Schleife

Schleife (ˈʃlaɪfə), Uppersorbian Slepo, is a municipality of 3,000 in northern Görlitz district, northeast Saxony, Germany. It is the seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Schleife (about 5,000 inhabitants).

Administration

During 1990s there were municipal reforms in Saxony to make the administraition 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 consits of eight villages, except for Lieskau the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Schleife is formed by them:

German name	Sorbian name	municipality
Groß Düben	Dźewin	Groß Düben
Halbendorf	Brězowka	Groß Düben
Lieskau	Lěsk
Mühlrose	Miłoraz	Trebendorf
Mulkwitz	Mułkecy	Schleife
Rohne	Rowne	Schleife
Schleife	Slepo	Schleife
Trebendorf	Trjebin	Trebendorf

Lieskau is a special case, it is located in the state of Brandenburg. Since 2003 it belongs to the town of Spremberg.

Sorbian culture

Schleife lies within the Sorbian habitat and marks the centre of the smallest dialect of Uppersorbian language, the Schleifer Dialekt. 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.