i would like to submit my comment on the issue of the pending
pronouncement concerning the silesian identity;

being a silesian myself (wroclaw) born of polish parents, i have always
felt that there was more truth to be said about the identity of silesia than
the communist government ever conceded (or, very likely, was allowed to
concede) to be known by the general public.

as i am born after the end of the war , i can see no reason in returning to
any pre second (let alone pre-first!!) world war frameworks, and strongly
oppose any doubts about the peace agreements and international balances
that prevail now.

the sad story of the silesian identity is the increasing domination of the
silesian element by the german speaking settlers throughout the ages. like
any bordering region in europe (cf.slesvik-helstein, alsace-lorraine etc)
silesia has felt very strong empact of the german speaking immigrants, and
the silesian language, culture and customs have been always supressed by the
increasingly influential german-minded population, throughout the centuries
of the austrian imperial administration and then through a more than one
hundred years of prussian domination.

nobody may need today to whitewash the polish communist government atance
to the german-minded part of the population in silesia, but let us remember
that there was always a genuine sense of value and respect and admiration
attached to the silesian heritage within the framework of the newly defined
poland, where silesia (but, alas, not lausitania!) was transferred to poland
together with pomerania and parts of warmia and masuria which came under
prussian rule earlier.

let us clearly bear this in our minds that this transfer was the
compensation of the territories lost by poland to thesoviet russian state
in the east. they were only patially seen as a compensation to the polish
people for the war losses inflicted on the populace of poland by the german
nazi invadors.

as a personal witness i would like to mention that some greman-speaking
people chose to stay in silesia (while , ironically, many silesian-minded
people were inclined to move to germany ), and never suffered any hatred or
abuse from poles : both my father and myself had close friends of
german-minded stock.

it seems that any furthering of the silesian cause must be considered
without the shadow of the german influence, silesians were never germans
(actually english edition of encyclopedia britanica perpetuates the
tradition of german settlers always referring to silesians by the
derogatory wasser-polak name), and silesian language has no connection with
german tradition whatsoever. the german influence now seems to be the
strongest threat to the silesian heritage.
any 'return' or 'right of return' to the german settlers or their
descendants who would like to ignore the political reality would be a
very unfortunate development, indeed. the balance of suffering and harm is
still unsettled by the german state and german people, and in fact now is
the time when a substantial compensation could do something to change
attitudes of many poles for whom germans are forever greedy and ruthless
exploiters; sad but true, even today with the clandestine workforce of cheap
labourers from poland operating in germany...

to cut matters short i want to mention once more the olight of the people of
lausitania (upper and lower luzize) who are being murdered as a nation
before our very eyes and this not by nazis this time but by social democrats
for a change! there are no licences given for native language tv, few
radio stations, no higher education available in native language, roadsigns
with native lausitanian names disappearing (much more so than under the
communist government!). it is worth considering that lausitanis be provided
with afiliation to poland, and its people offered an option of double
citizienship, or something along these lines.

to finish let me say once more that the perfectly legitimate aspirations of
the silesian nation need to be respected by the government of poland, and ,
indeed, much more so, by the german government that needs to face its
responsibilities for all the harm and suffering inflicted upon both polish
people and on the silesian people, not to mention lausatians, czech, or
moravian nations, so that the silesian issue can be devolved from the german
question.

with my respectful greetings

michael solka
wroclaw