Proces wprowadzania dwujęzycznych nazw miejscowości na Opolszczyźnie i ich społeczny odbiór
Process of the introduction of bilingual place names in Opole region and its societal reception

Summary/Abstract: In the 1990s and on the wave of the structural and democratic changes occurring in Po­land, campaigns were conducted in areas with national and ethnic minority communities aimed at manifesting the identities of these groups in the public sphere. One of these displays was the success in introducing place names in minority languages on road signs. This was made officially possible by the 2005 law concerning national and ethnic minorities and regional languages. The article pre­sents the course of the introduction of bilingual names in Opole Silesia region which represents the largest concentration of people of German origin. The paper also discusses the administrative work connected with this policy and the societal reactions accompanying this process. The text attempts to demonstrate the variety of attitudes held by residents of the region towards Polish-German place names (from full acceptance of dual naming via indifference to complete rejection).

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