History of Silesia - Interwar Period and World War II

Interwar Period and World War II

In the Treaty of Versailles after the defeat of Imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I, it was decided that the population of Upper Silesia should hold a plebiscite in order to determine the future of the province, with the exception of a 333 km2 (129 sq mi) area around Hlučín (Hultschiner Ländchen), which was granted to Czechoslovakia in 1920 despite having a German-speaking majority. The plebiscite, organised by the League of Nations, was held in 1921. In Cieszyn Silesia first there was an interim deal between Polish Rada Narodowa Księstwa Cieszyńskiego and Czech Národní výbor pro Slezsko about partition of past lands of the Duchy of Cieszyn according to ethnic lines. However, that deal was not approved by the Czechoslovak government in Prague. Poland held general elections in the entire disputed area, and on 23 January 1919, Czech troops invaded the lands of Cieszyn Silesia and stopped on 30 January 1919 on the Vistula River near Skoczów. The planned plebiscite was not organised in the Cieszyn Silesia but was held in most of the other parts of the Upper Silesia. On 28 July 1920, the Spa Conference divided Cieszyn Silesia between Poland and the Czech Republic with the present-day border.

In 1918 there were various plans about the division of Upper Silesia. At the Paris Peace Conference a commission for Polish affairs was created which was preparing proposals of the future Polish borders. In their first two proposals (of 27 March 1919 and of 7 May 1919) most of the future province was granted, together with Opole, to Poland. Yet that was not accepted by the Big Four, and after David Lloyd George suggestion, a plebiscite was organized. Before it actually took place on 20 March 1920, two Silesian Insurrections instigated by Polish inhabitants of the area were organized. After the referendum, in which in favor of Poland were 41% votes, a plan of division was created, which was leaving on the Polish side only a small piece of the territory. In those circumstances the Third Silesian Uprising took place. In its result a new plan of division was prepared but it still created a situation in which some (mostly rural) territories that voted mostly for Poland were granted to Germany and as well some urban territories with a German majority were granted to Poland. The Polish Sejm decided that the eastern-most Upper Silesian areas where majority voted for Poland, should become an autonomous area within Poland organised as the Silesian Voivodeship and with Silesian Parliament as a constituency and Silesian Voivodeship Council as the executive body. One of the central political figures that stirred these changes was Wojciech Korfanty. The part of Silesia awarded to Poland was by far the best-developed and richest region of the newly formed state, producing most of Poland's industrial output.

The major part of Silesia, remaining in Germany, was reorganised into the two provinces of Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia. In Silesia the synagogues in modern day Wrocław (German: Breslau) and in many other cities were destroyed during the Kristallnacht of 1938. In October 1938, Zaolzie (part of Cieszyn Silesia, the disputed area west of the Olza River: 876 km2/338 sq mi with 258,000 inhabitants), was taken by Poland from Czechoslovakia following the Munich Agreement that surrendered border areas of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany. Czech Silesia with Slezská Ostrava was incorporated into the Sudetenland Gau, while Hultschin was incorporated into Upper Silesia province.