During the imperial period Sorbian language was exposed to extensive repressive measures in the ecclesiastical province of Silesia. Together with other measures, the ban on confirmation instruction in Sorbian by Lutheran Consistory in Wrocław was a contributory factor. It was possible fot this restriction to be lifted after the the First World War. In addition, the pastors and cantors received supplemantary payments from 1920 onwards, called a „Wend allowance”, to compensate them for the additional linguistic burden. At the beginning of the 1920s there were 17 parishes within the Lutheran Consistory in Silesia, in which sermons were still delivered in Sorbian. However, the increasing lack of Sorbian candidates for ecclesiastical office presented a large problem. The number of new Sorbian pastors went down significantly despite finacial subsides from the Lutheran Consistory in Wrocław for Sorbianlanguage courses and grants for number of Sorbian Lutheran pastors in Prussian Upper Lusatia were in line for retirement, without in being possible to find suitable new Sorbian candidates for the positions, which became vavant.