Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Palgrave Handbook of Slavic Languages, Identities and Borders pp 185–205Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Changing Lattice of Languages, Borders, and Identities in Silesia

  • Chapter

  • 652 Accesses

Abstract

Since Enea Silvo de’Piccolomini (later, Pope Pius II) mentioned in his 1458 treatise, De Europa (On Europe), the Oder (Odra) River as the dividing line between those Silesian territories inhabited by Germanic- and by Slavic-speakers (Lubos 1995: 68), language difference has become part and parcel of the region’s history. However, until the rise of ethnolinguistic nationalism across Central Europe in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars, it had been a minor element of a person’s identity; the main socio-political cleavage was that between members of the estates (that is, nobility, clergy, and, to a lesser degree, richer burghers) and serfs. The legally imposed social and spatial immobility of the serfs also kept the language boundary stable from the late Middle Ages into the Early Modern period. On the other hand, when the need arose, the divide was easily straddled by specialists mediating among members of an immobile peasantry and (though to a lesser extent) of burgher communities. These specialists included clergy and nobility (usually landowners) who were literate in Latin and German (or rather a German, meaning a chancery variety of what today we, anachronistically, tend to dub the unambiguously unitary German language). Within this group one can also include (law court) scribes, inn-owners, itinerant craftsmen, and merchants. In the eighteenth century, French (or the Romance dialect of Paris) joined Latin and German, having become a specific sociolect of the European nobility and bourgeoisie, and it retained this role until immediately after World War II.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   219.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   279.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Adendorff, Rajend. 2002. Fanakalo: A Pidgin in South Africa (Chapter 9 ). In: Rajend Mesthrie, ed. Language in South Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bahlcke, Joachim et al. 1996. Schlesien und die Schlesier. Munich: Langen Müller. Billig, Michael. 1995. Banal Nationalism. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bindewald, Helene; Burdach, Konrad and Piurs, Paul. 1935–1936. Deutsche Texte aus schlesischen Kanzeleien des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts (Ser: Vom Mittelalter zur Reformation: Forschun gen zur Geschichte der deutschen Bildung, Vol. 9). Berlin: Weidmann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjork, James E. 2008. Neither German nor Pole: Catholicism and National Indifference in a Central European Borderland. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blachetta, Walther. 1939. Das wahre Gesicht Polens. Berlin: Verlag ‘Die Wehrmacht’.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanke, Richard. 1993. Orphans of Versailles: The Germans in Western Poland, 1918–1939. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanke, Richard. 2001. Polish-speaking Germans? Language and National Identity among the Masurians since 1871. Cologne: Böhlau.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bugge, Peter. 2004. The Making of a Slovak City: The Czechoslovak Renaming of Pressburg/Pozsony/Prešporok, 1918–19 (pp. 205–227). Austrian History Yearbook. Vol. 35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Celati, Gianni. 1989. My Uncle Discovers the Existence of Foreign Languages (pp. 111–112). In: Gianni Celati. Voices from the Plains (translated by Robert Lumley). London: Serpent’s Tail.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chocholatý, František. 1991. Slezsko [Silesia {in Czech}] (Part 4) (pp. 76–97). Strˇední Evropa. No 20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Czajkowski, Andrzej; Schröder, Lidia and Schröder, Sandra. 2006. Wielki słownik s la skoniemiecko-angielski [Geat Silesian-German-English Dictionary {in Polish}]. Katowice: KaGaDruk.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eggers, Hans, ed. 1970. Der Volksname Deutsch (Ser: Wege der Forschung, Vol. 156 ). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eichenberger, Carsten. 1994. Die Deutschen in Polen. Von der verleugneten Minderheit zur anerkannten Volksgruppe. Augsburg: Bukowina-Institut.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiedler, Robert. 1987. Tam jeszcze kes polactwa. Wybór pism pastora z Mie dzyborza [Some Polishness Still Remained There: A Selection of the Writings by a Pastor from Miedzybrz {in Polish}]. Edited by Gajda, Stanisław. Opole: Instytut Slaski.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gawrecka, Maria. 1993. Problematyka narodowosciowa Slaska austriackiego w latach 1742–1914 [The Ethnolinguistic Make-Up of Austrian Silesia in 1742–1914 {in Polish}] (pp. 61–74). Studia S la skie. Vol. 52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gellner, Ernest. 2006 [1983] Nations and Nationalism. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerlich, Marian Grzegorz. 1994. ‘Slaska krzywda’ — przejaw zbiorowego poczucia ponizenia wsród górnoslaskiej ludnosci rodzimej (okres miedzywojnia) [The Silesian Tragedy: Collective Humiliation Experienced by Upper Silesia’s Indigenous Population (During the Interwar Period) {in Polish}] (pp. 5–23). Etnografia Polska. No 1–2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Götze, Andreas. 1997. Private Communication. Opole.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grobelný, Andělin. 1992. Slask Cieszynski od Wiosny Ludów do samodzielnych panstw (1848–1918) [Cieszyn Silesia from the Spring of Nations to the Independent States (1848–1918) {in Polish}]. In: Zarys dziejów S laska Cieszynskiego. Ostrava and Prague: Komitet Czeskiej Administracji Terenowej.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannan, Kevin. 1996. Borders of Language and Identity in Teschen Silesia (Ser: Berkeley Insights in Linguistics and Semiotics, Vol. 28 ). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hytrek, Adolf. 1996 [ 1879 ]. Górny Szlazk pod wzgledem obyczajów, jezyka i usposobienia ludnosci [Upper Silesia: The Indigenous Population’s Customs and Languages {in Polish}]. Opole: Zwiazek Górnosla zaków and Solpress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jerczynski, Dariusz. 2006. Historia Narodu S laskiego. (Prawdziwe dzieje ziem slaskich od sredniowiecza do progu trzeciego tysia clecia) [The History of the Silesian Nation: The True History of the Silesian Lands from the Middle Ages to the Turn of the Third Millennium {in Polish}]. Zabrze: Narodowa Oficyna Śląska.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judson, Pieter M. 2006. Guardians of the Nation: Activists on the Language Frontiers of Imperial Austria. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 1998a. Wyłanianie sie grup narodowych i etnicznych na Slasku w okresie 1848–1918 [The Emergence of the National and Ethnic Groups in Silesia from 1848–1918 {in Polish}] (pp. 35–72). Sprawy Narodowosciowe. No 12–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 1998b. Kreol górnoslaski [The Upper Silesian Creole {in Polish}] (pp. 73–84). Kultura i Społeczenstwo. No 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 1998c. Das oberschlesische Kreol: Sprache und Nationalismus in Oberschlesien im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (pp. 142–161 ). In: Markus Krzoska and Peter Tokarski, eds. Die Geschichte Polens und Deutschlands im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Ausgewählte Beiträge (Ser: Veröfentlichungen der Deutsch-Polnischen Historischen Gesellschaft, Vol. 1). Osnabrück: Fibre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 1999. Ethnic Cleansing in Silesia 1950–89 and the Ennationalizing Policies of Poland and Germany (pp. 51–74). Patterns of Prejudice. No 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 2003. Dual Citizenship in Opole Silesia in the Context of European Integration (pp 699–716). Facta Universitatis (Ser: Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology). Vol. 2, No 10. ( Niš, Serbia: University of Niš ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 2004. Standaryzacja jezyka górnoslaskiego i mozliwe konsekwencje społeczne i polityczne (ze szczególnym uwzglednieniem Śląska Opolskiego) [The Standardization of the Upper Silesian Language and the Potential Social and Political Ramifications (with a Special Attention Devoted to Opole Silesia) {in Polish}] (pp. 113–132). Sprawy Narodowosciowe. No 23–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 2005–2006. Schlonzska mowa. Jezyk, Górny Slask i nacjonalizmy [The Silesian Language: Language, Upper Silesia and Nationalisms {in Polish}] (2 vols). Zabrze: Narodowa Oficyna Śląska.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 2006. The Isomorphism of Language, Nation, and State: The Case of Central Europe (pp. 57–92 ). In: W Burszta, T Kamusella and S Wojciechowski, eds. Nationalisms Across the Globe: An Overview of Nationalisms of State-Endowed and Stateless Nations (Vol. 2: The World). Poznan, Poland: Wyzsza Szkoła Nauk Humanistycznych i Dziennikarstwa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 2007. Silesia and Central European Nationalisms: The Emergence of National and Ethnic Groups in Prussian Silesia and Austrian Silesia. West Lafayette IN: Purdue University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 2009a. Language in Central Europe’s History and Politics (pp. 7–25). Sprawy Narodowos ciowe. No 34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamusella, Tomasz. 2009b. Echanges de paroles ou de coups en Haute-Silésie: La langue comme ‘lieu’ de contacts et de luttes interculturels (pp. 133–152). Cultures d’Europe centrale. No 8: Lieux communs de la multiculturalité urbaine en Europe centrale, ed by Delphine Bechtel and Xavier Galmiche. Paris: CIRCE.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, Jeremy. 2002. Budweisers into Czechs and Germans: A Local History of Bohemian Politics 1848–1948. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kneipp, Matthias. 1999. Die deutsche Sprache in Oberschlesien. Untersuchungen zur politischen Rolle der deutschen Sprache als Minderheiten Sprache in den Jahren 1921–1998 (Ser: Veröffentlichungen der Forschungstelle Ostmitteleuropa and der Universität Dortmund, Vol. B 62 ). Dortmund: Forschungstelle Ostmitteleuropa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knop, Alois. 1967. Déjiny českého jazyka ve Slezsku a na Ostravsku [The History of the Czech Language in Ostrava Region {in Czech}]. Ostrava: Socialistická akademie.

    Google Scholar 

  • Köhler, Joachim. 1997. Bistum Breslau (Vol. 3: Neuzeit, 1740–1945). Güterbahnhof: Echo-Buchverlags and Münster: Apostolicher Visitator der Priester und Gläubigen aus dem Erzbistum Breslau.

    Google Scholar 

  • Komarek, Ernst. 1998. Industralisierung Oberschlesiens. Zur Entwicklung der Montaninindustrie im überregionalen Vergleich. Bonn: Kulturstiftung der deutschen Vertriebenen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krallert, Wilfried; Kuhn, Walter and Schwarz, Ernst. 1958. Atlas zur Geschichte der deutschen Ostsiedlung. Bilefeld: Velhagen & Klasing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kries, Karl Gustav. 1842. Historische Entwicklung der Steuerverfassung in Schlesien. Breslau: Georg Phlilipp Aderholz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leuschner, Torsten. 2004. Richard Böckh (1824–1907): Language Statistics Between National Principle and National State (pp. 389–421). Historiographia Linguistica. No 2–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linek, Bernard. 2000. Mit Ziem Odzyskanych w powojennej Polsce na przykładzie Górnego Slaska (wybrane aspekty) [The Myth of the Recovered Territories in Postwar Poland, as Exemplified by Upper Silesia: Selected Aspects {in Polish}] (pp. 229–257). In: Bernard Linek and Kai Struve, eds. Nacjonalizm a tozsamoscw Europie SrodkowoWschodniej w XIX i XX w./Nationalismus und nationale Identität in Ostmitteleuropa im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Opole: Instytut Slaski and Marburg: Herder-Institut.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linek, Bernard. 2001. Próba eliminacji jezyka niemieckiego na Górnym Slasku w latach 1945–1950 [The Attempt at Liquidating the German Language in Upper Silesia in 1945–1990 {in Polish}] (pp. 81–102). Przeglad Zachodni. No 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linek, Bernard. 2016 [Forthcoming]. Robotnicy Borsigwerku. Procesy akulturacji/asymilacji ws~ród robotników górnoslaskich (od drugiej połowy XIX wieku do pierwszej polowy XX wieku) [The Borsigwerk Workers: The Processes of Acculturation/Assimilation Among Upper Silesia’s Workers from the Second Half of the 19th Century to the First Half of the 20th Century {in Polish}]. In: Robert Traba, ed. Akulturacja/asymilacja na pograniczach kulturowych Europy Srodkowo-Wschodniej w XIX i XX wieku (Vol. 2 ). Warsaw: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN and Niemiecki Instytut Historyczny.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liszka, Józef. 1996. Das Tauschkind-System im slowakischen Teil der Kleinen Tiefbene (pp. 58–72). Zeitschrift für Balkanologie. No 32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lubos, Arno. 1995. Geschichte der Literatur Schlesiens (Vol. I.1: Von den Anfängen bis zu ca. 1800 ). Würzburg: Bergstadtverlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell, Alexander. 2009. Choosing Slovakia: Slavic Hungary, the Czechoslovak Language and Accidental Nationalism (Ser: International Library of Political Studies, Vol. 37 ). London: Tauris Academic Studies, an imprint of I B Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melecká, Liana. 2008. Prajzská mluvcí: Valaši mají krále, my Moniku Žídkovou [Speaking in the Prussian Language: Valachians Have Their King, and We Have our Monika Žídkova {in Czech}]. Dnes (Insert: Ona), Feburary 8. ona.idnes.cz/prajzska-mluvcivalasi-maji-krale-my-moniku-zidkovou-p0w-/ona_ony.asp?c=A080206_105014_ona_ony_jup, 24 November 2009.

  • Nieborowski, Paul. 1919. Oberschlesien, Polen und der Katholizismus. Berlin: Engelmann. Orzechowski, Kazimierz. 1971. Terytorialne podziały na Slasku [Territorial Divisions in Silesia {in Polish}] (pp. 53–69). Kwartalnik Opolski. No 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pallas, Ladislav. 1970. Jazyková otázka a podmínky vytvar ení národního védomí ve Slezsku [The Language Question and the Emergence of National Consciousness in Silesia {in Czech}]. Ostrava, Czechoslovakia: Profil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plaček, Vilém. 1996a. Hans Kudlich osvoboditel rakouských poddanch [Hans Kudlich: The Liberator of Austrian Serfs {in Czech}] (pp. 18–20). Vlastivédne listy. No. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plaček, Vilém. 1996b. Hlucínští Moravci v Pruskm Slezsku a jeich spajatost s Katolickou Církví do sjednocení Nemecka roku 1871 [The Hlucín Morawecs and Their Attachment to the Catholic Church Until the Unification of Germany in 1871 {in Czech}] (pp. 5–8). Vlastivédne listy. No. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plaček, Vilém. 2000. Prajzáci aneb k osudum Hlucínska, 1742–1960 [Prussians or the Fate of Hlucín Region, 1742–1960 {in Czech}]. Hlucín: Kulturné a vzdelávaci společnos’ Hlučínsko i Kravare and Zámecké museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polish Census of 2002. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_census_of_2002, 8 April.

  • Przynaleznosc narodowo-etniczna ludnosci–wyniki spisu ludnosci i mieszkan 2013 [The Ethno-National Identity of the Population: The Results of the 2011 Census of Population and Accommodation {in Polish}]. 2013. http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/ xbcr/gus/LUD_raport_z_wynikow_NSP2011.pdf, 25 May 2014.

  • Roczniok, Andrzej. 2007–2010. Słownik polsko-slaski/Zbornik polsko-slunski [The Polish-Silesian Dictionary {in Polish and Silesian}] (Vols 1–3). Zabrze: Narodowa Oficyna Slaska.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt-Rohr, Georg. 1932. Die Sprache als Bildner in der Völker: Eine Wesens- und Lebenskunde der Volkstümer. Jena: Diederichs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt-Rösler, Andrea. 1999. Autonomie- und Separatismusbesterbungen in Oberschlesien 1918–1922 (pp. 1–49). Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung. No 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoffer, Lawrence. 1974. The Formation of a Modern Labor Force: Upper Silesia 1865–1914. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slezská národnost ve scˇítání lidu 2001 [The Silesian Nationality in the Czech Census of 2001 {in Czech}]. 2007. http://dalsimoravak.bloguje.cz/585759-slezska-narodnost-vescitani-lidu-2001.php 23 November 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stüttgen, Peter; Neubach, Helmut and Hubatsch, Walther. 1976. Grundriβ zur deutschen Verwaltungsgeschichte, 1815–1945 (Ser A: Preußen, Vol. 4: Schlesien). Marburg: Herder-Institut.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swierc, Piotr. 1990. Ks. Bernard Bogedain (1810–1860) [Ft Bernard Bogedein (1810–1860) {in Polish}] (Ser: Wsz echnica Muzeum Slaskiego). Katowice: Muzeum Slaskie.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tambor, Jolanta. 2006. Mowa Górnosla zaków oraz ich swiadomosc jezykowa i etniczna [The Language of the Upper Silesians and Their Linguistic and Ethnic Identity {in Polish}] (Ser: Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Slaskiego, Vol. 2401). Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Slaskiego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tornow, Siegfried. 2009. Abendland und Morgenland im Spiegel ihrer Sprachen. Ein kulturhistorischer Vergleich. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Triest, Felix. 1984 [1864]. Topographisches Handbuch von Oberschlesien (2 vols) (Ser: Beiträge zur Geschichte und Landeskunde Oberschlesiens, Vol. 1 ). Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wanatowicz, Maria Wanda. 1982. Ludnosc napływowa na Górnym Sla sku w latach 1922–1939 [Polish Migrants in Upper Silesia, 1922–1939 {in Polish}]. Katowice: Uniwersytet Slaski.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wanatowicz, Maria Wanda. 2004. Od indyferentnej ludnosci do slaskiej narodowosci? Postawy narodowe ludnosci autochtonicznej Górnego Slaska w latach 1945–2003 w swiadomosci społecznej [From the Nationally Indifferent Population to a Silesian Nationality? The National Attitudes of the Autochthonous Population of Upper Silesia between 1945 and 2003, as Reflected in Social Consciousness {in Polish}] (Ser: Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Slaskiego w Katowicach, Vol. 2224 ). Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Slaskiego.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiskemann, Elizabeth. 1956. Germany’s Eastern Neighbours: Problems Relating to the Oder-Neisse Line and the Czech Frontier. London: Oxford University Press and Royal Institute of International Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wurbs, Gerhard. 1982. Die deutsche Sprachinsel Bielitz-Biala (Ser: Eckartschriften, Vol. 79). Vienna: Österr. Landsamannschaft.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wyderka, Bogusaw. 1998. O koniecznosci nowych badan gwar slaskich [On the Necessity of Renewed Research on the Silesian Dialects {in Polish}] (pp. 1–4). Slask Opolski. No. 3. Zahra, Tara. 2008. National Indifference and the Battle for Children in the Bohemian Lands 1900–1948. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Tomasz Kamusella
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of St Andrews, UK

    Tomasz Kamusella

  2. Hokkaido University, Japan

    Motoki Nomachi

  3. European University Institute, Italy

    Catherine Gibson

Copyright information

© 2016 Tomasz Kamusella

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kamusella, T. (2016). The Changing Lattice of Languages, Borders, and Identities in Silesia. In: Kamusella, T., Nomachi, M., Gibson, C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Slavic Languages, Identities and Borders. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-34839-5_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-34839-5_9

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57703-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-34839-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation