Microsoft Word - pas200301.doc

Abstract. In Poland's region of Opole Silesia, ethnic Germans constitute one-third of the populace. Most of them (re-)acquired German citizenship in the 1990s This article focuses on a territorial unit which emerged as a distinctive region quite recently. The name of Silesia refers to the historical province that extended from Gör-litz/Zgorzelec in the west, to Katowice (Kattowitz) 1 in the east, along the banks of the Oder River. In the 15 th century it became the usual practice to speak about Silesia's western half centered on the city of Breslau (Wrocław) as Lower Silesia, and to dub its eastern part governed from Oppeln (Opole) as Upper Silesia. The first Polish ruler Mieszko I seized the territory of would-be Silesia from Bohemia. In 1138 the Polish realm disintegrated. With time the province of Silesia became fragmented too. From the 12 th century the local Silesian rulers had attracted settlers from the relatively overpopulated areas of the Holy Roman Empire. The Silesian duchies became property of the Czech Crown in the 14 th century, which also entailed inclusion of them within the empire's borders. Received January 11, 2003 1 I use these forms of place-names that were used in the period I refer to. In parentheses I give the current forms of these place-names or the former ones should I speak about the present day