Silesia

For other uses, see Silesia (disambiguation).

Silesia CoA

Historic Silesia, superimposed on modern international borders: The mediæval Bohemian crown land (as of 1538) outlined in cyan, Prussian Silesia from 1742 in yellow

Silesia (Template:Pron-en or /saɪˈliːʃə/; Template:Lang-pl [ɕlɔ̃sk]; Template:Audio-de; Silesian German: Schläsing; Template:Lang-cs; Silesian: Ślůnsk [ɕlonsk]; Template:Lang-la) is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.

Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest cities are Wrocław, its historical capital, and Katowice in Poland, and Ostrava in the Czech Republic. Its main river is the Oder (in Czech; German; Polish: Odra).

Silesia's borders and national affiliation have changed radically over time, both when it was an hereditary possession of noble houses and after the rise of modern nation-states. The first known states to hold power there were those of Greater Moravia at end of 9th century and Bohemia in early 10th century. Soon in the 10th century Silesia was incorporated into the early Polish state, but it later broke into independent duchies, coming under increasing Czech and German influence. It came under the rule of the Crown of Bohemia, which passed to the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in 1526. Most of Silesia was conquered by Prussia in 1742, later becoming part of the German Empire and German Reich up to 1945. After World War I (1918) the easternmost part of this region was awarded to Poland by the victorious Allies after a Polish rebellion and a plebicite. After World War II (1945) the bulk of Silesia was transferred to Polish jurisdiction and become legally and politically part of Poland. Meanwhile the remaining small parts of Silesia mostly went to Czechoslovakia after World War I, and are now in Czech Republic.

Status	Time
possibly as a lands of Silings - supposedly an East Germanic tribe	to 5th century AD.
as lands of Slavic Silesian tribes	from 5th century to 9th century
within Great Moravia	at the end of 9th century
Bohemia	in early 10th century
within Poland	10th century to 12th century
as independent Silesian Piasts Duchies of Silesia	12th century to 14th century
as Duchies of Silesia within Bohemian Crown	1335 to 1526
within Bohemian Crown as part of Habsburg Monarchy	1526 to 1742
within Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, with a small part in Austria	1742 to 1918
within Germany, and part as autonomy of Silesia (1922-1939 in Poland), and a small part in Czechoslovakia	1918 to 1945
within Poland, much smaller parts in Czech Republic and Germany	from 1945

Most inhabitants of Silesia today speak the national languages of their respective countries (Polish, Czech, German), although there is a recognized Slavic Silesian language, a member of group of Lechitic languages. There also exists a Silesian German or Lower Silesian language, although this form of the German language is almost extinct.

Etymology

The names of Silesia in the different languages most likely share their etymology - Latin and English: Silesia; Polish: Śląsk; Old Polish: Ślążsk[o]; Silesian: Ślůnsk; German: Schlesien; Silesian German: Schläsing; Czech: Slezsko; Slovak: Sliezsko; Kashubian: Sląsk; Upper Sorbian: Šleska; Lower Sorbian: Šlazyńska. The names are all related to the name of a river (now Ślęza) and mountain (Mount Ślęża) in mid-southern Silesia. The mountain is a prehistoric holy place.

Ślęża is listed as one of the numerous preindoeuropean topographic names in the region (see old European hydronymy). The name Ślęża may come from the Silingi, a probably Vandalic (West Slavonic or East Germanic) people that may have migrated south from the Baltic Sea along the Elbe, Oder and Vistula rivers in the 2nd century. Alternatively, the name of the Silingi tribe may come from the name of the river or mountain.

History

Main article: History of Silesia

Silesia in an early period of Poland's fragmentation, 1172–1177

Silesia has been inhabited from time immemorial by people of multiple ethnic groups. Germanic tribes were first recorded within Silesia in the 1st century. Slavic peoples arrived in this territory around the 6th century. The first known states in Silesia were the Czech proto-states of Greater Moravia and Bohemia. In the 10th century, Polish ruler Mieszko I incorporated Silesia into the Polish state.

In the Middle Ages, Silesia was divided among many independent duchies ruled by various Silesian dukes of the Piast dynasty. During this time, cultural and ethnic German influence increased due to immigrants from the German-speaking components of the Holy Roman Empire. Between 1289 and 1292, Bohemian king Wenceslaus II became suzerain of some Upper Silesian duchies. Silesia subsequently became a possession of the Bohemian Crown under the Holy Roman Empire in the 14th century, and passed with that crown to the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria in 1526. The Duchy of Crossen was inherited by Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1476 and, with the renunciation by King Ferdinand I and estates of Bohemia in 1538, it became an integral part of Brandenburg.

In 1742, most of Silesia was seized by King Frederick the Great of Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession and subsequently made the Prussian Province of Silesia. Consequently, Silesia became part of the German Empire when it was proclaimed in 1871.

After World War I, Upper Silesia was contested by Germany and the newly-independent Second Polish Republic. The League of Nations organized a plebiscite to decide the issue in 1921, whose results (disputed by Poland) were skewed by the German population and therefore wished to remain part of Germany. Following the third Silesian Uprising (1921), however, the easternmost portion of Upper Silesia (including Katowice), with a majority ethnic Polish population, was awarded back to Poland, where it was formed into the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship. The Prussian Province of Silesia within Germany was then divided into the provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia. Meanwhile Austrian Silesia, the small portion of Silesia retained by Austria after the Silesian Wars, was mostly awarded to the new Czechoslovakia (becoming known as Czech Silesia), although most of Cieszyn and territory to the east of it went to Poland (see Zaolzie).

In 1945, at the end of World War II, all of the former German Silesia was occupied by the Soviet Union, and under the post-war border changes most of it eventually became part of Poland. As a result the vast majority of the ethnic German population that had been settled there for centuries was expelled by force and replaced by Polish settlers, most of whom had themselves been expropriated and forcefully expelled from the former eastern parts of Poland (Kresy) that had been occupied by the Soviet Union.

The administrative division of Silesia within Poland has changed several times since 1945. Since 1999 it has been divided between Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Opole Voivodeship, Silesian Voivodeship and Lubusz Voivodeship. Czech Silesia is now part of the Czech Republic, forming the Moravian-Silesian Region and the northern part of Olomouc Region. Germany retains the Silesian-Lusatian region (Niederschlesien-Oberlausitz or Schlesische Oberlausitz) west of the Neisse, which is part of the federal-state of Saxony.

Geography

First map of Silesia by Martin Helwig, 1561

Most of Silesia is relatively flat, although its southern border is generally mountainous. It is primarily located in a swath running along both banks of the upper and middle Oder (Odra) river, but it extends eastwards to the upper Vistula river. The region also includes many tributaries of the Oder, including the Bóbr (and its tributary the Kwisa), the Barycz and the Nysa Kłodzka. The Sudeten mountains run along most of the southern edge of the region, though at its south-eastern extreme it reaches the Silesian Beskids and Moravian-Silesian Beskids, which belong to the Carpathian range.

Historically, Silesia was bounded to the west by the Kwisa and Bóbr rivers, while the territory west of the Kwisa was in Upper Lusatia (earlier Milsko). However, because part of Upper Lusatia was included in the Province of Silesia in 1815, in Germany Görlitz, Niederschlesischer Oberlausitzkreis and neighbouring areas are considered parts of historical Silesia. Those districts, along with Poland's Lower Silesian Voivodeship and parts of Lubusz Voivodeship, make up the geographic region of Lower Silesia.

Silesia has undergone a similar notional extension at its eastern extreme. Historically it extended only as far as the Brynica river, which separates it from Zagłębie Dąbrowskie in the Lesser Poland region. However to many Poles today, Silesia (Śląsk) is understood to cover all of the area around Katowice, including Zagłębie. This interpretation is given official sanction in the use of the name Silesian Voivodeship (województwo śląskie) for the province covering this area. In fact the word Śląsk in Polish (when used without qualification) now commonly refers exclusively to this area (also called Górny Śląsk or Upper Silesia).

As well as the Katowice area, historical Upper Silesia also includes the Opole region (Poland's Opole Voivodeship) and Czech Silesia. Czech Silesia consists of a part of the Moravian-Silesian Region and the Jeseník District in the Olomouc Region.

Natural resources

Silesia is a resource-rich and populous region. Bituminous and lignite coal is abundant, and a substantial manufacturing industry is present, particularly in Upper Silesia. Lower Silesia features large copper mining and processing between the cities of Legnica, Głogów, Lubin and Polkowice. Recently, the estimate of lignite reserves near Legnica has been upgraded to about 35 billion tonnes, making them some of the largest in the world.

The following minerals have also been mined in Silesia: zinc, silver, cadmium, arsenic, lead, gold, methane, iron ore, limestone, marl, marble, and basalt. Historically, also uranium used to be mined.

In post-communist times, however, the outdated nature of many facilities has led to environmental problems and substantial transition away from the resource-based to service-based economy.

Annual production of minerals in Silesia

Mineral Name	Production (tonnes)	Reference
Bituminous coal	95,000,000
Copper	571,000
Zinc	160,000
Silver	1,200
Cadmium	500
Lead	70,000

The region also has a thriving agricultural sector, which produces cereals (wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn), potatoes, rapeseed, sugar beets and others. Milk production is well developed. The Opole Silesia has for decades occupied the top spot in Poland for their indices of effectiveness of agricultural land use.

Mountainous parts of southern Silesia feature many significant and attractive tourism destinations (e.g., Karpacz, Szczyrk, Wisła).

Silesia is generally well forested. This is because greenness is generally highly desirable by the local population, particularly in the highly industrialized parts of Silesia.

Demographics

Modern Silesia is inhabited by Poles, Germans, Czechs and Silesians. The last Polish census of 2002 showed that the Silesians are the largest national minority in Poland, Germans being the second; both groups are located mostly in Upper Silesia. The Czech part of Silesia is inhabited by Czechs, Moravians, Silesians and Poles.

Before the Second World War, Silesia was inhabited mostly by Germans and Poles, in addition to German and Polish Jews and Czechs. In 1905, a census showed that 75% of the population were Germans and 25% Poles. Most Jews were murdered in the Holocaust in the German concentration camps. The vast majority of Germans fled or were expelled from Silesia during and after World War II. Most German Silesians and their descendants live today in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, many of them working as miners in the Ruhr area, like their ancestors did in the Silesian mines. In order to smooth their integration into West German society after 1945, they were organized into officially recognized organisations, like the Landsmannschaft Schlesien, financed from the federal German budget. One of its most notable but controversial spokesmen was the CDU politician Herbert Hupka. The prevailing public opinion in Germany is that these organisations will achieve reconciliation with the Polish Silesians, which is gradually occurring. Many of the pre-war Germanised Slavic Silesians living in Upper Silesia have remained culturally bound to and have sought work in the Federal Republic of Germany after 1990, along with their ethnic German Silesian countrymen.

Silesia is perceived by many inhabitants as a distinct region with its own culture. Also stereotyping of Silesians and by Silesians themselves is common.

Cities

The following table lists the cities in Silesia with a population greater than 100,000 (2006) (in italics their German names):

Wrocław

Ostrava

File:K-ce (noc 1).jpg

Katowice

Bielsko-Biała

Opole

Görlitz

		Name	Population	Area	Administrative	Country
1		Wrocław (Breslau)	632 162	293 km²	Lower Silesian V.
2		Ostrava *(Ostrau)	336 556	214 km²	Moravian-Silesian R.
3		Katowice (Kattowitz)	317 220	165 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
4		Gliwice (Gleiwitz)	199 451	134 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
5		Bytom (Beuthen)	187 943	69 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
6		Zabrze (Hindenburg O.S.)	191 247	80 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
7		Bielsko-Biała * (Bielitz-Biala)	176 864	125 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
8		Ruda Śląska	146 658	78 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
9		Rybnik	141 580	148 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
10		Tychy (Tichau)	131 153	82 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
11		Opole (Oppeln)	128 268	97 km²	Opole Voivodeship
12		Wałbrzych (Waldenburg)	126 465	85 km²	Lower Silesian V.
13		Zielona Góra (Grünberg)	118 221	58 km²	Lubusz Voivodeship
14		Chorzów (Königshütte)	114 686	33 km²	Silesian Voivodeship
15		Legnica (Liegnitz)	105 750	56 km²	Lower Silesian V.

* Only part in Silesia

See also

• Architecture of Silesia
• List of Silesians
• Silesian cuisine
• Silesian language
• Silesian uprisings
• Silesians
• Union of Poles in Germany
• Expulsion of Poles by Germany
• Expulsion of Germans after World War II
• Czech Silesia

References

• Długajczyk, Edward (1993). Tajny front na granicy cieszyńskiej. Wywiad i dywersja w latach 1919-1939. Katowice: Śląsk. ISBN 83-85831-03-7.
• Zahradnik, Stanisław (1992). Korzenie Zaolzia. Warszawa - Praga - Trzyniec: PAI-press. OCLC 177389723. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Weczerka, Hugo (2003). Handbuch der historischen Stätten: Schlesien. Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner Verlag. p. 738. ISBN 3-520-31602-1.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Further reading

• Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, 1st Series, volume XI, Upper Silesia, Poland, and the Baltic States, January 1920-March 1921, edited by Rohan Butler, MA, J.P.T.Bury, MA, & M.E.Lambert, MA, Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), London, 1961 (amended edition 1974), ISBN 0-11-591511-7
• Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939, 1st Series, volume XVI, Upper Silesia, March 1921 - November 1922, edited by W.N.Medlicott, MA, D.Lit., Douglas Dakin, MA, PhD, & M.E.Lambert, MA, HMSO, London, 1968
• Kleineberg A., Marx Ch., Knobloch E., Lelgemann D.: Germania und die Insel Thule. Die Entschlüsselung von Ptolemaios: "Atlas der Oikumene". Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2010.
• Microcosm, Portrait of a Central European City, by Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse (Jonathan Cape, 2002) ISBN 0-224-06243-3
• Dehio - Handbuch der Kunstdenkmäler in Polen: Schlesien, Herder-Institut Marburg and Krajowy Osrodek Badan i Dokumentacji Zabytkow Warszawa, Deutscher Kunstverlag 2005, ISBN 3-422-03109-X

External links

• Silesia in Europe page
• Republic of Silesia page
• Silesian Autonomy Movement page
• Map of Silesia in 1763
• Old postcards from Silesian towns
• Photos from Silesian towns, villages and communities before 1946
• Map of Silesia as of 2000
• Silesia in maps of Europe
• Combined European History Exhibit by Germans, Poles, Czech, Slovaks and Hungarians

Media related to Silesia at Wikimedia Commons

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)