History of Silesia

History of Silesia - slaska historia - Geschichte Schlesiens

[ChrisDIYerOklahoma]

Very beautiful area. Was stationed in Germany in the 90s and visited that area. My great-grandfather's family left there around 1900.

[jaydonwagner]

Supposidly the Wagner family (my last name) is from Silesia, but oh my god is it ever confusing as to what exactly happened to the Silesian territory and my family history.

[StefanMarkBee]

...who cares if Pommern, or Pommerania is Polish or was more German or has been founded by the Piast or belonged to Habsburg and the Austrian Hungarian Monarchy - it's nothing but a beautiful and rich part of Europe today ! Im born as a German in 1948 in Szklarska Poreba, Oberschreiberhau, Silsesia and the Karkonosze, The Riesengebirge nowadays is just as beautiful as it was back in their German days - I promise !

[RitterDesHimmels]

3 Even during the feudal fragmentation of Poland, Silesian rulers (like Henry I the Bearded, Henry II the Pious etc.) wanted to unite Poland - that proves that Silesia was treated back than, like all the others Polish provinces. .

[dangrotrian]

My Family moved from Silesia to Denmark in 1799 and Living in Denmark in 1800. Other part of the Family lives in Germany and builds Pianos. GROTRIAN -Steinveg Pianos. My Father immigrated from Denmark to Alberta Canada. Dad married a Welch Nurse and the resided in Calgary Alberta. I have two sisters but my wife and I have 7 children. Some live in Alberta and some in British Columbia Canada. Last year went to a family reunion in Orslev Kloster Denmark

[Maczeta_Pompa]

Yeah really convenient for u, German, to show only part of history so that to make silesia look german. First of all if something was part of Holy Roman Empire it wasn’t automatically German. Since 1335 silesia was under rule of Czechia (Bochemia) which was part of Holy Roman Empire. But the thing is, that Czechia including Silesia wasn’t land owned by emperor. It was under the crown of Czech king. It was czech. Czechs had their own culture, king, army, wars and they were basically independent. Learn how Holy Roman Empire worked. Next, u ignored whole Austrian rule. From 1526 to 1740 silesia was Austrian. Period of 1740-1945 was time of actuall german rule. U mentioned great development but u must have forgotten that these were times of industrial revolution which brought development to WHOLE EUROPE. What germans did there in XIX century was the same what whole Europe did in XIX and it wasn’t anything unusual. Also so weird they u haven’t mentioned the development that happened in Middle Ages during polish and Czech time I don’t understand why. Looking from architectural perspective germans did not creat much art compared to other nations that ruled there. In Breslau’s old town there is just one german building - new town hall. Outside old town there are 2 others german buildings - Hala 100-lecia and train station. Also I don’t think I have to tell that new town hall and train station aren’t relevant buildings. Last thing to say is that u said that silesians struggle for autonomy. Well... they are not. There is something like RAŚ - silesian autonomy movement but, don’t know how u could possibly missed that, only about 7000 people are part of it. Population od silesia is 4489000. Simply only about 0, 15% of silesians want autonomy. It’s not even 1% u clown. Stop manipulating with history
The last thing I want to say:
- Polish rule - 425 years
- Czech rule - 191 years (including times before 985 it would be about 400)
- Austrian rule - 214 years
- German rule - 205 years
So funny that germans rules silesia for the shortest time but they still argue about silesian’s heritage the most.

[PomorskiWilk]

Polish government in London (durging II World War) wanted only Danzig, some lands on the border (Lauenburg and Butow, Grenzmark) and Upper Silesia (with Beuthen, Gleiwitz and Oppeln). It was mayby 25% from "Recoveres Territory". But Stalin stolen our East (Lwow, Vilno - it was 48% of polish territory!) and gave german territory where in 80% we havent't any demands (Breslau, Stettin).

[dukebielak]

How about the Poles who lived there before Silesia fell under German rule?

[RitterDesHimmels]

This video portraits Nazi soldiers as saviors. It shows a very one-sided view of history. The first and the second Silesian Uprising were organized by Silesians alone, because Poles were engaged in a war against the Bolsheviks - who wanted to conquer Europe. Only in the third uprising Poles supported Silesians with military help. You should also add that the second uprising was caused by Germans who thought that they can incorporate Silesia using force.

[RitterDesHimmels]

@GurnySlunzok What about people from Spain, Italy, Russia and Germany? They were no insurrectionists during the Napoleonic wars?

[ptg]

Just determined that a great portion of my ancestry is Silesian.
Emigrated to the U.S. from about 1830 to 1860 and settled in south Texas.
Would like to find out what happened during that period.

[RitterDesHimmels]

@GurnySlunzok Dmowski was the best Polish political writer. He said that he "respects the individuality of each nation". He never supported ethnic cleanings or national hatred. Ohh and he also added that he supports Polish-German reconciliation. Of course You can criticize him for antisemitism, but is also important to remember that it was based on their social position in our country - not on some racial ideologies (like in Germany).

[PomorskiWilk]

Do you remember who started war? Do you remember who in 1939 annexed 90.000 km^2 polish territory (Posen Bromberg Kattowitz Gdingen Lodz)? Who expulsed 800.000 polish people from this territory? And finally, who losted war?

[PomorskiWilk]

More than 90% Cassubian say that they are polish. So what a problem? They were always voted for polish parties in Prussia/Germany, they were always catholics (Germans from Prussia were mostly protestant), cassubian nobility were polish ...

[PomorskiWilk]

Piastowie śląscy byli tacy sami jak wielkopolscy, kujawscy czy mazowieccy - tłukli się o tron w Krakowie, bo każdy chciał być polskim królem.

[adlozi]

I am from that area, it is sad what Nazi Germany allowed Hitler to do - we all pay now the price of it. We were expelled from Silesia - where we lived for at least 700 years, and those of us who stayed and assimilated, never actually got accepted. The discrimination goes on. In my Polish history lessons we have learned that Polish tribes were there first, not Germanic or Celtic - yes the archaeology proves there were some temporary settlers. Still, Poles don't recognize it as legitimate. According to Polish history Polish tribes were there first, therefore these lands should be Polish again. So, after about 300-400 years of Polish tribes and later kingdom, then 700 years of German and after WW2 suddenly it had to become Polish again. It was the most violent exodus in Europe after WW2.

[PomorskiWilk]

ever heard of 800.000 expelled Poles from Great Poland (provinz Posen), Pommerania (West Prussia) and Upper Silesia?

[PomorskiWilk]

Język śląski jest częścią języka polskiego. Przyznali to sami lingwiniści niemieccy w czasach Kulturkampfu. Niemcy uznali, że śląski to część polskiego, za to kaszubski się różni od polskiego na tyle, żeby uznać go za inny język. Antypolscy Niemcy!

[PomorskiWilk]

In II Republic of Poland nobody expelled Germans for be german. They leaved Poland because they didn't want live by the polish authorities. A lot of emigrants were soldiers, teachers and officials who couldn't find job in Poland. Germany was richer country than Poland, before 1918 a lot of people went to Ruhrgebiet and Berlin for work.

If you analise who leaved Poland in 1919-1939, you can see that was people from cities and towns. Germans in villages in mostly didn't went to Germany.

[GurnySlunzok]

The Pommeranians were integrated in the german nation. How many Pommeranians staied, how many left after WWII? Or where is nowadays a pommeranian nation?