Zmiany imion i nazwisk w latach 1945−1950 na ziemi nyskiej w świetle materiałów archiwalnych
Changes to given names and surnames in the years 1945–1950 in the Nysa area in the light of archive materials

Summary/Abstract: The shifting of the borders and the incorporation into the Polish state of territory that had, up to 1945, been part of Germany led to the re-Polonization and Polonization of geographical and personal names, which was considered one of the elements of the eradication of “any trace of German rule”. Such renaming also included personal names (given names and surnames). Given names belonging to the German cultural sphere, including those of saints recognized and revered throughout Poland, were eliminated and replaced by Polish ones. German surnames, even those orthographically or phonetically adapted to the Polish language, also had to be changed. In the choice of a new given name or family name, there was a visible tendency to retain the initials of the previous anthroponym, or to assume surnames occurring in the family, e.g. a mother’s maiden or family name. Preponderance of surnames with the suffix -ski, which was considered very Polish, can also be observed. This change in given names and surnames did not only relate to the native Silesian population, but also the influx of people arriving from various regions of the country and from the Eastern Borderlands. In the situation of the postwar changes of anthroponyms, one should speak of a received and/or imposed surname or given name, provided that the main causes of changes of personal names was administrative coercion resulting from ideological and political positions.

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