A tribe after all? The problem of Slovincians’ identity in an anthropological approach

Abstract

The identity of Slovincians1 is a subject of a wide range of controversies in the field of Slavic studies. The root of the conflict between supporters of the ethnic distinctiveness of Slovincians, and opponents who suggest Slovincians are a part of the Kashubian ethnic group (and thus an ethnographic group), is the past work of Aleksandr Hilferding2, a Russian linguist and ethnographer who was the first to describe this group’s history and culture. He claimed that Slovincians and Kashubians were the last Slavs on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea to oppose Germanisation since early medieval. Hilferding’s theses were the basis of the canonical history of Slovincians, in which this ethnic group had roots to a tribe of the same name. In the middle of the 19th century, Slovincians living between Lake Gardno and Lake Łebsko were indeed the westernmost group of Slavs living in Pomerania, or more precisely on the eastern frontier of western Pomerania (ger. Hinterpommern). They commonly switched to the German language and assimilated a German ethnic identity as late as the start of the 20th century. As a consequence, Slovincians who found themselves living in Poland after World War II were seen as Germans and were subjected to displacement by settlers and administrators of the region. The Polish intellectual elite, however, did not forget about the Slavic origin of the region’s inhabitants and demanded leaving them on the Polish soil and suggested their re-Slavisation, or de facto Polonisation. Sadly, only a tiny part of that society, living in the village of Kluki, was saved from displacement, and the Polonisation of the group had little success due to majority of Slovincians relocating in the 20th century to Germany. Such a vision of Slovincian history and calling them a “tribe” or “ethnic group” has bred doubt amongst scholars. Using archival materials and, to a lesser extent, archeological