Do You Speak Corona? Podcasts replaced cultural events for the Carpathian Germans in Slovakia

The cultural life of the Carpathian Germans in Slovakia was particularly hard hit by the Corona pandemic. Numerous events were cancelled, including the General Assembly of the Carpathian-German Association, their language conference and the 25th cultural festival in Käsmark, cultural festivals in the Hofgarten and Oberzips, as well as many other regional and local events, reported Dr. Ondrej Pöss, Chairman of the Carpathian-German Association.

The younger generation, however, is reached quite successfully through online and digital offers, reported Katrin Litschko, editor-in-chief of the Karpatenblatt. The Karpatenblatt is still published regularly as a print and online edition, a weekly podcast is published in cooperation with the ifa. Other online offers for children and young people – the reading of fairy tales, sagas and stories were developed.

The online project "Yoga in the Museum" took place, the Carpathian German dialect is presented in a series of quizzes, and online conversations with contemporary witnesses took place on the occasion of the commemoration year at the end of the Second World War.

During March-June 2020 FUEN has conducted a survey entitled Do You Speak Corona? on the situation of European minorities during the pandemic. The online questionnaire focused on the availability of information related to COVID-19 in general, healthcare information related to the outbreak, the existence of an emergency hotline operated in minority language and the availability of online education in minority language. The short report on the results is here and you can download the whole report in PDF format by clicking here.

This series of case studies is the continuation of the Do You Speak Corona? project.