Die sorbische Volksgruppe in der Lausitz, 1949-1977: Ein dokumentarischer Bericht by RudolfUrbanReview by: Gerald StoneThe Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 59, No. 3 (Jul., 1981), pp. 467-468Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4208363 .

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REVIEWS 467 we hoped that if we waited the Partisans might eventually be wiped out by General Mihailovi6, which unfortunately has not happened' (p. I95). But was this a serious enunciation of British policy, or an example of Sargent's penchant for irony, sarcasm and an occasional 'shocking' turn of phrase? Or simply a remarkably frank statement of a desire to avoid having to take an embarrassing and distasteful decision which would cause a row with an allied government and involve an attempt to work with a Communist? Or did the Foreign Office and SOE really believe that if they could somehow or other free Mihailovi6 from his obsession with obliterating Tito's Partisans, they could then turn him into a model resistance leader, docile and eager to follow British directives?

If so, Mihailovi6 did his best, during I943, to disillusion the British on this score. In a brief succinct epilogue, Wheeler shows how this led them to abandon him and to give all support to Tito.

The footnotes to his book are exceptionally full and useful. London ELISABETH BARKER

Urban, Rudolf. Die sorbische Volksgruppe in der Lausitz, I949-I977: Ein dokumentarischer Bericht. J. G. Herder-Institut, Marburg/Lahn, I980. 348 pp. Appendixes. Bibliography. Indexes.

PUBLISHED in West Germany, this book is based on a close, critical reading of printed sources from the German Democratic Republic. By paying attention to the small print and reading between the lines the author has arrived at an analysis of recent events in Lusatia which differs significantly from that found in East German publications. He deals with such matters as Sorbian national consciousness and the use of the language, member- ship of the Domowina, cultural activities including publishing, and the educational system. Prominent among the sources are the journals Letopis Instituta za serbski ludospyt, Serbska .ula, Rozhlad, and the daily newspaper Nowa doba. Incidentally, in view of Mr Urban's observation (p. 7 and p. 259) that supplies of Nowa doba to West Germany ceased in August I96I, it is perhaps worth noting that it has continued to be available in Britain.

Students of Sorbian affairs suffer from a shortage of detailed, accurate information as to what is actually going on in Lusatia. Even those that have spent some time there have only vague ideas as to the number of Sorbian-speakers. Such matters as the number of copies printed of Sorbian books and newspapers and the size of the membership of the Domowina appear to be secret. Mr Urban deliberates on these and similar questions and provides reasonable assessments in most cases. However, when he describes the editions and sales of Sorbian books as 'meagre', while appearing to accept the assertion that in a period of fifteen years 200,000

copies of Sorbian books found their way into Sorbian homes, one cannot help wondering what figure he might think normal for a population of 40,000 (Urban's assessment), particularly in view of the fact that Sorbs

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468 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW

read German books too, yet presumably have no more time than anyone else. Similarly, the figure of I,200 copies for Nowa doba (p. 259) is not really so small (i copy per 33.3 inhabitants) if one compares it with, say, the figure for Trybuna Ludu (a little over I,OOO,ooo copies daily for a monolingual population of roughly 35,000,000). Nor is the figure of 75I members of the Sorbian book club evidence that it is difficult to interest 'the great mass of the Sorbian population in Sorbian books', for this figure (given a total population of only 40,000) would be the equivalent of I,OOO,ooo members in a country the size of Britain.

The section on the language is somewhat inaccurate (especially p. 56), and there are a number of matters of opinion on which I would differ from Mr Urban, but his study is a most welcome addition to the small number of books on the Sorbs published outside the GDR. Oxford GERALD STONE

Hann, C. M. Tdzldr: A Village in Hungary. Changing Cultures Series. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney, I980. xii + 206 pp. Notes. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. I2.00; paperback ?4.50.

C. M. HANN is a British social anthropologist who conducted fieldwork in Tazlar, a village some 50 miles south of Budapest. His book, based on this work, is the first by a British anthropologist about an Eastern European country. It is also one of the few studies of social life in Hungary in the English language. As such, Hann's first-hand experience of socialism as practised in Hungary must be of interest to observers of that country, and to social scientists in general.

Hann's stated aim in the book is ... . to examine the changes which have occurred in this one particular community during the socialist period, and to show how various forms of pre-socialist socio-economic organization have persisted, adapted to, and been accommodated in the socialist period' (p. 2). Hann also attempts to analyse . . . the way in which a traditional peasant economy has responded to the imposition of collectivisation, and also the effects which this collectivisation has had on social and cultural life' (p. 2). Contrary to the implication in this last remark, the community Hann studied was not one of the collective farms which dominate the Hungarian agricultural sector. Tazlar is atypical in Hungary, in that the major agricultural unit is the szakszo- vetkezet, or specialist co-operative, which is a self-administrating associa- tion of farms retaining private holdings. There is also a small State farm in the village, and the szakszovetkezet has a socialized sector. The village is also unusual in its pattern of scattered settlements, known as tan)yas, which surround the central village. This isolated settlement pattern originated in the parcelation of large estates in the late nineteenth century. Both of these distinctive characteristics of the community are used by Hann as a basis for comparison between different types of agriculture within a socialist system.

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