Authorized Access Points and Subject Headings for Czech Silesia

Czech Silesia, or České Slezsko, is the name of the historical region forming the northeasternmost part of the present-day Czech Republic (see the light-blue-colored area in Map 1 below).

Map 1. Czech Silesia within the context of the Czech Republic
(Source: http://www.my-prague-sights.com/where-is-prague.html)

Czech Silesia forms the southeastern-most part of the broader historical region of Silesia, which extends from southeastern Germany, through much of southwestern Poland, into the northeastern border regions of the Czech Republic (see Map 2, where dark green = German Silesia; dark pink = Polish Silesia, and dark lavender = Czech Silesia).

Map 2. Czech Silesia in relation to Silesia as a whole
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesia)

From 1335 until 1762, most of Silesia was a territory belonging to the Lands of the Bohemian Crown (Země Koruny České). After 1762, the Bohemian crown controlled only the area approximately forming Czech Silesia today. This area was a province first of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then, after 1918, of Czechoslovakia. After 1948, it ceased to have any jurisdictional identity though it is still considered a distinct geographical and cultural region. This historical trajectory is reflected in the descriptive access points and subject headings relating to Czech Silesia, which are listed below in chronological order.

Silesia (Bohemian crown land)
• Descriptive use: refers to Silesia as a Bohemian crown land from 1335 to 1918, including, for much of the Middle Ages, the area of Silesia as a whole.
• Subject use: cannot be used as a subject heading; works about this place are entered under Silesia (Czech Republic). Note that Silesia is a more general subject heading for Silesia as a whole, but refers to it only as a region, without any jurisdictional implications. For this reason, works about Silesia as the Bohemian crown land should be entered under the subject heading Silesia (Czech Republic), not Silesia alone.

Austrian Silesia
• Descriptive use: refers to the part of Silesia that belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire from 1762 to 1918 and which became the Czechoslovak province of Czech Silesia.
• Subject use: cannot be used as a subject heading; works about this place are entered under Silesia (Czech Republic).

Silesia (Czechoslovakia)
• Descriptive use: refers to Silesia as a province of the Czechoslovak Republic from 1918 to 1928.
• Subject use: cannot be used as a subject heading; works about this place are entered under Silesia (Czech Republic).

Moravia and Silesia (Czechoslovakia)
• Descriptive use: refers to the merged province of Moravia and Silesia of the Czechoslovak Republic, which existed from 1928 to 1940 and from 1945 to 1948.
• Subject use: cannot be used as a subject heading; works about this place are entered under Moravia (Czech Republic) and/or under Silesia (Czech Republic).

Silesia (Czech Republic)
• Descriptive use: cannot be used as a descriptive access point.
• Subject use: refers to Czech Silesia as a jurisdictional and/or cultural geographical region from its origins to the present. The subdivision form is: --Czech Republic--Silesia.

Note that the subject heading Silesia (Czech Republic) is used for works on Silesia as a Bohemian Crown Land, Austrian Silesia, Silesia as a part of Czechoslovakia from 1919 to 1928, and Silesia as a historical region of the Czech Republic; it is used for works on the Czechoslovak province of Moravia and Silesia, existent from 1928 to 1940 and again from 1945-1948, most often in tandem with the subject heading for Moravia.

Updated: Aug. 9, 2015.