Referendum in Upper Silesia

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Upper Silesia 1905

In the referendum in Upper Silesia on March 20, 1921, 59.6% of the voters voted to remain with Prussia or Germany and 40.4% for a cession to Poland . Then the ruled conference of ambassadors , Upper Silesia along the so-called Sforza line to share and Upper Silesia to annex the re-established Poland. The German public did not agree with this , as with other demarcations in the wake of the Versailles Treaty . The revision policy of the Weimar Republic also aimed to reverse this decision by the victorious powers of the First World War .

Numerical development

Number of Polish-speaking and German-speaking population (Opole administrative district)
year 1819 1828 1831 1837 1840 1843 1846 1852 1858 1861 1867 1890 1900 1905 1910
Polish 377,100 (67.2%) 418,437 456,348 495,362 525.395 540.402 568,582 584.293 612,849 665.865 742.153 918.728 (58.2%) 1,048,230 (56.1%) 1,158,805 (56.9%) 1,169,340 (53.0%)
German 162,600 (29.0%) 255.383 257,852 290.168 330.099 348.094 364.175 363,990 406,950 409.218 457.545 566,523 (35.9%) 684,397 (36.6%) 757,200 (37.2%) 884.045 (40.0%)

prehistory

Front of a German propaganda medal . It shows Hedwig von Schlesien, who was born in Bavaria .
The reverse of this medal names the German roots of the Christianization of Upper Silesia in German and Polish.
Language situation in the province of Silesia according to Prussian statistics 1905/06.
Voting in Upper Silesia in 1921:
yellow-green = circle with majority for Poland,
orange = circle with majority for Germany.

green = Poland including
            area preserved by Germany without a referendum,
purple = Czechoslovakia including
        area preserved by Germany,
solid = Upper Silesian districts 1918,
dotted = Lower Silesian districts.
Division of Upper Silesia in 1922:
yellow-green = due to the referendum to Poland,
orange = remained with Germany at the time

As part of the referendums in the wake of the Versailles Treaty , a decision was made in several German areas about their continued affiliation, with Germany's eastern border in particular being controversial in the early days of the Weimar Republic . According to the Versailles Treaty of 1919, large areas ( Polish Corridor , Free City of Danzig , Memelland ) had to be ceded without a vote. In two previous votes in July 1920 in the Marienwerder voting area in the rest of West Prussia and in the Allenstein voting area in the southern districts of East Prussia, well over 90% each decided to remain in Germany.

Another vote in the Prussian province of Silesia was planned for 1921, mostly affecting Upper Silesia , but also a small part of Lower Silesia . Catholic clergy who had traveled to Poland also participated in the preceding election propaganda. Pastor Josef Kubis sent a petition to Your Eminence and the Prince-Bishop's Curia in Breslau and asked for help with the attacks by the foreign clergy.

There were several Polish uprisings in Upper Silesia . The organizer of the uprisings is the Silesian politician Wojciech Korfanty , who was appointed Polish plebiscite commissioner by the Warsaw government after the collapse of the Empire .

The voting area and the implementation were determined in Article 88 of the Versailles Treaty.

The Polish plebiscite commissioner, of which Korfanty was chairman, had its seat in the Hotel Lomnitz in Beuthen . With around 1,000 employees, it tried to cover all areas of political, economic and social life. The main aim was to use propaganda and terror to change people's minds in favor of Poland. The efforts of the elaborate conception aimed in the long term at the takeover of political power after the referendum. The work of the commissioner's office received financial support from the highest level of government. The Polish Ministry of Defense contributed a monthly capital of 3,700,000 Polish marks , which was invested in military training.

The plebiscite commissioner for Germany was established in April 1920 with its seat in the Katowice Central Hotel. Kurt Urbanek was appointed plebiscite commissioner, the German equivalent of Korfanty . The initiative to set up the Plebiscite Commission was based on an agreement between the five largest parties and the three leading trade union federations. The appeal to the German citizens evoked national consensus. The retention of Upper Silesia with Germany was of the highest priority. Compared to the Polish organization, the staffing structure was far more modest. However, state and municipal administration as well as industry identified with Germany. The German-minded cultural and sports clubs also took part in the plebiscite work out of their own interest. The plebiscite commissariat represented the intentions of the German population in Upper Silesia with the Reich government , which in the years 1920–1922 spent well over a billion marks on the voting campaign. In addition, there were considerable donations from the industry, which were supplemented by material assets from the population, so that Urbanek was also able to carry out well-funded propaganda.

  • Polish poster

  • Polish poster

  • German poster

  • German poster

Election agitation

An important element in the referendum campaign was propaganda, the most important role of which was played by the press. In 1919, 66 German and only twelve Polish newspapers were published in Upper Silesia. In addition, the Polish propaganda was at a disadvantage, as a large part of the German population did not speak the Polish language.

The activities of the Polish commission were aimed at addressing the war indemnities imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty, which were to be paid through higher taxes. The voters were given an image of Germany that would end in a dead end because of the reparations . In contrast, the newly created Poland was propagated, which could bear the prospect of a socially sound world unencumbered. Another argument was the announcement of a land reform that was to take place after a potential Polish referendum victory through the expropriation of large German landowners, which was particularly tempting for many farmers. They also promised extensive autonomy for Upper Silesia, which also provided for its own parliament.

While the Polish side emphasized mainly social problems, the intention of the German propaganda was on the national component. The German press stressed the devastating social and economic consequences. Negative characteristics such as incapacity for work or recklessness of the Poles were preferred. Harsh criticism was also directed against Korfanty personally, partly through false reports - which were supposed to take away his trust - for example he was accused of theft.

In addition to the press, many German writers took part in the voting campaign. Gerhart Hauptmann occasionally published two appeals: "To the Germans in the border region" and "For a German Upper Silesia".

Numerous publications, however, were often not able to convince, as they were designed in High German, sometimes with a sophisticated style, and were thus sometimes not fully understood by the population or received with skepticism. In addition, the social aspects, which were mainly emphasized by the Polish propaganda, left a more lasting impression than the national concerns of the Germans.

Interallied Commission

The Inter-Allied Government and Plebiscite Commission for Upper Silesia was a supervisory body of the victorious powers, which, according to the provisions of the Versailles Peace Treaty, was entrusted with the administration of the Upper Silesia region and the implementation of the referendum. The commission headed by the French General Henri Le Rond was subordinate to French-Italian-British troops of around 13,000 to 22,000 soldiers. Of these, the French provided by far the greatest number of troops, with General Jules Gratier in chief. The commission ended on July 10, 1922.

Commissioners

There were three plebiscite commissioners of the Inter-Allied Government and Plebiscite Commission:

Commanders

The military commanders of the troop contingents were:

Results

Silesian voting area, plebiscite of March 20, 1921
circle Area in km² Population 1910 Total number of Polish-speaking residents Total number of German-speaking residents Number of residents speaking other languages Number of bilingual people (German and one other language) Population on October 8, 1919 Persons entitled to vote persons participating in the election of which voted for Poland of which voted for Germany
Total 10,885.8 1,937,046 - - - - 2,073,663 1,220,979 1,186,758 479,365 (40.4%) 707,393 (59.6%)
Without the Namslau district 10,796.8 1,931,240 1,153,777 664,887 25,118 87,458 2,068,004 1,215,373 1,181,277 479,232 (40.6%) 702,045 (59.4%)
Beuthen (city) 22.5 67,718 22,401 41,071 742 3,504 71.187 42,990 39,991 10.101 29,890
Bytom 98.9 195,844 123.016 59,308 1,825 11,695 213,790 109,749 106,698 63,021 43,677
Cosel 675.6 75,673 56,794 16,433 143 2,303 79,973 51,364 50,100 12,449 37,651
Gliwice 27.9 66,981 9,843 49,543 134 7,461 69,028 41,949 40,587 8,558 32,029
Groß Strehlitz 895.5 73,383 58.102 12,616 882 1,783 76.502 46,528 45,461 23,046 22,415
Hindenburg 119.6 159,810 81,567 63,875 395 13,973 167,632 90,793 88,480 43,261 45.219
Katowice (city) 4.7 43.173 5,766 36,891 151 365 45,422 28,531 26,674 3,900 22,774
Katowice 181.7 216,807 140,592 65,763 3,022 7,430 227,657 122,342 119.011 66,119 52,892
Koenigshütte 6.2 72,641 24,687 39,276 312 8,366 74,811 44.052 42,628 10,764 31,864
Kreuzburg 553.1 51.906 24,487 24,363 54 3,002 52,558 40,602 39,627 1,652 37,975
Leobschütz 690.7 82,635 5,178 69.901 6,356 1,200 78,247 66,697 65,387 259 65,128
Lublinitz 1,010.4 50,388 39,969 7,384 150 2,885 55,380 29,991 29,132 13,679 15,453
Namslau 89.0 5,806 - - - - 5,659 5,606 5,481 133 5,348
Neustadt 526.6 49,864 37,482 10,706 60 1,616 51,287 36,941 36.093 4,268 31,825
Opole (city) 17.8 33,907 5,371 27,128 23 1,385 35,483 22,930 21,914 1,098 20,816
Opole 1,407.5 117.906 89,323 23,740 1,888 2,955 123.165 82,715 80,896 24,726 56,170
Pleas 1,065.0 122,897 105,744 16,464 242 447 141,828 73.923 72.053 53,378 18,675
Ratibor (city) 21.9 38,424 11,525 22,914 301 3,684 36,994 25,336 24,518 2,227 22,291
Ratibor 511.8 69.214 53,899 6,676 7,662 977 78,238 45,900 44,867 18,518 26,349
Rosenberg 898.7 52,341 42,234 8,586 7th 1,514 54,962 35,976 35.007 11,150 23,857
Rybnik 853.0 131,630 102,430 24,872 692 3,636 160,836 82,350 80.266 52,347 27,919
Tarnowitz 327.7 77,583 51,858 20,969 14th 4,742 86,563 45,561 44,591 27,513 17,078
Tost-Gliwice 880.0 80,515 61.509 16,408 63 2,535 86,461 48,153 47,296 27.198 20,098

In the vote on March 20, 1921, 59.6% of the votes were cast for Germany and 40.4% for Poland. The turnout was 98%. In 664 municipalities the majority voted for Germany, in 597 for Poland.

The table is based on the processing of the Herder Institute with Polish place names. This in turn was drawn up after the publication of the Polish statistical office at the time. In their preliminary remark it is emphasized that the figures are identical to the German publication. From the German publication of the planning chamber of the Prussian State Statistical Office at the time , only the total figures were posted on the Internet.

division

The Versailles Treaty provided for the possibility of a division of the area. After the Inter-Allied Commission had little chance of acceptance during the deliberations in the Council of Ambassadors in Paris with a proposal for partition based on the Percival de Marinis line , as it did not correspond to France's interests , the decision was transferred to the Paris Ambassadors Conference on a French initiative .

Then, on October 20, 1921, the ambassadors conference in Paris decided with the Sforza line, an inner-Upper Silesian border line that, although far removed from the original ideas of Korfanty and France, was a success of the French partition policy. Ultimately, the German Reich retained an area of ​​7,794 square kilometers (71 percent of the voting area) and a population of 1,116,500 people (54 percent). Poland was awarded the remainder with an area of ​​3214 square kilometers and 996,500 inhabitants. Although it was a smaller and less populous part of Upper Silesia so that demarcation was economically more advantageous for Poland from which more than two thirds of all mines and industrial plants, in particular the region Katowice (Katowice) , and about three-quarters were awarded the raw materials. In this area, 55.8% of the voters voted for Poland, the German population was put at 292,980 in the Polish census of 1921.

In Germany, the division led to the resignation of the government of Joseph Wirth .


Web links

Commons : Referendum in Upper Silesia  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Target in Palazzo Chigi . In: Der Spiegel . No. 13 , 1948 ( online ).
  2. ↑ Georg Hassel: Statistical outline of the entire European and the most distinguished non-European states, in terms of their development, size, population, financial and military constitution, presented in tabular form . First issue: Which represents the two great powers Austria and Prussia and the German Confederation. Verlag des Geographisches Institut, Weimar, 1823, p. 34; Total population 1819 - 561,203; National Diversity 1819: Poland - 377,100; Germans - 162,600; Moravians - 12,000; Jews - 8,000 and Czechs - 1,600
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Paul Weber: The Poles in Upper Silesia: a statistical study . Julius Springer's publishing bookstore, Berlin 1913, pp. 8–9, archive.org
  4. ^ A b c d Paul Weber: The Poles in Upper Silesia: a statistical study . Julius Springer's publishing bookstore, Berlin 1913, p. 27, archive.org
  5. ^ Petition from Pastor Josef Kubis for help against the agitators ( Memento from February 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Part III - Political Provisions About Europe
  7. ↑ Richard Pawelicki, Upper Silesia. The country and its people . Bonn, 1989
  8. ^ A b c d Norbert Conrads , German History in Eastern Europe. Silesia . Berlin, 1994
  9. ↑ Otto Ulitz, Upper Silesia. From his story . Bonn, 1971
  10. ↑ a b Michael Opitz, Silesia remains ours. Germany's fight for Upper Silesia 1919-1921 . Kiel, 1985
  11. ^ Karl Hoefer, Upper Silesia in the 1918-1921 uprising. Memories and documents . Berlin, 1938
  12. ^ Via Silesia: Contributions of the gdpv to German - Polish understanding . Volume III: 2. Upper Silesia between the World Wars - To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the 1921 referendum . Münster, 1996
  13. ^ Paul Rother: Chronicle of the City of Königshütte Oberschlesien , p. 176. Google Book Search .
  14. ↑ Otto Klöden, Landesverband des BdV von Baden-Württemberg (ed.): On the problem of the right to self-determination in East Central Europe since the First World War . 1973, p. 11. Google Book Search
  15. ^ Johannes Grotzky: Border Crossings. Searching for traces between East and West , 2010, p. 93 ff. Google Book Search .
  16. ↑ Antonio Scottà (ed.): La Conferenza di pace di Parigi fra ieri e domani (1919–1920) , p. 318. (Italian)
  17. ↑ a b of this website by Falter u. a. 1986, p. 118.
  18. ↑ a b Referendum in Upper Silesia 1921: Bytom
  19. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Cosel
  20. ^ A b The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Gleiwitz and Tost
  21. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Groß Strehlitz
  22. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Hindenburg
  23. ^ A b The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Kattowitz
  24. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Königshütte
  25. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Kreuzburg
  26. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Leobschütz
  27. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Lublinitz
  28. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Namslau
  29. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Neustadt
  30. ^ A b The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Opole
  31. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Pless
  32. ^ A b The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Ratibor
  33. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Rosenberg
  34. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Rybnik
  35. ^ The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921: Tarnowitz
  36. ↑ Landsmannschaft der Oberschlesier e. V. The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921 - results by constituencies and municipalities; The constituencies include either a district or an urban district and the district that includes it. In this respect they deviate from the table above. ( Memento from March 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  37. ^ The results of the referendums in West and East Prussia and in Silesia established by the Versailles Treaty. In: Herder Institute (ed.): Documents and materials on East Central European history. Topic module "Second Polish Republic", edit. by Heidi Hein-Kircher . As of June 26, 2013 (accessed April 25, 2014)
  38. ↑ Rocznik statystyki Rzczypospolitej Polskiej / Annuaire statistique de la République Polonaise 1 (1920/22), part 2, Warszawa 1923, p. 358, herder-institut.de (PDF)
  39. ↑ In the preliminary remark, ibid., P. 357, it is pointed out that the data are identical to those in the statistics "The areas ceded by Prussia" (Berlin 1922). Of the total number of persons registered for the referendum in Silesia, 988,560 were born in the voting area and residing there, 191,308 were born in the voting area but no longer resident there and 41,105 were not born there but had lived there since January 1, 1904. This vote took place under Article 88 of the Versailles Treaty, which in Allenstein and Marienwerder under Articles 94-98.
  40. ↑ wahlen-in-deutschland.de
  41. ↑ § 5. After the end of the voting, the committee informs the main Allied and Associated Powers of the number of votes indicated in each municipality and at the same time submits a detailed report on the election process and a proposal on the line to be used in Upper Silesia, taking into account both the expression of will the inhabitants as well as the geographical and economic location of the localities should be taken as the border of Germany. Annex VIII to the Versailles Treaty, concerning § 88
  42. ↑ Andreas Kieswetter: Italy and Upper Silesia 1919–1922 , documents on Italian politics, Königshausen und Neumann publishing house, Würzburg 2001, pp. 41–90.
  43. ↑ Hans Roos: History of the Polish Nation 1918–1978. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, 1979, ISBN 3-17-004932-1
  44. ↑ Dieter Lamping: About Borders , 2001, p. 58.