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Lower Lusatia Niederlausitz,Dolna Łužyca,Delnja Łužica,Łużyce Dolne,Dolní Lužice | |
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 Flag  Coat of arms | |
.svg) Lower Lusatia within theHoly Roman Empire (1618) | |
| Countries |  Germany Poland |
| Largest city | Cottbus (Chóśebuz) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Highways |    |
Lower Lusatia (German:Niederlausitz[ˈniːdɐˌlaʊzɪts];Lower Sorbian:Dolna Łužyca[ˈdɔlnaˈwuʒɨtsa];Upper Sorbian:Delnja Łužica[ˈdɛlnʲaˈwuʒitsa];Polish:Łużyce Dolne;Czech:Dolní Lužice) is ahistorical region inCentral Europe, stretching from the southeast of theGerman state ofBrandenburg to the southwest ofLubusz Voivodeship inPoland. Like adjacentUpper Lusatia in the south, Lower Lusatia is a settlement area of the West SlavicSorbs whose endangeredLower Sorbian language is related toUpper Sorbian andPolish.
This sparsely inhabited area within theNorth European Plain (Northern Lowland) is characterised by extendedpine forests,heathlands and meadows. In the north it is confined by the middleSpree River with LakeSchwielochsee and its eastern continuation across theOder atFürstenberg toChlebowo. In the glacial valley betweenLübben andCottbus, the Spree River branches out into theSpreewald ("Spree Woods")riparian forest. Other rivers include theBerste andOelse tributaries as well as theSchlaube and theOder–Spree Canal opened in 1891.
In the east, theBóbr river flows fromŁagoda viaKrzystkowice down to the historic town ofŻary forms the border with the lands ofLower Silesia. In the west the course of the upperDahme River down toGolßen separates it from the formerElectoral Saxon lands ofSaxe-Wittenberg. Between Lower and Upper Lusatia is a hill region called theGrenzwall (literally "border dike", although it is in fact amorainic ridge), the eastern continuation of theFläming Heath. In the Middle Ages this area had dense forests, so it represented a major obstacle to civilian and military traffic. Today it is roughly congruent of the border between Brandenburg and the state ofSaxony.
In the course of much of the 19th and the entire 20th century, Lower Lusatia was shaped by the lignite (brown coal) industry and extensiveopen-pit mining, by which more than 100 of the region's villages—many of them within the Sorbian settlement area—were damaged or destroyed, especially by order ofEast German authorities. While this process is still going on, most notably aroundJänschwalde Power Station, run byEPH, some now exhausted open-pit mines are being converted into artificial lakes, in the hope of attracting tourism, and the area is now referred to as theLusatian Lake District (Lausitzer Seenland).
Today the area comprises the Brandenburgdistricts ofOberspreewald-Lausitz andSpree-Neiße with theunitary authority ofCottbus, as well as parts ofElbe-Elster,Dahme-Spreewald, andOder-Spree. Important towns beside Cottbus and the historic capitalsLübben andLuckau includeCalau,Doberlug-Kirchhain,Finsterwalde,Forst,Guben/Gubin,Lauchhammer,Lübbenau,Senftenberg,Spremberg,Vetschau, andŻary.
Since 1945, when a small part of Lusatia east of theOder–Neisse line was incorporated intoPoland,Żary has been touted as the capital of Polish Lusatia.[1]
The area of Lower Lusatia roughly corresponds with the easternMarch of Lusatia orSaxon Eastern March between theSaale andBóbr rivers, which about 965 was severed from the vastMarca Geronis, conquered by theSaxon countGero in the course of his campaigns against thePolabian Slavs from 939 onwards.Odo I became the firstmargrave; his successorGero II from 1002 onwards had to face several attacks by Polish dukeBolesław I Chrobry, which did not end until the 1018Treaty of Bautzen, which ceded large parts of eastern Lusatia to Poland. EmperorConrad II reconquered the territories in 1031.
In 1136Conrad the Great of theHouse of Wettin, margrave ofMeissen, also received the March of Lusatia. In the early 13th century, Lower Lusatia was either entirely or partly, reintegrated with Poland underHenry the Bearded. Later on, it was once again lost to the Wettin dynasty, who ruled it until in 1303 it was acquired by theAscanian margraves ofBrandenburg. For centuries, from as early as the Middle Ages, trade flourished, and several important trade routes ran through Lower Lusatia, connecting German states in the west, Poland in the east and Bohemia in the south.[2]
In 1319, the southern portion of Lower Lusatia with the towns ofŻary andKomorów Zły (now German:Senftenberg, Lower Sorbian:Zły Komorow) became part of theDuchy of Jawor, the southwesternmost duchy of fragmentedPiast-ruled Poland.[3][4] In the northern part, in 1319,Gubin was unsuccessfully besieged by KingJohn of Bohemia,[4] and eventually fell to theDukes of Saxe-Wittenberg.[5] In 1324, the northern part passed to theHouse of Wittelsbach.[6] From 1364, entire Lower Lusatia was ruled by the Duchy of Jawor-Świdnica, and after the death of DukeBolko II the Small it passed to theKingdom of Bohemia (Czechia).[7]
In 1367 ElectorOtto V sold it to EmperorCharles IV of Luxembourg who incorporated Lower Lusatia into theBohemian Crown. Charles' father KingJohn of Bohemia had already acquired the adjacent territory to the south aroundBautzen andGörlitz, which became known asUpper Lusatia. The former Lordship ofCottbus was acquired by Brandenburg in 1455 and remained anexclave within the Bohemian kingdom.
BothLusatias formed separate Bohemian crown lands under the rule of theLuxembourg,Jagiellon and—from 1526—Habsburg dynasties. In the course of theReformation the vast majority of the population turnedProtestant. The Bohemian era came to an end when EmperorFerdinand II of Habsburg ceded the Lusatias to ElectorJohn George I of Saxony under the 1635Peace of Prague in return for his support in theThirty Years' War; thus the lands returned to the House of Wettin.
One of the two main routes connectingWarsaw andDresden ran through the region in the 18th century and KingsAugustus II the Strong andAugustus III of Poland often traveled the route.[8] Numerous Polish dignitaries also traveled through Lower Lusatia on several occasions, and somePolish nobles owned estates in Lusatia.[9] A distinct remnant of the region's ties to Poland are the 18th-centurymileposts decorated with thecoat of arms of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth located in various towns in the region. Polish-Sorbian contacts increased in that period. With theAge of Enlightenment, the Sorbian national revival began and resistance to Germanization emerged.[10]
As theKingdom of Saxony had sided withNapoleon it had to cede Lower Lusatia toPrussia in the 1815Congress of Vienna, whereafter the territory became part of theProvince of Brandenburg and theProvince of Saxony. One of the main escape routes for insurgents of the unsuccessful PolishNovember Uprising from partitioned Poland to theGreat Emigration led throughLübben andLuckau.[11]
In the interbellum, the Poles and Sorbs in Germany closely cooperated as part of theAssociation of National Minorities in Germany, established at the initiative of theUnion of Poles in Germany in 1924. There were still notable Polish communities in Lower Lusatia, such asKlettwitz (Upper Sorbian:Klěśišća, Polish:Kletwice).[12]
DuringWorld War II, the Germans established and operated the Stalag III-B,Oflag III-C and Oflag 8 andprisoner-of-war camps for Polish,French, Belgian, Serbian, British, Australian, New Zealander, Soviet, American, Dutch andItalian POWs with severalforced labour subcamps in the region,[13] several Nazi prisons with multiple forced labour subcamps, including inLuckau and a prison solely for women inCottbus,[14][15] and severalsubcamps of theGross-Rosen concentration camp, the prisoners of which included Jewish women and Polish, French, Soviet, Croatian and Czech men.[16]
During the war, the Poles postulated that after the defeat of Germany, the Sorbs should be allowed free national development either within the borders of Poland orCzechoslovakia, or as an independent Sorbian state in alliance with Poland.[17]
With the implementation of theOder–Neisse line by the 1945Potsdam Conference, the lands east of theNeisse river became again part of Poland, and the remaining German population wasexpelled by the Soviet-installed Communist authorities in accordance with thePotsdam Agreement, whereas the western part became part of also CommunistEast Germany.
The Lower Lusatian bull is first documented in 1363. In 1378, upon the death of Emperor Charles IV, it appeared ingules on a field argent (red on silver), similar to the coat of arms of Luckau, in which the bull has gold horns and hooves, and turns his head to look at the viewer. After over 600 years it is still used today as Lower Lusatia's coat of arms.
Main museums dedicated to the history of the region include the Sorbian museum inCottbus (Serbski muzej Chóśebuz) and theMuzeum Pogranicza Śląsko-Łużyckiego ("Museum of Silesian-Lusatian Borderland") inŻary.
Żary is the origin place ofkiełbasa żarska, a local type ofkiełbasa, whereas theGubin area is the place of cultivation of the gubinkaplum, bothtraditional foods officially protected by theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland.[18][19]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)52°N14°E / 52°N 14°E /52; 14
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