Upper Silesian Dialect

[Katharine Tonkin]

I am not actually working in the area of Slavic studies but am a
Germanist with a few questions a Slav specialist might be able to answer.

I am writing about Horst Bienek, who was born in 1930 in the
then German province of Upper Silesia, just 6km from the Polish border.
In his novels about his childhood there (the "Gleiwitz Tetralogy"), Bienek
portrays an identity of the Upper Silesian people which is neither German
nor Polish, but is located somewhere between the two.  One of the ways in
which this is portrayed is through the characters' use of language.  They
use a lot of Polish expressions and syntax.

I have a couple of questions:

1. What exactly is "Wasserpolnisch"?  Bienek claims it was the dialect
spoken by the Germans in Upper Silesia, but I have since heard that it was
actually the dialect spoken by the Poles in this area.  Does anybody know,
or perhaps have any suggestions about possible sources of information?

2. Did the German Upper Silesians speak a dialect which was very much
influenced by Polish, or did they just have a different accent from
the Reich Germans?

3. Did the German Upper Silesians in the first half of this century
feel themselves to be, as Bienek asserts, more Upper Silesian than German?
Were they at pains to differentiate themselves from the Reich Germans up
to the outbreak of war in 1939?  (According to Bienek, as the war
progressed, the Upper Silesians' sense of identity was gradually eroded as
they identified more and more with "Germany" rather than Upper Silesia.)

I would be VERY grateful if anyone could help me with these questions!

Kati Tonkin