Sorbs (Upper Sorbian: Serbja; Lower Sorbian: Serby; German: Sorben pronounced [ˈzɔʁbn̩] ⓘ; Czech: Lužičtí Srbové; Polish: Serbołużyczanie; also known as Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs[5] and Wends) are a West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the parts of Lusatia located in the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg.

These policies reached their climax under the Nazi regime, who denied the existence of the Sorbs as a distinct Slavic people by referring to them as "Sorbian-speaking Germans".

[8][9][10][11] The name of the Sorbs can be traced to the 6th century or earlier when Vibius Sequester recorded Cervetiis living on the other part of the river Elbe which divided them from the Suevi (Albis Germaniae Suevos a Cerveciis dividiit).

The Kingdom of Bohemia eventually became a politically influential member of the Holy Roman Empire but was in a constant power-struggle with neighbouring Poland.

Under Bohemian (Czech) rule, Sorbs were allowed to return to cities, offices and crafts, Germanisation significantly reduced and the Sorbian language could be used in public.

During the Thirty Years' War, in 1635, Lusatia became a fiefdom of Saxon electors, but it retained a considerable autonomy and largely its own legal system (see Lusatian League).

In 1667 the Prince of Brandenburg, Frederick Wilhelm, ordered the immediate destruction of all Sorbian printed materials and banned saying masses in this language.

With the formation of the Polish-Saxon union in 1697, Polish-Sorbian contacts resumed, and Poles influenced the Sorbs' national and cultural activities (see Relationship with Poland below).

More and more bans on the use of Sorbian languages appeared from then until 1835 in Prussia and Saxony; emigration of the Sorbs, mainly to the town of Serbin in Texas and to Australia, increased.

[a] During World War I, one of the most venerated Serbian generals was Pavle Jurišić Šturm (Paul Sturm), a Sorb from Görlitz, Province of Silesia.

As such, while the Sorbs were largely safe from the Reich's policies of ethnic cleansing, the cultivation of "Wendish" customs and traditions was to be encouraged in a controlled manner and it was expected that the Slavic language would decline due to natural causes.

The entangled lives of the Sorbs during World War II are exemplified by the life stories of Mina Witkojc, Měrćin Nowak-Njechorński [Wikidata] and Jan Skala.

Owing to the suppression of the church and forced collectivization, however, these efforts were severely affected and consequently over time the number of people speaking Sorbian languages decreased by half.

The relationship between the Sorbs and the government of East Germany was not without occasional difficulties, mainly because of the high levels of religious observance and resistance to the nationalisation of agriculture.

As a consequence of the tensions, which split the local SED, Sorbian language classes were no longer mandatory after 1964, and a temporary but sharp decline in the number of learners occurred immediately thereafter.

[48] In 1973, Domowina reported that 2,130 municipal councillors, 119 burgomasters, and more than 3,500 members of commissions and local bodies in East Germany were ethnic Sorbs registered with the organization.

[51] After the reunification of Germany on 3 October 1990, Lusatians made efforts to create an autonomous administrative unit; however, Helmut Kohl’s government did not agree to it.

Liquidations of Sorbian schools, even in areas mostly populated by Sorbs, still happen, under the pretext of financial difficulties or demolition of whole villages to create lignite quarries.

[53] Dawid Statnik, president of Domowina, the umbrella association of Sorbs in Germany, said in an interview with Tagesspiegel that he considers it dangerous that the AFD defines the issue of German citizens through an ethnic aspect.

[62] In another genome-wide paper from the same year on Upper Sorbs (n=977), which indicated their genetic isolation "which cannot be explained by over-sampling of relatives" and a closer proximity to Poles and Czechs than Germans.

On April 30, 1946, the Lusatian National Committee also postulated a petition to the Polish Government, signed by Pawoł Cyž – the minister and an official Sorbian delegate in Poland.

[71] Only the Sorbs of the Kamenz area – predominantly settled on the expansive former site of the Saint Marienstern Monastery [de] in Panschwitz-Kuckau – veered from the norm, with a Catholic population of 88.4%.

Due to the rapid decline in language and cultural identity amongst the Protestant Sorbs – particularly during the years of the GDR – the denominational make-up of the Sorbian-speaking population of the region has now been reversed.

Catholic Lusatia encompasses 85 towns in the districts of Bautzen, Kamenz, and Hoyerswerda, where Upper Sorbian language, customs, and tradition are still thriving.

The region is predominantly Protestant, highly devastated by the brown coal mining industry, sparsely populated, and to a great extent germanicized.

In several villages, residents uphold traditional festivities such as expelling of winter, Maik, Easter and Great Friday singing, and the celebration of dźěćetko (disguised child or young girl giving Christmas presents).

[87] Polish historian Wilhelm Bogusławski [pl] wrote the first book on Sorbian history Rys dziejów serbołużyckich, published in Saint Petersburg in 1861.

[88] In the early 20th century, Polish slavist and professor Henryk Ułaszyn [pl] met several prominent Sorbs, including Jan Skala, Jakub Bart-Ćišinski and Arnošt Muka.

[90] After World War I and the restoration of independent Poland, Polish linguist Jan Baudouin de Courtenay supported the Sorbs' right to self-determination and demanded that the League of Nations assume protection over them.

[96] On 22 January 1945, Jan Skala was murdered by a Soviet soldier in Dziedzice, and his grave at the local cemetery is now a Polish protected cultural heritage monument.