Silesian German (Silesian German:
Schläsche Sproache/
Schläs'sche Sproche, ) or
Lower Silesian is a nearly extinct
German dialect spoken in
Silesia. Variations of the dialect until 1945 were spoken by about seven million people. After
World War II, local
communist authorities forbade the use of the language, after the
expulsion of the Germans the province of Silesia was incorporated into southwestern
Poland, with small portions in northeastern
Czech Republic and in eastern
Germany, and Silesian German continued to be spoken only by individual families expelled to the remaining territory of Germany and in cultural gatherings mainly in
West Germany. Most descendents of the Silesian Germans expelled to
West and
East Germany no longer learned the dialect, and the cultural gatherings were less and less frequented.