History of Silesia

History of Silesia can be traced for many millenias, although only the last one and a half are relatively known. Silesia has been inhabited from time immemorial by people of multiple ethnic groups. Germanic tribes were first recorded within Silesia in the 1st century. Slavic White Croats arrived in this territory around the 6th century establishing White Croatia. The first known states in Silesia were those of Greater Moravia and Bohemia. In the 10th century, Mieszko I incorporated Silesia into the Polish state. In this state it remained untill the Fragmentation of Poland. Afterwards it was divided between Piast dukes, descendants of Władysław II the Exile - High Duke of Poland.

In the Middle Ages, Silesia was divided among many independent duchies ruled by various Silesian dukes 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. Between the years 1289–1292 Bohemian king Wenceslaus II became suzerain of some Upper Silesian duchies. 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 Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1476 and, with the renunciation by King Ferdinand I and estates of Bohemia 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. A plebecite recorded the majority of the population of all of Upper Silesia wished to remain part of Germany. However, the easternmost portion of Upper Silesia, with a majority ethnic Polish population, was transferred to Poland. 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 the new Czechoslovakia.

In 1945 following World War II, all of Silesia was seized by the Soviet Union and most of it transferred to Poland. As a result a vast majority of the native ethnic German population was expelled by force and replaced by Polish settlers who had themselves been expelled from eastern Poland.

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. [Cavalli Sforza, "Genes, Peoples, and Languages", Scientific American, November 1991] 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 undoubtedly included Silesia. 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. Later, the Scythians and Celts are known to have played a role within the Silesian territory. Still later Germanic tribes migrated to Silesia, possibly from Northern Germany or Scandinavia.

In ancient times, the main route of the Amber Road passed through Silesia.

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. 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 populatedFact|date=October 2007 region.

Early Middle Ages

After about 500 AD, 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 into the Silesian lands.

Early documents mention a few mostly Slavic tribes probably living in Silesia (Silesian tribes). The Bavarian Geographer (around 845 AD) 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 Silesia territory came under the political power of the first historically-attested states in the region called Great Moravia, Moravia, and then Bohemia, with the centers in the neighbouring area within today's Czech Republic to the south.

Silesia in the Kingdom of Poland

Around year 990 AD, 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 (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 the first half of the XIII century Silesian duke Henry I the Bearded, managed to reunite much of the divided Polish kingdom. He became the duke of Kraków (Polonia Minor) in 1232, which gave him the title of the senior duke of Poland (see Testament of Bolesław III Krzywousty). Henry tried to achieve the Polsh crown but he didn't manage to succeed. [prof. Benedykt Zientara, Henryk Brodaty i jego czasy, Warszawa 1997, s. 317-320.] His activity in this field was continued by his son and succesor Henry II the Pious but his sudden death in 1241 (Battle of Legnica) unabled him to achieve this goal. Polish territories acquired by the Silesian dukes in this period are called "The monarchy of the Silesian Henries". In those days Wrocław was the center of the divided Kingdom of Poland.

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, Order of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Teutonic Knights.

Silesian duchies

Many Piast dukes, including Silesian Piasts, tried to reincorporate Silesia into the Polish kingdom and reunite Poland during the time of divisions. The first significant attempts were made by Dukes Henry I the Bearded and his son Henry II the Pious. In the second half of the XIII century also Henryk IV Probus of Silesia made an attempt, 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, (a Silesian duke 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 incorporation of most of Silesia (Treaties of Trentschin and Visegrád); this was confirmed in the 1348 Treaty of Namslau. Over the following centuries, the lines of the Piast dukes of Silesia died out and were inherited by the Bohemian crown:
*Opolska (of Opole)in 1314;
*Świdnicka (of Świdnica) in 1368;
*Oleśnicka (Oleśnica and Głogów) in 1476;
*Żagańska (of Żagań) in 1504;
*Woitowitz (of Woitowitz, Wrocław) in 1532 ;
*Cieszyńska (of Cieszyn) in 1625;
*and Brzesko-Legnicka (of Brzeg and Legnica) in 1675.

Although Friedrich Wilhelm, the last male Silesian Piast Duke of Teschen (Cieszyn) died in 1625, rule of the duchy passed to his sister Elisabeth Lucretia, wife of the duke of Liechtenstein, until her death in 1653 after which it reverted to the Bohemian crown 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.

Bohemia

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).

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 Vladislaus II, 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 Bohemian 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.

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.

Protestant Reformation and Thirty Years' War

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century took an early hold in Silesia. Its leading advocates were Frederick II of Liegnitz and George von Ansbach-Jägerndorf, who promoted the adoption of the new faith in his own duchy and in the pledged duchies of Oppeln and Ratibor. Breslau not only adopted the faith but, as the seat of the Provincial governor, also promoted Protestantism in the principality of Breslau. After the death of Ferdinand I in 1564 only the bishop of Breslau, the rulers and lordships of Loslau, Pleß and Trachtenberg and 10% of the population were still Catholic. Silesia became closer attached to the center of the Protestant Reformation, Brandenburg and Saxony, and the country produced several important representatives of the Protestant intellectual sphere. In 1526 Silesia received the first Protestant university of Europe when Frederick II. opened a evangelic academy in Liegnitz. This school hoewever was closed already three years later due to economic difficulties, but even more because of theologic disputes between Lutherans and followers of Caspar Schwenckfeld, a sectarian and confidant of Frederick II whose ideas became more and more popular in Silesia.

The Protestant confession was not persecuted by Ferdinand I and Maximilian II, only Schwenckfelds teachings, Anabaptists and unhallowed clergyman weren't accepted. This changed with the accession of Rudolf II to the throne and with the help of archduke Carl, bishop of Breslau.

In order to avert the oppression of their faith the estates of Silesia joined the Protestant estates of Bohemia and denied to pay taxes to the emperor in 1609. After the Bohemians eked out the "Maiestas Rudolphina" the emperor was moved to publish another letter of majesty for Silesia containing even further rights. When Ferdinand II tried to withdraw from these agreements the estates of Bohemia and Silesia changed allegiance and followed Matthias, who already owned Austria, Moravia and Hungary. Matthias not only affirmed the letter of majesty but also granted the Silesian estates its own independent German chancellery in Prague, which was responsible for Lusatia too. At the same time the Protestants in Silesia were weakened when several Silesian rulers converted to Calvinism or back to Catholizism.

After the second Defenestration of Prague in 1618 the Silesian followed the Bohemian estates, elected Frederick V as their new king of Bohemia and paid hommage in Breslau. After the defeat in the Battle of White Mountain Frederick returned to Breslau to gather troops, however as these attempts failed he advised the Silesians to contact Saxony, which occupied Lusatia, a part of Bohemia and neighbour of Silesia, and as an imperial ally was authorized to negotiate. The mediated treaty, the "Dresden accord", spared Silesia for the next few years and affirmed the earlier privileges, however the Silesian estates had to pay 300.000 gulden and accept Ferdinand II. as their suzerain. Soon after the emperor and the prince-bishop started the counter-reformation by inviting Catholic orders to Silesia and giving land to Catholic peers.

The Thirty Years' War reached Silesia when Protestant Ernst von Mansfeld started a military campaign against Hungary and crossed Silesia in 1629. This gave the emperor the chance to invade the country and to enforce his imperial might. The Silesian district authority became a imperial office, Albrecht von Wallenstein became lord of the Duchy of Sagan and of Glogau, the infamous "Liechtenstein dragoons" pressed the citizens of the principalities back into the Catholic church or otherwise expelled them, Protestant landlords lost their possessions and were replaced by Catholic families.In 1632 the Protestant countries of Saxony, Brandenburg and Sweden, which were united against the emperor, invaded Silesia. The Protestant estates of Silesia joined these countries, however as neighbouring Saxony made peace with the emperor in 1635 the Silesians lost this important ally, further weakened their position and had to submit to the emperor once again. This time only the duchies of Liegnitz, Brieg, Wohlau, Oels and the town of Breslau could keep their religious liberty.

The quiet years after 1635 were followed by new military conflicts between 1639 and 1648. Swedish and imperial troops devastated the country, cities were destroyed by fires and plagues, many people fled to the neighbouring countries of Brandenburg, Saxony or Poland, were they could freely express their faith, or at least to the countryside to escape the adverse conditions in the cities.

The Peace_of_Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War. The duchies of Liegnitz, Brieg, Wohlau, Oels and the city of Breslau retained their religious freedom, and the construction of three Protestant churches, the Churches of Peace, was permitted. The systematic oppression of the Protestant faith however was intensified in the rest of Silesia as most churches were closed or given to the few Catholics left. A new exodus to the surrounding countries started, which led to the foundation of several new towns. Also Protestant churches on the soil of these countries and close to the Silesian border, the so called "border churches" (German: Grenzkirchen), were built to provide a place were Silesians could practise their religion. After the dead of the last Piast 1675 the remaining Protestant duchies were also recatholized, but as Swedish king Charles XII pressed Joseph I to accept the treaty of Altranstädt the religious freedom in these duchies had to be restored. Moreover the construction of six further churches, the so called "churches of mercy" (German: Gnadenkirchen) was allowed.

Due to the Thirty Years' War, deseases and emigration Silesia lost large parts of its population. Especially affected were the cities, which recovered sometimes not until the 19th century.

Despite the uncertain political, economic and religious circumstances Silesia became the center of the German Baroque poetry in the 17th century. Its most important representatives were poets like Martin Opitz, Friedrich von Logau, Andreas Gryphius or Christian Hoffmann von Hoffmannswaldau, but also writers and mystics like Angelus Silesius, Abraham von Franckenberg or Christian Knorr von Rosenroth.

Kingdom of Prussia

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 Crown of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy. The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) confirmed Prussian control over most of Silesia.

Already during the War of the Austrian Succession Prussia installed its own administration which met the needs of a modern absolutistic state. Headed by a provincial minister (German: Provinzialminister), who was directly subordinate to the king, Silesia was splitted into two war- and domain chambers in Breslau and Glogau, which administrated 48 districts (German: Kreise). Silesia thus maintained its exceptional position inside Prussia, only the judicature was affiliated to the head of the respective Prussian department. The fortifications were strengthened and the number of soldiers decupled to secure Silesia. To stimulate the economy Protestant Czechs, Germans and Poles were invited to settle in the country.

The confessional restrictions were abolished already during the first Silesian war, and until 1752 164 provisional churches, so called "Bethäuser" or "Bethauskirchen", were built. Although Frederick and the bishop of Breslau argued about the competences of the Catholic church the king also strongly supported the Catholic school system.

In 1806 confederates of Napoleon invaded Silesia. Only the forts of Glatz, Silberberg and Cosel withstood until the Treaties of Tilsit. After the adoption of the reforms of Stein and Hardenberg between 1807 and 1812 Silesia was fully incorporated into Prussia, the Catholic church properties were secularized and the social and economic conditions were improved. At the same time the first European university with both a Protestant and a Catholic faculty was established in Breslau. In 1812 Silesia became the center of the revolt against Napoleon. The royal family moved to Breslau and Frederick William III published the letter "An mein Volk" (to my people) which called the German people to arms. The experience of the war of liberation strengthened the bond of the Silesians to Prussia and the Province of Silesia became one of the most loyal provinces of Prussia. Several military leaders of outstanding merit, like Blücher or Yorck von Wartenburg, received lavishly appointed manors in the country.

In 1815, the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia, formerly part of Saxony, was incorporated into the province, which was divided into the three administrative districts Liegnitz, Breslau and Oppeln.Already in the Middle Ages, German had become the only popular language in all of Lower Silesia. However, dialects of Polish were still used in much of the countryside of Upper Silesia, whereas German was the most common language in most Upper 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 German-speaking and most were Lutheran, including the capital of 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 were Slavic-speaking Poles and Roman Catholic. In Silesia as a whole, ethnic Poles comprised about 30% of the populationFact|date=May 2007, and most of them lived around Kattowitz (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."Mapy narodowościowe Górnego Śląska od połowy XIX wieku do II Wojny Światowej" Dorota Borowiecz Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego 2005 ISBN 83-229-2569-7] 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 Karviná in Austrian Silesia became increasingly industrialized. Significant portion of the Polish-speaking people there, however, were 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: Opava (Troppau), the capital, Bielsko-Biała (Bielitz) and Frýdek-Místek (Friedeck). Other principal towns were: Cieszyn/Těšín (Teschen), Slezská Ostrava (Polnisch-Ostrau) – the eastern part of Ostrava, Krnov (Jägerndorf), Karviná (Karwin), Bruntál (Freudenthal), Jeseník (Freiwaldau) and Horní Benešov (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-speaking majority. The plebiscite, organised by the League of Nations, was held in 1921. In Cieszyn Silesia first there was an interim deal between Polish "Rada Narodowa Księstwa Cieszyńskiego" and Czech "Národní výbor pro Slezsko" about partition of past lands of the Duchy of Cieszyn according to ethnic lines. However, that deal was not approved by the Czechoslovak government in Prague. Poland held general elections in the entire disputed area, and on 23 January 1919, Czech troops invaded the lands of Cieszyn Silesia and stopped on 30 January 1919 on the Vistula River near Skoczów. [Długajczyk 1993, 7.] [Zahradnik 1992, 59.] The planned plebiscite was not organised and the division of Cieszyn Silesia was decided on 28 July 1920 by the Spa Conference, which instituted the present-day border between Poland and the Czech Republic.

Interwar period

In 1918 there were various plans about the division of Upper Silesia. At the Paris Peace Conference a commission for Polish affairs was created which was preparing proposals of the future Polish borders. In their first two proposals (of 27 March 1919 and of 7 Mai 1919) most of the future province was granted, together with Opole, to Poland. Yet that was not accepted by the "Big Four", and after David Lloyd George suggestion, a plebiscite was organized. Before it actually took place on 20 march 1920, two Silesian Insurrections instigated by Polish inhabitants of the area were organized. After the referendum, in which in favor of Poland were 41 % votes, a plan of division was created, which was leaving on the Polish side only a small piece of the territory. In those circumstances the Third Silesian Uprising took place. In its result a new plan of division was prepared but it still created a situation in which some (mostly rural) territories that voted mostly for Poland were granted to Germany and as well some urban territories with a German majority were granted to Poland. 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 Województwo Śląskie") and with Silesian Parliament as a constituency and Silesian Voivodeship Council as the executive body. One of the central political figures that stirred these changes was Wojciech Korfanty.

The Silesian Uprisings 1919–1921:
* First Silesian Uprising: 16 August 1919-26 August 1919
* Second Silesian Uprising: 19 August 1920-25 August 1920
* Third Silesian Uprising: 2 May 1921-5 July 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 modern day Wrocław (German:Breslau) and in many other cities were destroyed during the Kristallnacht of 1938. In October 1938, Zaolzie (part of Cieszyn Silesia, the disputed area west of the Olza River - 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 Slezská Ostrava 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 (lost as a result of World War I) along with Sosnowiec ("Sosnowitz"), Będzin ("Bendzin", "Bendsburg"), Chrzanów ("Krenau"), and Zawiercie ("Warthenau") counties and parts of Olkusz ("Ilkenau") and Żywiec ("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 saw it as a liberation much like in the Sudetenland. Later, many thousands of Silesians were conscripted to the Wehrmacht.

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 in Poland 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 as part of the invasion of Eastern Germany. 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 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 inhabitants, were forcibly expelled, some of them imprisoned in labour camps, e.g. Lambsdorf (Łambinowice) and Zgoda labour camp. Many perished in those camps and many more during the flight towards the Soviet Occuapation Zone across the Oder and Neisse Rivers. Refugees first arrived in what would become East Germany and many of the victims of the firebombing of Dresden were Silesian refugees. Some of the population stayed in the Russian zone while others left for the Allied Occupation Zone or what would become West Germany. In addition, some Silesians immigrated to Austria, the United States, South America or Australia. More than 30,000 Silesian men (the majority of which had German roots, some having partially Polish roots) were deported to Soviet mines and Siberia, most of whom never returned. Others were driven out in the years after the war by the Polish government who took on a very nationalistic anti-German policy in what they deemed the Regained Territories, (see German exodus from Eastern Europe).

The industry of Silesia, in particular the substantial industry of Upper Silesia, suffered comparatively little damage during World War II due to its relative inaccessibility to Allied bombing, a Soviet Army enveloping maneuver in January 1945, [Max Hastings, "Armageddon. The Battle for Germany 1944-1945", Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2004, page 248] and perhaps Albert Speer's slowness or refusal to implement the scorched earth policy. This generally intact industry now played a critical role in the post-war reconstruction and industrialization of Poland. That industry that was damaged or destroyed (mostly in Opole and Lower Silesia) was rebuilt after the war. After the war, businesses (large and small alike) were nationalized and operated, with relatively minor changes or investments, till 1989. At the fall of communism in 1989, the most industrialized parts of Silesia were in decline. Since 1989, Silesia has been transitioning to a more diverse, service-based economy.

After the World War II, the region was substantially repopulated by Poles, many of whom had themselves been expelled from eastern Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union and transferred to the Soviet Ukraine. Today, a small German-speaking remnant indigenous population 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 or more are of German ancestry.Fact|date=March 2007 The German-Polish silesian minority is active in politics and has pressed for the right to again freely use the German language in public which has been largely successful.

In 1945 following World War II, the communist parliament of Poland took control of the German Silesian territory, as well as the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship. After the fall of communism in 1989, the parliament of Poland did not return autonomy to Polish Silesia. Since 1991, the Silesian Autonomy Movement has tried peaceful dialogue to convince the Polish parliament to return autonomy, though so far their efforts have been unsuccessful.

Notes

References

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