PHOTO:  Charles Wukasch at the Njepila Farmstead in Rohne, Lusatia, during the Wendish/Sorbian studies summer course in 2012  Photo: Sorbian Cultural Archive / Helena Palmanowa

News has arrived in Lusatia from Texas that Slavic scholar and lecturer Dr. Charles Wukasch passed away in Austin on 2 March 2026, at the age of 85.  He was a descendant of Wendish emigrants to Texas and a friend of the Wends of Lusatia.  “Ja sym Serb” (“I am a Wend”), he proudly declared, and he also liked to call himself Korla Wukaš.

Charles Wukasch was born on 3 August 1940, in the Texas capital of Austin, where he grew up and attended Lutheran schools.  His mother was of Irish-English descent, while his father had family roots in Germany.  As a 13-year-old boy, he learned from his father:  “We are Wendish.”  This sparked an interest that would last a lifetime.  While still in high school, he wrote his first essay about the Wends in Texas.

After finishing school, Charles Wukasch decided to study Slavic languages and literature, majoring in Russian at the University of Texas at Austin, where he completed his studies in 1964.  Visiting lecturer Reinhold Olesch—who had relocated from the GDR to West Germany in the 1950s—recommended that he apply for a scholarship to study Sorabistik (Wendish/Sorbian studies) in Leipzig, East Germany.  Consequently, in 1965, the young Slavic scholar spent a semester studying Wendish at Karl Marx University in Leipzig, living in the Wendish student dormitory during that time.  It was then that he visited Lusatia for the first time.  A multi-day visit around Easter to the Catholic village of Radibor left a lasting impression on him.  With Wendish fellow students from that era—such as the linguist Dr. Irena Šěrakowa and the journalist Alfons Wićaz—he maintained friendly relationships.  Over the decades, he established numerous contacts with other individuals active in Wendish life, including in Lower Lusatia.  For years, he kept in touch—both by letter and in person—with Pastor Herbert Nowak.  Some years after the political changes of 1989, he invited Nowak’s daughter, Dr. Madlena Norberg, to Texas for a lecture and study tour.

After completing his studies, the linguist—who earned his doctorate in 1974—worked as a foreign language teacher in the USA.  Later, he taught at universities and colleges in Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Poland, as well as in Greece, Kuwait, Syria, and Jordan.  It was during his time in Poland that he met his wife, Beata, who was a student in his English seminar.  After concluding his work in Syria, the couple settled in Austin.  For a time, they also lived in Kraków, his wife’s hometown in Poland.

Despite his international career, Charles Wukasch retained his interest in Wendish culture.  He devoted himself to various topics, such as Wendish legendary figures, Wendish folklore in Texas, Wendish poets, and linguistic issues.  For English speakers, he published a grammar of Upper Wendish in 1993 and a grammar of Lower Wendish in 2016.  In 2004 he published his book “A Rock Against Alien Waves”, an outline of Wendish history that was released in a second edition in 2008.  To deepen his language skills, he repeatedly attended Wendish/Sorbian studies summer courses organized by the Sorbian Institute in Bautzen.  In 2012, at the age of 72, he was the oldest participant in the course.  He visited Lusatia for the last time in December 2016.

Charles Wukasch was an active member of the Texas Wendish Heritage Society.  He particularly enjoyed participating in the annual all-day Wendish Fest held in Serbin each September.  In him, the Wends of Texas and Lusatia have lost a loyal friend who, for decades, disseminated knowledge about the Wendish language and culture within an English-speaking environment.