Silesian Parliament
The Silesian Parliament (Sejm Śląski) was a legislative body of the Autonomous Voivodeship of Silesia with its seat in the voivodeship capital Katowice . It was created after the First World War under the founding statute of the voivodeship (Statut Organiczny Województwa Śląskiego) of July 15, 1920, which regulated the principles of Silesian autonomy within Poland . The Silesian Parliament, for its part, appointed a Voivodeship Council and had the power of law within Silesia, foreign policy and military affairs being withdrawn from its competence and subject to the Warsaw Parliament.
elections
The first elections to the Silesian Parliament took place in September 1922 , and 48 delegates (poseł) were elected. Three constituencies were elected :
The first marshal of the Silesian Parliament became Konstanty Wolny .
| Electoral term | Election date | Legislative period | Number of MPs |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. Silesian Sejm | September 27, 1922 | October 10, 1922 to February 12, 1922 | 48 |
| II. Silesian Sejm | May 11, 1930 | May 26, 1930 to September 26, 1930 | 48 |
| III. Silesian Sejm | November 23, 1930 | December 9, 1930 to mid-July 1935 | 48 |
| IV. Silesian Sejm | September 8, 1935 | September 24, 1935 to January 1939 | 24 |
German minority
There was a significant German minority in Silesia . This was represented by three parties in parliament:
- Catholic People's Party (KVP)
- German Party (DP)
- German Social Democratic Party (DSP)
CIP and DP competed on a joint electoral list, the German electoral block . The members of all three parties formed a common parliamentary group, the German Club , until 1926 . From 1926 the Social Democrats resigned and formed a joint parliamentary group with the PPS .
| Electoral term | Percent voting block | Percent DSP | Mandates electoral block | Thereof DP | Of which CIP | DSP mandates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. electoral term 1922 | 21.6% | 6.7% | 12 | 6th | 6th | 2 |
| Second electoral term, May 1930 | 30% | 4.2% | 15th | 5 | 10 | 1 |
| III. November 1930 parliamentary term | 13.4% (*) | 5.0% | 7th | 2 | 5 | 2 |
(*) The list of the German electoral block in constituency 1 was deleted from these elections.
Voivod and the Voivodeship Council
The Silesian Sejm elected a voivod as head of the Silesian Autonomous Voivodeship and the 5-person Voivodeship Council. The only German representative in the voivodship council from 1922 to 1934 was Leopold Michatz .
building
During the German occupation in World War II and the establishment of the National Socialist Gaus Oberschlesien in 1941 from Upper Silesian and Lesser Poland areas, Katowice was converted into the Gau capital and the Silesian Parliament into the Gauhaus.
The parliament building was partly built from sandstone from 1925 to 1929 and at that time was the largest building in Poland with 634 rooms and 161,474 m³ of enclosed space. It was not until 1932 that all work was completed and the interior was also equipped. The cube represents a square with an inner courtyard, at the corners of which such components are connected.
Now the seat of the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship is located in the parliament building .
See also
literature
- Mads Ole Balling: From Reval to Bucharest - Statistical-Biographical Handbook of the Parliamentarians of the German Minorities in East Central and Southeast Europe 1919-1945 . 2nd Edition. tape 2 . Copenhagen 1991, ISBN 87-983829-5-0 , pp. 745 ff .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Law of July 15, 1920, containing the Organic Statute of the Silesian Voivodeship; adopted by the constituent Sejm on July 15, 1920 (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland, No. 73 item 497) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
