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Silesians (Silesian: ''Ślůnzoki''; Silesian German: ''Schläsinger''; (ポーランド語:Ślązacy); ; (ドイツ語:Schlesier)) are the inhabitants of Silesia, a region divided by the current boundaries of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. Silesians 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.〔P. Eberhardt, ''Ethnic Groups and Population Changes in Twentieth-century Central-Eastern Europe: History, Data, and Analysis'', M.E. Sharpe, 2003, p. 166, ISBN 0765618338, 9780765618337 (Google books )〕 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〔("Ludność według deklarowanej narodowości oraz województw w 2002 r." ) - Central Statistical Office (Poland)〕), 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.〔http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/bhr/english/special_issues/CEDIME-unwgm2001/un%20wgm%20slovakia%20appendix%20on%20minorities%203a%2015-5-01.doc〕 During the German occupation of Poland, Nazi authorities conducted a census in East Upper Silesia in 1940. 157,057 people declared Silesian nationality (''Slonzaken Volk''), and the Silesian language was declared by 288,445 people. However, the Silesian nationality could only be declared in the Cieszyn part of the region. Approximately 400–500,000 respondents from the other areas of East Upper Silesia who declared "Upper Silesian nationality" (Oberschlesier) were assigned to the German nationality category.〔"''Górny Śląsk: szczególny przypadek kulturowy''" (en: "Upper Silesia: special case of cultural") - Mirosława Błaszczak-Wacławik, Wojciech Błasiak, Tomasz Nawrocki, University of Warsaw 1990, p. 63〕 After World War II in Poland, the 1945 census showed a sizable group of people in Upper Silesia who declared Silesian nationality. According to police reports, 22% of people in Zabrze considered themselves to be Silesians, and that number was around 50% in Strzelce County.〔"''Polityka antyniemiecka na Górnym Śląsku w latach 1945-1950''" - Bernard Linek, Opole 2000, ISBN 978-83-7126-142-8〕 An article promoting the creation of an organization - the League of Silesia - was first publicly published during the Spring of Nations. The author of the article was painter and poet Jan Gajda, who published his "Appeal to the people of Upper Silesia" (''Odezwa do ludu górnośląskiego'') in the ''Journal of Upper Silesia'' on 7 April 1849. Later, the term "Silesian nationality" was used in Prussian Upper Silesia and Austrian Silesia.〔"''Historia narodu śląskiego: prawdziwe dzieje ziem śląskich od średniowiecza do progu trzeciego tysiąclecia''" (en: "''History of Silesian Nation''")- Dariusz Jerczyński, Wyd. II (uzupełnione i poprawione) Zabrze: Narodowa Oficyna Śląska, 2006. ISBN 978-83-60540-55-8〕 The emergence of the Silesian People's Party in 1908 initiated the struggle for the national identity of Silesians. At the international talks on the future of Silesia, Józef Kożdoń (leader of Silesian People's Party) stipulated the creation of an independent Silesian state. The idea attracted the International Commission, but it has faded due to the protest of the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and the representative of France. The Silesian People's Party cooperated with the Union of Upper Silesians. The Union of Upper Silesians supported a national identity for Upper Silesians, and advocated the creation of an independent, neutral Republic of Upper Silesia based the model of Switzerland and Belgium. In 1921, the union had about half a million members, which was half of the adult population. In 1918, the secret ''Committee of the Upper Silesians'' distributed unsigned underground leaflets, calling for the establishment of an independent Republic of Upper Silesia. Between 1925 and 1934, the Association of Upper Silesian Defense (''Związek Obrony Górnoślązaków'') demanded that the Silesian nationality be recognized as a national minority in Poland.〔 ==History== Archaeological findings of the 20th century in Silesia confirm the existence of an early settlement inhabited by Celtic tribes. Until the 2nd century some parts of Silesia were populated by Celtic Boii, predecessors of the states of Bohemia and Bavaria and subsequently until the 5th century, by the Germanic Silingi, a tribe of the Vandals, which moved south and west to invade (V)Andalusia. Silesia remained depopulated until the second phase of the migration period. The Slavs, predominantly White Croats entered the depopulated territory of Silesia in the first half of the 6th century. The Slavic territories were mostly abandoned, because the Celtic and Germanic tribes that lived there before had moved west.〔R. Żerelik(in:) M. Czpliński (red.) Historia Śląska, Wrocław 2007, p. 34–37, ISBN 978-83-229-2872-1〕 Chronologically, the first group of Slavs were those that dwelt by the Dnieper River, the second was the Sukov-Dzidzice type Slavs, and the last were groups of Avaro-Slavic peoples from the Danube river areas.〔R. Żerelik(in:) M. Czpliński (red.) Historia Śląska, Wrocław 2007, p. 37–38, ISBN 978-83-229-2872-1〕 In the early 9th century, the settlement stabilized. Local Slavs started to erect defence systems, such as Silesian Przesieka and the Silesia Walls to guard them from the peoples of the West. The north-eastern border with Slavic Polans was not reinforced, due to their common culture and language.〔R. Żerelik(in:) M. Czpliński (red.) Historia Śląska, Wrocław 2007, p. 40, ISBN 978-83-229-2872-1〕 The 9th-century ''Bavarian Geographer'' records the tribal names of the Opolanie, Dadosesani, Golenzizi, Lupiglaa and the Ślężanie. The 1086 ''Prague Document'', which is believed to document the 10th-century settlements,〔 also mentions the Bobrzanie and Trzebowianie tribes. Later sources classified those tribes as Silesian tribes, which were also jointly classified as part of Polish tribes.〔Raymond Breton, ''National Survival in Dependent Societies: Social Change in Canada and Poland'', McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP, 1990, p. 106, ISBN 0-88629-127-5 (Google Books ); Charles William Previte-Orton, ''The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1962, V. II, p. 744, ISBN 0-521-09976-5 (Google Books )〕〔V.I. Kozlov () Regina E. Holloman, Serghei A. Arutiunov (ed.) ''Perspectives on Ethnicity'', Walter de Gruyter 1978, p. 391, ISBN 311080770X, 9783110807707 (Google Books )〕〔Raymond Breton, W. Kwaśniewicz, ''National Survival in Dependent Societies: Social Change in Canada and Poland'', McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1990, p. 106,ISBN 0-88629-127-5 (Google Books )〕〔S. Arnold, M. Żychowski, ''Outline history of Poland. From the beginning of the state to the present time'', Warsaw 1962, p. 7-11 (Google Books )〕 The reason for this classification was the "fundamentally common culture and language" of Silesian, Polan, Masovian, Vistulan and Pomeranian tribes that "were considerably more closely related to one another than were the Germanic tribes."〔John Blacking, Anna Czekanowska, ''Polish Folk Music: Slavonic Heritage – Polish Tradition – Contemporary Trends'', Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 3, ISBN 0-521-02797-7 (Google Books ) same conclusions in Mark Salter, Jonathan Bousfield, ''Poland'', Rough Guides, 2002, p. 675, ISBN 1-85828-849-5 (Google Books )〕 According to ''Perspectives on Ethnicity'', written by anthropologist V. I. Kozlov and edited by R. Holloman, the Silesian tribes, together with other Polish tribes, formed what is now Polish ethnicity and culture. This process is called ethnic consolidation, in which several ethnic communities of the same origin and cognate languages merge into one.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Silesians」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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