Upper Silesia plebiscite
In the plebiscite in Upper Silesia on March 20, 1921, 59.6 % of voters remaining in Prussia or Germany and 40.4 % voted for an assignment to Poland. Thereupon, the Conference of Ambassadors decided in Paris, Upper Silesia along the so-called Sforza - line to share and to annex the eastern Upper Silesia Poland re-established.
Prehistory
As part of the referenda in the wake of the Treaty of Versailles should be decided in several German regions about their further affiliation with the Germany's eastern border was controversial, especially in the early days of the Weimar Republic. According to the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 had to be ceded without a vote large areas ( Polish Corridor, Free City of Danzig, Memel ). In two previous votes in the July 1920 respectively more than 90 % decided in the voting area Marienwerderstraße in the rest of West Prussia and the voting area in the southern districts of East Prussia Olsztyn to remain in Germany.
For 1921 a further vote in the Prussian province of Silesia was provided, for the most part Upper Silesia was affected, but also a small part of Lower Silesia. At the preceding election propaganda to the Polish side but also visitors attending Catholic clergy involved. Pastor Joseph Kubis sent a petition to Your Eminence and the Episcopal Curia in Wroclaw and asked for help because of the excesses of the foreign minister. There were several Polish rebellions in Upper Silesia.
The voting area and the implementation is set out in Article 88 of the Treaty of Versailles.
Polish Poster
German Poster
German Poster
The Inter-Allied government and Plebiszitskommission
The Inter-Allied government and Plebiszitskommission for Upper Silesia ( " CIHS "; French Commission Interalliée Haute SILESIE ) were subject under the direction of the French High Commissioner Henri Le Rond French-Italian -British troops of about 13000-22000 troops. Between them, the French are by far the most troops with the commander Gen. Jules Gratier.
Commissioners
There were three Plebiszitkommissare the Inter-Allied government and Plebiszitskommission:
- General Henri Le Rond (1864-1949), French High Commissioner
- General Alberto De Marinis (1868-1940), Italian commissioner
- Colonel Sir Harold Percival (1876-1944), a British commissioner who was replaced by Sir Harold Arthur Stuart ( 1860-1923 ).
Commanders
The military commander of the military contingent:
- General Jules Gratier (1863-1956), French Commander in Chief
- General William Heneker (1867-1939), British commander
- Colonel Filippo Salvioni (1872-1932), Italian commander
Results
Silesian plebiscite area, plebiscite of 20 March 1921:
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 voted a majority for Germany, 597 for Poland.
The table is based on the reprocessing of the Herder Institute of Polish place names. This, in turn, was created by the former publication of the Polish statistical office. In their preliminary remark is emphasized that the figures with the German publication are identical. From then German publication of the plan chamber of the Prussian Statistical Office, only the total numbers were posted on the Internet.
Division
The Treaty of Versailles provided for the possibility of a division of the territory. On October 20, 1921 Ambassador Meeting in Paris decided that the area to be divided, with the German Reich and Poland should each receive a share according to the election results. Accordingly, then the larger and predominantly Farming western part of Upper Silesia remained in Germany, while the east to Katowice (Katowice ) came up with its valuable coal, iron ore and zinc mines and the majority of processing plants to Poland.
In Germany, the division led to the resignation of the government of Joseph Wirth.