Zaolzie

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Zaolzie [zaˈɔlʑɛ] ( listen) is the Polish name for an area now in the Czech Republic which was disputed between interwar Poland and Czechoslovakia. The name means "lands beyond the Olza River"; it is also called Śląsk zaolziański, meaning "trans-Olza Silesia". Equivalent terms in other languages include Zaolší (Zaolží) in Czech and Olsa-Gebiet in German. It is part of the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia, the region which was divided in 1920 between Czechoslovakia and Poland. The Zaolzie region was created in 1920, when Cieszyn Silesia was divided between Czechoslovakia and Poland. Zaolzie forms the eastern part of the Czech portion of Cieszyn Silesia. The division did not satisfy any side and persisting conflict over the region led to its annexation by Poland in October 1938, following the Munich Agreement. After German invasion of Poland in 1939, the area became a part of Nazi Germany until 1945. After the war, the 1920 borders were restored.

Historically, the largest ethnic group inhabiting this area was the Poles.[1] Under Austrian rule, Cieszyn Silesia was divided into four districts. One of them, Frýdek, had a mostly Czech population, the other three were mostly inhabited by Poles.[2] During the 19th century the number of Germans grew. After declining at the end of the 19th century,[3] at the beginning of the 20th century and later from 1920 to 1938 the Czech population grew significantly (mainly as a result of immigration and the assimilation of locals) and Poles became a minority, which they are to this day. Another significant ethnic group were the Jews, but almost the entire Jewish population was exterminated during World War II.

In addition to the Polish, Czech and German national orientations there was another group living in the area, the Ślązakowcy, who claimed a distinct identity. This group enjoyed popular support throughout the whole Cieszyn Silesia but its strongest supporters were among the Protestants in eastern part of the Cieszyn Silesia (now part of Poland) and not in Zaolzie.[4]

Name and territory

The term Zaolzie (meaning "the trans-Olza", i.e. "lands beyond the Olza") is used predominantly in Poland and also commonly by the Polish minority living in the territory. In Czech it is referred to as České Těšínsko/Českotěšínsko ("Czech Cieszyn/Těšín land"), as Zaolží or Zaolší (equivalent to Zaolzie), or as Těšínsko or Těšínské Slezsko (meaning Cieszyn Silesia). The term Zaolzie is also used by foreign scholars, including American ethnolinguist Kevin Hannan.[5]

The term Zaolzie denotes the territory of the former districts of Český Těšín and Fryštát, in which the Polish population formed a majority according to the 1910 Austrian census.[6] It makes up the eastern part of the Czech portion of Cieszyn Silesia. However, historian Józef Szymeczek notes that the term is often mistakenly used for the whole Czech part of Cieszyn Silesia.[6]

Since the 1960 reform of administrative divisions of Czechoslovakia, Zaolzie has consisted of Karviná District and the eastern part of Frýdek-Místek District.

History

Map of Zaolzie with territorial changes

Initially the area was a part of Great Moravia[7]. From 950 to 1060 it was under the rule of Principality of Bohemia[8], and from 1060 it was part of Poland. From 1327 the whole area of the Duchy of Cieszyn became an autonomic fiefdom of the Bohemian crown.[9] Upon the death of Elizabeth Lucretia, its last ruler from the Polish Piast dynasty in 1653, it passed directly to the Czech kings from the Habsburg dynasty together with the remainder of the Duchy of Cieszyn.[10] When most of Silesia was conquered by Prussia's Frederick the Great in 1742, the Cieszyn region was part of the small southern portion that was retained by the Habsburg monarchy (Austrian Silesia).

Up to the mid-19th century members of the local Slav population did not identify themselves as members of larger ethnolinguistic entities. In Cieszyn Silesia (as in all West Slavic borderlands) various territorial identities pre-dated ethnic and national identity. Consciousness of membership within a greater Polish or Czech nation spread slowly in Silesia.[11]

From 1848 to the end of the 19th century, local Polish and Czech people co-operated, united against the Germanizing tendencies of the Austrian Empire and later of Austria-Hungary.[12] At the end of the century, ethnic tensions arose as the area's economic significance grew. This growth caused a wave of immigration from Galicia. About 60,000 people arrived between 1880 and 1910.[13][14] The new immigrants were Polish and poor, about half of them being illiterate. They worked in coal mining and metallurgy. For these people the most important factor was material well-being; they cared little about the homeland from which they had fled. Almost all of them assimilated into the Czech population.[15] Many of them settled in Ostrava (west of the ethnic border), as heavy industry was spread through the whole western part of Cieszyn Silesia. Even today, ethnographers find that about 25,000 people in Ostrava (about 8% of the population) have Polish surnames.[16] The Czech population (living mainly in the northern part of the area: Bohumín, Orlová, etc.) declined numerically at the end of the 19th century,[3] assimilating with the prevalent Polish population. This process shifted with the industrial boom in the area.

Decision time (1918-1920)

Map of the plebiscite area of Cieszyn Silesia with various demarcation lines

Originally, both national councils (the Polish Rada Narodowa Księstwa Cieszyńskiego in its declaration "Ludu śląski!" of 30 October 1918 and the Czech Zemský národní výbor pro Slezsko in its declaration of 1 November 1918) claimed the whole Cieszyn Silesia for themselves.[17]

On 31 October 1918, at the dusk of World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the majority of the area was taken over by local Polish authorities supported by armed forces.[18] The interim agreement of 2 November 1918 reflected the inability of the two national councils to come to final delimitation.[17] On 5 November 1918, the area was divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia by an interim agreement of two local self-government councils (Czech Zemský národní výbor pro Slezsko and Polish Rada Narodowa Księstwa Cieszyńskiego).[19] Before that, the majority of the area was taken over by Polish local authorities. In 1919 both councils were absorbed by the newly created and independent central governments in Prague and Warsaw. The former was not satisfied with this compromise and on 23 January 1919 invaded the area[20][21] while Poland was engaged in its war against the West Ukrainian National Republic.

The reason for the Czech invasion in 1919 was primarily the organisation of elections to the Sejm (parliament) of Poland in the disputed area.[22] The elections were to be held in the whole of Cieszyn Silesia. The Czechs claimed that the polls must not be held in the disputed area as the delimitation was only interim and no sovereign rule should be executed there by any party. When the Czech demand was rejected by the Poles, the Czechs decided to resolve the issue by force.[17]

Czech units were held up near Skoczów and a ceasefire was signed on 3 February. The new Czechoslovakia claimed the area partly on historic and ethnic grounds, but especially on economic grounds.[23] The area was important for the Czechs as the crucial railway line connecting Czech Silesia with Slovakia crossed the area (the Košice-Bohumín Railway, which was one of only two railroads that linked the Czech provinces to Slovakia at that time).[23] The area is also very rich in black coal. Many important coal mines, facilities and metallurgy factories are located there. The Polish side based its claim to the area on ethnic criteria: a majority of the area's population was Polish according to the last (1910) Austrian census.[24]