Slav Outposts in Central European History: The Wends, Sorbs and Kashubs

by Gerald Stone

While many think of European history in terms of the major states that today make up the map of Europe, this approach tends to overlook submerged nations like the Wends, the westernmost Slavs who once inhabited the lands which later became East Germany and Western Poland. This book examines the decline and gradual erosion of the Wends from the time when they occupied all the land between the River Elbe and the River Vistula around 800 AD to the present, where they still survive in tiny enclaves south of Berlin (the Wends and Sorbs) and west of Danzig (the Kashubs).

Slav Outposts in Central European History - which also includes numerous images and maps - puts the story of the Wends, the Sorbs and the Kashubs in a wider European context in order to further sophisticate our understanding of how ethnic groups, societies, confessions and states have flourished or floundered in the region. It is an important book for all students and scholars of central European history and the history of European peoples and states more generally.

Genres: History

408 pages, Paperback

First published December 17, 2015

About the author

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Reviews

[Andrew Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting account of people who have not existed as a nation for the last fifteen hundred years. The Sorbs, or Wends lived in the eastern part of today's Germany before being overrun by Francs around fifth century. Always treated as a second category, managed to maintain their language and their customs. They claimed, unsuccessfully, their nationhood following the First World War. After the Second World War were hoping to live as a separate nation, or in union with Poland or Czechoslovakia, but had to comply with the Soviet vision of the central Europe.

The author also follows an another group of people with their separate language and customs - Kashubs, who live in some areas of Pomerania, today's Poland. A former Prime Minister of Poland - Donald Tusk claims Kashubian heritage.

In the last sentence of his book the author rightly reminds us that without Wends, Sorbs and Kashubs inclusion, the history of Central Europe is incomplete.