The Upper Silesian plebiscite

The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, provided in Article 88 for a plebiscite in a defined part of Upper Silesia. It did not simply award the whole region to the overall winner. The commission was to report commune results and recommend a border, taking geographical and economic conditions into account.

The Annex to Article 88 admitted people aged at least 20 who had been born in the plebiscite territory or met its residence requirements, and who had not been deprived of voting rights. People born in the region could return to vote even if they no longer lived there.

Polish and German campaigns used both languages and religious, cultural and economic arguments. Promises of future autonomy formed part of the competition. Violence and pressure during preparations do not mean that every vote can be explained solely by intimidation or the voter’s language.

Wojciech Korfanty headed the Polish Plebiscite Commissariat at the Lomnitz Hotel in Bytom. Kurt Urbanek led the German commissariat in Katowice. The campaign involved newspapers, meetings and organisational work; competition extended beyond electoral argument.

The plebiscite took place on 20 March 1921. Voters chose between remaining in Germany and joining Poland. Ballot cards carried the names of both states. The Allied commission supervised the vote; it was not a plebiscite administered by the League of Nations.

An IPN account dated 11 January 2022 reports 707,393 votes for Germany and 479,365 for Poland. The chart below uses these totals. Other institutional accounts give slightly different totals. The broad result is consistent: roughly 60% of valid votes for Germany and 40% for Poland.

Full reconciliation requires the commission’s original return. Chart percentages are calculated from the sum of votes for the two options.

Results varied between localities. Large towns generally favoured Germany, while many rural communes in the eastern part had Polish majorities.

Household language did not determine national identification or a plebiscite vote. Some inhabitants used Polish or Silesian varieties of speech while favouring Germany. Regional, religious and family attachments could overlap with Polish or German affiliations.

The German camp invoked the overall majority, while Korfanty pointed to commune majorities within his proposed Polish sector. His line was a political proposal, not a border automatically established by the vote. The British–Italian Percival–de Marinis line was likewise a proposal, not the final partition.

The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, provided in Article 88 for a plebiscite in a defined part of Upper Silesia. It did not simply award the whole region to the overall winner. The commission was to report commune results and recommend a border, taking geographical and economic conditions into account.

After the vote, the Allies failed to agree on a common border proposal. The plan to leave most of the industrial district to Germany was especially adverse to the Polish side. Korfanty decided to use armed action to exert pressure on the international settlement.