Until now the history of the Sorbian people has typically been told from a German perspective, with the Sorbs themselves presented as "pagans and adherents to obscure practices and rituals". This documentary incorporates fresh sources of information. Starting from the settlement of Slavs in Germany's East, a remarkable convergence of two cultures, during which Germans willingly entered into an alliance with the Slavs, is followed by the struggle to survive during an era of violent conflict and aggressive proselytisation on the part of the Kingdom of the Franks. The third part takes up the mysterious disappearance of a once highly influential Slavic culture, its historical significance reflected by place names such as Berlin and Dresden, and describes then widespread methods of Germanisation, both brutal and subtle. In the process the film reflects on the meaning of early Slavic history for Sorbs and Wends today, as well as the importance of constructs such as a "Slavic" or "German" identity for a modern society located in the centre of Europe. GL
WIE DEUTSCHLANDS OSTEN BESIEDELT WURDE
HOW GERMANY’S EAST WAS POPULATED
VERTRIEBEN, VEREINNAHMT ODER ERMORDET? VOM VERSCHWINDEN DER SLAWEN
DISPLACED, SEIZED OR MURDERED? THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE SLAVS
JACZA VON KÖPENICK UND DIE SCHLACHT UM DIE BRANDENBURG
JACZA VON KÖPENICK AND THE BATTLE OF THE BRANDENBURG
HDFile | Doc. | Farbe / colour
Wolfgang Albus, Pepe Pipping, Christian Heider
Torbjörn Karvang, Reiner Nagel
Moritz Minhöfer
Lars Löhn
rbb Studio Cottbus
Hellmuth Henneberg
Berliner Straße 155
03046 Cottbus
Germany
+49.35.51.43.92 00
www.rbb-online.de
hellmuth-henneberg@rbb-online.de
Wolfgang Albus - born in 1967. He is a TV journalist based in Berlin. He works as a supervisor for history and science films and also as author for the regional history magazine “Erlebnis Geschichte”.