The term Polabian Slavs is a generic name applied to the westernmost branch of the Western Slavs, now almost extinct. Those people are often referred to as Wends, but mainly in older historiography. In the Middle Ages they occupied the territory more or less corresponding to the former state of East Germany, the region enclosed by the Baltic Sea in the North, the Oder-Neisse rivers in the East, the Ore mountains in the South and the Elbe-Saale rivers in the West (see map 1). In Central Europe, with the exception of the Baltic Prussians and Lithuanians, some of the Polabian Slavs resisted Christianisation and remained stubbornly pagan until the middle of the twelfth century. In the course of history the Polabian Slavs came under increasing political pressure from the Franks and later from the Empire, in the period between the eighth and the twelfth centuries. From the north they were also hard pressed by the Danes and in some periods from the east by the growing strength in Poland of the Piast dynasty. By the end of the twelfth century most of the Polabian Slavs fell under German or Danish political control. Some of them in the central region, what is now the Land of Brandenburg, and the tribes in the South were fully incorporated into the Empire. Others, like the Obodrites and some of the Veleti in Western Pomerania, became part of the Empire as autonomous duchies ruled by the local princes, while the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland territories, although they continued to be ruled by the Slavic dynasts, had to acknowledge Danish suzerainty. The whole territory, despite some areas being under the Danish crown, became subject to strong German political and cultural influence. Assimilation and German colonization facilitated the process of the Germanization of almost the entire area between the Saale-Elbe and Oder-Neisse rivers. Over the centuries the Polabian Slavs have almost entirely disappeared as a distinct people. However, the process is not fully completed even today, for a small Sorb minority still retains its distinct cultural identity. The modern Sorbs, numbering around 100,000 people are living today in eastern Germany in the region of Lusatia (Lausitz in German or £užica in Sorbian), mainly around Bautzen and Cottbus. Approximately 60,000 of them still speak a Slavonic language. Although this work does not deal directly with the Sorbs of Lusatia, it is dedicated to those surviving Polabian Slavs. [No abstract available - text taken from Introduction]

The term Polabian Slavs is a generic name applied to the westernmost branch of the Western Slavs, now almost extinct. Those people are often referred to as Wends, but mainly in older historiography. In the Middle Ages they occupied the territory more or less corresponding to the former state of East Germany, the region enclosed by the Baltic Sea in the North, the Oder-Neisse rivers in the East, the Ore mountains in the South and the Elbe-Saale rivers in the West (see map 1). In Central Europe, with the exception of the Baltic Prussians and Lithuanians, some of the Polabian Slavs resisted Christianisation and remained stubbornly pagan until the middle of the twelfth century. In the course of history the Polabian Slavs came under increasing political pressure from the Franks and later from the Empire, in the period between the eighth and the twelfth centuries. From the north they were also hard pressed by the Danes and in some periods from the east by the growing strength in Poland of the Piast dynasty. By the end of the twelfth century most of the Polabian Slavs fell under German or Danish political control. Some of them in the central region, what is now the Land of Brandenburg, and the tribes in the South were fully incorporated into the Empire. Others, like the Obodrites and some of the Veleti in Western Pomerania, became part of the Empire as autonomous duchies ruled by the local princes, while the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland territories, although they continued to be ruled by the Slavic dynasts, had to acknowledge Danish suzerainty. The whole territory, despite some areas being under the Danish crown, became subject to strong German political and cultural influence. Assimilation and German colonization facilitated the process of the Germanization of almost the entire area between the Saale-Elbe and Oder-Neisse rivers. Over the centuries the Polabian Slavs have almost entirely disappeared as a distinct people. However, the process is not fully completed even today, for a small Sorb minority still retains its distinct cultural identity. The modern Sorbs, numbering around 100,000 people are living today in eastern Germany in the region of Lusatia (Lausitz in German or £užica in Sorbian), mainly around Bautzen and Cottbus. Approximately 60,000 of them still speak a Slavonic language. Although this work does not deal directly with the Sorbs of Lusatia, it is dedicated to those surviving Polabian Slavs. [No abstract available - text taken from Introduction]

The term Polabian Slavs is a generic name applied to the westernmost branch of the Western Slavs, now almost extinct. Those people are often referred to as Wends, but mainly in older historiography. In the Middle Ages they occupied the territory more or less corresponding to the former state of East Germany, the region enclosed by the Baltic Sea in the North, the Oder-Neisse rivers in the East, the Ore mountains in the South and the Elbe-Saale rivers in the West (see map 1). In Central Europe, with the exception of the Baltic Prussians and Lithuanians, some of the Polabian Slavs resisted Christianisation and remained stubbornly pagan until the middle of the twelfth century. In the course of history the Polabian Slavs came under increasing political pressure from the Franks and later from the Empire, in the period between the eighth and the twelfth centuries. From the north they were also hard pressed by the Danes and in some periods from the east by the growing strength in Poland of the Piast dynasty. By the end of the twelfth century most of the Polabian Slavs fell under German or Danish political control. Some of them in the central region, what is now the Land of Brandenburg, and the tribes in the South were fully incorporated into the Empire. Others, like the Obodrites and some of the Veleti in Western Pomerania, became part of the Empire as autonomous duchies ruled by the local princes, while the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland territories, although they continued to be ruled by the Slavic dynasts, had to acknowledge Danish suzerainty. The whole territory, despite some areas being under the Danish crown, became subject to strong German political and cultural influence. Assimilation and German colonization facilitated the process of the Germanization of almost the entire area between the Saale-Elbe and Oder-Neisse rivers. Over the centuries the Polabian Slavs have almost entirely disappeared as a distinct people. However, the process is not fully completed even today, for a small Sorb minority still retains its distinct cultural identity. The modern Sorbs, numbering around 100,000 people are living today in eastern Germany in the region of Lusatia (Lausitz in German or £užica in Sorbian), mainly around Bautzen and Cottbus. Approximately 60,000 of them still speak a Slavonic language. Although this work does not deal directly with the Sorbs of Lusatia, it is dedicated to those surviving Polabian Slavs. [No abstract available - text taken from Introduction]

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (B. Div.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 1969. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf [54]).

The aim of the diploma thesis was to design new campus at Hradiste St. Hyppolita in Znojmo. At present, a part of this area is owned by the Foundation of St. Hyppolita, which is an organization engaged in archaeological research in this area. Thus, the main idea was to create a new campus, which should be used not only for research, but also for the presentation of the discovered artifacts and, last but not least, as a popular tourist activity. Furthemore, it was required that the new campus completes the existing urban structure of the village and creates new conditions for the its development, which is considered as out of order and economically disadvantageous territory now. The result was overall redevelopment of the part of village. There were placed the objects such the museum, the research institute, the Foundation's headquarters and the commercial accommodation with catering possibility. Urban design responds to the current and the historical context and thanks to the involvement of many significant green elements, there was created a quiet public place too.

The purpose of this study was to examine the apparent contrast between community expectations concerning Slavic immigrants in the anthracite region of northeastern Pennsylvania in the late nineteenth century and the actual behavior of the immigrants. While established groups in the anthracite fields, and American society at large, expected that the immigrants would threatenwage scales in the anthracite industry, primary evidence indicates that the Slavs did not do so. However, the community expectations proved to be so strong that almost all accounts of the immigration of Slavic labor assert that the many union failures, and the traditionally depressed wages in the anthracite region, were the result of the eastern European influx.The contrast between the community expectations and the actual behavior of the Slavic immigrants is illustrated in the presentation of three case studies. The first is a study of the content of a Scranton, Pennsylvania newspaper, the Scranton Republican, which concentrates on latent and overt anti-immigrant biases in editorial and reportorial copy. This study also reviews the content of the publications of contemporary observers and scholars which are shown to contain anti-Slavic biases as well. A second study examines the emergence of the Polish National Catholic Church, which demonstrates the ability of the immigrants to manipulate complex American insititutions such as the court system, and to create for themselves a complicated formal structure to meet their spiritual needs. This was done in the face of vigorous opposition by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton. Lastly, this thesis contains a study of the organization .of the United Mine Workers union in the anthracite region, which shows that it was the Slavic immigrant workers who made the unionization of the anthracite industry possible, after fifty years of failure by the established American, Welsh, and Irish miners.This contrast between historical fact and social perception is explained by using the hypothesis proposed by social psychologist Erving Goffman, and modified by sociologists Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. That thesis asserts that social reality is based on perceptions of events, rather than the events themselves. Since those perceptions are based on social expectations, it can be said that, in the case of the Slavic anthracite workers the negative expectations of American society concerning the eastern Europeans produced negative conclusions concerning their behavior, despite much evidence to the contrary. Those negative conclusions remained in the literature of the anthracite industry until the publication of a study by historian Victor Greene, The Slavic Community on Strike, in 1968, which finally revised the record concerning the Slavic mine workers.While the conclusions reached in this study remain tentative, pending comparative studies in other geographic locations and industries would seem to support the position that intergroup friction is sometimes the result of faulty perceptions on the part of a dominant group rather than any real threat posed by a minority. The possibility that prejudice has primarily cultural rather than economic roots may offer an alternative to the present emphasis on economic opportunity in the efforts to eradicate discrimination within American society.

The presented work focuses on the comparison of the basic characteristics of cultures inhabitating the area of today's Czech republic and the area of the historical Avar Khaganate in the time period betweeen half of the 6th century to the beginning of 9th century. The groundwork for this comparison is the study of 10 sites - 5 settlements and 5 cemeteries. Two cemeteries and two settlements are located in the centre of Czech republic, two and two others are located in the centre of khaganate, the remaining two are located in the border area between them. These sites show us parallels between both preseneted cultures. We can observe the similarities in funerary customs and in patterns of houses and settlements as well. Movable artifacts, some of which we may describe as luxurious ones, also undeniably reflect contacts between the Khaganate and areas of today's Czech republic. Key words Slavs, Avars, Contacts, Ethnicity, Archaeology, Early Middle Ages

During 1947 and 1948, over a thousand Croatian-Canadians went to Yugoslavia as part of a larger return movement that was organized by the Yugoslav-Canadian pro-Communist umbrella organization, the Council of Canadian South Slavs. The returnees were strongly encouraged to return by the Council and by its related Croatian-Canadian pro-Communist organization and newspaper, and left Canada aboard the Yugoslav vessel Radnik in a series of voyages. Many of the returnees had been in Canada for some twenty years, and quit jobs, sold houses and business assets, and uprooted their families in order to return. This thesis places the Croatian-Canadian pro-Communist return movement within the context of return migration from North America by examining to what extent the returnees' decision to go back to Yugoslavia is explainable in terms of circumstances specific to themselves, and to what extent it reveals forces that were felt by other ethnic groups of the period. This study draws mainly upon interviews with participants in the return movement and upon the Croatian-Canadian pro-Communist newspaper Novosti in concluding that the returnees were motivated by a powerful and complex combination of forces: "traditional" return migration pressures; radicalizing and anti-assimilationist influences that were typical during the 1930s among the followers of the ethnic pro-Communist movement in Canada; Yugoslav wartime and postwar conditions that encouraged and allowed the returnees to go back; and a highly-organized and skillfully-propagandized return movement that both capitalized upon and created a desire for return among the Croatian-Canadian pro-Communists. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate