Ślązacy we Lwowie – lwowiacy na Śląsku
Silesians in Lviv – Lvivians in Silesia

Summary/Abstract: The article title itself, together with the keywords, denotes the gist of the analyzed issue. The majority of the research on the Silesia–Lviv relations focus on the period after 1945, which does not suffice. According to this article author, the links between Silesia and the Eastern Borderlands have existed for centuries of Poland’s history; they have been diverse, always close, very frequently cordial, often broader and more emotional than those that typically characterize direct neighbors. Demonstrating these links and relations may contribute positively to changing the stereotypes, e.g. replacing the commonly circulating slogan “Like Silesian with Borderlander” (“Jak hanys z gorolem”) with “Lvivian and Silesian brothers be” (“Lwowiak Ślązak dwa bratanki”). Additionally, it can help eliminate from the academic discourse the false historical facts stating that these were “the primitive Borderlanders” who destroyed Silesia. The author points to the cultural union between the Silesians and Eastern Borderlanders built in the spiritual sphere: the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, the Gracious Mother of God in Lviv, the monastery on St. Anne Mountain founded by the Franciscans from Lviv, the woks of Hyacinth of Poland in the Middle Ages and priest Karol Bołoz Antoniewicz in the 19th century. Also the economic links have been animated, long-lasting, and beneficial for both side since the Middle Ages when Vladislaus II of Opole had the gothic Lviv built. The author attempts to demonstrate the unique nature of the Silesia–Lviv relations. Despite the incidental cases from the turbulent period of 1945–1950 that impacted the occurrence of negative stereotypes, thanks to its contacts with the Borderlands’ culture Silesia has gained something absolutely exceptional. This situation, in turn, can be compared with the Middle Ages when Lviv and the Lviv region gained so much due to the bonds with Silesia.

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