Silesian German

Lover Silesian German, Silesian
Schlesisch
Native to	Poland
Region	Dolny Slask (Lower Silesia). Also spoken in Czech Republic, eastern Germany (Gorlitz).
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German Lover Silesian German, Silesian
Official status
Official language in	-
Language codes
ISO 639-2	gem
ISO 639-3	sli
ELP	Lower Silesian

For the West Slavic language / Polish dialect, see Silesian.

Lower Silesian German (ISO 639-2 language code: SLI), or simply Silesian (Template:Lang-de), is a German dialect spoken in Lower Silesia in southwestern Poland as well as in the northeastern Czech Republic and a part of eastern Germany.

The German Silesian dialect is part of the East Central German language area with some West Slavic influences. After the expulsion of the German Silesians east of the Oder-Neisse line, German Silesian culture and language nearly died out when Silesia came under Polish administration. Authorities banned the remaining German minority from speaking their native language. There are still unresolved feelings on the sides of both Poles and Germans, largely because of German atrocities committed against the Poles and the subsequent displacement of Germans in areas that constitute roughly the western half of modern Poland; atrocities were committed by Poles as well.

The dialect is not recognized in Poland and there are no known speakers who declared this as their primary language in the last census.

See also

• Silesian
• Gerhart Hauptmann

External link

• Ethnologue report for Lower Silesian