Muzský Hill, on 5 July 1933. The story of a demonstration

This paper deals with the preparations for, and the course and assessment of the demonstration 'For the Cultural Freedom of the Lusatian Sorbs' which was held on Muzský Hill near the town of Mnichovo Hradiste on 5 July 1933, on the festival of the Slav apostles, Cyril and Method. It presents it as a reaction to the persecution of the Lusatian Sorbs after Hitler's seizure of power (Machtergreifung) in Germany on 30 January 1933. The demonstration is viewed in Czech-Sorbian studies as the biggest gathering in support of the Lusatian Sorbs in the period between the World Wars. The material for this article is taken primarily from the press published in Mladá Boleslav, illustrating the regional nature of the demonstration. Emphasis is also put on the link between this demonstration and the memoranda of the Society of Friends of Lusatia (Spolecnost prátel Luzice), which were sent to the League of Nations in Geneva. However, the League of Nations rejected these memoranda, and this was perceived in the region of Mladá Boleslav and Mnichovo Hradiste as a failure of the demonstration. This resulted in a reduction in active interest in the Lusatian Sorbs in this region out of sense of disappointment and disillusionment. The friends of the Sorbs, both from Prague and from Mladá Boleslav, afterwards searched for further significance of the demonstration, which fascinated a number of participants. Later interpretations of the demonstration highlighted Czech national and political unity, stressing its democratic basis and the fact that it represented an uncompromising rebuff to the Hitler regime.