Schleife (; , ) is a municipality of 3,000 in northern

Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...

district, northeast

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is the seat of the ''

Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Municipal associations (, , ) are statutory corporations or public bodies created by statute in the German federal states of Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, and Schleswig-Holstein. In Baden-Württemberg the term ''stipulated municipal association ...

Schleife'' (about 5,000 inhabitants). The municipality is part of the recognized

Sorbian settlement area The Sorbian settlement area ( , , ; in Brandenburg officially ''Siedlungsgebiet der Sorben/Wenden'') commonly makes reference to the area in the east of Saxony and the South of Brandenburg in which the West Slavs, West Slavic people of the Sorbs ...

in Saxony.

Upper Sorbian Upper Sorbian (), occasionally referred to as Wendish (), is a minority language spoken by Sorbs in the historical province of Upper Lusatia, today part of Saxony, Germany. It is a West Slavic language, along with Lower Sorbian, Czech, Poli ...

has an official status next to German, all villages bear names in both languages.

Administration

During the 1990s, there were municipal reforms in Saxony to make the administration more effective and less expensive. In that time, Schleife was joined by the two villages of Mulkwitz and Rohne, and the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Schleife'', based on the parish of Schleife, was established. The parish of Schleife consists of eight villages, except for Lieskau the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Schleife'' is formed by them: Lieskau is a special case, it is located in the state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

. Since 2003 it belongs to the town of

Spremberg Spremberg or Grodk (, ; Polish: ''Gródek'' ) is a municipality near the Saxon city of Hoyerswerda and is in the Spree-Neiße district of Brandenburg, Germany. First mentioned in 1301, the town alone has 14,028 inhabitants, and the municipalit ...

Sorbian culture

Schleife lies within the Sorbian habitat and marks the centre of the

Schleifer dialect Schleifer (German for 'polisher', 'grinder') is a German-language occupational surname. Its Polonized form is Szlajfer, Russified of Yiddish: Shleifer. Notable people with this surname include. * Abdallah Schleifer v S. Abdallah Schleifer (b. Ma ...

(''Schleifer Dialekt'') the small transitional dialect of the

and

Lower Sorbian Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...

languages. It is used in Schleife and the surrounding seven villages of the parish of Schleife (''Schleifer Kirchspiel''). Today it is only used by a small fraction of its inhabitants but there are efforts to reestablish it as a second mother tongue. The language is taught in one of the kindergartens ('' Witaj'' project) and in local school. Old Slavic traditions and festivals are celebrated - by individuals and by groups and organizations like the ''Sorbisches Folkloreensemble Schleife''. In the municipality, there is a museum of the Sorbs.

Notable Natives

Kito Lorenc Kito Lorenc (4 March 1938 – 24 September 2017) was a Sorbian writer, lyric poet and translator. He was a grandson of the writer and politician Jakub Lorenc-Zalěski. Lorenc attended the Sorbian boarding high school in Cottbus from 1952 to 1956 ...

: Sorbian-German writer, lyric poet and translator.

References

External links

Official website
(German)
Website of the "Sorbisches Folkloreensemble Schleife"
(German) {{Authority control Populated places in Görlitz (district)