Pastor Andrzej Krzywoń (Andreas Krzywon), Moravian-Silesian Superintendent, and His Attitude towards National Issues

Abstract

An article devoted to Andrzej Krzywoń, the Moravian-Silesian superintendent, and his attitude towards national issues may at fi rst glance seem valuable only from the perspective of the history of Cieszyn Silesia or the history of Protestantism in Austrian Silesia and Moravia. However, in a certain way – as Krzywoń came from a Polish peasant family – this article should be the starting point for a much broader discussion on the issue which is the so-called nationalization of Polish peasants in the “long nineteenth century”. Although the issue has been discussed extensively,1 authors mostly focus on the lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, assuming that Polish (Polish-speaking) peasants were, as a rule, Catholics. Th ere were however exceptions – it is not just about individuals or individual settlements. Th e fl agship example is the eastern part of the crown land of Austrian Silesia, referred to in today’s literature as Cieszyn Silesia (Czech: Těšínsko; German: Teschener Schlesien, Polish: Śląsk Cieszyński), and by contemporary people – the Duchy of Cieszyn (Czech: Těšínské knížectví; German: Herzogtum Teschen; Polish: Księstwo Cieszyńskie).2 Th is region was inhabited by three ethnic (linguistic) groups: Germans, mainly concentrated in the so-called Bielsko-Biała language island (German: Bielitz-Bialaer Sprachinsel) and gaining an advantage in cities, Czechs (Moravians), living in the western and south-western part of the region, and