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55-466: The town was founded in the 11th century as Racisburg. The name is traditionally derived from the local Wendish ruler, Prince Ratibor of the Polabians , who was nicknamed Ratse. In the year 1044 Christian missionaries under the leadership of the monk Ansverus came into the region and built a monastery. It was destroyed in a pagan rebellion in 1066 ; the monks were stoned to death. Today monuments to

110-669: A duke, but remained independent. Their leaders met in the temple of Rethra . In 983, many Wend tribes participated in a great uprising against the Holy Roman Empire , which had previously established Christian missions, German colonies and German administrative institutions ( Marken such as Nordmark and Billungermark ) in pagan Wendish territories. The uprising was successful and the Wends delayed Germanisation for about two centuries. Wends and Danes had early and continuous contact including settlement, first and mainly through

165-464: A fresh recruit, a young officer and an old reservist, standing in a cemetery, all bearing marks of the horror, pain and desperation of the war, flanked by a mourning war widow covering her face in despair, a skeleton wearing a German army helmet, and a civilian (the face is that of Barlach himself) with his eyes closed and blocking his ears in terror. This naturally created a controversy with the pro-war population (several nationalists and Nazis claimed that

220-675: A memorial to humanistic and intellectual ideals in the aftermath of World War I (1914–18). The Nazis, angered by its anti-war message, removed it in 1937 and sawed the angel in parts—intending to melt it down. Instead, it was saved. In 1953, following World War II, it was repaired and installed outside the Church of St. Nicholas in Kiel (the University Church was destroyed during the war), but not before copies were made. The Minneapolis Institute of Art acquired one in 1959 and today it stands at

275-550: A strong admixture with Germans and continued to use West Slavic languages were still termed Wends . With the gradual decline of the use of these local Slavic tongues, the term Wends slowly disappeared, too. Some sources claim that in the 13th century there were actual historic people called Wends or Vends living as far as northern Latvia (east of the Baltic Sea) around the city of Wenden . Henry of Livonia (Henricus de Lettis) in his 13th-century Latin chronicle described

330-574: A style close to Art Nouveau, including some ceramic statues. Afterwards, he also worked as a teacher at a school for ceramics. His first solo exhibition took place at the Kunstsalon Richard Mutz, Berlin , in 1904. However, the lack of commercial success of his works depressed Barlach. To lighten up, he decided to travel for eight weeks together with his brother Nikolaus and to visit his brother Hans in Russia. This trip to Russia in 1906

385-664: A tribe called the Vindi . Today, only one group of Wends still exists: the Lusatian Sorbs in present-day Eastern Germany, with international diaspora. The term "Wends" derived from the Roman-era people called in Latin : Venetī , Venethī [ˈwe.ne.t̪ʰiː] or Venedī [ˈwe.ne.d̪iː] ; in ‹See Tfd› Greek : Οὐενέδαι , translit.   Ouenédai [u.eˈne.ðe] . This people

440-575: Is a historical name for Slavs who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying as Wendish exist in Slovenia , Austria , Lusatia , the United States (such as the Texas Wends ), and Australia . In German-speaking Europe during

495-673: Is mentioned by Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy as inhabiting the Baltic coast. In the 1st millennium AD, during the Slavic migrations which split the Slavs into Southern, Eastern and Western groups, some West Slavs moved into the areas between the Rivers Elbe and Oder - moving from east to west and from south to north. There they assimilated the remaining Germanic population that had not left

550-489: Is one of the reasons for future military campaigns against them by the Carolingians, especially Charles Martel and Charlemagne. While the Wends were arriving in so-called Germania Slavica as large homogeneous groups, they soon divided into a variety of small tribes, with large strips of woodland separating one tribal settlement area from another. Their tribal names were derived from local place names, sometimes adopting

605-544: Is today north-eastern Germany. This did not, however, affect the Wendish people in today's Saxony , where a relatively stable co-existence of German and Slavic inhabitants as well as close dynastic and diplomatic cooperation of Wendish and German nobility had been achieved. (See: Wiprecht of Groitzsch). In 1168, during the Northern Crusades , Denmark mounted a crusade led by Bishop Absalon and King Valdemar

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660-529: The Ben Nevis seeking greater liberty, in order to settle an area of central Texas, primarily Serbin . The Wends succeeded, expanding into Warda , Giddings , Austin, Houston, Fedor, Swiss Alp, Port Arthur, Mannheim, Copperas Cove, Vernon, Walburg, The Grove, Bishop, and the Rio Grande Valley. A strong emphasis on tradition, principles, and education is evident today in families descendant from

715-682: The Académie Julian , from 1895 to 1897, but remained critical of the German tendency to copy the style of French artists. Nevertheless, he returned to Paris again for a few months in 1897 to undertake further studies. After his studies, Barlach worked for some time as a sculptor in Hamburg and Altona , working mainly in an Art Nouveau style. He produced illustrations for the Art Nouveau magazine Jugend 1897–1902, and made sculpture in

770-613: The Güstrower Ehrenmal (Güstrow cenotaph) and the Hamburger Ehrenmal (Hamburg cenotaph). Barlach himself was prohibited from working as a sculptor, and his membership in the art academies was canceled. This rejection is reflected in his final works before his death from heart failure on 24 October 1938 in Rostock , Mecklenburg . As a result of Nazi propaganda, Barlach was shunned by his fellow townspeople and

825-577: The Middle Ages , the term "Wends" was interpreted as synonymous with "Slavs" and sporadically used in literature to refer to West Slavs and South Slavs living within the Holy Roman Empire . The name has possibly survived in Finnic languages ( Finnish : Venäjä [ˈʋe̞.næ.jæ] , Estonian : Vene [ˈve.ne] , Karelian : Veneä ), denoting modern Russia . According to one theory, Germanic peoples first applied this name to

880-779: The Saxons , a Wend ( Wende ) was a Slav living in the area west of the River Oder , an area later entitled Germania Slavica , settled by the Polabian Slav tribes (mentioned above) in the north and by others, such as the Sorbs and the Milceni , further south (see Sorbian March ). The Germans in the south used the term Winde instead of Wende and applied it, just as the Germans in the north, to Slavs they had contact with; e.g.,

935-515: The ancient Veneti . For the medieval Scandinavians , the term Wends ( Vender ) meant Slavs living near the southern shore of the Baltic Sea ( Vendland ), and the term was therefore used to refer to Polabian Slavs like the Obotrites , Rugian Slavs , Veleti / Lutici , and Pomeranian tribes . For people living in the medieval Northern Holy Roman Empire and its precursors, especially for

990-494: The 24th Street entrance to the museum, the saw marks still visible. In 1931 Barlach started to live with Marga Böhmer, whereas her ex-husband and Barlach's friend Bernhard Böhmer lived with his new wife Hella. In 1936, Barlach's works were confiscated during an exhibition together with the works of Käthe Kollwitz and Wilhelm Lehmbruck , and the majority of his remaining works were confiscated as " degenerate art ", for example

1045-527: The Baltic shores (and, in turn, the Wends often raided the raiders). The Holy Roman Empire and its margraves tried to restore their marches. In 1068/69, a German expedition took and destroyed Rethra , one of the major pagan Wend temples. The Wendish religious centre shifted to Arkona thereafter. In 1124 and 1128, the Pomeranians and some Lutici were baptised. In 1147, the Wend crusade took place in what

1100-577: The German journal Simplicissimus , and started to produce some literature. His works were shown on various exhibitions. He also spent ten months in Florence , Italy in 1909 and afterwards settled in 1910 in Güstrow in Mecklenburg , where he spent the rest of his life. In the years before World War I , Barlach was a patriotic and enthusiastic supporter of the war, awaiting a new artistic age from

1155-553: The German-Roman Empire) explicitly recognised in its Art. 31 that the German-Roman Empire was a multi-national entity with "diverse nations distinct in customs, manner of life, and in language". For that it stipulated "the sons, or heirs and successors of the illustrious prince electors, ... since they are expected in all likelihood to have naturally acquired the German language, ... shall be instructed in

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1210-718: The Germanic tradition (e.g. Heveller from Havel , Rujanes from Rugians ). Settlements were secured by round burghs made of wood and clay, where either people could retreat in case of a raid from the neighbouring tribe or used as military strongholds or outposts. Some tribes unified into larger, duchy-like units. For example, the Obotrites evolved from the unification of the Holstein and Western Mecklenburg tribes led by mighty dukes known for their raids into German Saxony . The Lutici were an alliance of tribes living between Obotrites and Pomeranians. They did not unify under

1265-580: The Great against the Wends of Rugia in order to convert them to Christianity. The crusaders captured and destroyed Arkona , the Wendish temple-fortress, and tore down the statue of the Wendish god Svantevit . With the capitulation of the Rugian Wends, the last independent pagan Wends were defeated by the surrounding Christian feudal powers. From the 12th to the 14th centuries, Germanic settlers moved into

1320-535: The Middle Ages, the kings of Denmark and of Denmark–Norway used the titles King of the Wends (from 1362) and Goths (from the 12th century). The use of both titles was discontinued in 1973. The Wendish people co-existed with the German settlers for centuries and became gradually assimilated into the German-speaking culture. The Golden Bull of 1356 (one of the constitutional foundations of

1375-683: The Polabians from Bavaria Slavica or the Slovenes (the names Windic March , Windisch Feistritz , Windischgraz , or Windisch Bleiberg near Ferlach still bear testimony to this historical denomination). The same term was sometimes applied to the neighboring region of Slavonia , which appears as Windischland in some documents prior to the 18th century. Following the 8th century, the Frankish kings and their successors organised nearly all Wendish land into marches . This process later turned into

1430-509: The Wendish lands in large numbers, transforming the area's culture from a Slavic to a Germanic one. Local dukes and monasteries invited settlers to repopulate farmlands devastated in the wars, as well as to cultivate new farmlands from the expansive woodlands and heavy soils, with the use of iron-based agricultural tools that had developed in Western Europe. Concurrently, a large number of new towns were created under German town law with

1485-404: The Wendish pioneers. Today, thousands of Texans and other Americans (many unaware of their background), can lay claim to the heritage of the Wends. Historically, the term "Wends" has also occurred in the following contexts: Ernst Barlach Ernst Heinrich Barlach (2 January 1870 – 24 October 1938) was a German expressionist sculptor, medallist , printmaker and writer. Although he

1540-730: The area in the Migration period . Their German neighbours adapted the term they had been using for peoples east of the River Elbe before to the Slavs, calling them Wends as they called the Venedi before and probably the Vandals as well. In his late sixth century work History of Armenia , Movses Khorenatsi mentions their raids into the lands named Vanand after them. The Wends are mentioned in Fredegar IV.74-75. The lived east of

1595-604: The bishopric converted to Lutheranism in 1554. Though the town of Ratzeburg was part of the Ratzeburg diocese, the town itself was not within the territory of the Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg, but formed a part of the old Duchy of Saxony and became part of its dynastic partition of Saxe-Lauenburg around 1296, remaining with this duchy under altering dynasties until 1876. The cathedral quarter again formed an immunity district ( Domfreiheit ; cf. also Liberty ) to

1650-535: The closest South Danish islands of Møn , Lolland and Falster , all having place-names of Wendish origin . There were also trading and settlement outposts by Danish towns as important as Roskilde, when it was the capital: 'Vindeboder' (Wends' booths) is the name of a city neighbourhood there. Danes and Wends also fought wars due to piracy and crusading. After their successes in 983 the Wends came under increasing pressure from Germans, Danes and Poles . The Poles invaded Pomerania several times. The Danes often raided

1705-611: The construction of the similar-looking Lübeck Cathedral and Brunswick Collegiate Church with his remains interred in the latter. Since 1180 part of Ratzeburg diocesan area formed a Prince Bishopric , whose ruler was sovereign and as such had a vote at the Imperial Diet . The Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg was the last state in Northern Germany remaining Catholic. After the 1550 death of its ruler Prince-Bishop Georg von Blumenthal , who feuded with Thomas Aderpul ,

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1760-721: The family returned to Schönberg, where Barlach attended secondary school. Barlach came from a Lutheran home. Barlach studied from 1888 to 1891 at the Gewerbeschule Hamburg . Due to his artistic talent, he continued his studies at the Königliche Akademie der bildenden Künste zu Dresden (Royal Art School Dresden ) as a student of Robert Diez between 1891 and 1895. He created his first major sculpture during this time, Die Krautpflückerin (The Herb Plucker). He continued his studies for one more year in Paris at

1815-418: The financial security helped him to develop his own style, focusing on the faces and hands of the people in his sculptures and reducing the other parts of the figures to a minimum. He also began to make wood carvings and bronzes of figures swathed in heavy drapery like those in early Gothic art , and in dramatic attitudes expressive of powerful emotions and a yearning for spiritual ecstasy. He also worked for

1870-633: The first time. He received the Kleist Prize for drama in 1924 for his Die Sündflut ( The Flood ), in which he projects his personal mysticism onto the story of Noah and the Ark . In 1926 he wrote Der blaue Boll (translated as Squire Blue Boll or Boozer Boll ), an expressionist drama in which the eponymous squire almost succeeds in seducing a down-and-out young mother, before both achieve spiritual regeneration. From 1928 onward Barlach also generated many anti-war sculptures based on his experiences in

1925-556: The grammar of the Italian and Slavic (i.e. Wendish) tongues, beginning with the seventh Year of their age." Many geographical names in Central Germany and northern Germany can be traced back to a Slavic origin. Typical Slavic endings include -itz, -itzsch and -ow. They can be found in city names such as Delitzsch and Rochlitz . Even names of major cities like Leipzig and Berlin are most likely of Wendish origin. Today,

1980-457: The introduction of legally enforced markets, contracts and property rights. These developments over two centuries were collectively known as the Ostsiedlung (German eastward expansion). A minority of Germanic settlers moved beyond the Wendish territory into Hungary, Bohemia and Poland, where they were generally welcomed for their skills in farming and craftsmanship. The Polabian language

2035-718: The kings of Sweden were officially called kings of the Swedes , the Goths and the Wends (in Latin translation: kings of Suiones , Goths and Vandals ) ( Swedish : Svears, Götes och Wendes Konung ). After the Danish monarch Queen Margrethe II chose not to use these titles in 1972 the current Swedish monarch, Carl XVI Gustaf also chose only to use the title King of Sweden" ( Sveriges Konung ), thereby changing an age-old tradition. From

2090-478: The missionaries in two of the town's churches commemorate these events. Ansverus was canonised in the 12th century and his relics were entombed in the Ratzeburg cathedral. Henry the Lion became the ruler of the town in 1143 and established a bishopric in 1154. He was also responsible for the construction of the late Romanesque Cathedral ( Dom ), built in typical north German 'red-brick' style. Henry also prompted

2145-421: The most notable creative artist to have made his home in Ratzeburg, is located in one of the town's cemeteries. Ratzeburg is twinned with: Wends Wends ( Old English : Winedas [ˈwi.ne.dɑs] ; Old Norse : Vindar ; German : Wenden [ˈvɛn.dn̩] , Winden [ˈvɪn.dn̩] ; Danish : Vendere ; Swedish : Vender ; Polish : Wendowie , Czech : Wendové )

2200-475: The only remaining minority people of Wendish origin, the Sorbs , maintain their traditional language and culture and enjoy cultural self-determination exercised through the Domowina . The third minister president of Saxony Stanislaw Tillich (2008–2017) is of Sorbian origin, being the first head of a German federal state with an ethnic minority background. In 1854, the Wends of Texas departed Lusatia on

2255-438: The prince-bishopric, secularised as a principality in 1648. In 1619 Saxe-Lauenburg's capital was moved from Lauenburg upon Elbe to Ratzeburg and remained there since. The town was almost completely destroyed in 1693, when Christian V of Denmark reduced Ratzeburg to rubble by bombardment in his unsuccessful attempt to push through his succession to the dukedom against the prevailing House of Hanover . After this event Ratzeburg

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2310-596: The realm offered the dukedom to the Prussian Hohenzollern dynasty in personal union, who accepted in 1865. On 1 July 1876 the Duchy of Lauenburg merged into the Kingdom of Prussia 's Province of Schleswig-Holstein , forming the still existing district Herzogtum Lauenburg (Duchy of Lauenburg) seated in Ratzeburg. The former cathedral immunity district, at last a part of Mecklenburg , finally became part of

2365-619: The river Elbe and were neighbours of the Saxons. The Saxons paid tribute to the Merovingian Kingdom since Chlothar I (511-561). They had to pay 500 cows yearly and had the obligation to guard the sector of the Frankish border against the Wends. However, the Saxons broke their oath under Dagobert I which resulted in frequent raids of Wends into Frankish territory and spreading out over Thuringia and other territory. The Saxon duplicity

2420-666: The series of Crusades . By the 12th century, all Wendish lands had become part of the Holy Roman Empire. In the course of the Ostsiedlung , which reached its peak in the 12th to 14th centuries, this land was settled by Germans and reorganised. Due to the process of assimilation following German settlement , many Slavs west of the Oder adopted the German culture and language . Only some rural communities which did not have

2475-538: The soldiers must be foreign since true Germans would be more heroic), and the sculpture was removed. Friends of Barlach were able to hide the sculpture until after the war, when it was returned to the Magdeburg Cathedral . Yet the attacks on Barlach continued until his death. The Fighter of the Spirit (Der Geistkämpfer), commissioned by the University Church of Kiel in northern Germany, was intended to be

2530-602: The town of Ratzeburg with the 1937 Greater Hamburg Act . From 1945 to 1989 the Iron Curtain ran just east of the town, putting it on the border with the German Democratic Republic . Ratzeburg is known for its Olympic champion Ratzeburg Rowing Club , which was responsible for training, among others, the gold medalists at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. The grave of Ernst Barlach , perhaps

2585-422: The war influenced all of his subsequent works. Barlach's fame increased after the war, and he received many awards and became a member in the prestigious Preußische Akademie der Künste ( Prussian Art Academy) in 1919 and the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München ( Munich Art Academy) in 1925. Barlach rejected a number of honorary degrees and teaching positions. In 1925 he also met Bernhard and Marga Böhmer for

2640-423: The war. This pacifist position went against the political trend during the rise of Nazism , and he was the target of much criticism. For example, the Magdeburger Ehrenmal (Magdeburg cenotaph ) was ordered by the city of Magdeburg to be a memorial of World War I, and it was expected to show heroic German soldiers fighting for their glorious country. Barlach, however, created a sculpture with three German soldiers,

2695-409: The war. This support for the war can also be seen in his works, as for example the statue Der Rächer (The Avenger), from December 1914. His awaited new artistic age came for him when he volunteered to join the war between 1915 and 1916 as an infantry soldier. After three months of service he was discharged due to a heart ailment, returning as a pacifist and a staunch opponent of war. The horror of

2750-514: Was "condemned" (falsely) as a Jew and as a Bolshevik. He died in Rostock in 1938, and is buried in the cemetery of Ratzeburg . In addition to his sculpture, Barlach also wrote eight Expressionist dramas, two novels and an autobiography Ein selbsterzähltes Leben 1928, and had a distinguished oeuvre of woodcuts and lithographs from about 1910 onwards, including illustrations for his own plays. On 2 May 2012, Barlach's carved wood sculpture Weinende Frau sold at Christie's for $ 938,500, setting

2805-467: Was a supporter of the war in the years leading to World War I , his participation in the conflict made him change his position, and he is mostly known for his sculptures protesting against the war. This created many conflicts during the rise of the Nazi Party , when most of his works were confiscated as degenerate art . Stylistically, his literary and artistic work would fall between the categories of twentieth-century Realism and Expressionism . Barlach

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2860-417: Was born in Wedel , Holstein , Kingdom of Prussia , the oldest of the four sons of Johanna Luise Barlach (née Vollert, 1845–1920) and the physician Dr. Georg Barlach (1839–1884). His early childhood was spent in Schönberg ( Mecklenburg ), where his father had practiced since 1872. In the fall of 1876, the family moved to Ratzeburg , where Barlach attended primary school. When his father died, early in 1884,

2915-486: Was one of the greatest influences on him and his artistic style. Also during his travels in Russia his son Nikolaus was born on 20 August 1906, starting a two-year fight with the mother, Rosa Schwab, for the custody of the child, which Barlach was finally granted. After returning from Russia, Barlach's financial situation improved considerably, as he received a fixed salary from the art dealer Paul Cassirer in exchange for his sculptures. The formative experiences in Russia and

2970-403: Was rebuilt in baroque style. The castle, however, was never reconstructed or built anew. Ratzeburg briefly was part of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars , afterwards the Duchy of (Saxe-)Lauenburg was awarded in personal union to the Danish crown in the Congress of Vienna . After the Danish crown lost Lauenburg in the Second Schleswig War (1864), Lauenburg's estates of

3025-449: Was spoken in the central area of Lower Saxony and in Brandenburg until around the 17th or 18th century. The German population assimilated most of the Wends, meaning that they disappeared as an ethnic minority - except for the Sorbs . Yet many place names and some family names in eastern Germany still show Wendish origins today. Also, the Dukes of Mecklenburg , of Rügen and of Pomerania had Wendish ancestors. Between 1540 and 1973,

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