Editing Silesia (section)

====Ethnicity====
Modern Silesia is inhabited by [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Silesians]], [[ethnic Germans|Germans]], and [[Czechs]]. Germans first came to Silesia during the [[Late Middle Ages|Late Medieval]] [[Ostsiedlung]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CqpCAAAAIAAJ|title=Die Verbreitung und die Herkunft der Deutschen in Schlesien|last=Weinhold|first=Karl|publisher=J. Engelhorn|year=1887|location=Stuttgart|language=de|trans-title=The Spread and the Origin of Germans in Silesia}}</ref> The last Polish census of 2011 showed that the Silesians are the largest ethnic or national minority in Poland, Germans being the second; both groups are located mostly in Upper Silesia. The Czech part of Silesia is inhabited by Czechs, [[Moravians (ethnic group)|Moravians]], Silesians, and [[Polish minority in the Czech Republic|Poles]].

In the early 19th century the population of the [[Province of Silesia|Prussian part of Silesia]] was between 2/3 and 3/4 German-speaking, between 1/5 and 1/3 Polish-speaking, with [[Sorbs]], [[Czechs]], [[Moravians]] and Jews forming other smaller minorities (see Table 1. below).

Before the Second World War, Silesia was inhabited mostly by Germans, with Poles a large minority, forming a majority in [[Upper Silesia]].<ref name="Gumpert">{{cite book|title=Polen, Deutschland|author=Jobst Gumpert|publisher=Callwey |year= 1966|pages=138|language = de}}</ref> Silesia was also the home of Czech and Jewish minorities. The German population tended to be based in the urban centres and in the rural areas to the north and west, whilst the Polish population was mostly rural and could be found in the east and in the south.<ref>Hunt Tooley, T (1997). ''National Identity and Weimar Germany: Upper Silesia and the Eastern Border, 1918–1922,'' University of Nebraska Press, p.17.</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+Table 1. Ethno-linguistic structure of [[Province of Silesia|Prussian Silesia]] in years 1787–1823
!Ethnic group
!acc. G. Hassel in 1819<ref name="Georg Hassel"/>
!'''%'''
!acc. S. Plater in 1823<ref>{{Cite book|title=Jeografia wschodniey części Europy czyli opis krajów przez wielorakie narody sławiańskie zamieszkanych obeymujący Prussy, Xięztwo Poznańskie, Szląsk Pruski, Gallicyą, Rzeczpospolitę Krakowską, Królestwo Polskie i Litwę.|last=Plater|first=Stanisław|publisher=Wilhelm Bogumił Korn|year=1825|location=Wrocław|pages=60|language=pl}}</ref>
!'''%'''
!acc. T. Ładogórski in 1787<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ludność, in: Historia Śląska, vol. II: 1763–1850, part 1: 1763–1806|last=Ładogórski|first=Tadeusz|publisher=edited by W. Długoborski|year=1966|location=Wrocław|pages=150|language=pl}}</ref>
!'''%'''
|-
|'''Germans'''
|1,561,570
|'''75.6'''
|1,550,000
|'''70.5'''
|1,303,300
|'''74.6'''
|-
|'''Poles'''
|444,000
|'''21.5'''
|600,000
|'''27.3'''
|401,900
|'''23.0'''
|-
|'''Sorbs'''
|24,500
|'''1.2'''
|30,000
|'''1.4'''
|900
|'''0.1'''
|-
|'''Czechs'''
|5,500
|'''0.3'''
|
|
|32,600
|'''1.9'''
|-
|'''Moravians'''
|12,000
|'''0.6'''
|
|
|
|
|-
|'''Jews'''
|16,916
|'''0.8'''
|20,000
|'''0.9'''
|8,900
|'''0.5'''
|-
|'''Population'''
|'''c. 2.1&nbsp;million'''
|'''100'''
|'''c. 2.2&nbsp;million'''
|'''100'''
|'''c. 1.8&nbsp;million'''
|'''100'''
|}

Ethnic structure of Prussian [[Upper Silesia]] ([[Opole]] regency) during the 19th century and the early 20th century can be found in Table 2.:

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
!! colspan="18" | Table 2. Numbers of Polish, German and other inhabitants (Regierungsbezirk Oppeln)<ref name="Georg Hassel">{{cite book |author=Georg Hassel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=31DMAJgQV28C&pg=PA34 |title=Statistischer Umriß der sämmtlichen europäischen und der vornehmsten außereuropäischen Staaten, in Hinsicht ihrer Entwickelung, Größe, Volksmenge, Finanz- und Militärverfassung, tabellarisch dargestellt; Erster Heft: Welcher die beiden großen Mächte Österreich und Preußen und den Deutschen Staatenbund darstellt |publisher=Verlag des Geographischen Instituts Weimar |year=1823 |pages=33–34 |language=de |quote=}}</ref><ref name="Paul Weber1">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/diepoleninobersc00webeuoft|title=Die Polen in Oberschlesien: eine statistische Untersuchung|author=Paul Weber|publisher=Verlagsbuchhandlung von Julius Springer|year=1913|location=Berlin|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kalisch|first1=Johannes|last2=Bochinski|first2=Hans|date=1958|title=Stosunki narodowościowe na Śląsku w świetle relacji pruskich urzędników z roku 1882|url=http://sobotka.uni.wroc.pl/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Sobotka_13_1958_43-58.pdf|journal=Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka|location=Leipzig|volume=13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201215644/http://sobotka.uni.wroc.pl/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Sobotka_13_1958_43-58.pdf|archive-date=1 February 2020}}</ref>
|-
!Year
!1819
!1831
!1834
!1837
!1840
!1843
!1846
!1852
!1855
!1858
!1861
!1867
!1890
!1900
!1905
!1910
|-
| '''''Polish'''''
|377,100
'''(67.2%)'''
| 418,837
'''(62.0%)'''
|468,691
'''(62.6%)'''
| 495,362
'''(62.1%)'''
| 525,395
'''(58.6%)'''
| 540,402
'''(58.1%)'''
| 568,582
'''(58.1%)'''
| 584,293
'''(58.6%)'''
|590,248
'''(58.7%)'''
| 612,849
'''(57.3%)'''
| 665,865
'''(59.1%)'''
| 742,153
'''(59.8%)'''
| 918,728 '''(58.2%)'''
| 1,048,230 '''(56.1%)'''
| 1,158,805 '''(57.0%)'''
| Census, monolingual Polish: '''1,169,340''' '''(53.0%)'''<ref name="Paul Weber2">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/diepoleninobersc00webeuoft|title=Die Polen in Oberschlesien: eine statistische Untersuchung|author=Paul Weber|publisher=Verlagsbuchhandlung von Julius Springer|year=1913|location=Berlin|page=27|language=de}}</ref>
'''or up to''' '''1,560,000''' together with bilinguals
|-
| '''''German'''''
|162,600
'''(29.0%)'''
| 257,852
'''(36.1%)'''
|266,399
'''(35.6%)'''
| 290,168
'''(36.3%)'''
| 330,099
'''(36.8%)'''
| 348,094
'''(37.4%)'''
| 364,175
'''(37.2%)'''
| 363,990
'''(36.5%)'''
|366,562
'''(36.5%)'''
| 406,950
'''(38.1%)'''
| 409,218
'''(36.3%)'''
| 457,545
'''(36.8%)'''
| 566,523 '''(35.9%)'''
| 684,397 '''(36.6%)'''
| 757,200 '''(37.2%)'''
|'''884,045''' '''(40.0%)'''
|-
|'''''Other'''''
|21,503
'''(3.8%)'''
|13,254
'''(1.9%)'''
|13,120
'''(1.8%)'''
|12,679
'''(1.6%)'''
|41,570
'''(4.6%)'''
|42,292
'''(4.5%)'''
|45,736
'''(4.7%)'''
|49,445
'''(4.9%)'''
|48,270
'''(4.8%)'''
|49,037
'''(4.6%)'''
|51,187
'''(4.6%)'''
|41,611
'''(3.4%)'''
|92,480
'''(5.9%)'''
|135,519
'''(7.3%)'''
|117,651
'''(5.8%)'''
|Total population: 2,207,981
|}
The [[Austrian Silesia|Austrian part of Silesia]] had a mixed German, Polish and Czech population, with Polish-speakers forming a majority in [[Cieszyn Silesia]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Geschichte des deutsch-slawischen Sprachkontaktes im Teschener Schlesien|last=Chromik|first=Grzegorz|isbn=978-3-88246-398-9|pages=258–322|language=de}}</ref>