Encyclopedia
Silesia is a
historical region in central Europe. Most of it is now within the borders of
Poland, with small parts in the
Czech Republic and
Germany. Silesia is located along the upper and middle
Oder river, upper
Vistula river and along the
Sudetes,
Carpathian mountain range. The largest cities of Silesia are
Wroclaw and
Katowice.
In the
Middle Ages, Silesia was a
Piast duchy, which 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. In 1742, most of Silesia was seized by King
Frederick the Great of
Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession. This part of Silesia constituted the
Province of Silesia until 1945, when most of the German part of Silesia became part of Poland. The portion of Silesia that was retained by Austria is now within the borders of the Czech Republic.
Administration
Most of Silesia lies within modern Poland, whose part is divided within the following
voivodeships :
[i]
...
...
The Opole and Silesian Voivodeships are called
Upper Silesia. The small portion in the Czech Republic known as
Czech Silesia forms, with the northern part of
Moravia, the
Moravian-Silesian Region of that country, while the remainder forms a small part of the
Olomouc Region.
Traditionally, Silesia was bounded by the Kwisa and Bobr rivers, while the territory west of the Kwisa was Upper
Lusatia . However, because part of it was included in the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia, in Germany the
Niederschlesischer Oberlausitzkreis and Hoyerswerda are considered parts of Silesia. Those districts, along with the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, make up the geographic region of
Lower Silesia.
Etymology
One theory claims that the name
Silesia is derived from the
Silingi, who were most likely a
Vandalic people who claimedly lived south of the
Baltic Sea along the Elbe, Oder, and Vistula Rivers in the 2nd century. When the Silingi moved from the area during the
Migration Period, they left remnants of their society behind.
The most evident remnants are in the names of places, which were imposed by the new inhabitants, who were in fact
Slavic . These people became associated with the place, and were thenceforth known as Silesians , even though they had little in common with the original Silingi. Archeological finds from the 7th and 8th centuries have also uncovered former largely populated areas, protected by a dense system of fortifications from the west and south; the lack of such systems from the north or east supports the notion that Silesia was populated by early Slavic tribes from the 5th to 13th centuries. Because
Goths, another East Germanic group, settled in eastern Silesia while Slavic Wends lived in western Silesia during that time, the fortifications do not support any
nationalistic theory.
The other theory claims, that the name
Silesia cames from the name of the river Sleza. The name has old roots.
History
Early people
Silesia was inhabited by various people that belonged to changing archeological cultures in the
Stone,
Bronze, and
Iron Ages.
The first written sources about Silesia came down from the Egyptian
Claudius Ptolemaeus and the Roman
Gaius Cornelius Tacitus . According to
Tacitus, the
1st century Silesia was inhabited by a multi-ethnic league dominated by the
Lugii, an
East Germanic tribe. The Silingi were also part of this federation, and most likely a
Vandalic people that lived south of the
Baltic Sea in the
Elbe,
Oder, and
Vistula river areas. Also, other
East Germanic tribes inhabited the scarcely populated region.
Middle Ages
After 500 the Great Migration had induced the bulk of the original East Germanic tribes to leave Silesia and wander through Southern Europe, while from the east Slavic tribes occupied the Silesian lands.
Early documents mention a couple of mostly
Slavic tribes most probably living in Silesia. The Bavarian Geographer specifies the following peoples: the Slenzanie, Dzhadoshanie, Opolanie, Lupiglaa, and Golenshitse. A document of the Bishopric of
Prague also mentions the Zlasane, Trebovyane, Poborane, and Dedositze.
In the 9th and 10th centuries, the territory later called Silesia was part of
Great Moravia,
Moravia, and then
Bohemia in the neighbouring area within today's
Czech Republic to the south. Ca. 990, some parts of Silesia were conquered and annexed into the newly-created Polish state by Duke
Mieszko I , although some historians give this date as 999 and the rule of Duke
Boleslaus I. During
Poland's fragmentation into duchies ruled by different branches of the
Piast dynasty, Silesia was ruled by descendants of the former royal family.
In 1146, High Duke
Wladyslaw II acknowledged the overlordship of the
Holy Roman Empire over Poland, but was driven into exile. In 1163 his two sons took possession of Silesia with Imperial backing, dividing the land between them as dukes of Lower and Upper Silesia. They created two main Piast lines in Silesia, Wroclawska and Opolsko-Raciborska
In 1241 after raiding
Lesser Poland, the
Mongols invaded Silesia and caused widespread panic and mass flight. They looted much of the region, but abandoned their siege of the castle of
Wroclaw, supposedly after being fended off by Blessed Cheslav's "miraculous fireball." They then annihilated the combined Polish and German forces at the Battle of Legnica, which took place at
Legnickie Pole near modern
Legnica . Upon the death of
Ögedei Khan, the Mongols chose not to press forward further into Europe, but returned east to participate in the election of a new Grand Khan.
The ruling Silesian lords decided to rebuild their cities according to the latest administrative ideas. They founded or rebuilt some 160 cities and 1,500 towns and introduced the codified German city law in place of the older, customary Slavic and Polish laws. They also made up for the recent population loss by inviting new settlers, mostly
German and
Dutch colonists from the Holy Roman Empire. Since the end of the 13th century or beginning of the 14th, Silesian dukes invited many German settlers to improve their duchies. Germans settled mostly in cities, as did
Jews and some
Czechs. In the countryside, especially in Upper Silesia, people of Polish origins still predominated. This policy of inviting Germans to colonize and cultivate the barren lands, and the assimilation of the ruling classes and the German and Slavic inhabitants, gave reason to Polish and German
nationalists for ideological tensions between both nations in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
In the second half of the 13th century, various knightly orders settled in Silesia — the Knights of the Red Star were the first, soon followed by the
Hospitaller and the
Teutonic Knights.
Silesian duchies
Many Piast dukes tried to reincorporate Silesia into the Polish kingdom and reunite Poland during the time of divisions. The first significant attempts were made by Duke
Henryk IV Probus of Silesia, but he died in 1290 before realizing his goal. Duke
Przemysl II of
Greater Poland united two of the original provinces and was crowned in 1295, but was murdered in 1296. According to his will Greater Poland was supposed to be inherited by Duke Henryk Glogowski , who also aspired to unite Poland and even claimed the title Duke of Poland. However, most nobles of Greater Poland supported another candidate from the Kuyavian line of Piasts, Duke
Wladyslaw I the Elbow-high. Wladyslaw eventually won the struggle because of his broader support. In the meantime, King
Wenceslaus II of Bohemia decided to extend his rule and crowned himself King of Poland in 1302. The next half century was rife with wars between Wladyslaw and a coalition of Bohemians, Brandenburgers and
Teutonic Knights trying to divide Poland. During this time most Silesian dukes, despite their ties with Poland, ruled small realms that were unable to unite with Poland and thus fell under the influence of neighboring Bohemia.
In 1335 Duke Henry VI of Breslau and the Upper Silesian dukes recognized the overlordship of King
John I of Bohemia, while in 1348 King
Casimir III of Poland was forced to accept Bohemian control of most of Silesia. Over the following centuries the lines of the Piast dukes of Silesia died out and were inherited by the Bohemian crown:
- Wroclawska in 1335;
- Swidnicka in 1368;
- Olesnicka and Glogowska in 1476;
- Zaganska in 1504;
- Opolska in 1532;
- Cieszynska in 1625;
- and Brzesko-Legnicka in 1675.
Although Fryderyk Wilhelm, the last male Piast Duke of Cieszyn/Teschen died in 1625, rule of the duchy passed to his sister Elzbieta Lukrecja until her death in 1653.
The inheritance of the Silesian duchies by Bohemia incorporated the region into the
Holy Roman Empire. Under Emperor
Charles IV, Silesia and especially Breslau gained greatly in importance, as many great buildings and large
Gothic churches were built. The region became increasingly Germanized through the arrival of more German settlers and the assimilation of local rulers and peasants.
Between 1425 and 1435, devastation was caused by the
Hussite Wars in Bohemia. The Hussites turned against the German population, and some regions, especially Upper Silesia, became partly Slavic-speaking again. Despite the widespread nature of the conflagration, Silesia remained largely
Catholic, excluding Cieszyn Silesia where Hussite ideas became popular.
Although part of the Holy Roman Empire, Silesia continued to have strong economic ties, especially through the Jewish merchants in the cities, with neighbouring Poland during the
Renaissance period and beyond.
Protestant Reformation
The
Protestant Reformation of the 16th century took an early hold in Silesia, and most inhabitants became
Lutheran. Many Reformation pastors contributed to developing and reemphasizing Slavic culture and language in Silesia.
After the death of King
Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia in 1526,
Ferdinand I of the
Habsburg dynasty was elected King of Bohemia. In the same year he made the formerly elected Bohemian crown an inherited possession of the Habsburg dynasty. In 1537 the Piast Duke Frederick II of Brzeg/Brieg concluded a treaty with
Elector Joachim II of
Brandenburg, whereby the
Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg would inherit the duchy upon the extinction of the Piasts, but the treaty was rejected by Ferdinand.
The religious conflicts and wars of the Reformation and
Counter Reformation in the 17th century led many Silesian Protestants to seek refuge in the then-tolerant
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Thousands settled in the province of Greater Poland, under the protection of powerful Protestant magnates like Rafal Leszczynski. Silesian members of the Czech Brethren, under the leadership of
Comenius, settled in Leszno. Protestant Silesians often circumvented restrictive laws by building their churches on the Polish side of the border.
Thirty Years' War
The second "
Defenestration of Prague" in 1618 sparked the
Thirty Years' War, caused by King
Ferdinand II's attempts to restore Catholicism and stamp out Protestantism with Bohemia.
Although Ferdinand requested assistance from the mostly Catholic
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Polish
szlachta was the noble [i] class [i] in Poland [i] and the ...
sympathized with the Bohemian and
Hungarian nobility despite their religious differences and refused King
Sigismund III Vasa's attempt to assist the Habsburgs. Finally, Sigismund decided to help the Habsburgs by sending an unemployed mercenary group called the
Lisowczycy in late 1619, hoping to regain parts of Silesia in exchange. The Lisowczycy's support would prove decisive during the
Battle of White Mountain in 1620. However, as the Habsburgs' situation improved, Emperor
Ferdinand II did not agree to any concessions in Silesia, nor did he help in Poland's war against the Ottoman Empire, and the Polish kings never received anything except a vague set of promises and several brides to keep them favourably inclined to the Habsburg dynasty.
After the end of the Thirty Years' War with the
Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the Habsburgs greatly encouraged Catholicism and succeeded in reconverting to
Catholicism about 60% of the population of Silesia. By 1675 the last Silesian Piast rulers had died out.
Kingdom of Prussia
In 1740, the annexation of Silesia by King
Frederick II of
Prussia was welcomed by many Silesians, not only by Protestants or Germans. Frederick based his claims on the Treaty of Brieg and began the War of the Austrian Succession . By war's end, the Kingdom of Prussia had conquered almost all of Silesia, while some parts of Silesia in the extreme southeast, like the Duchy of Cieszyn and Duchy of Opava, remained possessions of the
Habsburg Monarchy. The
Seven Years' War confirmed Prussian control over most of Silesia, and the Prussian
Province of Silesia became one of the most loyal provinces of Prussia. In 1815 the area around
Görlitz, formerly part of
Saxony, was incorporated into the province after the
Napoleonic Wars. By this time German had become the predominant language in
Lower Silesia, while German-influenced Polish and Czech were used in most of the countryside. German was the most common language in most Silesian cities.
Silesia in Germany and Austria
As a
Prussian province, Silesia became part of the
German Empire during the
unification of Germany in 1871. There was considerable industrialization in Upper Silesia, and many people moved there at that time. The overwhelming majority of the population of
Lower Silesia was by then German-speaking and many were Lutheran, including the capital
Breslau. There were areas such as the District of
Oppeln and rural parts of Upper Silesia, however, where a larger portion or even majority of the population was Slavic-speaking and Roman Catholic. In Silesia as a whole, ethnic Poles comprised about 30% of the population, but most of them lived around
Katowice in the southeast of Upper Silesia. Many people from Poland moved into Germany, coming through Silesia, often going to Berlin during Industrialisation. and particularly to get away from Russian Polish territory. The installation of trains made mass movements possible and there were times, that trains would not stop in the eastern parts of Germany in order to curb the massive onslaught of people moving in from the east. The Kulturkampf set Catholics in opposition to the government and sparked a Polish revival, much of it fostered by Poles from outside of Germany, in the Upper Silesian parts of the province. The first conference of
Hovevei Zion groups took place in Katowice in 1884.
At the same time, the areas of
Ostrava and
Karvina in Austrian Silesia became increasingly industrialized. Most of the Polish-speaking people there, however, were Slavic Lutherans in contrast to the German-speaking Catholic Habsburg dynasty ruling
Austria-Hungary.
In the
Treaty of Versailles after the defeat of Imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary in
World war I, it was decided that the population of Upper Silesia should hold a plebiscite in order to determine the future of the province, with the exception of a 333 km˛ area around
Hlucín , which was granted to
Czechoslovakia in 1920 despite having a German majority. The plebiscite, organised by the
League of Nations, was held in 1921. In Cieszyn Silesia firstly was a deal between
Rada Narodowa Ksiestwa Cieszynskiego and
Národním Výborem pro Slezsko about partition past lands of the Duchy of Cieszyn according to ethnic lines. However, that deal was not approved by the Czechoslovak government in
Prague. On 23 January 1919, Czechoslovakia attacked the lands of Cieszyn Silesia and stopped on 30 January 1919 on the
Vistula River near Skoczów. The planned plebiscite was not organised and the division of Cieszyn Silesia was decided on 28 July 1920 by the Ambassadors' Council at the Treaty of Versailles, which instituted the present-day border between Poland and the
Czech Republic.
Interwar period
After the referendum, there were three
Silesian Insurrections instigated by Polish nationalists, as a result of which the League of Nations decided that the province should be split again and that the eastern-most Upper Silesian areas, even though a majority there had voted to remain inside Germany, should become an autonomous area within Poland organised as the
Silesian Voivodeship . One of the central political figures that drive for these changes was
Wojciech Korfanty.
The
Silesian Uprisings 1919-1921:
The major part of Silesia, remaining in Germany, was reorganised into the two provinces of Upper Silesia and
Lower Silesia. In Silesia the synagogues in Breslau and in many other cities were destroyed during the
Kristallnacht. In October 1938, Cieszyn Silesia , was retaken by Poland from Czechoslovakia, in accord with the
Munich Agreement that surrendered Czechoslovakia to
Nazi Germany.
World War II
Nazi Germany retook possession of these parts of Silesia in 1939, when the attack on Poland marked the beginning of
World War II. The local German population frequently welcomed the
Wehrmacht. In 1940 the Germans started to construct the
Auschwitz concentration camp, which was later used as a death camp of the
Holocaust.
The
Gross-Rosen concentration camp, which had subcamps in many Silesian cities, was also constructed in 1940.
Silesia after WWII
In 1945, all of Silesia was occupied by the
Soviet Red Army and Polish-Communist Army. By then a large portion of the German population had fled or were evacuated from Silesia out of fear of revenge by Soviet soldiers, but many returned after the German capitulation. Under the terms of the agreements at the
Yalta Conference of 1944 and the Potsdam Agreement of 1945, German Silesia east of the rivers
Oder and Lusatian Neisse Rivers was transferred to Poland . Most of the remaining Silesian Germans, who before World War II amounted to about four million, were forcibly
expelled, some of them imprisoned in labour camps, eg. Lambinowice and
Zgoda labour camp. More than 30,000 Silesian men were deported to Soviet mines, the majority of whom never returned. Others emigrated from Silesia in the years after the war .
The industry of Silesia was rebuilt after the war and the region was repopulated by Poles, many of whom had themselves been expelled from eastern Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. Today, more than 20% of the entire population of Poland lives in Silesia, but many families do not have
Silesian 
