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36-648: In the early 1920s, the Polish government decided to construct a rail line connecting Polish part of Upper Silesia with Baltic Sea coast. The Polish Coal Trunk-Line was one of the biggest investments of the Second Polish Republic , and its construction, until 1930, was funded by the government. However, the Great Depression caused growing budget problems for the Polish State Railways , and completion of

72-499: A French–Polish Consortium for construction of the port in Gdynia. Furthermore, Schneider et Creusot was a shareholder of some Upper Silesian coal mines and steel plants, and for these reasons, the corporation was vividly interested in completion of the line. Founder’s capital was 15 million French francs . The French-Polish Rail Association took over construction of the following sectors of the line: Additionally, FPTK began construction of

108-606: A line Chorzew Siemkowice - Częstochowa , which was finished in April 1939. It joined the Polish Coal Trunk-Line with the industrial city of Częstochowa. The Association was granted the use of the line for 40 years; however, the Polish government assured the right to buy the line after 20 years. In the agreement, the Poles made sure that during construction, Polish workers would be employed, and Polish material would be used. Trains of

144-723: Is currently split into a larger Polish and the smaller Czech Silesian part, which is located within the Czech regions of Moravia-Silesia and Olomouc . The Polish Upper Silesian territory covers most of the Opole Voivodeship , except for the Lower Silesian counties of Brzeg and Namysłów , and the western half of the Silesian Voivodeship (except for the Lesser Polish counties of Będzin , Bielsko-Biała , Częstochowa with

180-585: Is the part of the historical region of Silesia now in the Czech Republic . Czech Silesia is, together with Bohemia and Moravia , one of the three historical Czech lands . Silesia lies in the north-east of the Czech Republic, predominantly in the Moravian-Silesian Region , with a section in the northern Olomouc Region . It is almost identical in extent with Austrian Silesia (also known as

216-617: Is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia , located today mostly in Poland , with small parts in the Czech Republic . The area is predominantly known for its heavy industry (mining and metallurgy). Upper Silesia is situated on the upper Oder River, north of the Eastern Sudetes mountain range and the Moravian Gate , which form the southern border with

252-739: The Bohemian kingdom . During the re-establishment of Poland under King Casimir III the Great , all Silesia was specifically excluded as non-Polish land by the 1335 Treaty of Trentschin becoming a land of the Bohemian Crown and — indirectly — of the Holy Roman Empire. By the mid-14th century, the influx of German settlers into Upper Silesia was stopped by the Black Death pandemic. Unlike in Lower Silesia,

288-622: The Duchy of Opava was established on adjacent Moravian territory, ruled by the Přemyslid duke Nicholas I , whose descendants inherited the Duchy of Racibórz in 1336. As they ruled both duchies in personal union , Opava grew into the Upper Silesian territory. In 1327 the Upper Silesian dukes, like most of their Lower Silesian cousins, had sworn allegiance to King John of Bohemia , thereby becoming vassals of

324-588: The Germanization process was halted; still a majority of the population spoke Polish and Silesian as their native language, often together with German ( Silesian German ) as a second language. In the southernmost areas, also Lach dialects were spoken. While Latin, Czech and German language were used as official languages in towns and cities, only in the 1550s (during the Protestant Reformation ) did records with Polish names start to appear. Upper Silesia

360-567: The Kingdom of Bohemia . Modern-day Czech Silesia derives primarily from a small part of Silesia that remained within the Bohemian Crown and the Habsburg monarchy at the end of the First Silesian War in 1742, when the rest of Silesia was ceded to Prussia . It was re-organised as the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia , with its capital at Opava ( German : Troppau , Polish : Opawa ). In 1900,

396-732: The Treaty of Versailles in 1920. Following the Munich Agreement of 1938, most of Czech Silesia became part of the Reichsgau Sudetenland and Poland occupied the Trans-Olza area on the west bank of the Olza (the Polish gains being lost when Nazi Germany occupied Poland the following year). In 1939–1940, during the anti-Polish Intelligenzaktion campaign, many Polish activists, priests, officials, teachers and school principals were deported by

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432-546: The gord of Opole . It is possible that during the times of Prince Svatopluk I (871–894), Silesia was a part of his Great Moravian realm. Upon its dissolution after 906, the region fell under the influence of the Přemyslid rulers of Bohemia , Duke Spytihněv I (894–915) and his brother Vratislaus I (915–921), possibly the founder and name giver of the Silesian capital Wrocław ( Czech : Vratislav ). By 990

468-539: The "Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia", colloquially called Austrian Silesia . Incorporated into the Prussian Silesia Province from 1815, Upper Silesia became an industrial area taking advantage of its plentiful coal and iron ore . Prussian Upper Silesia became a part of the German Empire in 1871. The earliest exact census figures on ethnolinguistic or national structure (Nationalverschiedenheit) of

504-697: The 1620 Battle of White Mountain , the Catholic Emperors of the Habsburg dynasty forcibly re-introduced Catholicism, led by the Jesuits . Lower Silesia and most of Upper Silesia were occupied by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742 during the First Silesian War and annexed by the terms of the Treaty of Breslau . A small part south of the Opava River remained within the Habsburg-ruled Bohemian Crown as

540-454: The Duchy occupied an area of 5,140 km and had a population of 670,000. In 1918, the former Duchy formed part of the newly created state of Czechoslovakia , except for Cieszyn Silesia , which was split between Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1920, Czechoslovakia gaining its western portion. Hlučín Region ( Czech : Hlučínsko , German : Hultschiner Ländchen ), formerly part of Prussian Silesia , also became part of Czechoslovakia under

576-523: The Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia), before 1918; between 1938 and 1945, part of the area was also known as Sudeten Silesia (German: Sudetenschlesien ; Czech: Sudetské Slezsko ; Silesian: Sudecki Ślōnsk ; Lower Silesian: Sudetaschläsing ; Polish: Śląsk Sudecki ). Czech Silesia borders Moravia in the south, Poland (Polish Silesia) in the north (in the northwest the County of Kladsko , until 1742/48 an integral part of Bohemia ) and Slovakia in

612-810: The German occupiers to concentration camps and then murdered there. The Germans operated multiple forced labour camps in the region, including several Polenlager camps for Poles, multiple subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs, and subcamps of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Bruntál and Světlá Hora for mostly Jewish women. The occupiers also established several POW camps, including Oflag VIII-E , Oflag VIII-G, Heilag VIII-G and Stalag VIII-D , for Polish, French , Belgian, British, Serbian, Dutch and other Allied POWs. With

648-588: The Polish State Railways were allowed to use the line without restrictions. Military and mail transports were granted the same privileges as they enjoyed on all government-owned lines. To finance all projects, the Association took a loan from a French bank, with the Polish government as a voucher. On Wednesday, March 1, 1933, the 156-kilometer segment Zduńska Wola Karsznice - Inowrocław was opened, which resulted in immediate opening of rail cargo traffic along

684-450: The Polish prince Bolesław III Wrymouth (1107–1138) came to terms with Duke Soběslav I of Bohemia , when a peace was made confirming the border along the Sudetes . However, this arrangement fell apart when upon the death of Bolesław III and his testament the fragmentation of Poland began, which decisively enfeebled its central authority. The newly established Duchy of Silesia became

720-485: The Prussian part of Upper Silesia, come from year 1819. The last pre-WW1 general census figures available, are from 1910 (if not including the 1911 census of school children - Sprachzählung unter den Schulkindern - which revealed a higher percent of Polish-speakers among school children than the 1910 census among the general populace). Figures ( Table 1. ) show that large demographic changes took place between 1819 and 1910, with

756-680: The Upper Silesian Duchy of Racibórz as an allodium from the hands of his elder brother Duke Bolesław I the Tall of Silesia. In the struggle around the Polish throne, Mieszko additionally received the former Lesser Polish lands of Bytom , Oświęcim , Zator , Siewierz and Pszczyna from the new Polish High Duke Casimir II the Just in 1177. When in 1202 Mieszko Tanglefoot had annexed the Duchy of Opole of his deceased nephew Jarosław , he ruled over all Upper Silesia as Duke of Opole and Racibórz . In

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792-718: The ancestral homeland of the Silesian Piasts , descendants of Bolesław's eldest son Władysław II the Exile , who nevertheless saw themselves barred from the succession to the Polish throne and only were able to regain their Silesian home territory with the aid of the Holy Roman Emperor . The failure of the Agnatic seniority principle of inheritance also led to the split-up of the Silesian province itself: in 1172 Władysław's second son Mieszko IV Tanglefoot claimed his rights and received

828-550: The city of Częstochowa , Kłobuck , Myszków , Zawiercie and Żywiec , as well as the cities of Dąbrowa Górnicza , Jaworzno and Sosnowiec ). Divided Cieszyn Silesia as well as former Austrian Silesia are historical parts of Upper Silesia. According to the 9th century Bavarian Geographer , the West Slavic Opolanie tribe had settled on the upper Oder River since the days of the Migration Period , centered on

864-509: The course of the Ostsiedlung , establishing numerous cities according to German town law . The plans to re-unify Silesia shattered upon the first Mongol invasion of Poland and the death of Duke Henry II the Pious at the 1241 Battle of Legnica . Upper Silesia further fragmented upon the death of Duke Władysław Opolski in 1281 into the duchies of Bytom , Opole, Racibórz and Cieszyn . About 1269

900-633: The early 13th century the ties of the Silesian Piasts with the neighbouring Holy Roman Empire grew stronger as several dukes married scions of German nobility. Promoted by the Lower Silesian Duke Henry I the Bearded , from 1230 also regent over Upper Silesia for the minor sons of his late cousin Duke Casimir I of Opole , large parts of the Silesian lands were settled with German immigrants in

936-619: The exception of the areas around Cieszyn , Ostrava , and Hlučín , Czech Silesia was predominantly settled by German-speaking populations up until 1945. Following the World War II , Czech Silesia and Hlučín Region were returned to Czechoslovakia and the ethnic Germans were expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement . The border with Poland was once again set along the Olza (although not confirmed by treaty until 1958). The population mainly speaks Czech with altered vowels. Some of

972-557: The historic Moravia region. Within the adjacent Silesian Beskids to the east, the Vistula River rises and turns eastwards, the Biała and Przemsza tributaries mark the eastern border with Lesser Poland . In the north, Upper Silesia borders on Greater Poland , and in the west on the Lower Silesian lands (the adjacent region around Wrocław also referred to as Middle Silesia ). It

1008-636: The line was questioned. Under the circumstances, the Polish government decided that the newly created French-Polish Rail Association would take over construction of the middle sector of the line. The Association was officially created on April 21, 1931, in Paris. Its shareholders were the Polish Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego and the French Banque des Pays du Nord , as well as industrial giant Schneider et Creusot, which since 1924 had been part of

1044-685: The newly installed Piast duke Mieszko I of the Polans had conquered large parts of Silesia. From the Middle Silesia fortress of Niemcza , his son and successor Bolesław I the Brave (992–1025), having established the Diocese of Wrocław , subdued the Upper Silesian lands of the pagan Opolanie, which for several hundred years were part of Poland , though contested by Bohemian dukes like Bretislaus I , who from 1025 invaded Silesia several times. Finally, in 1137,

1080-1209: The region's total population quadrupling, the percent of German-speakers increasing significantly, and that of Polish-speakers declining considerably. Also, the total land area in which Polish language was spoken, as well as the land area in which it was spoken by the majority, declined between 1790 and 1890. Polish authors before 1918 estimated the number of Poles in Prussian Upper Silesia as slightly higher than according to official German censuses. (67.2%) (61.1%) (62.0%) (62.6%) (62.1%) (58.6%) (58.1%) (58.1%) (58.6%) (58.7%) (57.3%) (59.1%) (59.8%) or up to 1,560,000 together with bilinguals (29.0%) (37.3%) (36.1%) (35.6%) (36.3%) (36.8%) (37.4%) (37.2%) (36.5%) (36.5%) (38.1%) (36.3%) (36.8%) (3.8%) (1.6%) (1.9%) (1.8%) (1.6%) (4.6%) (4.5%) (4.7%) (4.9%) (4.8%) Czech Silesia Czech Silesia ( Czech : České Slezsko ; Silesian : Czeski Ślōnsk ; Lower Silesian : Tschechisch-Schläsing ; German : Tschechisch-Schlesien ; Polish : Śląsk Czeski )

1116-567: The southeast. With the city of Ostrava roughly in its geographic centre, the area comprises much of the modern region of Moravian-Silesia (save for its southern edges) and, in its far west, a small part of the Olomouc Region in the area of Jeseník District . After Ostrava, the most important cities are Opava and Český Těšín . Historically Český Těšín is the western part of the city of Cieszyn , which nowadays lies in Poland. About two thirds of

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1152-648: The territory is situated in the Eastern Sudetes . The rest of the territory extends into the Ostrava Basin , Moravian Gate , Moravian-Silesian Foothills and into the western section of the Western Beskids . Its major rivers are the Oder , Opava and Olza (which forms part of the natural border with Poland). In the Middle Ages , Silesia formed part of Piast -ruled Poland, and in the 14th century it gradually passed to

1188-509: The whole line. The opening ceremony took place at the newly built rail station at Karsznice, and it was broadcast by the Polish Radio . The line, with double track along its route, was not completely ready until 1937. Due to a lack of finances needed to buy rail engines and cars, from 1933 to 1937, FPTK allowed Polish Railways to temporarily use the Trunk Line, until January 1, 1938, when the line

1224-493: Was handed back to the Association. The national budget of Poland yielded an annual profit of 12 million zlotys from taxes and dividends from use of the line. In August 1938, in order to assure closer cooperation with authority of the port of Gdynia, FPTK became part of The Council of the Port. In the 1930s, general manager of the Association was a Frenchman Charles Laurent, and his deputy - Julian Piasecki. Since 1936, general office of FPTK

1260-782: Was hit by the Hussite Wars and in 1469 was conquered by King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary , while the Duchies of Oświęcim and Zator fell back to the Polish Crown as a part of Lesser Poland . Upon the death of the Jagiellonian king Louis II in 1526, the Bohemian crown lands were inherited by the Austrian House of Habsburg . In the 16th century, large parts of Silesia had turned Protestant , promoted by reformers like Caspar Schwenckfeld . After

1296-449: Was located in the office building in Bydgoszcz , which had been the headquarters of the Prussian Eastern Railway . Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( Polish : Górny Śląsk [ˈɡurnɘ ˈɕlɔw̃sk]  ; Silesian : Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk ; Czech : Horní Slezsko ; German : Oberschlesien [ˈoːbɐˌʃleːzi̯ən]  ; Silesian German : Oberschläsing ; Latin : Silesia Superior )

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