Association of Sorbian Students

Community Away from Home

Founded in March 1991, the Association of Sorbian Students (ZSS) is primarily active outside Lusatia. Its members include students in numerous university cities in Germany and abroad. Larger Sorbian student groups exist in Dresden (“Bjarnat Krawc”), Leipzig (“Sorabija Lipsk”) and Berlin (“Pawoł Nedo”). Accordingly, the association’s regular annual events are centred on these cities. In recent years, Jena and Erfurt have also emerged as focal points of Sorbian student life.

Since 1994, the re-established association Societas Slavica Budissinensis at the Sorbian Grammar School in Bautzen has worked closely with Sorbian students.

The aim of the Association of Sorbian Students is to unite Sorbian students over the years despite their relative dispersion within Germany and abroad, and to maintain their connection with their homeland. In addition to regular meetings in various cities, communication among students today takes place primarily via social media and the internet.

Each year at the end of November, the “Schadźowanka” is held — a gathering of the Sorbian intelligentsia and students in Lusatia. On this occasion, young people organise a cultural programme and publish the satirical newspaper Šeršeń (“Hornet”). The “Schadźowanka” was first held in 1875. Since 1984, the Lower Sorbs have celebrated their own “Schadowanka” one week later and publish a separate satirical newspaper, Slěpik (“Horsefly”).

Each year, the ZSS subgroup “Bjarnat Krawc” in Dresden welcomes new students with a semester opening celebration. The spring hike, which represents the highlight of activities in Dresden, also brings together Sorbian students from other cities. In addition, the students regularly participate in the “Schadźowanka”.

The ZSS subgroup “Sorabija Lipsk” in Leipzig has around thirty Sorbian and German members, who enjoy meeting at the student pub “Centrifuga” in the “Handrij Zejler” hall of residence. Sorabija regularly organises a welcome celebration for first-year students, the “Kermuška” (the Sorbian harvest festival), to which students from other cities are also invited, as well as Christmas and carnival celebrations. Sorbian customs such as the Bird Wedding, Walpurgis bonfires and the throwing of the May tree are likewise maintained. At the “Schadźowanka”, Sorabija traditionally performs a cabaret programme and has in the past taken responsibility for publishing the satirical magazine Šeršeń.

The Sorbian students of the ZSS subgroup “Pawoł Nedo” in Berlin organise discussion evenings under the title “Serbske blido” (Sorbian Table). They also take part in the activities offered by the Society for the Promotion of a Sorbian Cultural and Information Centre in Berlin (SKI) and are equally active participants in the “Schadźowanka”.

As many members live far apart and students complete their studies each year, it is not always easy for the Association of Sorbian Students to sustain a continuous and active association life. This makes it all the more important to create shared experiences for young people outside Lusatia and to cultivate language and culture away from home.