Sorbian Institute
The Sorbian Institute is a research facility focused on Sorbian languages, culture and history. It is an extra-university institute collecting and archiving Sorbian texts and cultural artifacts making them available to the public. Originally founded as Institute for Sorbian Ethnology by Pawoł Nowotny in 1951, it was then integrated into the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin in 1952. In 1992, the Sorbian institute was established by a treaty of the two German states Brandenburg and Saxony.
The Institute
The Sorbian Institute's main office is located in Bautzen, with a branch office in Cottbus. A new office building to be shared with the Sorbian museum is planned at present in Bautzen. The institute is financially supported by the Foundation for the Sorbian People.The institute edits the academic journal Lětopis since 1952 and two further book series. The "Schriften des Sorbischen Instituts/Spisy Serbskeho instituta" are published by Domowina Publishing House.
Its staff often take on teaching assignments at universities both in Germany and abroad. The Sorbian Institute works closely together with the Institute for Sorbian studies at Leipzig University.
It maintains the publicly usable Central Sorbian Library and the Sorbian Cultural Archives, both accommodated in its Bautzen main office.
Executives
Since its founding, the executives of the Sorbian Institute were:- 1951–1977: Pawoł Nowotny
- 1977–1990: Měrćin Kasper
- 1990–1992: Helmut Faska
- 1992–2016: Dietrich Scholze-Šołta
- 2016–present: Hauke Bartels