Wer gehört zur deutschen Minderheit? Zugehörigkeitsdefinitionen zwischen Minderheitenperspektive und nationaler Gesetzgebung

The article explores the differences between a legal definition of minorities and membership require- ments presented by possible members of the German minority. The issue is investigated through Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA) of narrative interviews of people of German heritage from the Opole region (Upper Silesia, Poland). The analysis is followed by a comparison of the findings with the minority definition of the Polish Minority Act. The MCA of the statements made by the respondents shows that the characteristics and activities associated with members of the German minority are structured to varying degrees along the topics: membership in minority associations, age, language skills, reflection on the (unofficial) family history, nationality and regionality, as well as the individual decision to belong. Accordingly, the aspects of membership, the individual decision as well as the regional affiliation identified in the statements made by the respondents are added to the Minority Act definition. The original value of the article is threefold. Firstly, the article represents a change of perspective in researching the German minority by applying the concept of belonging. Instead of assuming a homogeneous identity of a person or group, belonging is perceived as heterogeneous (related to the collective) and multidimensional (related to the individual). Accordingly, the article analyses statements made by people of German heritage, instead of using an ethnic categorization prior to analysis. Secondly, MCA is applied from the perspective of belonging, thus making discrepancies, contradictions and overlaps of belonging visible. Thirdly, the results of the analysis are put into practice by comparing them with the definition in the Polish Minority Act. The presentation of the differences and similarities of the definitions of people of German heritage themselves, in comparison to the national legislation, provides important impulses for the adaptation of minority and language policy at the national, regional, and internal level of the minority organisations.