GB No. 2, summer 1990
In the last months, increasingly more of the original residents of Silesia Opolski have been declaring their German origin or German nationality. It is for this reason that the political climate has become agitated. After World War II, the Polish authorities treated Silesia as a region inhabited only by Polish people. The names and surnames of the original residents were changed to further this illusion. In spite of forced displacement, many ethnic Germans stayed since, having been born and brought up here, they consider this region to be their homeland. They wish to be officially accepted and acknowledged by law. We support the ethnic Germans in their attempts to be officially recognized as a minority, because every nation is entitled to self- determination and the cultivation of their own ethnic culture. We cannot ignore their existence only because they complicate the work of the government.