Mowisz po polsku? Nein, I'm German.

My cousin Bob's wife, Susie, mentioned to me that because the area of Silesia from whence came the Swenkfelders was once upon a time part of Poland that Bob has sometimes told people that he's Polish. I think that in his current uber-uninhibited state he ought to tell folks that he's Bohemian--it fits him better.

So, the question of the day is Are we Polish, German or Bohemian?

The Heydricks and their cohorts came from Lower Silesia; that's the anglicized Latin name for the obscure region in Eastern Europe that is known in Polish as Dolny Śląsk; in Czech as Dolní Slezsko; the proper Latin being Silesia Inferior.

But the Swenkfelders themselves being Deutsch sprechers would have called it Niederschlesien; or in Silesian German, Niederschläsing;

Did you know there is also a Silesian language all its own? Me either. In the Silesian language Lower Silesia is known as Dolny Ślůnsk;

(All the above cribbed from the Wikipedia page on Lower Silesia)

Silesia is one of scores of regions of pre-WWI Europe that were pulled hither and yon by the Great Powers. They might have started out as belonging to this Principality or that Duchy, but then the particularly brutal geo-politics of the eastern lands would have made them pawns in some kaiser, emporer or tsar's land grab and they were suddenly subjects of a new ruler.

It wasn't until the rise of the Nation-States in the 19th century that anything like "Germany" came to be as we understand it. The present day countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia and all of what was Yugoslavia and the present day boundaries of Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria didn't exist until after 1919. Bohemia was never a Nation-State but was rather the name given to the Bohemian (aka Czech) speaking territory belonging primarily to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. (The Bohemian language wasn't even known as Czech until the 19th century when our Heydricks were firmly ensconced in Bridesburg.)

So back to our own Heydrick heritage. I think that there is no doubt whatsoever that no matter who controlled Lower Silesia, the Heydricks spoke German and probably considered themselves culturally German. Harpersdorf, (mentioned in the posting The Schwenkfelder Heydricks), and one of the places definitively identified with the Schwenkfelders, is a small town to the southwest of Leipzig and to the northwest of Prague. It was part of the Iron Curtain era East Germany. Although it might be a lot more fun to be Bohemian or Polish, the fact remains that the Schwenkfelders were German. Sorry, Bob.

Here's a great link to a map of the area for the next time you take a leisurely tour of infamous Iron Curtain landmarks:

http://www.maplandia.com/germany/thuringen/thuringen/greiz/harpersdorf/