Territorial Evolution of Poland - 1921

1921

In late 1921 a border adjustment between the Weimar Republic and Poland took place as a result of the Silesian Uprisings. The uprising were a series of three armed rebellions that took place between 1919 and 1921 by the Polish people in the Upper Silesia region against the Weimar Republic. The Polish people of the region wanted to join the Second Polish Republic, which had been established following World War I. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles had called for a plebiscite in Upper Silesia in 1921 to determine whether the territory should be a part of Germany or Poland.

The plebiscite took place on March 20, 1921, two days after the signing of the Treaty of Riga, which ended the Polish-Soviet war. In the plebiscite, 707,605 votes were cast for Germany, and 479,359 for Poland. The Germans had a majority, by 228,246 votes. In late April 1921, rumours flew that Upper Silesia would stay in Germany. This led to the Third Polish Uprising in May–July 1921. The question of the Upper Silesia problem was turned over to a council of the League of Nations. The commission, consisting of four representatives—one each from Belgium, Brazil, Spain, and China. The commission gathered its own data, interviewing Poles and Germans from the region. On the basis of the reports of this commission and those of its experts, on October 1921 the Council awarded the greater part of the Upper Silesian industrial district to Poland.