O działalności Komisji Ustalania Nazw Miejscowości i Obiektów Fizjograficznych na Śląsku Opolskim w kontekście nowych dokumentów
On the activity of the Commission for the Determination of Place Names and Physiographic Objects in Opole Silesia in the context of new documents

Summary/Abstract: Opole Silesia, the Commission for the Determination of Place Names and Physiographic Objects, place names The paper focuses on the process of the changes in place names in Opole Silesia after 1945 in the light of new documents saved in the Archives of Modern Records in Warsaw. Even a few examples of such sources help to illustrate the procedures of the Commission for the Determination of Place Names and Physiographic Objects’ activities as well as the dispute over expertise between the dwellers and the Commission, which operated according to its own guidelines. The paper consists in the following parts: – origins and history of the Commission for the Determination of Place Names, – changes in place names in Opole Silesia after 1945, – modes of Polonization of German names, – profile of German names, – presentation of source documents. The preliminary section of the paper outlines briefly the history of the Commission’s formation – a significant ministry apparatus of advisory character, which was constituted in January 1946. The Commission’s activities were divided into three regional teams. The Regional Commission for Silesia – which included the representatives of the Silesian Institute in Katowice – mapped out the Silesian names. The changes in place names on the Western and Northern Territories were more problematic and multi-layered. The Commission’s activities were determined not only by linguistic arguments, but also national ones. Hence, since the decisions were not only connected to the scholarly and legal fields, they had the potential of generating significant social problems.

• Details
• Contents