After long battles a compromise was found: both kept their title, while Vladislaus received the Bohemian heartland and Matthias took Moravia, Lusatia and Silesia. At the fall of communism in 1989, the most industrialized parts of Silesia were in decline. T. 2., Landschaften und Siedelungen, Die Polen in Oberschlesien: eine statistische Untersuchung, Observations made on a tour from Hamburg through Berlin, Gorlitz, and Breslau, to Silberberg; and thence to Gottenburg, Bronze Age and Roman Age Finds From Site 35 At Dzierysaw, Distr. 1939 dow. [87] In the January 1945 in Silesia the SS began marching approximately 56,000 prisoners in the Death marches out of the Auschwitz camps northwest to Gliwice and mostly west to Loslau (Polish: Wodzisaw lski). Colonization first affected the region on the western border together with the subsequent southwestern area along the Sudete mountains. [84][85] The German populations in Silesia frequently welcomed the Wehrmacht and many thousands of Silesians were subsequently conscripted to the Wehrmacht. Afterwards they were operated by the state, with relatively minor changes or investments, till 1989. Before 1241 settlements cam because of outside pressure from Moravia, which invited German settlers after 1220. The uprising was only partly successful. [citation needed] A month before the Potsdam Conference, expulsions of Germans in western Silesia began with the aim to create a zone east of the Oder-Neisse line to convince the Western Allies that no Germans remained farther east. In the 14th century, it became a constituent part of the Bohemian Crown Lands under the Holy Roman Empire, which passed to the Austrian Habsburg monarchy in 1526; however, a number of duchies remained under the rule of Polish dukes from the houses of Piast, Jagiellon and Sobieski as formal Bohemian fiefdoms, some until the 17th18th centuries. In 1093, the Silesian nobility, supported by Bohemia, revolted. It was chiefly its wealth that tempted Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia to wrest Silesia from the Habsburg heiress Maria Teresa in the War of the Austrian Succession (174048). [21] This era of wars and unrest ended with the peace treaty of Kladsko (Polish: Kodzko) in 1137, in which the border between Bohemia and Silesia was defined and the affiliation of the Kladsko area to Bohemia was confirmed. Bolesaw received the area of Wrocaw, Opole and Legnica, Konrad aga, Gogw and Krosno and Mieszko the smallest part with Ratibor and Cieszyn. Some stayed in the Russian zone while others left for the Western Allies Occupation Zones or what would become West Germany. Lower Silesia, meanwhile, was left entirely to Germany. 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 Mountains range. The ties with Bohemia revived Silesia's economy, which until then mainly profited from the High Road, an important trans-European trade route. [citation needed], The formerly German area was substantially repopulated by Poles, many of whom had been expelled from eastern Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union (see Polish population transfers (19441946)) and transferred from Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus. The eastern border of Silesian settlement was situated to the west of the Bytom, and east from Racibrz and Cieszyn. [5] At that time all evidence of habitation on the Gubczyce Plateau disappeared, and the region remained uninhabited for the next 150 years. Eighteen Silesian rulers rendered homage to the king and promised help. Silesia is a historical region mostly in southwestern Poland, with some small parts in Germany and Czechia as well. According to his will, Greater Poland was to be inherited by Duke Henryk III gogowski, (a Silesian duke of Gogw) who also aspired to unite Poland and even claimed the title Duke of Poland. Areas such as the District of Oppeln (then Regierungsbezirk Oppeln) and rural parts of Upper Silesia, featured a larger minority or even majority were Slavic-speaking Poles and Roman Catholics. His expeditions led him as far north as the Duchy of Pomerania, where for a short time he held some of its southern areas. AD Slavic tribes settled here c.AD 500, and Silesia was an integral part of Poland by the 11th cent. The majority of Germans fled or were expelled from the present-day Polish and Czech parts of Silesia during and after World War II. pastwa nazistowskiego, Gruppenfuhrer SS. The Protestant confession was not persecuted by Ferdinand I and Maximilian II, only Schwenckfeld, Anabaptists and unhallowed clergymen were not accepted. During this time, all Silesian dukes accepted Wadysaw's claims for sovereignty over other Piasts. A network of almost 130 towns covered the country almost evenly, with a distance from town to town of approximately 18km (11mi) . They retain the right to use the Lower Silesian flag and coat of arms as guaranteed by the Saxon Constitution of 1992. Wiki. In the late Bronze Age, the Lusatian culture (in the past, variously speculated to be either 'pre-Germanic', Proto-Slavic, Thracian, Karpo-Dacian or Illyrian) covered Silesia. This was contested by emperor Leopold I who repurchased the Duchy on 21 May 1666 for 120 000 guldens. This gave the emperor the chance to send troops against him and occupy the country. As a result, the annexed part of Silesia ceased being part of the Holy Roman Empire and was ruled by Frederick not as a duke of the Empire but as king of Prussia.[61]. However, Mieszko regained power in 1032 and restored order. The coat of arms of Upper Silesia depicts the golden eagle on the blue shield. The La Tne culture in Silesia was succeeded (replaced) by the Przeworsk culture. G. Ws [in:] M. Czapliski (red.) Also, 23 camps called Polenlager were established across Silesia for the expelled Poles. The region is bounded by the Sudeten mountains to the southwest, by the Beskid range to the south, and by the Krakw-Wielu plateau to the northeast. The Thirty Years' War reached Silesia when Protestant Ernst von Mansfeld started a military campaign against Hungary and crossed Silesia in 1629. German mass tourism started in the Silesian mountain region (Hirschberg, Schneekoppe). In 1537, the Piast Duke Frederick II of Brieg concluded the Treaty of Brieg with Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg, whereby the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg would inherit the Duchy of Brieg upon the extinction of the Piasts, but Ferdinand rejected the treaty. History of Silesia - Wikipedia The majority of Silesian princes supported Elisabeth. I understand that it was taken away in order to punish Germany, but didn't it originally belong to the Bohemian crown? Polish Silesia was among the first regions invaded during Germany's 1939 attack on Poland, which started World War II. 1, Universal Publishers, Version 1.0, May 1, 1998, R. erelik (in:) M. Czpliski (red.) W rzeczywistoci ludzie Udona von Woyr- scha podczas marszu przez wojewdztwo lskie na wschd dopuszczali si prawdziwych masakr ludnoci ydowskiej. The Bohemian rulers also tried to evangelize the region and opened up Silesia for international trade. The Ostsiedlung probably started with the arrival of German monks in the entourage of Bolesaw I, who spent part of his life in Thuringia, when he returned from exile in the Holy Roman Empire. Almost all German linguistic enclaves in Upper Silesia had vanished in the 16th century. In the Middle Ages, Silesia was divided among many duchies ruled by various dukes of the Piast dynasty. Silesian industry suffered badly after the war. Some of its cities recovered only in the 19th century. Between 1289 and 1292, Bohemian king Wenceslaus II became suzerain of some of the Upper Silesian duchies. By then a large portion of the German population had fled or were evacuated from Silesia fearing the Soviets, but contrary to Soviet claims, millions of German Silesians remained in their home. Historically, Silesia was bounded to the west by the Kwisa and Bbr Rivers, while the territory west of the Kwisa was in Upper Lusatia (earlier Milsko). To end the oppression of their faith, the estates of Silesia joined the Protestant estates of Bohemia and stopped paying taxes to the emperor in 1609. Before the Second World War, Silesia was inhabited mostly by Germans, with Poles a large minority, forming a majority in Upper Silesia. They probably numbered 6075,000 people[14][15] and according to the Bavarian Geographer, they were divided into 15 civitates. Mining and metallurgy reached special importance in the middle of the 18th century. After the Nazis' rise to power, the synagogues in modern-day Wrocaw (German: Breslau) and in many other cities were destroyed during Kristallnacht of 1938. Augusti 1750", "Stosunki narodowociowe na lsku w wietle relacji pruskich urzdnikw z roku 1882", "Gemeindeverzeichnis Deutschland: Schlesien", Rocznik statystyki Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1920/21, "Schlesien: Geschichte im 20. The Psyovians (Psouane; Pszowianie) lived near Pszw, to the east of the Opolans and to the west of Cracow. The Silesians alienation from the Bohemian crown enabled Hungary to rule the area between 1469 and 1490. Between 1645 and 1666 duchy of Opole and Racibrz was in possession of the Polish monarchs from the House of Vasa. The change, however, was only one of overlordship; the Silesian princes continued to rule their individual principalities, and on occasion they even took positions different from those of the king of Bohemia in important matters. Rudolf ek [in:] J. Bahlacke, D. Gawrecki, R. Kaczmarek (red.) Henry failed in his attempt to achieve the Polish crown. In 1000, the Diocese of Wrocaw was established as the oldest Catholic diocese in the region, and one of the oldest dioceses in Poland, subjugated to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gniezno. In May 1921 the Silesian Poles staged a third, more extensive armed uprising, which ended on October 20, 1921, when the Allied powers endorsed the inclusion of the southeastern part of Upper Silesia into the new country of Poland. Wadysaw eventually won the struggle because of his broader support. Modern Silesia is inhabited by Poles, Silesians, Germans, and Czechs. Soon after the emperor (which secured the formerly elective Bohemian Crown as an inheritable possession of the Habsburg dynasty) together with the prince-bishop started the counter-reformation by inviting Catholic orders to Silesia and giving land to Catholic peers. Expanded coal, iron-ore, lead, and zinc mining and manufacturing in time made Silesia the second most important industrial area in Germany. During the Second World War, Nazi Germany invaded Polish parts of Upper Silesia. [9] The province became part of the Bohemian Crown which was part of the Holy Roman Empire; however, a number of duchies remained under the rule of the Polish dukes from the houses of Piast, Jagiellon and Sobieski as formal Bohemian fiefdoms, some until the 17th18th centuries. The duchies of Liegnitz, Brieg, Wohlau, Oels and the city of Breslau retained religious freedom, and the construction of three Protestant churches, the Churches of Peace, was permitted. The Polish minority however still exists, especially in the Trans-Olza region, where it amounts to 40,000 people.[94]. Silesia is generally well forested. However, they could not return, and those who had stayed were expelled and a new Polish population, including people displaced from former Eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union and from Central Poland, joined the surviving native Polish inhabitants of the region. Sometimes these advocates were split between Upper and Lower Silesia; these terms appeared for the first time in the 15th century. The part of Silesia awarded to Poland was by far the best-developed and richest region of the newly formed state, producing most of Poland's industrial output. [43] This was formalized in the Treaty of Trentschin and Congress of Visegrd (1335), ratified in 1339[44] and later after Polish-Czech war confirmed in the 1348 Treaty of Namslau. The emblems of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia originate from the emblems of the Piasts of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia. About 500 BC Scyths arrived, and later Celts in the South and Southwest. The Lower Silesian German dialect is nearing extinction due to its speakers' expulsion. [3] They disagree with the hypothesis of an origin for the name lsk [lsk] from the name of the Silings tribe, an etymology preferred by some German authors. As the result of the forced population shifts of 194548, today's inhabitants of Silesia speak the national languages of their respective countries. Slavs arrived in this territory around the 6th century. Today, Silesia remains predominantly Roman Catholic. an account of rural life in German Silesia in the nineteenth century. To stimulate the economy Protestant Czechs, Germans and Poles were invited to settle in the country, particularly in Upper Silesia. Historia lska, Wrocaw 2007, s. 34-35. Because the region had been home to a large German population until World War II, and because it neighbors the Czech Republic, it consists largely of German and Czech vocabulary. Nonetheless, the 2002 census allowed Polish citizens to indicate their ethnicity, and some 173,000 self-identified as Silesian, making them the countrys largest ethnic minority. Silesian is a Slavic language spoken by about 500,000 people in a region of Poland known as Silesia. Following this, the Third Silesian Uprising took place. Poles, who were mostly Roman Catholic, were resettled in their place. Ideological and Territorial Cohesion of the Historical Region of Silesia (c. 1000-2000) vol. In 1945 both provinces were occupied by the Soviet Union. The region was treated equally with other Polish regions, which was criticized by some inhabitants. [26] The castellanies with their fortified churches were the center of the church organization, while the network of churches was very coarsely meshed and multiple villages belonged to single parishes. In 1945, Silesia was captured by the Soviet Red Army. The Prussian Province of Silesia within Germany was then divided into the provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia. Silesia hosted prisoner-of-war camps, most famously Stalag Luft III whose prisoner escapes were immortalised in the films The Great Escape (1963) and The Wooden Horse (1950). In 1178, parts of the Duchy of Krakw around Bytom, Owicim, Chrzanw, and Siewierz were transferred to the Silesian Piasts, although their population was primarily Vistulan and not of Silesian descent.[8]. Jahrhundert", "Tablice statystyczne Polski: wydanie za rok 1924 [Poland's statistical tables: edition for year 1924]", "Was Wir Verlieren Sollen What are Lose (Art.IWM PST 7522)", "Saybusch Aktion - jak Hitler budowa raj dla swoich chopw", "Attack on Vienna/Lobau Oil Refinery: 20 February 1945", The Expulsion of 'German' Communities from Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War, http://pl.wikisource.org/wiki/Ustawa_o_nacjonalizacji_podstawowych_ga%C5%82%C4%99zi_gospodarki_narodowej_%281946%29, Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia, Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Silesia&oldid=1165055994, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing cleanup from August 2022, Articles with bare URLs for citations from August 2022, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from August 2022, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from September 2013, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from October 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2023, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2007, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, This page was last edited on 12 July 2023, at 18:54. It employed the theory of the Corona Regni Poloniae according to which the state (the Crown) and its interests were no longer strictly connected with the person of the monarch. In 1327/29 the majority of the dukes of Silesia became dukes of Bohemia, while in 1331 the Duchy of Gogw and in 1336 the Duchy of Mnsterberg were directly annexed by Bohemia. Most Polish linguistic enclaves in the south of Lower and Middle Silesia disappeared; these regions became largely German. A new plan of division was prepared by an ambassadors commission in Geneva in 1922, but it still created a situation in which some rural territories that voted mostly for Poland were granted to Germany and some urban territories with a German majority were granted to Poland. The administrative division of Silesia within Poland has changed several times since 1945. In Lower Silesia the number of Poles and Germans has been estimated as around 375,000 for each language group. Historia lska, Wrocaw 2007, pp. Architecture aficionados will delight in the range from ornate baroque to austere gothic. After liberation, the Polish parliament did not offer autonomy to Polish Silesia. Zbigniew was officially recognized as heir to the throne. The first conference of Hovevei Zion groups took place in Kattowitz (Katowice), German Empire in 1884. Kamila Uzarczyk: Podstawy ideologiczne higieny ras. [41] In Polish East Upper Silesia, the number of Jews was around 90,000100,000. Breslau not only adopted the faith but, as the seat of the Provincial governor, also promoted Protestantism in Breslau. The Silesian Germans and Protestants welcomed Prussian rule, which brought a more efficient administration and great attention to the regions economic development.