Slovincian

Slovincian is an extinct dialect of the Pomeranian language, spoken between the lakes Gardno and Łebsko in Pomerania. Slovincian died out as the everyday language of the community and had been replaced by Low German by the turn of the 20th century. However, individual words and expressions survived up until the years after World War II. At that time there were also reports of elderly people who were able to hold simple conversations in their dialect.

Slovincian was so closely related to Kashubian that it could be regarded as its dialect. It is disputed whether Slovincians actually used that name, given to them by the Russian scientist Aleksander Hilferding, for themselves.

Some scholars believe that Slovincians regarded themselves only as Lutheran Kashubians and their language as Kashubian. Nevertheless, the name "Slovincian" prevails in literature and is also used officially (e.g. Słowiński Park Narodowy - Slovincian National Park in the Pomeranian Voivodeship).

History

According to allochtonic spin in historigraphy some believe: The ancestors of Slovincians probably came to their area some 1500 years ago^{[citation needed]}, as part of the large tribe of Slavic Pomeranians. Following its forced Christianization (Northern Crusade), the Western Pomeranian ruling classes gradually became more and more Germanized. The adoption of Lutheranism in 1525 and 1538 broke most of their links with the Poles and Kashubes. Moreover, it was decided that German would be used in the Church in Pomerania, instead of the native language of the people.

The relative isolation of the Slovincian settlements from major cities delayed this process until the late 19th century. In the 16th and 17th century Michał Mostnik (also known as Pontanus or Michael Brüggeman) and Szimon Krofej attempted to introduce Slovincian into the Lutheran Church. They translated several religious works into Slovincian and published them. However, their efforts did not stop the slow process of Germanization of the Slavic population in Pomerania.

After the unification of Germany in 1871, the former Prussian province of Pomerania became part of national Germany. At that point of time any language except German was strongly discouraged in ecclesiastical, educational and administrative use. The Slavic Pomeranian language declined further and was gradually replaced by Low German. The same process, though much slower, took place for Catholic Kashubians in the Prussian province of Western Prussia. Nevertheless, the Kashubians still survived as an ethnic group when the Treaty of Versailles put them under the Polish government. The Slovincian area remained within the borders of Germany, becoming part of Poland only after World War II ended in 1945.

The newly arrived Polish settlers from Eastern Poland treated the Slovincians as unwanted Germans. The property ownership rights of all German citizens had been taken over by the Communist state, unless they could prove a right to naturalisation as Poles. Slovincians weren't given the option of applying for Polish citizenship. Some Polish intellectuals wrote protest letters to the Communist authorities against such treatment of Pomerania's indigenous population, but that changed little.

Slovincians began to ask for the right to emigrate to West Germany, and virtually all of the remaining Slovincian families had emigrated there by the 1980s, if they had not already been expelled there by the Polish military between 1945 and 1950.

See also

• Kashubian language
• Old Prussian language

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