If the readers will forgive venturing into medieval as opposed to pre-historic times, I will mention an episode from Silesian history that, I suspect, may have been symptomatic of the progress of things throughout the so-called Germania Suavica. To be specific, it has often been said that for hundreds of years the Polish-German (or really Holy Roman Empire) border was one of the most peaceful in Europe. While the other parts of Poland and Lithuania experienced Muscovite, Tatar, Turk and Swedish raids, all you heard where Silesia (which was on the Empire side) met the rest of Poland were the sweet sounds of kumbaya. There Poles, Germans, Jews and others lived in harmony that was the envy of the world. It was almost as harmonious and tolerant as Spain under the Umayyads.
Imagine my shock when I came across the following order issued on June 15th of the year 1495, by the then Bishop of Wrocław – at that point already known as the multicultural paradise of Breslau – the very European Johann Roth (born in Bavaria but, hey, to be fair, all Teutons south of north Sweden are likely carpetbaggers). The order required all Silesians living in the town of Wójcice (Woitz) near Otmuchów (Ottmachau) to teach their children German first (rather than Polish) and required that all inhabitants learn German within five years or be chased out (von dann yagenn).
The bishop was complaining because Teutonic administrators had to use translators (Tolmetschenn) to communicate with the locals. Interestingly, the German word for “translator” – Dolmetscher – is likely of Suavic origin (referring to the Suavic tribe of the Daleminzier) (though a Hungarian etymology also exists).
The location of Wójcice (Woitz) is shown here:
Of course the order created a bit of a “chicken and the egg” problem since it was worded in German. Despite this difficulty, the gehorsame, fleissige & strebsame Suavic peasants appear to have met the bishop’s challenge and soon most of Lower Silesia was a’German reden (eventually leading to the creation of the BdV – the world’s only known political movement born almost entirely of Stockholm syndrome). While most of these same people’s progeny escaped in 1945, the Communists cleared the country of the rest – not paying much attention who they were really expelling.
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