Cieszyn Silesia
Cieszyn Silesia
Other names
Duchy of Teschen (Polish: Księstwo Cieszyńskie; Czech: Těšínské knížectví); Zaolzie (Polish name for the Czech or Czechoslovak territory beyond the Olsa); Olsa region; Austrian Silesia (from 1848, together with Troppau Silesia)[1]; (Austrian) East Silesia (in use in Austria between 1870 and 1921)[2]; Cieszyn region; Cieszyn district; Cieszyn area, Cieszyn district (1939–1945).
2. Geography
Location and topography
Located in south-eastern Silesia, Cieszyn Silesia comprises the territory of the historic Duchy of Cieszyn, a region of approximately 3,000 km² stretching on both sides of the River Olsa (Polish: Olza, Czech: Olše), which, along parts of its course, marks the border between the Polish section to the east and the Czech section to the west. At its centre, on both sides of the Olsa, lies the twin town of Teschen/Cieszyn/Český Těšín. The outer boundaries are marked to the east by the river Biała (Polish: Biała, Czech: Bělá), in the south by the Beskids (Polish: Beskidy, Czech: Beskydy) and in the west by the Ostrawica River (Polish: Ostrawica, Czech: Ostravice). To the north, the region borders Upper Silesia (Polish: Górny Śląsk, Czech: Horní Slezsko). The eastern part of Cieszyn Silesia forms part of the Western Beskids, which also contain the source and upper reaches of the Vistula. The highest peak is Kahlberg (Polish: Łysa Góra, Czech: Lysá hora), at an altitude of 1,324 metres.
Political and administrative affiliation
Poland: Silesian Voivodeship (Polish: Województwo śląskie), Cieszyn County (Polish: Powiat cieszyński) and the western part of Bielitz County (Polish: Powiat Bielsky), including the western part of the twin towns of Bielitz-Biala/Bielsko-Biała.
Czech Republic: Moravian-Silesian Region (Czech: Moravskoslezský kraj), Karviná District (Czech: Okres Karviná), the eastern part of the Friedeck-Mistek (Czech: Okres Frýdek-Místek) and Ostrava City (Czech: Okres Ostrava-město), as well as the eastern part of the city of Ostrava/Ostrava.
Middle Ages
Following the partition of the Duchies of Opole (Polish: Opole, Czech:Opolí) and Ratibor (Polish: Racibórz, Czech: Ratiboř), the Duchy of Cieszyn, named after the castle of the same name, was established in 1281 from the castellany of Cieszyn and existed until 1919. In 1290, Mesko (Polish: Mieszko) of the House of Piast (c. 1250–1315) became the first Duke of Cieszyn and thus the founder of the Cieszyn branch of the Piasts, which managed to maintain its rule until 1653.
However, Mesko’s heir, Casimir I (Polish: Kazimierz I; c. 1280/90–1358) placed himself, along with other Silesian dukes, under the feudal suzerainty of the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg (1296–1346) in 1327. The Duchy of Cieszyn was thus one of the small Silesian states whose survival could only be secured by aligning itself with a stronger neighbour. Following Poland’s renunciation of the Silesian territories in 1339, the Duchy of Cieszyn was placed under the authority of the Bohemian Crown by Charles IV (1316–1378) and thus became part of the Holy Roman Empire.
Modern times
In 1526, Cieszyn, as a Piast mediatic duchy, passed to Austria (Austrian Silesia). Following the death of Elisabeth Lukretia (1599–1653), the last ruler of Teschen from the Piast dynasty, the territory then passed directly into the possession of Emperor Ferdinand III (1608–1657) as a hereditary principality. It remained part of Austria even after the First Silesian War (1740–1742), when the vast majority of Silesia became part of Prussia.
See also‘Silesia’.
Contemporary History
Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary, Cieszyn Silesia became a bone of contention between Poland and Czechoslovakia in 1918. Claims to the territory were motivated not only by ethnic considerations but, in particular, by economic interests (coal deposits, steelworks, transport routes). On 5 November 1918, local Polish and Czech representative bodies initially agreed on a provisional division of the territory along ethnic lines. The final demarcation of the border was to be left to the provincial governments. Demands by ‘German industrialists and regionalist Silesians’[3] for an inter-state solution modelled on the Free City of Danzig/Gdańsk went unheeded. Warsaw, however, decided to hold elections to the Sejm in Cieszyn Silesia as well, which Prague regarded as a breach of the local agreements. On 23 January 1919, Czechoslovak troops therefore advanced into the areas east of the demarcation line. Following several days of fighting, a new demarcation line was agreed upon, which was also confirmed on the ground by an Entente commission in 1919.
The conflict eventually smouldered on until 1920 and was only brought to an end by the arbitration award of the Allied Ambassadors’ Conference at Spa on 28 July 1920, which Poland was forced to accept in view of the acute threat posed by Soviet Russia. Although Czechoslovakia was awarded the smaller territory, it did, however, receive the important Košice–Oderberg railway line and, above all, the mining and metallurgical region (see Economy), as well as a sizeable Polish minority – a potential source of renewed conflict, but also a possible bridge for mutual understanding and cooperation. These disputes strained relations between the two sides throughout the interwar period and thus prevented, for example, the emergence of a Central European Entente, as Poland in particular was unwilling to accept such close foreign-policy cooperation with Czechoslovakia due to the Teschen question.[4]
In the wake of the Sudeten crisis, the Polish Foreign Minister Józef Beck (1894–1944) then called upon the Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš (1884–1948) in a note to grant Poles in Czechoslovakia the same privileges as the Sudeten Germans. In Poland, a propaganda campaign then began under the slogan ‘Return of Silesia beyond the Olsa to the motherland’, which became increasingly intense. On 2 October 1938, Poland occupied the Czechoslovak part of Cieszyn Silesia, which was portrayed as a military success, even though not a single shot had been fired. However, Warsaw was celebrating a dubious victory, as it had only been achieved by aligning itself with Hitler, thereby permanently depriving Poland of a potential ally in the region.[5] The Polish action was heavily criticised by the Western powers, whilst praise came from Germany, Italy and Japan. Critical voices within Poland itself were few and far between. Due to widespread marking, they were hardly able to make themselves heard. The term ‘regained territories’ (ziemie odzyskane) was subsequently also used to refer to the occupied Czechoslovak ‘Silesia beyond the Olsa’; after Poland’s western border was shifted in 1945, this term came to denote the formerly German territories.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, Cieszyn Silesia was occupied by Germany and incorporated into the Reich as the district of Cieszyn. After the end of the war, the 1920 border was reinstated, including the renewed division of the town of Cieszyn. It was not until 1958 that both sides concluded a definitive border treaty. Only pressure from Moscow prevented a clearly looming renewed escalation of the conflict.
See also‘Teschen/Cieszyn/Český Těšín’
Population and Society
Cieszyn Silesia is characterised by a continuous process of settlement, which reached its first peak between the end of the 13th and the middle of the 14th century. Particular mention should be made of the German colonists, through whom German municipal law also spread throughout the region. The earliest evidence of Jewish settlement also dates from the 14th century.
The German settlers and their descendants formed the upper class, particularly in the towns, right up into the 20th century. From the 18th century onwards in particular, Jews were increasingly able to settle in Cieszyn Silesia, when Emperor Charles VI (1685–1740) permitted them in 1713 to settle and practise certain trades in Silesia, provided a so-called ‘tolerance tax’ was paid. Emperor Joseph II (1741–1790) then abolished further discriminatory provisions in 1781, but at the same time pushed for the (linguistic) Germanisation of the Jewish population. In 1857, only 2,000 Jews in Cieszyn Silesia possessed official settlement rights (1 per cent of the total population).[6] By the end of the 19th century, 87 per cent of the inhabitants of Bielitz/Bielsko, the centre of a German-speaking enclave, were German-speaking (including the Jews, who almost entirely identified as German), and 50 per cent in Teschen.[7] In rural regions, there had been a gradual Slavicisation of the German population since the Middle Ages. In particular, labour migration from Galicia and Bukovina – including many Jews – to the Ostrava-Karviná coalfield in the north-west contributed to rapid population growth in Teschen Silesia during the second half of the 19th century (1869: 193,838 people, 1900: 369,354 people).[8] At the turn of the century, the population density, at around 169 people per km², was far higher than that of the rest of the Bohemian lands (118 people per km²).[9] Running parallel to this was the emergence of a national consciousness amongst Poles and Czechs, who increasingly demanded cultural and, later, political rights. At the beginning of the 20th century, Cieszyn Silesia had become “the most diverse region in the Bohemian lands – and, together with Bukovina and Trieste, in the whole of Cisleithania – not only in terms of ethnicity and language, but also in terms of religion.”[10] Consequently, these differences played only a minor role in the coexistence of the various ethnic groups. Ethnic conflicts arose later than in other regions of Eastern Central Europe and only took on a political character from 1880 onwards.
In the wake of the national movements after 1848, a group of regionalists also emerged – the Schlonsaks – who spoke a Slavic local dialect (‘po naszemu’). They were characterised by their Protestant faith and their affinity with German-Austrian culture. This group evolved into a political movement at the beginning of the 20th century with the founding of the ‘Silesian People’s Party’ by Josef Koždoň (1873–1949). After 1918, the Schlonsaken sought to resist assimilation by Czechs and, in particular, by Poles who had migrated from Galicia, and to preserve their regional identity. The political ‘Autonomous Silesia Movement’ (Ruch Autonomii Śląska), which is active throughout Upper Silesia today, sees itself as continuing the tradition of the Schlonsaks.
Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Jews were deported from the Teschen district, which now formed part of the Reich, beginning with the Nisko Plan, which was decided upon on 6 October 1939 under the command of Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962). Of the approximately 12,000 Jews who lived in Cieszyn Silesia before the outbreak of the Second World War, only 28 remained there, according to the German district administrator in September 1943.[11]
Commemorative plaque at the new Jewish cemetery in Cieszyn: In memory of my dear mother Zofia Weiss, née Licht, my father Oskar Weiss Schindel, my brother Dawid Weiss, my beloved grandmother Sabina Guttman, née Horovitz, and all the other Jews who perished or did not return to Cieszyn after the war. Helena R. Foster, née Weiss, California, USA, June 2007. [Photo: Kai Witzlack-Makarevich, 2015].
History of Religion and the Church
Within the church organisation, the region belonged to the Diocese of Breslau/Wrocław from the Middle Ages until 1920. In 1545, under Duke Wenzel Adam (1524–1579), the ruling House of Piast converted to the Protestant faith (the Augsburg Confession), without any persecution of Catholics taking place.[12] However, his son Adam Wenceslas (1574–1617) reversed this decision in 1610, having initially supported the Reformation. Catholicism was able to re-establish itself, particularly after the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648). Despite the oppression associated with the Counter-Reformation, a large part of the population did not follow suit, as evidenced by the saying ‘As firm as the Protestant faith in Teschen’. This expression, however, referred primarily to the region and less to the town itself, which had already returned to being entirely Catholic by 1675.
It was not until the Convention of Altranstadt in 1707 that Emperor Joseph I (1678–1711) was forced to make concessions to the Protestants in Silesia. Among other things, he authorised the construction of the so-called ‘Churches of Mercy’ in Teschen (Church of the Holy Spirit) as well as in Hirschberg/Jelenia Góra, Freystadt/Kożuchów, Landeshut/Kamienna Góra, Militsch/Milicz and Sagan/Żagań. The Church of Grace in Teschen was intended to ensure that the entire region’s religious needs were met.
By the end of the 19th century, around a third of the population of Cieszyn Silesia was Protestant. The significance of Protestantism for the region’s distinctive identity is often highlighted even today.[13]
During the interwar period, the Polish side levelled the accusation that the Protestant Church in the Czechoslovak part of Cieszyn Silesia had failed to resist the pressure to ‘Czechise’ to which Polish Protestants were subjected.[14]
Economy
Following the rapid expansion in the 18th century of the textile industry in and around Bielitz – at that time one of Upper Silesia’s most important industrial centres – the Duchy developed in the 19th century into one of the “most advanced provinces” of Austria-Hungary and took ‘the leading position’ in coal mining.[15] The coal and iron industries were concentrated primarily in the outlying areas of the Duchy in Ostrava, Orlau/Orlová and Karwin/Karviná. Later, Czech Silesia came to be known as the ‘Iron Heart’ of the country. The economic rise of the peripheral regions of Cieszyn Silesia ‘broke down the previously centralised structure of the region, which had been oriented towards Cieszyn’.[16]
From the mid-1990s onwards, coal production was progressively scaled back. Thousands of miners lost their jobs as a result of this structural change. On the other hand, the environmental situation improved considerably following the closures, which contributed to a noticeable improvement in the quality of life in the region.
The Cieszyn Silesia Euroregion, founded in 1998, now provides a suitable platform for cooperation.[17] However, its boundaries do not correspond exactly to those of the former duchy. Significant parts were excluded and are now partly part of the Polish-Slovak-Czech Beskids Euroregion (since 2000).[18]
Tourism in the Cieszyn region, both in summer and winter, has developed into an important economic sector. More than two million tourists visit the region every year. The lakes and mountains south of the spa town of Weichsel/Wisła hold a particular appeal for visitors.
Language situation
In Cieszyn Silesia, there were intense contacts between the Czech standard and colloquial languages, the Cieszyn Polish dialect (gwara cieszyńska), and, from 1850 onwards, increasingly also with standard Polish, Silesian and German, the latter being the dominant language in the town of Cieszyn itself. The language of official business was initially Latin; from the mid-14th century, German was also used; and from the Hussite Wars in the 15th century, Czech became the official language, only to be replaced again by German in the 17th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, Czech and Polish also became official languages.
In the Austrian census of 1910, 18 per cent of respondents stated that German was their everyday language, 27 per cent said Czech and 55 per cent said Polish.[19] It should be borne in mind that 90 per cent of the Jewish population in Austrian Silesia used German.[20]
Members of the Polish minority in the Czech part generally communicate amongst themselves in the Cieszyn Polish dialect, but are also proficient in standard Polish and Czech. The use of German declined steadily throughout the 20th century, with 1918 and 1945 marking turning points. Today, the respective national languages dominate in both parts,[21] and German no longer plays a role as a language.
Bibliography
In the literature from the Cieszyn region, ‘the examination of border-region situations in various historical periods’ is of central importance.[22] This applies, for example, to the Beskid Trilogy, written in the 1970s by Paweł Łysek (1914–1978) whilst in exile in the United States. The Moravian-Silesian poets Petr Bezruč (1867–1958), who devoted his *Slezské písně* (*Silesian Songs*) to Cieszyn Silesia, and Óndra Łysohorsky (1905–1989) focused primarily on Silesian themes. In doing so, Łysohorsky articulated his ‘vision of an independent Silesian-Slavic, “Lach” nation’[23] in the Lach-Silesian dialect, which he sought to develop into a regional literary language. The growing tensions between Poles, Czechs and Germans are reflected in particular in the work of František Sokol-Tůma (1855–1925).[24]
Among the German-speaking authors, Paul Lamatsch von Warnemünde (1805–1866) and Friedrich Jenker (1843–1914), as well as Friedrich Uhl (1825–1906) and Alos Sebéra (1827–1919), both born in Teschen. Heinrich Steinitz (1879–1942), Robert Lohan (1884–1953) and Oskar Singer (1893–1944), who came from Jewish families, also wrote in German. Karol Kotschy (1789–1856) and Wilhelm Raschke (1803–1855) used both German and Polish in their works.[25]
4. Controversies
It was not until around 1900 that tensions arose between the three dominant ethnic-national groups, each of which laid claim to Cieszyn Silesia: The Germans pointed to the pervasive influence of the German language and culture; the Poles to the Polish language and the nationality of the majority of the population; and the Czechs to the region’s long-standing affiliation with the Bohemian Crown, including Czech as the official language. Unlike in many other regions of Central and Eastern Europe, however, the German population ‘did not play a polarising role in the Cieszyn region. Ethnic and inter-state tensions in the 20th century centred on a Czech-Polish conflict.’[26]
In the interwar period, Zaolzie – the region beyond the Olsa – then became the ‘Polish Alsace’. The outcome of the partition had not truly satisfied either side. Both sides repeatedly put forward ‘irrefutable scientific arguments’ to justify their territorial claims. Czechoslovakia based its case primarily on administrative and dynastic grounds, whilst Poland invoked supposed ethnographic rights and the ‘will of the people’.[27] Poland placed the separation of the territory in the context of the partitions of the country by Prussia, Austria and Russia, as evidenced, for example, by the term ‘Czech partition territory’ (zabór czeski).[28] Since 1989, an increasing objectivity in the historiography of both sides has been evident in this context.[29]
Bibliography
- Christoph Augustynowicz (ed.): Austria in History and Literature (with Geography) 59 (2015), No. 2: Austrian Silesia. Education, Economy, Nations, Literatures.
- Grzegorz Gąsior: Zaolzie. The Polish–Czech Dispute over Cieszyn Silesia 1918–2008 [The Olsa Region. The Polish-Czech Dispute over Cieszyn Silesia 1918–2008]. Warsaw 2008.
- Dan Gawrecki: Politické a národnostní poměry v Těšínském Slezsku 1918–1938 [Political and National Conditions in Cieszyn Silesia 1918–1938]. Český Těšín 1999 (Study on the Cieszyn Region 15).
- Zbigniew Greń: Cieszyn Silesia : linguistic heritage [The linguistic heritage of Cieszyn Silesia]. Warsaw 2000.
- Robert Luft: Cieszyn Silesia as a National and Regional Historical Landscape. In: Ludger Udolph, Christian Prunitsch (eds.): Cieszyn. A Divided City in the 20th Century. Dresden 2009 (Mitteleuropa-Studien 10), pp. 11–42.
- Thomas Menzel, Gerd Hentschel: Dictionary of German Loanwords in the Cieszyn Dialect of Polish. Oldenburg 2003 (Studia Slavica Oldenburgensia 10).
- Burkhard Olschowsky (ed.): Divided Regions – Divided Historical Cultures? Patterns of Identity Formation in a European Comparison. Munich 2013 (Publications of the Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe 47; Publications of the European Network for Remembrance and Solidarity 6), pp. 19–139.
- Rudolf Žáček: The Těšín Region in Czechoslovak–Polish Relations, 1939–1945. Český Těšín 2000 (Study on the Těšín Region 16).
Notes
[1] Albert S. Kotowski: Germans – Czechs – Poles – Jews. On the demographic composition of Cieszyn Silesia, 1850–1914. In: Journal of East Central European Research 49 (2000), No. 3, pp. 317–340, here p. 317.
[2] Luft: Cieszyn Silesia, p. 32.
[3] Luft: Cieszyn Silesia, p. 20.
[4] Zygmunt J. Gasiorowski: Polish–Czechoslovak Relations, 1918–1922. In: *The Slavonic and East European Review* 35 (1956), No. 84, pp. 172–193, here p. 187.
[5] Piotr Łossowski: Położenie międzynarodowe i polityka zagraniczna [International Situation and Foreign Policy]. In: Jan Tomicki (ed.): Polska Odrodzona 1918–1939. State, Society, Culture [Reborn Poland 1918–1939. State, Society, Culture]. Warsaw 1982, pp. 128–199, here p. 190.
[6] Janusz Spyra: Ztracený svět Židů na Těšínském Slezsku = Utracony Świat Żydów na Śląsku Cieszyńskim [The Lost Jewish World in Cieszyn Silesia]. Bystřice nad Olší 2013, p. 17.
[7] Andrzej Rykała, Marek Sobczyński: Pomiędzy Polską a Czechami. Transgraniczny Region historyczny Słąska Cieszyńskiego [Between Poland and the Czech Republic. The Cross-Border Historical Region of Cieszyn Silesia]. Guide to the Excursions of the Fifth ‘Łódź’ Conference of Political Geography on “Borderlands or Transborder Regions – Geographical, Social and Political Problems”. University of Łódź, Łódź 1996, pp. 20–30, here p. 4.
[8] Kotowski: Germans – Czechs – Poles – Jews (note 1), p. 323.
[9] Kotowski: Germans – Czechs – Poles – Jews (note 1), p. 324.
[10] Luft: Cieszyn Silesia, p. 15.
[11] Spyra: The Lost World of the Jews (note 6), p. 249.
[12] Andrzej Czyż: The Reformation in Cieszyn Silesia. In: Gregor Ploch, Jerzy Myszor, Christine Kucinski (eds.): The Ethnic and National Identity of the Inhabitants of Upper Silesia and Cieszyn Silesia. Münster 2008 (Via Silesia 2), pp. 199–205, here p. 200.
[13] Halina Rusek: Customs and Contemporary Consequences of Multiculturalism in Cieszyn Silesia. In: Ploch, Myszor, Kucinski (eds.): Ethnic-National Identity (note 12). pp. 152–163, here p. 155.
[14] Oskar Michejda: The Polish Evangelical Church in the Recovered Territories of Cieszyn Silesia over the Past Twenty Years. In: Zaranie Śląskie XV (1939), Nos. 2–4, pp. 122–127, here p. 125.
[15] All quotations from Gottlieb Biermann: History of the Duchy of Teschen. Teschen 1863, p. 386.
[16] Luft: Cieszyn Silesia, p. 17.
[17] www.euregio-teschinensis.eu/en/ (accessed 6 January 2014, 24 January 2022).
[18] www.euroregion-beskidy.pl/cz [/pl/sk] (accessed 6 January 2014).
[19] Kotowski: Germans – Czechs – Poles – Jews (note 1), p. 328.
[20] Kotowski: Germans – Czechs – Poles – Jews (note 1), p. 333.
[21] Federal Institute for the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe: Basic Assumptions on Language Contact in the Cieszyn Region. URL: www.bkge.de/Publikationen/Online/Woerterbuecher/Deutsche_Lehnwoerter_im_Teschener_Dialekt/1-1_Grundannahmen.php (accessed 19 March 2015).
[22] Edyta Korepta: The Literature of Cieszyn Silesia as a Historical Source on the Problem of the Border Region. In: Ludger Udolph, Christian Prunitsch (eds.): Cieszyn. A Divided City in the 20th Century. Dresden 2009 (Central European Studies 10), pp. 105–115, here p. 106.
[23] Stefan Zwicker: The Poet Ondra Łysohorsky and his Utopia of Laughter. In: Udolph, Prunitsch (eds.): Teschen (note 22), pp. 93–103, here p. 93.
[24] Kevin Hannan: Borders of Language and Identity in Teschen Silesia. New York 1996 (Berkeley Insights in Linguistics and Semiotics 28), p. 44.
[25] Michael Morys-Twarowski: Życie kulturalne i naukowe [Culture and Science]. In: Krzystof Nowak, Idzi Panic (eds.): Dzieje Śląska Cieszyńskiego od zarania do czasów współczesnych. Volume 5: Cieszyn Silesia from the Spring of Nations to the First World War [The History of Cieszyn Silesia from its Beginnings to the Present Day. Volume 5: Cieszyn Silesia from the Spring of Nations to the First World War]. Cieszyn 2013, pp. 373–396, here: pp. 378–380.
[26] Luft: Cieszyn Silesia, p. 21.
[27] Wiesław Wojnar: Dowody polskości Śląska Cieszyńskiego [Evidence of the Polish Character of Cieszyn Silesia]. Czeski Cieszyn 1930, p. 138.
[28] Piotr Feliks: Macierz Szkolna na Zaolziu [The School System in Zaolzie]. In: Zaranie Śląskie XV (1939), nos. 2–4, pp. 135–139, here p. 135.
[29] Luft: Cieszyn Silesia, p. 36.
Citation
Kai Witzlack-Makarevich: Cieszyn Silesia. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2015. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p35385 (accessed 24 January 2022).
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