Jan Skala

In January 1924 Jan edited Sorbian newspaper "Serbske Nowiny" and started working for Union of Poles in Berlin.

In 1925 to 1927 he participated in the European minority congresses work in Geneva, where he established contacts with progressive politicians and pacifists.

On January 21, 1938, Skala was arrested together with Dr. Cyž and Měrćink; all accused for conspiracy to commit treason.

Jan Skala was a Lusatian Sorb left-leaning leader and patriot, journalist and well-known poet and writer.

[2] He introduced into his writings more of the social than the romantic or patriotic notes that had marked the older Lusatian Sorbs writers.

[4] As a writer Jan is known for some short narratives, the most important of them "Stary Šymko"(“The Old Schimko”) in which he describes how the capitalistic major industries exploited and swindled the Wends who lived in the moors.

On the opposite side, he saw that the inability of poorer minorities to achieve cultural autonomy would lead to their assimilation.

[7] During his struggle for the minorities rights in 1930s in the German Reich, in April 1936 he published two articles in "Slavonic and East European Review", the organ of School of Slavic and East European Studies in the University of London, under his Sorabicus pen-name.