An excerpt from Karl-Markus Gauß's 'In the Forest of Metropoles' discusses Silesia's historical identity. Gauß argues that a 1910 census in Upper Silesia, showing a majority identifying solely with German or Polish language, distorted reality due to a 'grim nationality policy' under Bismarck. He suggests many Silesians historically did not identify as purely German or Polish, challenging the persistence of this myth.