The import from certain 'minor' literatures, and more especially Scandinavian literature, played a notable part in the modernisation of the German literary system at the beginning of the 20th centurty. Via the translational import of foreign models German literature tried to emphasise its own identity and, simultaneously, to come loose of the French cultural superiority. Also from the 'minor' Flemish literature many translations were published during the First World War, although a major part of the appeal of Flemish literature consisted in its standard image of rurality. And it was especially the typifying descriptions of rural scenes and characters that were widely approved. This case study deals with the German translations of Cyriel Buysse's works (novels and short stories), an author that was integrated into the then flourishing circuit of the German Dorfgeschichte.