Jan Skala

Jan Skala (17 June 1889 – 22 January 1945) was a Sorbian journalist, poet and leading ideologist of the Sorbian national movement. In the interwar period (1918–1945) he was active in the Association of National Minorities in Germany for the rights of non-German ethnic groups in the German Reich.

Jan Skala was born on 17 June 1889 in Nebelschütz, Germany. He was son of a quarry worker and a Sorbian costume seamstress. After finishing Bautzen Domschule in 1901 he spent a year in the Catholic Teachers' Preparatory College. He published his Sorbian poems in 1910 and, earlier, some articles in social democratic papers. As a soldier in Russia and in the Balkans in 1916-1918, he deepened his knowledge of Slavic languages. From 1918 to 1919 Jan was working for the Berlin Versorgungsamt. During the Spartacist riots he worked for the Berlin Security Corps. After he got a position with the Ordnance Department of the Berlin police in Moabit. From 1919 to 1920 Jan was editor of the political newspaper "Serbski Dźenik" in Weißwasser, and a co-founder of the People's Party and Lusatian Sorbian sports association "Serbski Sokoł". In 1921 he shortly worked for Sorbian newspaper "Serbske Nowiny", then moved to Prague where he got a position at the government newspaper "Prager Presse". In January 1924 Jan edited Sorbian newspaper "Serbske Nowiny" and started working for Union of Poles in Berlin. In 1925 to 1927 he participated in the European minority congresses work in Geneva, where he established contacts with progressive politicians and pacifists. He maintained contacts with democratic intellectuals in Czechoslovakia and Poland. After the Nazis came to power he was persecuted for his past political activities. In 1936. he was banned as a journalist and his name was deleted from the list of German writers. In 1937 he left Berlin and moved to Bautzen. On January 21, 1938 Skala was arrested together with Dr. Cyž and Měrćink; all accused for conspiracy to commit treason. The People's Court in Berlin, on 1 June 1939, convicted Dr. Cyž and Měrćink of treason. The accused Skala was, for health reasons, released from the prison already on 26 October 1938. From 1939 to 1943 he worked at various Bautzen and Berlin companies. In 1943 he escaped the Berlin bombing and moved to his wife's family in Dziedzice in Upper Silesia . From 1943 to 1945 he worked at "Elektroakustik" in Namysłow, where he supported Polish resistance fighters. On January 22, 1945 he was killed in Dziedzice by a Soviet Army soldier.

...
Wikipedia