Ślōnsk
Covers the modern Silesian autonomy and minority-recognition movement centred on Poland's Silesian Voivodeship: the historic 1920-1945 autonomy, the Silesian Autonomy Movement's (RAŚ) programme and electoral record, and legislative attempts to recognise Silesians as an ethnic minority. It does not attempt a general history of Silesia, which has also been divided among Germany and the Czech Republic, nor a full account of Silesian identity debates beyond the political movements addressed.
The Silesian Voivodeship held broad autonomy within the interwar Second Polish Republic under an Organic Statute enacted on 15 July 1920, including its own parliament, until this autonomy was revoked on 7 May 1945.[1][2] The Silesian Autonomy Movement (RAŚ), founded in January 1990, originally sought to restore this historic autonomy but has, since around 2010, shifted toward advocating a regionalised unitary Polish state; it has periodically won seats in the Silesian regional assembly (2010, 2014) but failed to do so in 2018.[3][4][5][6][7] Despite outnumbering Poland's legally recognised minorities in census self-identification (847,000 in 2011, 585,700 in 2021), Silesians remain excluded from the 2005 Law on National and Ethnic Minorities, and repeated legislative bids for recognition — most significantly a 2014 citizens' bill with 140,000 signatures — have been rejected by the Sejm in 2016, 2018 and 2020.[8][9][10][11]
Status verified as of
The Silesian Voivodeship is an ordinary region of Poland; its 1920-1945 historic autonomy has not been restored. The Silesian Autonomy Movement (RAŚ) periodically wins regional assembly seats but has not done so since 2014. Silesians remain excluded from Poland's legally recognised national and ethnic minorities, despite repeated legislative attempts, the most recent rejected by the Sejm in 2020.[7][11]
History
From the 1920 Organic Statute and its 1945 revocation, through RAŚ's 1990 founding and shifting programme, to repeated Sejm rejections of Silesian minority recognition.
290 words · 2 min read
· Constitutional change
The Polish Sejm granted the newly formed Silesian Voivodeship a broad autonomy statute, including its own parliament.
Significance here: Created the historic autonomous status that the modern Silesian Autonomy Movement seeks to restore or emulate.
· Organisation founded
A movement seeking to restore Silesian autonomy, later shifting toward advocating a regionalised Polish state, was founded.
Significance here: Established the leading modern vehicle for Silesian regionalist politics in Poland, with periodic regional assembly representation.
· Legal decision
A citizens' bill to recognise Silesians as an ethnic minority, signed by 140,000 people, was rejected by the Polish parliament.
Significance here: The most significant legislative attempt to date to secure formal minority status for Silesians, and its rejection.
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
Claim: The Sejm of the Second Polish Republic passed the Constitutional Act containing the Organic Statute of the Silesian Voivodeship on 15 July 1920, establishing it as an autonomous province with its own parliament (the Silesian Parliament).
Claim: The Silesian Voivodeship's autonomy was formally revoked on 7 May 1945.
Claim: The Silesian Autonomy Movement (Ruch Autonomii Śląska, RAŚ) was founded as an organisation in January 1990 and formally registered as a voluntary association on 27 June 2001, led by Jerzy Gorzelik and headquartered in Rybnik.
Claim: RAŚ originally aimed to restore the autonomy the Silesian Voivodeship held from 1920 to 1945, proposing a separate Silesian treasury, a Silesian parliament, a Silesian constitution and an elected president; it considers Silesians a separate nation.
Claim: Since around 2010, RAŚ has shifted from seeking a restoration of the historic 1920-1945 autonomy toward advocating the creation of a regionalised unitary Polish state with devolved powers for Silesia and other regions.
Claim: RAŚ entered the Silesian Voivodeship regional assembly for the first time in 2010, winning 3 seats (growing to 4 during the term), and again in 2014 with 4 seats from the outset.
Claim: At the 2018 regional election, contesting as the Silesian Regional Party, RAŚ (3.1%) and the rival Ślonzoki Razem (3.23%) both won seats short of the electoral threshold, and no regionalist group entered the regional parliament.
Claim: In the 2011 Polish census, 847,000 people declared Silesian nationality (376,000 exclusively, 431,000 jointly with Polish), about 10% of the population of the Polish part of Upper Silesia and the country's largest minority group.
Claim: In the 2021 Polish census, 585,700 people declared Silesian nationality, a substantial decline from 2011 that some analysts attribute to a change in the survey's format.
Claim: Silesians were not included among the recognised minorities in Poland's 2005 Law on National and Ethnic Minorities, despite outnumbering every legally recognised minority in census self-identification.
Claim: A 2014 citizens' legislative proposal, signed by around 140,000 people, to recognise Silesians as an ethnic minority and Silesian as a regional language was not debated in the Sejm until October 2016, when it was rejected; further bills were voted down in 2018 and 2020.