Silesia (English pronunciation [saɪˈ lɪːʃɐ], Czech: Slezsko; German:
Schlesien (help·info);
Latin: Silesia; Polish:
Śląsk; Silesian: Ślůnsk) is a region in central Europe, located along the upper and middle Oder River, upper Vistula River, and along the Sudetes, Carpathian (Silesian
Beskids, Silesian-Moravian Beskids) mountain range. At present most of
it is now within the borders of Poland (Silesian
Voivodeship, Opole Voivodeship, Lower Silesian Voivodeship and Lubusz
Voivodeship), with small parts in the Czech Republic (Czech Silesia) and Germany (Silesian-Lusatian Region or
Silesian Lusatia: Ger: Schlesische Lausitz / Schlesische
Oberlausitz). The largest cities are Wrocław and Katowice.
Silesia have inhabited from the 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 those of Greater Moravia
and Bohemia. In the 10th century, Boleslaw I
Chrobry incorporated Silesia into the Polish state.
In the Middle Ages, Silesia was divided among many independent duchies ruled by
Silesian branches 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. 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
Brandenburg in 1476 and, with the renunciation by King Ferdinand I 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.
After World War I, parts of Silesia were transferred to the Second Polish Republic and administered as the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship. The Prussian Province of Silesia within Germany was
divided into the Provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia. Austrian Silesia (now
Czech Silesia), the small portion of Silesia retained by Austria after the
Silesian Wars, became part of Czechoslovakia.
In 1945 following World War II, German Silesia was seized by the Soviet Union and most of it transferred to Poland.
Administration
Traditionally, Silesia was bounded by the Kwisa and Bobr rivers,
while the territory west of the Kwisa was Upper Lusatia (earlier Milsko). However,
because part of Upper Lusatia was included in the Province of Silesia in 1815, in
Germany the Görlitz, Niederschlesischer
Oberlausitzkreis, and neighbouring areas are considered parts of Silesia. Those districts, along with the Lower Silesian Voivodeship and Lubusz
Voivodeship, make up the geographic region of Lower Silesia.
Upper Silesia consists of the Silesian
and Opole Voivodeships in Poland and Czech
Silesia in the Czech Republic. Czech Silesia consists of the Moravian-Silesian
Region and Jeseník District in Olomouc
Region.
Etymology
One theory claims that the name Silesia is derived from the Silingi, who were
most likely a Vandalic (East Germanic) people migrated towards 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 (in Slavic
form) by the new inhabitants, who were in fact Slavic (Polish: Śląsk; Old Polish: Śląžsk [-o]; Old Slavic: *Sьlęžьskъ
[<*sǐlęgǐskǔ], from Old Vandalic *Siling-isk [land]). These people became
associated with the place, and were thenceforth known as Silesians (using a Latinized form of the
Polish name, Ślężanie), even though they may have had little in common with the original Silingi. The critics claim that
neither the Polish name Śląsk nor German Schlesien show resemblance to the alleged tribe of "Silingi", and that the
Latin name Silesia originated in 11th century.[citation needed]
The other theory (supported by archaeological finds)[citation needed] claims that the original name of the region Śląsk, is derived from the
Polish word ślągwa meaning high humidity (to this day the region of
Mountain Ślęża, the original Polish settlement, has coastal climate).
Archaeological finds from the 7th and 8th centuries have uncovered former largely populated areas[citation needed], protected by a dense system of
fortifications from the west and south[citation needed]; the lack of such systems from the north or east supports the notion that
Silesia was populated by early Polish tribes from the 5th to 13th centuries.[citation needed] The critics claim that the fortifications do not seem to support any
nationalistic theory because Goths, another East Germanic
group, settled in eastern Silesia while Slavic Wends lived in western Silesia during that
time.
History
Early people
The first signs of genus Homo in Silesia date to between 230,000 and 100,000 years ago.
The Silesian region between the upper Vistula and upper Oder was the northern extreme of the human penetration at the time of the
last glaciation. The anatomically-modern human is
estimated to have arrived in Silesia about 35,000 years ago [1]. Subsequently, Silesia was inhabited by people who belonged to changing archaeological cultures in
the Stone, Bronze, and Iron
Ages, and the ethnic identity of whose cannot currently be determined. The civilization of Old Europe undoutedly included Silesia. Later, the Indo-European tribes of Scythians and Celts are known to have played a role within the Silesian
territory. Later Germanic tribes migrated to Silesia from Northern Germany and Scandinavia.
The first written sources about Silesia came down from the Egyptian Claudius
Ptolemaeus (Magna Germania) and the Roman Gaius
Cornelius Tacitus (Germania). 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 (Germanic) that lived south of the Baltic Sea in the
Laba, later Elbe, Oder, and Vistula river areas. Also, other East Germanic tribes inhabited
the scarcely populated region.
Middle Ages
After 500, the migration period had induced the bulk of the East Germanic tribes to
continue their migration and leave Silesia towards Southern Europe, while Slavic tribes began to appear and spread including the
Silesian lands.
Early documents mention a few mostly Slavic tribes probably living in Silesia
(Silesian tribes). The Bavarian Geographer (ca. 845)
specifies the following peoples: the Slenzanie, Dzhadoshanie,
Opolanie, Lupiglaa, and Golenshitse. A document of the Bishopric of Prague (1086) also mentions the
Zlasane, Trebovyane, Poborane,
and Dedositze.
In the 9th and 10th centuries, the territory later called Silesia experienced founding of the first state in the region
callled 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, (see
map), although some historians give this date as 999 and the rule of Duke Boleslaus
I. During Poland's fragmentation (1138–1320) into duchies ruled by different branches of the Piast dynasty. Silesia was ruled
by descendants of the former royal family.
In 1146, High Duke Władysław II acknowledged the overlordship of the
Holy Roman Empire over his realms, but was driven into exile by Polish nobles who opposed him. 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, Wrocławska (of Wrocław)) and Opolsko-Raciborska (of Opole and Racibórz. The policy of subdivision continued under their successors,
with Silesia being divided into 16 principalities by the 1390s.
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 Wrocław, supposedly after being fended
off by Blessed Czeslaw's "miraculous fireball." They then annihilated the combined Polish and
German forces at the Battle of Legnica, which took place at Legnickie Pole near 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
(Magdeburg law and Środa Śląska 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 Cross with 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 Przemysł 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 Głogowski (of
Głogów) 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
Władysław I the Elbow-high. Władysław eventually won the struggle because of
his broader support. In the meantime, King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia decided to
extend his rule and was crowned as King of Poland in 1300. The next half century was rife with wars between Władysław (later his
son Casimir III the Great) 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 1327, Duke Henry VI of Breslau and the Upper Silesian dukes recognized the overlordship of King John I of Bohemia, while in 1335 King Casimir III of
Poland accepted Bohemian control of most of Silesia (Treaties of Trenčín and
Visegrád). Over the following centuries, the lines of the Piast dukes of Silesia died out and
were inherited by the Bohemian crown:
Although Friedrich Wilhelm, the last male Silesian Piast Duke of Teschen
(Cieszyn) died in 1625, rule of the duchy passed to his
sister Elisabeth Lukretia, wife of the duke of Liechtenstein, until her death in 1653 after which
it reverted to the empire under the Habsburg rulers.
By the end of the 14th century, the country had been split up into 18 principalities: Wrocław, Brzeg, Głogów, Jawor, Legnica,
Ziębice, Oleśnica, Świdnica
and Ścinawa in Lower Silesia; Bytom, Niemodlin, Koźle, Nysa, Opole, Racibórz, Strzelce Opolskie,
Cieszyn and Opava in the upper district. The petty rulers of
these sections wasted their strength with internecine quarrels and proved quite incompetent to check the lawlessness of their
feudal vassals. Save under the vigorous rule of some dukes of Lower Silesia, such as Henry I and Bolko
I, and the above-named Henry II and IV, who succeeded in reuniting most of the principalities under their sway, the
country fell into a state of growing anarchy.
The inheritance of the Silesian duchies by Bohemia incorporated the region into the
Holy Roman Empire. Under Emperor Charles IV, Silesia and especially Wrocław (Vratislav,
Breslau) gained greatly in importance, as many great buildings and large Gothic
churches were built. From the 13th century onward the
population of the region became increasingly Germanized through the arrival of more German
settlers and the assimilation of local rulers and peasants within this new German majority.
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.
Under later rulers, the connection with Bohemia brought the Silesians no benefit, but involved them in the destructive
Hussite wars. At the outbreak of this conflict in 1420, they gave ready support to their
king Sigismund against the Bohemian Hussites, whom they regarded as dangerous to their German
nationality, but by this act they exposed themselves to a series of invasions (1425-1435) by which the country was severely
devastated. In consequence of these raids, the German element of population in Upper Silesia permanently lost ground; a complete
restitution of the Slavonic nationality seemed imminent on the appointment of the Hussite, George Podiebrad, to the Bohemian kingship in 1457. Though most of the Silesian dynasts seemed ready
to acquiesce, the burghers of Breslau fiercely repudiated the new suzerain, and before he could enforce his claims to homage he
was ousted by the Hungarian king, Matthias Corvinus, who was readily
recognized as overlord (1469).
Although part of the Holy Roman Empire, Silesia continued to have strong economic ties, especially through the
Jewish merchants in the cities, with the neighbouring
Kingdom of Poland during the Renaissance period and beyond.
Matthias enforced his authority by the vigorous use of his mercenaries and by wholesale confiscations of the lands of
turbulent nobles. By instituting a permanent diet of Silesian princes and estates to
co-operate with his vicegerent, he took an important step towards the abolition of particularism and the establishment of an
effective central government. In spite of these reforms the Silesians, who felt severely the financial exactions of Matthias,
began to resent the control of the Bohemian crown. Profiting by the weakness of Matthias' successor Vladislav, they extorted concessions which secured them a practical autonomy. They still retained these
privileges at the outset of the religious Reformation, which the Silesians, in
spite of their Catholic zeal during the Hussite wars, accepted readily and carried out with singularly little opposition from
within or without.
But a drastic change in their government was imposed upon them by the German king, Ferdinand
I, who had been prevented from interference during his early reign by his wars with the Turks, and who showed little
disposition to check the Reformation in Silesia by forcible means, but subsequently reasserted the control of the Bohemian crown
by a series of important enactments. He abolished all privileges which were not secured by charter and imposed a more rigidly
centralized scheme of government in which the activities of the provincial diet were restricted to some judicial and financial
functions, and their freedom in matters of foreign policy was withdrawn altogether. Henceforth, too, annexations of territory
were frequently carried out by the Bohemian crown on the extinction of Silesian dynasties, and the surviving princes showed an
increasing reluctance to exercise their authority. Accordingly the Silesian estates never again chose to exercise initiative save
on rare occasions, and from 1550 Silesia passed almost completely under foreign administration.
Protestant Reformation
Upper Silesia's historical coat of arms
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 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 Rafał
Leszczyński. 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
Lower Silesia's historical coat of arms
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 within Bohemia.
Although Ferdinand requested assistance from the mostly Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Polish szlachta 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
Superior Silesia
Upper Silesia map of 1746
In 1740, the annexation of Silesia by King Frederick II (the Great) 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 (1740-1748). 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 (1756-1763) 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 only popular language in Lower Silesia, while dialects of Polish and Czech were
used in most of the countryside of Upper Silesia. German was the most common language in
most Silesian cities.
Silesia in Germany and Austria
Imperial German Silesia 1905
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 (then
Regierungsbezirk 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[citation needed], and most of them lived around Katowice
in the southeast of Upper Silesia. In whole Upper Silesia Poles made 61,1 % of population in 1829, but due to state's policy of
forced germanization their numbers decreased to 58,6 % of population 1849 [2]. 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 Kattowitz (Katowice), German Empire 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 1900, the population of Austrian Silesia numbered 680,422, which corresponds to 342 inhabitants per square mile (132/km²).
The Germans formed 44.69% of the population, 33.21% were Poles and 22.05% Czechs and Slavs. According to religion, 84% were Roman
Catholics, 14% Protestants and the remainder were Jews. The local diet was composed of
31 members, and Silesia sent 12 deputies to the Reichsrat at Vienna. For administrative
purposes Silesia was divided into 9 districts and 3 towns with autonomous municipalities: Troppau, the capital, Bielitz and
Friedek. Other principal towns were: Teschen, Polnisch-Ostrau,
Jagerndorf, Karwin, Freudenthal, Freiwaldau and Bennisch.
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 km² area around Hlučín (Hultschiner Ländchen), 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 an interim deal between Rada Narodowa Księstwa
Cieszyńskiego 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 invaded the lands of Cieszyn Silesia and stopped on 30
January 1919 on the Vistula River near
Skoczów.[3][4] 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
Military band walks under the sign made by Polish people of
Karwina during the 1938 annexation
of
Zaolzie by Poland. The sign reads "We've been waiting for you 600 years".
After the referendum, there were three Silesian Insurrections instigated by Polish
inhabitants of the area, as a result of which the League of Nations decided that the province should be split with areas where
majority voted for Poland going to Poland and areas where majority voted for Germany going to Germany. The League decided that
the eastern-most Upper Silesian areas where majority voted for Poland, should become an autonomous area within Poland organised
as the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship (Autonomiczne Wojewodztwo
Śląskie) and with Silesian Parliament as a constituency and Silesian Voivodship
Council as the executive body. One of the central political figures that stirred 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 of 1938. In October 1938,
Cieszyn Silesia (the disputed area west of the Olza
River, also called Zaolzie in Polish - 876 km² with 258,000 inhabitants), was taken by
Poland from Czechoslovakia following the Munich Agreement that surrendered border areas
of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany. Czech Silesia
with Ostrau was incorporated into the Sudetenland
Gau, while Hultschin was incorporated into
Upper Silesia province.
World War II
The German Reich retook possession of these mostly Polish parts of Upper Silesia along
with Sosnowiec (Sosnowitz), Będzin (Bendzin,
Bendsburg), Chrzanów (Krenau), and Zawiercie
(Warthenau) counties and parts of Olkusz (Ilkenau) and Zywiec (Saybusch) counties in 1939, when the invasion of
Poland marked the beginning of World War II. The local German populations frequently
welcomed the Wehrmacht and later, many thousands of Silesians were conscripted to Wehrmacht
after signing the Deutsche Volksliste.
In 1940, the Germans started to construct the Auschwitz concentration
camp, which was later used as a death camp during the Holocaust. The
Groß-Rosen concentration camp, which had subcamps in many Silesian
cities, was also constructed in 1940. The Riese Project was later implemented, during which
thousands of prisoners died.
Silesia after World War II
In 1945, all of Silesia was occupied by the Soviet Red
Army and Polish People's Army, in the course of the Silesian Offensives. 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 and the Potsdam Agreement, both in 1945,
German Silesia east of the rivers Oder and Lusatian
Neisse Rivers was transferred to Poland (see Oder-Neisse line). Most of the
remaining Silesian Germans, who before World War II amounted to more than four million, were forcibly expelled, some of them imprisoned in labour camps, e.g.
Lamsdorf (Łambinowice) and Zgoda labour camp.
Many perished in those camps. More than 30,000 Silesian men (majority of German roots, some having partially Polish roots) were
deported to Soviet mines and Siberia, the majority of whom never
returned. Others were driven out in the years after the war by the Polish government (see German exodus from Eastern Europe).
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.
A small German-speaking remnant exists in the region around Opole (Oppeln), as well as some
Slavic speaking and bilingual remnants of the pre-1945 population of Upper Silesia. In the official Polish census, 153,000 people
declared German nationality, though up to 500,000 are of German ancestry.[citation needed]
Natural resources
Silesia is a resource-rich and populous region. Coal and iron are abundant, and a substantial manufacturing
industry is present, particularily in Upper Silesia. Lower Silesia features large copper mining
and processing between the cities of Legnica, Głogów, Lubin and
Polkowice. The following minerals have also been mined in Silesia: zinc, lead, cadmium, silver, gold, limestone, marl, marble, and basalt. In post-communist times, however, the outdated nature of many
facilities has led to environmental problems and a substantial transition away from the resource-based to service-based
economy.
The region also has a thriving agricultural sector, which produces mainly
grains, potatoes, and sugar
beets.
Mountainous parts of southern Silesia are significant and attractive tourism destinations (e.g., Karpacz, Szczyrk, Wisła).
Demographics
Modern Silesia is inhabited mostly by Poles, but also by minorities of Germans, Czechs, Ukrainians, and
Moravians. The last Polish census of 2002 showed that the Slavic Silesians are
the largest ethnic 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, and Poles.
Before the Second World War, Silesia was inhabited by Germans, Poles, Jews and Czechs. In 1905, a census showed that 75% of
the population was German and 25% Polish. Most Jews were murdered in the Holocaust in the German concentration camps. The vast
majority of German Silesians fled or were expelled from Silesia during and after World War II. Most ethnic German Silesians today
live 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. Examples of mixed Polish-German Silesians include Miroslav
Klose; fellow teammate Lukas Podolski is also Silesian. Both are stars of the
German national football team.
Cities in Silesia
By far, the largest urban center in Silesia (and in Poland) is the Upper
Silesian Metropolitan Union, which is a voluntary union of a 14 adjecent cities. However, it struggling to gain
recognition in Poland, and is sometimes not even shown on Polish maps[5].
The following table lists the (official) cities in Silesia with a population greater than 100,000 (2006):
