Silesians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Several million (of which about 0.9 million official declared Silesian nationality in national census in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia).) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|
Poland: 2 million, of which 847,000 officially declared Silesian nationality Czech Republic: no data, 21,556 declared Silesian nationality Germany: unknown (historical data: 3.6 million in 1950; 2.4 million Silesian Germans in West Germany in 1970). |
|
| Languages | |
| Silesian, Polish, German, Czech. | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholicism, Protestantism (Mainly Lutheranism), other | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Poles, Czechs, Sorbs, Slovaks, Other Slavs, Germans, Austrians |
Silesians (Silesian: Ślůnzoki; Silesian German: Schläsinger; Polish: Ślązacy; Czech: Slezané; German: Schlesier) are the inhabitants of Silesia, a historical region divided by the current national boundaries of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. This central European ethno-linguistic group should not be confused with German Silesians and their descendants who inhabited both Upper and Lower Silesia until their expulsion in 1945–47. Today, Silesians inhabiting Poland are considered to belong to a Polish ethnographic group, and they speak a dialect of Polish. They are of Slavic descent, but because Germany ruled Silesia for a long time, Silesians have been deeply influenced by German culture.
There have been some debates on whether or not the Silesians (historically, Upper Silesians) constitute a distinct nation. In modern history, they have often been pressured to declare themselves to be German, Polish or Czech, and use the language of the nation currently governing them. Nevertheless, 847,000 people declared themselves to be of Silesian nationality in the 2011 Polish national census (including 376,000 who declared it to be their only nationality, 436,000 who declared to be their first nationality, 411,000 who declared to be their second one, and 431,000 who declared joint Silesian and Polish nationality (173,153 in Poland in 2002), maintaining its position as the largest minority group. About 126,000 people declared themselves as members of the German minority (58,000 declared it jointly with Polish nationality), making it the third largest minority group in the country (93% of Germans living in Poland are in the Polish part of Silesia). 12,231 people declared themselves to be of Silesian nationality in the Czech national census of 2011 (44,446 in Czechoslovakia in 1991), and 6,361 people declared joint Silesian and Moravian nationality in the Slovak national census.
...
Wikipedia