The two final contributions are devoted to the situation of a language and its
respective literature outside its home territory; the language chosen is German.
Lutz Götze (Saarbrücken) „On the position of the German language in the
states of the CIS, the Czech Republic and Hungary“ shows that German (after
English, of course) is sought after in the states of the former socialist countries.
This growing demand for the teaching of German should be satisfied, if possible.
Care should be taken, however, that this be done with circumspection. In
no case should such a cultural policy give the impression that traditions of the
past are being revived. In order to avoid this, Götze proposes an outline for a
future policy of promotion of the German language. Alexander Ritter (Hamburg)
„Borders between cultures and textual history: On the conditions for and
the problems of dealing with German literature of the diaspora“ shows that the
literature of German-speaking minorities has specific traits. It is part of a most
complex cultural network, a network that is much more complicated than that
of „normal“ German literature. Description and analysis have to take into consideration
not only the German culture but also the respective host cultures. In
writing the history of the literature of German-speaking minorities, authors
have to meet not only the requirements of normal literary history; they also
have to take into consideration the specific factors of the minority situation.
The various problems connected with language policy in border regions have
not been (and could not be) dealt with exhaustively in the framework of the
Saarbrücken conference. The symposium has shown the rich variety of aspects
that have to be considered in the analysis and it has been able to study selected
aspects in depth.
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