Silesians
| Total population |
|---|
| Several million (of which about 0.9 million official declared Silesian nationality in national census in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia). |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Poland: 2 million,[1] of which 847,000[2] officially declared Silesian nationality Czech Republic: no data, 12,231 declared Silesian nationality[3] Germany: unknown (historical data: 3.6 million in 1950; 2.4 million Silesians in West Germany in 1970).[4][5] |
| Languages |
| Religion |
| Related ethnic groups |
Silesians (Silesian: Ślůnzoki; Silesian German: Schläsinger; Polish: Ślązacy; Czech: Slezané; German: Schlesier), are the inhabitants of Silesia region, located in a territory divided by the current boundaries of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic.
There has been some debate over whether or not a group of Silesians (historically Upper Silesians) constitute a distinct nation. In modern history, they have been often pressured to declare themselves to be either German or Polish or Czech and embrace the language of the current governing nation. Nevertheless, 847,000 people declared Silesian nationality in the Polish national census in 2011 (including 376,000 who declared it as their only nationality, 436,000 who declared it as their first nationality, 411,000 who declared it as the second one, and 431,000 who declared it jointly with Polish nationality)[2] (173,153 in Poland in 2002[6]) maintaining its position as the largest minority group. About 126,000 people declared themselves as members of the German minority (58,000 declared it jointly with Polish nationality), making it the third largest minority group in the country (93% of Germans in Poland live in the Polish part of Silesia). 12,231 people declared Silesian nationality in the Czech national census in 2011[7] (44,446 in Czechoslovakia in 1991)[8] and 6,361 people declared Silesian and Moravian nationality in the Slovak national census.[9]
During the German occupation of Poland in 1940, nazi authorities conducted a census in the East Upper Silesia. 157,057 people declared Silesian nationality (Slonzaken Volk), whereas the Silesian language was declared by 288,445 people. However, the "Silesian nationality" (Slonzaken Volk) could only be declared in the Cieszyn part of region (before World War I part of Austria-Hungary), while approximately 400,000-500,000 respondents from the other areas of East Upper Silesia, that before World War I were parts of Prussia, who declared "Upper Silesian nationality" (Oberschlesier), were assigned to German nationality category.[10] After World War II in Poland, the 1945 census of the population showed a sizeable group of people in Upper Silesia that declared Silesian nationality. For instance, according to police reports, in Zabrze around 22% and in Strzelce County (both in the Recovered Territories) around 50% of the population considered themselves Silesian.[11]
Words to create an organization - the League of Silesia, whose members were encouraged Silesian nationality was first publicly put forward on the wave of the Spring of Nations. Its author was a painter and poet Jan Gajda, who published his "Appeal to the people of Upper Silesia" (Odezwa do ludu górnośląskiego), 7 April 1849 on the "Journal of Upper Silesia". Later, term Silesian nationality appeared both in the Prussian Upper Silesia, as well as Austrian Silesia, but until 1908 none of them was not clear.[12] Emergence of the Silesian People's Party in 1908 initiated the struggle for national and countries identity of Silesians. At the international talks on the future of Silesia, Józef Kożdoń (leader of Silesian People's Party) stipulated the creation of an independent state of Silesia. The idea attracted the International Commission, but have fallen due to protest the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and the representative of France - Grenard. Silesian People's Party cooperated with the Union of Upper Silesians, who also support as a national identity Upper Silesians, advocated the creation of an independent, neutral Republic of Upper Silesia on the model of Switzerland and Belgium, reaching in 1921 the number of about half a million members (half the adult population). In 1918 secret Committee of the Upper Silesian, distribute unsigned underground leaflets calling for the establishment of an independent Republic of the Upper Silesia. In the years 1925-1934, the Association of Upper Silesians Defense (Związek Obrony Górnoślązaków) demanded recognition of Silesian nationality, as a national minority in Poland.[12]
Contents |
History[edit]
Archeological findings of the 20th century in Silesia confirm an early settlement by Celtic tribes.[13]
Before the 5th century, Silesia was probably inhabited by the Germanic Silingi. Tacitus in his description of Magna Germania mentions Suevi: Marsigni, Osi, Gothini, Burii in what later became Silesia and Burgundiones and Lygii at the Vistula.[14]
The Slavs entered Silesia in the first half of the 7th century. The territories were mostly abandoned because the Celtic and Germanic tribes that dwelt here before had earlier moved west.[15] Chronologically the first group of Slavs were those that earlier dwelt by the Dnieper River, the second one was the Sukov-Dzidzice type Slavs, the last were groups of Avaro-Slavic peoples from the Danube river areas.[16] In the early 9th century the settlement stabilized. Local Slavs started to erect defence systems such as Silesian Przesieka and the Silesia Walls to guard them from the peoples of the West. The north-eastern border with Slavic Polans was not defended due to their common culture and language.[17]
The 9th-century Bavarian Geographer records the tribal names of the Opolanie, Dadosesani, Golenzizi, Lupiglaa and the Ślężanie. The 1086 Prague Document, that is believed to show the 10th century settlement situation,[17] mentions also the Bobrzanie and Trzebowianie tribes. They were later classified as part of West Slavic Polish tribes - the Silesian tribes.[18]
Middle Ages[edit]
The territory they lived on became part of the Great Moravia in 875 and later, in 990, first Polish state created by duke Mieszko I and then expanded by king Boleslaw I at the beginning of the 11th century, who in the year 1000 established the Bishopric of Wrocław. In those days the eastern border of Silesian tribes settlement was situated to the west of the gród Bytom, and east from Racibórz and Cieszyn. East from this line dwelled other closely related Slavic tribe - Wiślanie.
In the Middle Ages Slavic tribal confederacies and then Slavic states dominated, Silesia was part of Moravia, then Bohemia and finally the Piast monarchy of Poland. Within Poland, from 1177 onward, it was divided into many smaller duchies. In 1178, parts of the Duchy of Kraków around Bytom, Oświęcim, Chrzanów and Siewierz were transferred to the Silesian Piasts, yet their population was of Vistulan and not of Silesian descent.[19] Parts of those territories were bought by the Polish kings in the second half of the 15th century but the Bytom area remained in the possession of the Silesian Piasts, even though it remained a part of the Diocese of Kraków.[19] Between 1327 and 1348 duchies of Silesia came under suzerainty of the Crown of Bohemia, and passed with that crown to the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria in 1526.
In 14th century Silesia was settled by Germans, becoming the majority of the population in Silesia for the next centuries. Germans began to build a lot of towns in Silesia. But also in the 12th and 13th century Germans settled in a minor number in Silesia.
Modern history[edit]
In 1742, most of Silesia was seized by King Frederick the Great of Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession, who in his first declaration to the Silesians named himself a 'Piast prince' (he was in fact a remote descendant). The remainder of Silesia or Cieszyn Silesia stayed within the Austrian Empire. The Prussian part of Silesia constituted the Province of Silesia (later the Prussian provinces of Upper and Lower Silesia) until 1918. The minority of self-declared Polish Silesians, their language and their culture were put under the pressure of the Prussian state's Kulturkampf policies, attempting to make Germans out of them in culture and language too. After the Silesian Uprisings the eastern minor, but richer part of Upper Silesia became part of newly restored Poland, the most of the part that had remained under the rule of Habsburgs following the 1742 war came to Czechoslovakia, while Lower Silesia and most of Upper Silesia remained within Germany.
Following World War II, the vast majority of the region of Silesia was incorporated into Poland, with smaller regions remaining in the German Democratic Republic (later in unified Germany), and Czechoslovakia (most of Cieszyn Silesia). Millions of Silesians (mostly of German ethnicity) were subsequently expelled, but those Silesians classified by the Polish communist authorities as described by propaganda as "autochthons", in fact also the expelled Silesians were autochthons of Silesia, or "ethnic Poles insufficiently aware of their Polishness" were allowed to remain (and intensely polonized), after being sifted out from the ethnic Germans by a process of "national verification".[20]
Under the care of the Red Cross between 1955 and 1959 some of the remaining Silesians had the possibility to emigrate to West and East Germany for a Family reunification with their families in Germany.[21] But some had to wait for years. Until 1989 nearly 600,000 Silesians emigrated to Germany.
In 1945-49 millions of ethnic Poles from former (pre1939) eastern Poland (especially Lviv, Volyhnia, Podolia, Vilnius, etc.) and central Poland moved into Silesia, especially Lower Silesia. Since the end of Communist rule in Poland there have been calls for greater political representation for the Silesian ethnic minority. In 1997, a Katowice law court registered the Union of People of Silesian Nationality (ZLNS) as the political representative organization of the Silesian ethnic minority, but after two months the registration was revoked by a regional court.
Language[edit]
The Slavic Silesian language (or often Upper Silesian) is spoken by the Silesian ethnic group or nationality inside Polish Upper Silesia. According to the last census in Poland (2011), some 509,000[22] people declared Silesian as their native language, however as much as 817,000 people declared to be of Silesian nationality, not necessarily speaking Silesian, even though such nationality has not been recognized by Polish governments since its creation in 1945.
There is some contention over whether Silesian is a dialect or a language in its own right. Most Polish linguists consider Silesian to be a prominent regional dialect of Polish. However, many Silesians regard it as a separate language belonging to the West Slavic branch of Slavic languages, together with Polish and other Lechitic languages, as well as Upper and Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. In July 2007 the Silesian language was officially recognized by the Library of Congress and SIL International. The language was attributed ISO code: SZL. The first official dictation contest of the Silesian language took place in August 2007.
Although the German Language is still spoken in Silesia, as it has a sizable minority of speakers in the Opole Voivodship in Poland, the vast majority of native speakers were expelled during or after 1945. Therefore the number of speakers of German in the region was radically and significantly decreased after centuries of settlement after the Second World War. The Silesian German dialect is a distinct variety of East Central German, with some West Slavic influence likely caused by centuries of contact between Germans and Slavs in the region and related in some ways to contemporary Saxon. The Silesian German dialect is often referred to as Lower Silesian in the German Language. The usage of this dialect appears to be decreasing, as most German Silesians prefer either Standard German or Polish.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "The Institute for European Studies, Ethnological institute of UW" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-08-16.
- ^ a b Przynależność narodowo-etniczna ludności – wyniki spisu ludności i mieszkań 2011. GUS. Materiał na konferencję prasową w dniu 29. 01. 2013. p. 3. Retrieved on 2013-03-06.
- ^ Obyvatelstvo podle národnosti podle krajů - Český statistický úřad
- ^ National census in West Germany in 1970.
- ^ "Volkszählung vom 27. Mai 1970" Germany (West). Statistisches Bundesamt. W. Kohlhammer, 1972, OCLC Number: 760396
- ^ "Ludność według deklarowanej narodowości oraz województw w 2002 r." - Central Statistical Office (Poland)
- ^ "Obyvatelstvo podle národnosti podle krajů" (PDF). Czech Statistical Office.
- ^ "Národnost ve sčítání lidu v českých zemích" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-08-16.
- ^ http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/bhr/english/special_issues/CEDIME-unwgm2001/un%20wgm%20slovakia%20appendix%20on%20minorities%203a%2015-5-01.doc
- ^ "Górny Śląsk: szczególny przypadek kulturowy" (en: "Upper Silesia: special case of cultural") - Mirosława Błaszczak-Wacławik, Wojciech Błasiak, Tomasz Nawrocki, University of Warsaw 1990, p.63
- ^ "Polityka antyniemiecka na Górnym Śląsku w latach 1945-1950" - Bernard Linek, Opole 2000, ISBN 978-83-7126-142-8
- ^ a b "Historia narodu śląskiego: prawdziwe dzieje ziem śląskich od średniowiecza do progu trzeciego tysiąclecia" (en: "History of Silesian Nation")- Dariusz Jerczyński, Wyd. II (uzupełnione i poprawione) Zabrze: Narodowa Oficyna Śląska, 2006. ISBN 978-83-60540-55-8
- ^ "Opole county". Powiatopolski.pl. 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
- ^ A System of Ancient and Mediaeval Geography, Magna Germania P 216
- ^ R. Żerelik(in:) M. Czpliński (red.) Historia Śląska, Wrocław 2007, s. 34-37
- ^ R. Żerelik(in:) M. Czpliński (red.) Historia Śląska, Wrocław 2007, s. 37-38
- ^ a b R. Żerelik(in:) M. Czpliński (red.) Historia Śląska, Wrocław 2007, s. 40
- ^ Raymond Breton, National Survival in Dependent Societies: Social Change in Canada and Poland, McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP, 1990, p. 106, ISBN 0-88629-127-5 Google Books; Charles William Previte-Orton, The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1962, V. II, p. 744, ISBN 0-521-09976-5 Google Books
- ^ a b R. Żerelik(in:) M. Czpliński (red.) Historia Śląska, Wrocław 2007, s. 21-22
- ^ Kamusella, Tomasz (November 2005). "Doing It Our Way". Transitions Online. Retrieved 2006-07-25.
- ^ "Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung" (in (German)). Bpb.de. 2005-03-15. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
- ^ Central Statistical Office of Poland (2012-07-26). "Język używany w domu - Narodowy Spis Powszechny Ludności i Mieszkań 2011".
External links[edit]
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