My German ancestors lived in Austrian Silesia - just across the border from Poland. I have been doing genealogy for many years and have a considerable amount of knowledge of the atrocities suffered by the Germans in Czechoslovakia after World War II but I would like to know more about the everyday living conditions of Germans in the small rural villages of Austrian Silesia in the 1800s, as well as the circumstances that might have caused them to emigrate. (I am wondering if the living conditions experienced by my ancestors might have been comparable to the conditions experienced by the Poles in Prussian Silesia.) I have always been thankful that my direct ancestors made the decision to get on the ship and emigrate. I know that they experiences some real hardships in those first years but I'm sure that their hardships were much less severe than those suffered by their siblings who decided to stay.