LANGUAGE AS A TOOL OF ENFORCED ETHNIC CONVERSION IN A BORDER SPACE WITH THE EXAMPLE OF TRANSELSIA (ZAOLZIE SILESIA)

Poland is a unique country in Europe, as it changed its geographical location after the Second World War, leaving large Polish groups in other countries. Since 1989, there has been an intensification of contacts between kin-state and foreign compatriots. Foreign compatriots are a heterogeneous group, as only a part of the population remained in the former USSR (Latvian, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian and Kazakh republic), while in Czechoslovakia (Transelsia) the local population did not undergo mass migration, but there were changes in their ethnic identification. Investigating the contemporary determinants of ethnic identity seems important from an academic perspective, and this is what this study is devoted to: consisting of in-depth interviews, questionnaires and observations. Using Transelsia as an example, the author describes the reaction of the former majority in the region to the assimilation pressure, which was carried out, among other things, through the introduction of the Czech language into the public space. In the Transelsia area, the presence of the Polish language is not identical in all parts. In the following considerations reference was made to: topographical names, names of public facilities, Polish-language education, as well as names of service points, shops and workshops. Based on the analysis of the data obtained from the in-depth interviews, questionnaires and observations, it was assessed that the hypothesis adopted in the study was confirmed. The state language has become a tool for forced ethnic conversion, and bilingualism itself also has a hidden dimension, with content used to impose Czech identity (e.g. bilingual street names whose patrons are historical figures with anti-Polish and nationalist involvement). Currently, an area of rivalry between Polish and Czech circles in Transelsia is theTeschen dialect, which the Czech side wants to use as an argument in the historical justification of its rights to the region.