Steinhausgespräch: 'Lever dood as Slaav/Leaver Dea as Slaaf'

Last week, historians and linguists from East, West and North Friesland met in the German Steinhaus Bunderhee for an expert workshop, a so-called Steinhausgespräch. Delegates from Friesland were Dr Oebele Vries (Fryske Akademy), Dr Han Nijdam (Fryske Akademy) and Drs Otto Knottnerus.

The theme was ‘Rather dead than slave’ (‘Lever dood as Slaav’), an expression frequently encountered on the Internet, and often mentioned in connection with ‘Eala Frya Fresena’ - a motto of the East Frisians. Time and again, these buzzwords are used without questioning them historically. Therefore, on 27 March 2025, at the invitation of the Ostfriesischen Landschaft, the Niedersächsischen Landesarchiv - Abteilung Aurich and the Fryske Akademy, 25 experts met for a workshop at the Steinhaus Bunderhee to discuss the political motto ‘Lever dood as Slaav’.

The ‘Steinhausgespräch’ project was made possible by the Interreg programme Deutschland-Nederland and the programme partners, and was co-funded by the European Union. The conference took place within the framework of the Dutch-German Historikernetzwerk of the Ems Dollard Region (EDR).

Dr Michael Hermann (Niedersächsischen Landesarchiv) and Dr Heiko Suhr (Ostfriesischen Landschaft), wrote a detailed report for their blog Ost-Friesische Geschichte.