This book charts the development of the Soviet-influenced nationalities policy in the German Democratic Republic, using the internal files of the SED (Communist Party) and the Stasi to demonstrate that the German Communists, despite initial attempts by some leading figures to redress the effects of the repressive policies of the Nazi state, ultimately accepted that greater cultural autonomy for the Sorbians ran counter to their plans for the economic and political restructuring of East German society. The GDR did create Sorbian cultural institutions and the bilingual school system which have survived the upheavals of German unification in 1990.