Independence movements

History of Silesian autonomy and minority recognition in Poland

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.

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The historic Silesian Voivodeship, 1920-1945

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.[1] This autonomy was formally revoked on 7 May 1945.[2]

The Silesian Autonomy Movement

The Silesian Autonomy Movement (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.[3] It originally sought to restore the 1920-1945 autonomy, proposing a separate Silesian treasury, parliament, constitution and elected president, and considers Silesians a separate nation.[4]

Since around 2010, RAŚ has shifted toward advocating a regionalised unitary Polish state with devolved powers for Silesia and other regions.[5] It entered the Silesian regional assembly for the first time in 2010 (3 seats, growing to 4) and again in 2014 (4 seats), though it and rival regionalist groups failed to win seats in 2018.[6][7]

The campaign for minority recognition

Despite outnumbering Poland's legally recognised minorities in census self-identification — 847,000 declared Silesian nationality in 2011, falling to 585,700 in 2021 — Silesians remain excluded from the 2005 Law on National and Ethnic Minorities.[8][9][10] A 2012 cross-party legislative initiative to recognise Silesian as a regional language was not pursued after a first committee reading.[11]

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.[12]

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

  1. 1.

    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).

    • Silesian Voivodeship (1920-1939) (Wikipedia) link, Creation and Organic Statute section. Source record
  2. 2.

    Claim: The Silesian Voivodeship's autonomy was formally revoked on 7 May 1945.

  3. 3.

    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.

  4. 4.

    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.

    • Silesian Autonomy Movement (Wikipedia) link, Aims and ideology section. Source record
  5. 5.

    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.

    • Silesian Autonomy Movement (Wikipedia) link, Programme evolution section. Source record
  6. 6.

    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.

    • Silesian Autonomy Movement (Wikipedia) link, Electoral history section. Source record
  7. 7.

    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.

  8. 8.

    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.

    • New census data reveal changes in Poland's ethnic and linguistic makeup (Notes from Poland, 13 April 2023) link, article text. Source record
  9. 9.

    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.

    • New census data reveal changes in Poland's ethnic and linguistic makeup (Notes from Poland, 13 April 2023) link, article text. Source record
  10. 10.

    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.

  11. 11.

    Claim: A 2012 cross-party legislative initiative to recognise Silesian as a regional language received a first Sejm committee reading in August 2012 but was not pursued further after the committee decided to await a government statement.

  12. 12.

    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.

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Printed from https://independenceatlas.com/movements/silesia/history · last substantive update 24 September 2026.