Soulad a chaos v jazyce, literatuře a identitě na Hlučínsku a jižním Ratibořsku v Horním Slezsku
| Title in English | Harmony and chaos in language, culture and identity in the regions of Hlučín and South Racibórz in Upper Silesia |
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| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
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| Description | After Prussian’s victory in 1742, the regions of Hlučín and South Racibórz were annexed by Prussia. In 1920, the region of Hlučín became a part of Czechoslovakia; it was a part of Germany within 1938-1945, and it again got affiliated to Czechoslovakia (the Czech Republic) in 1945. The region of Racibórz merged with Poland in 1945. Since the Middle Ages, Germans have been getting settled down in Silesia, and as outcome of their presence in this region, the language and cultural contact area started to exist. The language spoken in the regions of Hlučín and South Racibórz was a Czech dialect (the so-called Moravian language). After 1742, the German influence and Germanization were getting stronger more and more. The outcome of this situation was the following: the loss of the Czech (Polish) national identity, political and economic orientation towards Prussia (Germany). German became the official language both written and spoken, German schools were everywhere while the Czech dialect was only preserved in unofficial communication and folk culture (songs, narrations), and partially in religious context. The local toponyms were getting Germanized and all in all, bilingual culture was established. Phrases, words and idioms were taken from German quite intensively. The alignment of language, folk culture, social conditions and situation started only after World Wide II. This was the beginning of the formation of the national identity: Czech identity in the region of Hlučín, and the Polish one (with the strong Silesian accent) in the region of Racibórz. |