Newsletter of the working group Non-Kin-State 2024/1

From 23 to 26 April 2024, the annual conference of our working group took place in Lübbenau/Lubnjow, in the heart of the Spreewald/Błota. In cooperation with Domowina – Bund Lausitzer Sorben e.V. / Domowina – Zwjazk Łužiskich Serbow z.t. / Domowina – Zwězk Łužyskich Serbow z.t., a varied and informative programme was put together. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the local co-organisers, participants, speakers and WG spokesperson Bahne Bahnsen for these impressive days. Further details on the conference can be found in our press release; visual impressions you can get in the photo gallery. 

In addition to the exchange and networking, our annual conference had another highlight in store: As part of the conference, participants were presented with the first edition of the information brochure on non-kin-state minorities, hot off the press. But that's not all: we are already working on a second edition, in which even more minorities without a mother state and member organisations of our working group will be presented. You can view the recently published brochure here.

The 68th Annual Congress of the Federal Union of European Nationalities is just around the corner! This time, the largest meeting of autochthonous national minorities, nationalities and language communities in Europe will take place from 19 to 22 September 2024 in Husum/Hüsem (Germany). This year's FUEN Congress is being organised in cooperation with one of the smallest non-kin-state minorities: the ethnic group of the North Frisians, who are at home on the islands and at the coasts of North Frisia. What's more, there is something special this year: FUEN is celebrating its 75th anniversary during the congress! You shouldn't miss out on this! 

In preparation for the FUEN Congress in North Frisia, you could take a look at the North Frisian online dictionary! The dictionary has been around since 2021and so far contains 36,000 words, terms and phrasesin mainland Frisian (Mooringer Frasch). The dialect ofSylt Frisian (Söl'ring) has now been added. Söl'ring hasbeen the language on the island of Sylt for centuriesand is therefore an important part of Sylt's culture and identity. There are plans to integrate other dialects, such as Föhrer Frisian (Fering), into the online dictionary soon. You can find the dictionary here. Havefun browsing!

As announced by Domowina, the first buses betweenBautzen/Budyšin and Kamenz/Kamjenc have beenrunning with bilingual – Sorbian-German – bus stopannouncements since the beginning of March 2024. While the German-language announcements werecreated digitally, the Sorbian announcements werespecially recorded. There are currently Sorbian-German announcements for over 110 stops on twelvebus routes. According to Domowina, however, this isjust the beginning. The aim is to have such bilingual announcements on all bus routes in the entire Sorbiansettlement area of Saxony. To achieve this, around 800 names need to be translated, recorded and transferredto the bus announcements. The project should becompleted by 2025. Further information can be foundhere.