<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>According to the National Census of Population and Housing 2011, Silesians are the second largest nationality in Poland. Nevertheless, Silesian nationality is not recognised under Polish law. In this paper, the main aspects of the identity of the Silesian people are discussed. Research was carried out using questionnaire-based interviews in ten municipalities in the Silesian Voivodeship, characterised by the greatest share of Silesians. The ethnic identity of Silesians is complex – more than half of the respondents declared dual nationality. Most of the respondents demand the recognition of the Silesian ethnolect as a regional language, and consequently, its inclusion as a school subject in Upper Silesia. The postulate of establishing autonomy is popular, with a model of the Silesian Voivodeship from the period of interwar Poland.</p></abstract>

According to the National Census of Population and Housing 2011, Silesians are the second largest nationality in Poland. Nevertheless, Silesian nationality is not recognised under Polish law. In this paper, the main aspects of the identity of the Silesian people are discussed. Research was carried out using questionnaire-based interviews in ten municipalities in the Silesian Voivodeship, characterised by the greatest share of Silesians. The ethnic identity of Silesians is complex – more than half of the respondents declared dual nationality. Most of the respondents demand the recognition of the Silesian ethnolect as a regional language, and consequently, its inclusion as a school subject in Upper Silesia. The postulate of establishing autonomy is popular, with a model of the Silesian Voivodeship from the period of interwar Poland.

Identity and distribution of the Silesian minority in Poland

Miscellanea Geographica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Identity and distribution of the Silesian minority in Poland"}

According to the National Census of Population and Housing 2011, Silesians are the second largest nationality in Poland. Nevertheless, Silesian nationality is...

nationality	1st declared nationality		2nd declared nationality	Total	Total co-declared with Polish nationality
nationality	Total	As sole identity	2nd declared nationality	Total	Total co-declared with Polish nationality
Silesian	435,750	375,635	410,969	846,719	430,798
Kashubian	17,746	16,377	214,801	232,547	215,784
German	74,464	44,549	73,350	147,814	63,847
Ukrainian	38,387	27,630	12,613	51,001	20,797
Belarusian	36,399	30,195	10,388	46,787	15,562
Roma	12,560	9,899	4,489	17,049	7,036
Russian	8,203	5,176	4,842	13,046	7,119
American	1,239	813	10,600	11,838	10,811
Lemko	7,086	5,612	3,445	10,531	3,621
English	1,560	1,193	8,935	10,495	9,132

Language spoken Total at home	Total	Number of people using:
Language spoken Total at home	Total	only one language	more than one language
Silesian	529,377	126,509	402,868
Kashubian	108,140	3,802	104,338
English	103,541	4,128	99,414
German	96,461	9,738	86,723
Belarusian	26,448	3,950	22,498
Ukrainian	24,539	4,510	20,029
Russian	19,805	1,136	18,669
Romani	14,468	2,309	12,159
French	10,677	640	10,037
Italian	10,295	812	9,483

Identity and distribution of the Silesian minority in Poland

Pubblicato online: 30 apr 2019

Pagine: 76 - 84

Ricevuto: 10 giu 2018

Accettato: 27 dic 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2019-0006

Parole chiave
Minority, nationality, identity, Silesians, Upper Silesia, census

© 2019 Patryk Orlewski, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Highest numbers of national and ethnic minorities in Poland (2011).

Languages spoken at home in Poland (excluding Polish) (2011)

Identity and distribution of the Silesian minority in Poland

Pubblicato online: 30 apr 2019

Pagine: 76 - 84

Ricevuto: 10 giu 2018

Accettato: 27 dic 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2019-0006

Parole chiaveMinority, nationality, identity, Silesians, Upper Silesia, census

© 2019 Patryk Orlewski, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Highest numbers of national and ethnic minorities in Poland (2011).

Languages spoken at home in Poland (excluding Polish) (2011)

Parole chiave
Minority, nationality, identity, Silesians, Upper Silesia, census