbska kulturna informacija/Sorbische Kulturinformation Bautzen/
Sorbian cultural Information Bautzen 

Serbski kulturny centrum SKC Slepo
Sorbisches Kulturzentrum Schleife
Sorbian cultural centrum Slepo/Schleife 

Serbski institut/
Sorbisches institut/
Sorbian institute 

Serbski ludowy ansambl/
Sorbisches National-Ensemble/
Sorbian National Ensemble 

Serbski muzej Budyšin/
Sorbisches Museum Bautzen/
Sorbian Museum Bautzen/Budyšin

Kubłanje & šule | Bildung & Schulen | Education & schools

Uniwersita Lipsk/Universität Leipzig
Institut za sorabistiku
Institut für Sorabistik
Institute of Sorbian Studies

WITAJ-projekt/
Projekt WITAJ/
WITAJ-project

Towarstwa & organizacije | Vereine & Organisationen | Associations

FUEVFederalistiska unija Europskich narodnych skupin/
Föderalistische Union Europäischer Volksgruppen/
Federal Union of European Nationalities 

Sinti und RomaZentralrat deutscher Sinti und Roma,
Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrum

YIVO Yiddish Scientific Institute - יִדישער װיסנשאַפֿטלעכער אינסטיטוט

Karsten Troyke - Yiddish Singer - Publisher on Yiddish Music

YEN - JEV - MENS
Młodźina Europskich narodnych skupin/
Jugend Europäischer Volksgruppen/
Youth of European Nationalities 

Serbske ewangelske towarstwo z.t.
Sorbischer evangelischer Verein e.V. 

  

Texas Wendish Heritage Society & Museum 

Medije | Medien | Media 

"Katolski Posoł" - časopis katolskich Serbow/ 
Zeitschrift der katholischen Sorben/
Magazin of the Roman-catholic Sorbs 

Lusatia Verlag Bautzen Nakładnistwo Lusatia
Lusatia - publishing house 

Nowy Casnik Niedersorbische Wochenzeitung
Lowersorbian weekly newspaper

RBB - Serbski rozgłos 
RBB - Sorbischer Rundfunk
RBB - Lower Sorbian program 

RBB- Magazin "Łužyca - Sorbisches aus der Lausitz"

ROZHLAD 
Sorbische Kulturzeitschrift/
Sorbian cultural magazin 

RUNJEWONLINE.info - Swobodny online-magacin 
Upper Sorbian free online-magazine

Serbske NowinyObersorbische Abendzeitung
Upper Sorbian evening newspaper

www.sorbenland.info

Wikipedija - hornjoserbsce Wikipedia - obersorbisch 

HALO ENERGY

Lusatian Treasure Hunt

Tomaš Kappa / Ralph Th. Kappler

"A thousand years and longer we have lived like dear brothers. 
You, you endure that I breathe. And I endure your rage" 
(Heinrich Heine "An Edom")

This is a story about Germany’s biggest secret and a scandal, its treatment of the Sorbian people. They are allowed to perform their folk-dances for German crowds. Yet, despite their minority rights and despite Lusatia’s abundant mineral riches, the German authorities continue to close down Sorbian schools and kindergartens. As Germany’s State television station MDR revealed recently, irreplaceable landscapes and many Sorb villages have been and continue to be destroyed on the basis of a Nazi law. The Sorbs are the smallest Slavonic nation and a national minority within Germany living in a region called Lusatia. They cultivated Lusatia and have been living there for over 1,600 years, always under German pressure to give up their own Slavonic culture.     
                                 

This Nazi law which was never eliminated, has made it possible to confiscate privately owned houses and commercial properties in Lusatia on a huge scale up to the present day. The original purpose of the law was to feed Hitler’s war machine with the brown-coal of Lusatia. The present German government has allowed the Swedish State energy trust, Vattenfall, to use it to destroy an area in Lusatia the size of Luxemburg.

Lusatia briefing at Foreign Press Association, London May 2002
(Jan Nuk, Domowina Chairman, left / Tomaš Kappa / Ralph Thomas Kappler, centre)

The German authorities have systematically hidden this abuse of Sorb lands, culture and property from the public view. The role-model State of Sweden profits from this abuse and from this Nazi expropriation law. It is only by threatening forced expropriation, that Vattenfall is able to blackmail the Sorbs living there to leave their homes and land. This alone enables the Swedish State company to expand its brown-coal mining at the expense of both the beautiful landscapes and of the people living there.



                                     

"A quarter of our entire nation has been forced to leave our homelands by the mining lobby. We Sorbs are being forced over the cliff", warned Jan Nuk, chairman of the Sorbian umbrella organisation, Domowina, through the Foreign Press Association in London. Shortly afterwards, the gates of Buckingham Palace opened for Sorbian representatives. Sorbs brought the first foreign gift to London during the "Golden Jubilee" of Queen Elizabeth II. Sorbs have not campaigned in the British capital since the end of WW II. In 1946 they tried, in vain, to lobby in London for Lusatia to join with Czechoslovakia.

Up to this day Lusatia is located in the federal states of Brandenburg and Saxony. Lusatia is blessed with the largest gold, copper and rare earth resources in Germany. Despite its natural riches it is continually denigrated as a supposedly undeveloped region by the coal-mining lobby. However the region suffers mainly from a lack of courageous policies. Even twenty years after the collapse of the communist regime, Sorbs have no legitimate democratic representation of their own. 

There are also signs of hope. The SERBSKI SEJMIK tried to become the first grass roots movement towards a Sorbian parliament. Stanislav Tillich is the first Minister President of Sorbian origin. Musicians of the cult band Silbermond speak Sorbian. The 20th Century Fox studios distributed the KRABAT film, which featured renowned German stars such as Daniel Brühl and Robert Stadlober. However, the German film-makers failed to mention that the bestseller KRABAT was originally a Sorbian epic freedom story, published by Měrćin Nowak-Njechorński.

Girl from Sorbian Lusatia (Foto by Iwajla Klinke)

       


      136 obliterated villages 

      Werner Domain and his wife were the last inhabitants of the Sorbian village of Horno. The seventy year old, retired couple tried to withstand the ongoing intimidation of mining operators. They managed to plant a linden tree in front of their house while giant coal excavators approached amidst deafening noise and clouds of dust. By then, Horno was already deserted and destroyed as if by war.

136 villages disappeared in Lusatian lignite coal craters, right in the heart of Germany.  Germany, the self-proclaimed green technology and eco-champion! These brutal actions accelerated the dissolution of the Sorbian people. On the Internet site www.verschwundene-orte.de one can find the melodious names of destroyed Sorbian villages such as Publik, Bukovina, Horno, Barak, Rovno or Lacoma. 

Horno was destroyed by the Swedish state-owned energy company Vattenfall, although there was no exploitable coal under this village. Vattenfall took over almost the entire East German energy infrastructure during the fall of communism. This was no coincidence, since some of the most prominent East German politicians made a swift career under these lobbying wings. Sweden was also one of the main western trade partners and technology suppliers to the East German communist regime. Today, Vattenfall sponsors Sorbian communications and education infrastructures, which undermines Sorbian self-representation. The Lusatian mining company Laubag announced euphemistically, that they had “appropriated” more than 750 square kilometres of land. What they actually did through this massive land excavation was to destroy an area the size of the City State Hamburg. Prof. Joachim Katzur, head of the Institute for Mining Redevelopment, goes even further in a ZEIT interview: "Actually, the Lusatian mining operators have affected four times as much land, if we also count the land where the flow of below ground water is disturbed."

Thus over 3000 square kilometres of fertile urban Lusatian land were sacrificed to relentless coal mining. 3000 square kilometres of affected land is more than the size of Luxembourg and half the size of the Palestinian territories. The size of Lusatia as a whole is comparable to the size of the EU country Belgium. In Germany thousands of square kilometres of fertile land has disappeared in open cast lignite mining craters. This man-made intervention into nature is the biggest transformation of the earth's surface since the last ice age. 

Over 130 destroyed villages - Strip Mining by Vattenfall in Lusatia

       Fairy tales about clean coal 

      "If we take the global climate change seriously, we need to steer away from lignite coal as quickly as possible", said Claudia Kempfert of the German Institute for Economic Research. Due to its low efficiency and huge greenhouse gas emissions, lignite coal is extremely damaging to the climate. We are now losing more than just the struggle for climate protection. Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) is just a PR buzz word invented by Vattenfall, RWE & Co. The proclaimed aim of this experimental technique is the reduction of CO2 emissions and their underground storage. 

"CCS is in fact a tool to block investments in renewable energy technologies and thus to cement oligarchic fossil power structures," the energy expert of the Green Party, Astrid Schneider, explained. In Saxony, a parliamentary hearing failed recently to make the case for CCS. Vattenfall expert, Hubertus Altmann, admitted in Parliament that the CCS technology can not be industrially applied before the middle of the next decade, if at all.

Lusatian Village - Associated Press AP

        Matryoshka principle 

       Precious metals worth billions such as gold, platinum, silver, zinc and more than 2.7 million tons of copper shale were discovered in Lusatia. World market prices of up to 10,000 € can be reached for a single ton of copper. The Kupferschiefer KSL GmbH applied for mining rights in Lusatia. However, KSL operates under a murky Matryoshka principle. KSL is merely a subsidiary of the Panamanian Minera SA. Minera SA is in fact a subsidiary of the Canadian Inmet Mining. And Inmet Mining is headed by a German geologist from Aachen, its CEO, Jochen Tilk. Only citizen participation can provide contract transparency. And the Lusatian treasure hunt would find some sort of happy ending, if besides providing jobs and profits, substantial investments were to flow into the region’s educational system, universities and Sorbian language programs. Nuk’s successor, David Statnik, demands: "If mining rights are granted to companies for coal, copper or gold, they should have to invest in Lusatia as much as they would have to in Bavaria or North Rhine Westphalia.”

     Nazism,Communism and now imposed Democracy

     Sorbs were suppressed for centuries. They were forbidden to use their language. They weren't even allowed to keep dogs or horses. After a brief heyday during the period of Enlightenment, the brutal German assimilation pressure returned. Thousands of Lusatian families were forcibly Germanized. A key event dates back to the year 939, when German Count Gero advanced his martial career by inviting thirty Sorbian princes to a feast and assassinating them on the spot. In this way, Gero beheaded the Slav resistance against German land robbery.

What is the situation today? "Even after over two decades of the peaceful revolution, we have no self-determination rights as Sorbs. Sorbs are still ruled by others," Benedikt Dyrlich complains. As chairman of the Sorbian Artists’ Federation, he criticises the lack of Sorbian representation in their own homeland. The Sorbian umbrella organisation Domowina is still entangled in a GDR-like inertia and top down politics.

Markus Meckel is well-versed in the matter. He became the first freely elected East German Foreign Minister. And as such he participated in the 2plus4 negotiations with the WW II victorious powers. Recently, Meckel ironically remarked in Brussels: "Perhaps Sorbs would be better off, if, as First Nation, they made themselves a bit more independent with their abundant mineral resources." Meckel became evasive when asked about shortfalls in the carelessly patched German Unification Treaty. Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, patched this treaty hastily together with a “hot needle” and with Stasi-tolerated East German politicians. As Foreign Minister, “this Unification Treaty was not really my cup of tea”, Meckel said.

Thus, the question of who owns the ancestral Sorbian lands is still the focal topic which was neglected also by East German bureaucrats. Who are the rightful owners of the Lusatian land and its natural resources? This crucial question about the legitimacy of the hastily awarded excavation rights remains unanswered to this day.

Sorbian Wendish village Horno - destroyed by Vattenfall (Foto Gerard Petit)

      Silence is death, speech is gold

     Marka Macijowa, head of the Sorbian National Publishing House, focuses on the ground work of Sorbian-German language education. "The Sorbian language will only survive if parents pass it on to their children. Germans, on the other hand, must learn to discover and respect the Sorbian culture as an enriching aspect of their own culture”, Macijowa demands. Meanwhile, Sorbs have also established political links to Berlin, Prague and Brussels. The President of the EU Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, agreed to become the patron of this year's International Conference on Sorbian Music in Cottbus. As a young man Buzek organised the Polish Solidarity movement in Silesia from the political underground.

Help could also come from another source. Agricultural Commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, from Rumania is currently restructuring EU agriculture. His aim is to decentralize European agriculture and to make it greener. If these EU reforms are only partially implemented, it would be a sustainable policy push for the Lusatian region. For over sixteen centuries Sorbian has been spoken and sung in the Lužica region. Ruthless coal exploitation is now destroying the landscape from which the Sorbian culture emerged. 

Buckingham Palace Gates open for Sorb Delegation - Jan Nuk, Tomaš Kappa (2002)

At the reception in Buckingham Palace Jan Nuk and the author handed over a small blue-bound book entitled "Dwe Lubosci Ja Mam - Two loves I have in me”. Shakespeare's sonnets in Sorbian. Also, with the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk in mind, one could say, that Germans and Sorbs now must together learn to practise the techniques of joint survival. This know-how of joint survival is certainly the most substantial and yet undiscovered Lusatian treasure. Lusatia could still rise to become a cosmopolitan CleanTech country. Ironically, also the German majority would benefit from this change.

Only towards the end of his life did my father speak Sorbian again. After he passed away, I found a receipt slip on his coffee table. His living room appeared to have been tidied up as if he were expecting a visitor shortly. On this slip father had written just two sentences: "Witajci k nam" (warmest welcome) and below, also in Sorbian: "Blessings to whom who returns home”.

* Article "Schatzjagd im Sorbenland”, Treasure Hunt in Lusatia," published
  by Pogrom-Magazine of the "Society for Threatened Peoples - Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker“, Ralph Th. Kappler / Tomaš Kappa,  Göttingen 2012 


*  Press Release: Sorbian Delegation at the London based Foreign Press Association
   Joint statement of HALO ENERGY and DOMOWINA, London 2002 
   https://independent.academia.edu/RalphThomasKappler


* Sorb EU Memorandum to EU-President José Manuel Barroso,
   Sorbisches EU Memorandum an EU Präsident José Manuel Barroso,
   Brussels / Budyšin / Bautzen, 7th of June 2012   
   https://independent.academia.edu/RalphThomasKappler

* Ralph Th. Kappler / Tomaš Kappa founded the HALO ENERGY 
  CleanTech communications network in 2002 in London.
  https://www.halo-energy.com


Distributed by HALO ENERGY


Web: https://www.halo-energy.com

MORE INFORMATION  ON SORBIAN LUSATIA

Institucije | Institutionen | Institutions

Ludowe nakładnistwo Domowina/
Domowina-Verlag Bautzen/
Domowina People's press

Łužiska Alianca – Lusatia Alliance - Lausitzer Allianz

Serbski Sejmik
Za serbske ludowe zastupnistwo – Initiative for Sorbian Parliament

Němsko-Serbske ludowe dźiwadło
Deutsch-Sorbisches Volkstheater
German-Sorbian People's Theater 

Rěčny centrum WITAJ/Sprachzentrum WITAJ Bautzen/
Language centre WITAJ in Bautzen

Serbska kulturna informacija/Sorbische Kulturinformation Bautzen/
Sorbian cultural Information Bautzen 

Serbski kulturny centrum SKC Slepo
Sorbisches Kulturzentrum Schleife
Sorbian cultural centrum Slepo/Schleife 

Serbski institut/
Sorbisches institut/
Sorbian institute 

Serbski ludowy ansambl/
Sorbisches National-Ensemble/
Sorbian National Ensemble 

Serbski muzej Budyšin/
Sorbisches Museum Bautzen/
Sorbian Museum Bautzen/Budyšin

Kubłanje & šule | Bildung & Schulen | Education & schools

Uniwersita Lipsk/Universität Leipzig
Institut za sorabistiku
Institut für Sorabistik
Institute of Sorbian Studies

WITAJ-projekt/
Projekt WITAJ/
WITAJ-project

Towarstwa & organizacije | Vereine & Organisationen | Associations

FUEVFederalistiska unija Europskich narodnych skupin/
Föderalistische Union Europäischer Volksgruppen/
Federal Union of European Nationalities 

Sinti und RomaZentralrat deutscher Sinti und Roma,
Dokumentations- und Kulturzentrum

YIVO Yiddish Scientific Institute - יִדישער װיסנשאַפֿטלעכער אינסטיטוט

Karsten Troyke - Yiddish Singer - Publisher on Yiddish Music

YEN - JEV - MENS
Młodźina Europskich narodnych skupin/
Jugend Europäischer Volksgruppen/
Youth of European Nationalities 

Serbske ewangelske towarstwo z.t.
Sorbischer evangelischer Verein e.V. 

  

Texas Wendish Heritage Society & Museum 

Medije | Medien | Media 

"Katolski Posoł" - časopis katolskich Serbow/ 
Zeitschrift der katholischen Sorben/
Magazin of the Roman-catholic Sorbs 

Lusatia Verlag Bautzen Nakładnistwo Lusatia
Lusatia - publishing house 

Nowy Casnik Niedersorbische Wochenzeitung
Lowersorbian weekly newspaper

RBB - Serbski rozgłos 
RBB - Sorbischer Rundfunk
RBB - Lower Sorbian program 

RBB- Magazin "Łužyca - Sorbisches aus der Lausitz"

ROZHLAD 
Sorbische Kulturzeitschrift/
Sorbian cultural magazin 

RUNJEWONLINE.info - Swobodny online-magacin 
Upper Sorbian free online-magazine

Serbske NowinyObersorbische Abendzeitung
Upper Sorbian evening newspaper

www.sorbenland.info

Wikipedija - hornjoserbsce Wikipedia - obersorbisch 

HALO ENERGY