Silesian German (Silesian German: Schläsche Sproache/Schläs'sche Sproche, German:Schlesisch) or Lower Silesian is a nearly extinct German dialect spoken in Silesia. Variations of the dialect until 1945 were spoken by about seven million people. After World War II, local communist authorities forbade the use of the language, after the expulsion of the Germans the province of Silesia was incorporated into southwestern Poland, with small portions in northeastern Czech Republic and in eastern Germany, and Silesian German continued to be spoken only by individual families expelled to the remaining territory of Germany and in cultural gatherings mainly in West Germany. Most descendents of the Silesian Germans expelled to West and East Germany no longer learned the dialect, and the cultural gatherings were less and less frequented.