The ancestors of the Slovincians, the
West Slavic Pomeranians, moved in after the
Migration Period. Following the
Ostsiedlung, the Slovincians like most of the other
Wends gradually became Germanized. The
adoption of Lutheranism in the
Duchy of Pomerania in 1534 distinguished the Slovincians from the
Kashubes in
Pomerelia, who remained
Roman Catholic. In the 16th century, "Slovincian" was also applied to the Slavic speakers in the
Bytów (Bütow) region further south. Hilferding (1862) and
Parczewski (1896) confirmed a progressive language shift in the Kashubian population from their Slavonic vernacular to the local West-Germanic dialect (
Low German Ostpommersch or
High German, in eastern Kashubian areas also to Low German
Low Prussian). By the 1920s, the Slovincian villages had become linguistically Germanic, though a Slovincian consciousness remained. The area remained within the borders of Germany until becoming part of Poland after World War II ended in 1945 and
the area became Polish. Some Slovincians were
expelled along with the German population, some were allowed to remain. In the 1950s, mainly in the village of
Kluki (formerly Klucken), a few elderly people still remembered fragments of Slovincian. The remaining Slovincians began to ask for the right to emigrate to West Germany, and virtually all of the remaining Slovincian families had emigrated there by the 1980s. == Notes ==