Silesian Uprisings - Second Silesian Uprising (1920)

Second Silesian Uprising (1920)

The Second Silesian Uprising (Polish: Drugie powstanie śląskie) was the second of three uprisings.

In February 1920 an Allied Plebiscite Commission was sent to Upper Silesia. It was composed of the representatives of the Allied forces, and thus its members hailed from mostly from France, with smaller contingents from United Kingdom and Italy. Soon, however, it became apparent that the Allied forces were too few to maintain order; further, the Commission was torn apart by lack of consensus: the British and Italians favored the Germans, while the French supported the Poles. Those forces failed to prevent continuing unrest.

In August 1920, a German Newspaper in Upper Silesia printed what later turned out to be a false announcement of the fall of Warsaw to the Red Army in the Polish-Soviet war. This led to celebrations among the German community over what they assumed would be the end of independent Poland. The volatile situation quickly degenerated into violence (as German militias attacked the Poles) which continued even after it was made clear that Warsaw had not fallen.

The violence eventually led on August 19 to a Polish uprising which quickly took control of government offices in the districts of Kattowitz, Pless, Beuthen. Between August 20 and 25, the rebellion spread to Konigshutte, Tarnowitz, Rybink, Lublinitz and Gross Strehlitz. The Allied Commission declared its intention to restore order but internal differences kept anything from being done. British representatives held the French responsible for the easy spread of the uprising through the eastern region.

The uprising was slowly brought to an end in September by a combination of allied military operations and negotiations between the parties. The Poles obtained the disbanding of the Sipo police and the creation of a new police (Abstimmungspolizei) for the area which would be 50% Polish. Poles were also admitted to the local administration. The Polish Military Organisation in Upper Silesia was supposed to be disbanded though in practice this did not happen.