Mapy Łużyc z 1945 i 1946 roku w kontekście dążeń niepodległościowych Łużyczan

Łużyczanie pod koniec II wojny światowej dostrzegli szansę na utworzenie etnicznego państwa, obejmującego zasięg historycznych krain Łużyc Dolnych i Górnych. Dla wsparcia działań politycznych i dyplomatycznych Łużycki Komitet Narodowy wkrótce po zakończeniu wojny opublikował mapę przeglądową, a następnie tekę map o zróżnicowanej tematyce. Prezentowały one charakterystykę tego obszaru i potencjał narodowościowo-gospodarczy dla wykazania możliwości samoistnego bytu państwowego. Poszczególne mapy zostały omówione w niniejszym opracowaniu.

West Slavic tribes of the Elbe basin lost independence in the 10th century. It is only the Lusatian Serbs living in the Spree basin who have survived up to this day. They perceived the end of World War I as an opportunity to rebuild their statehood, which they never succeeded in regaining. Another chance appeared with the fall of the Third Reich. In order to strive for independence, The Lusatian National Committee was formed in Prague with cartography as one of its modes of operation. One of the results of this activity was Matej Semik's elaboration of a survey map presenting the expanse of the Lusatian state to be, published in 1945 by the state owned Geodesy Office in Prague. The language of the legend is Russian, which proves that it was printed for the Soviet authorities. The southern border of the postulated state is identical with the present German-Czech and Polish-Czech borders. In the West it runs North East of Dresden and comes close to the borders of Berlin. From here it turns to the Oder river South of Frankfurt (Oder) and runs along the Bobr and Kwisa rivers, like the historic Silesian-Lusatian border. These regions haven't been inhabited by the Lusatian Serbs for a long time, so the delimitation has been made on the basis of a simplified historic range formed in the Middle Ages between Silesian duchies and the Lusatian Margraviate. Next year, also in Czechoslovakia, there were published seven color general and thematic maps, mainly in the scale of 1:750 000, and less frequently of 1:500,000, with titles and legend in English, Rus sian and French. The essential value of this set of maps lies in the cartographic expression of independence oriented political thought of the Lusatian Serbs. The toponymic aspect is very interesting, referring to the just forming names on the territory of Poland and Lusatia. The above mentioned set includes a survey map of Lusztia and a map of Europe's communication network with Lusatian borders as well as five thematic maps: Required Territory, Colonization of Lusatia, Transport Network, Industry and Agriculture. The economy maps, which were to show the postulated state's ability to exist independently, carry the greatest content value. However, they should be considered in historical context, because they register the situation as it was at the turn of the thirties and forties of the 20th century in that part of the German state. The lin¬guistic map is less trustworthy, because it seems to inflate the participation of Serbian speaking popula¬tion in order to attain beneficial publicity. Economy maps are more trustworthy, although they use prewar, nevertheless valid data (especially the map of agriculture). They constitute an important document of economic history, generally being the product of Czech cartography, elaborated and published by Czechs with a nonspecific participation of the Lusatian Serbs. In view of the fact that the territory of Poland has been included, the maps should become a part of the bulk of cartographic knowledge incorporating that country. For obvious reasons, the set of maps is of primary importance to the nation of Lusatian Serbs.