German–Polish Convention regarding Upper Silesia

The German–Polish Convention on Upper Silesia (French: Convention germano-polonaise relative à la Haute Silésie; German: Deutsch–Polnisches Abkommen über Oberschlesien), also known as the Geneva Convention, of 15 May 1922, dealt with the constitutional and legal future of Upper Silesia which partly became Polish territory after a referendum in 1921.

Background

Upper Silesia with its mixed Polish and German population was a province of Prussia and a part of the German Reich prior to World War I. 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 to determine the division of the province between Poland and Germany, with the exception of a 333 km2 (129 sq mi) area around Hlučín (Hultschiner Ländchen), which was granted to Czechoslovakia in 1920 despite its German-speaking majority. The plebiscite, organised by the League of Nations, was held in 1921. In Teschen Silesia there was an interim deal between the Polish and Czechoslovakian local self-government councils about the partition of past lands of the Duchy of Teschen along ethnic lines. However, that deal was not approved by the Czechoslovak government in Prague. Poland held elections in the entire disputed area, and in the Polish–Czechoslovak War Czech troops invaded the lands of Teschen Silesia on 23 January 1919, stopping on 30 January 1919 on the Weichsel River near Skotschau.[1][2] The planned plebiscite was not organised in the Teschen region but was held in most other parts of Upper Silesia. On 28 July 1920, the Spa Conference divided Teschen Silesia between Poland and Czechoslovakia along the present-day border.

Upper Silesia Plebiscite

In 1918 various proposals emerged defining the division of Upper Silesia. At the Paris Peace Conference a commission for Polish affairs was created to prepare proposals for Polish borders. In their first two proposals (of 27 March 1919 and of 7 May 1919) most of the future province was ceded, together with the region of Oppeln, to Poland. Yet that was not accepted by the Big Four, and following David Lloyd George's suggestion, a plebiscite was organized. Before it took place on 20 March 1921, two Silesian Insurrections instigated by Polish inhabitants of the area were organized. After the referendum, in which Poland had 41% of the votes, a plan of the division was created that divided Upper Silesia.[3] This led to a new phase of the Silesian Uprisings, the so-called Third Silesian Uprising and the Battle of Annaberg. The result of the 1921 referendum was legally not binding and ignored. A new partition plan was prepared by the League of Nations and adopted by the Conference of Ambassadors (the successor to the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers) on 20 October 1921. This plan was due to enter into effect by 20 June 1922, but it still created a situation in which some rural territories that voted mostly for Poland were granted to Germany and some urban territories with a German majority were granted to Poland.

Geneva Convention of 15 May 1922

In 1921 the Geneva conference for regulating conditions in Upper Silesia took place under the chairmanship of Felix Calonder, then a member of the Swiss Federal Council. The conference's aim was to alleviate the economic consequences of the partition of this highly industrialized region and to guarantee the rights of minorities in both Polish and German Upper Silesia.[4]

Consequences

On 20 June 1922, the division according to the plan of the Conference of the Ambassadors became effective. The German Reich had to accept the loss of its coal-bearing land and was left with the economically unimportant West Upper Silesia. The Silesian coal was highly relevant to the German economy during that time. The major part of Silesia remaining in Germany, was reorganised into the two provinces of Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia.

The Polish Sejm decided that the easternmost Upper Silesian areas 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. A central political figure 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.

Mixed Commission and Arbitral Tribunal

The Upper Silesian Mixed Commission (or "Mixed Commission for Upper Silesia"), composed of an equal number of Polish and German delegates and headed by a neutral president, the Swiss Felix Calonder, was set up as a quasi-judicial body to arbitrate disputes for a 15-year interim period ending in 1937. The Mixed Commission was headquartered in Polish held Katowice. The Upper Silesian Arbitral Tribunal (or "Arbitral Tribunal for Upper Silesia"), headquartered in German-held Bytom and presided over by the Belgian international lawyer Georges Kaeckenbeeck, also played an adjudicating role.[5][6][7] The two-state parties, made little use of the commission, making only 18 complaints over the years. However, the commission's president Calonder, who was active in protecting minority rights, handled more than 3,400 minority right cases by individuals and groups. While Calonder's opinions were non-binding on the contracting states and were not always followed, they did have an effect. In particular, the Bernheim petition led to the suspension of anti-Jewish legislation in German Upper Silesia until 1937.[5] Individuals also made wide use of the Arbitral Tribunal which solved more than 4,000 cases. Due to its wide-ranging powers, which included a procedure known as "evocation" that prefigured the preliminary ruling procedure before the European Court of Justice,[8] the Upper Silesian Arbitral Tribunal has even been described as "the most sophisticated international tribunal of [its] day".[6]

See also

References
  1. Długajczyk, Tajny front na granicy cieszyńskiej. Wywiad i dywersja w latach 1919–1939, 1993, p. 7.
  2. Zahradnik, Korzenie Zaolzia, 1992, p. 59.
  3. Upper Silesia Plebiscite: A Brief History
    • Georges Kaeckenbeeck, The International Experiment of Upper Silesia. Oxford University Press, 1942.
  5. Erpelding, Michel. "Upper Silesian Mixed Commission." Max Planck Institute Luxembourg, 2017.
  6. Erpelding, Michel. "Local International Adjudication: The Groundbreaking ‘Experiment’ of the Arbitral Tribunal for Upper Silesia" In: M. Erpelding, B. Hess, H. Ruiz Fabri (Eds.), Peace Through Law: The Versailles Peace Treaty and Dispute Settlement After World War I. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2019, 277–322.
  7. HARRINGTON, JOSEPH F. "The League of Nations and the Upper Silesian boundary dispute, 1921-1922." The Polish Review (1978): 86-101.
  8. Irurzun Montoro, Fernando. "¿La cuestión de interpretación ante el tribunal arbitral de la alta silesia (1922–1937) como antecedente de la cuestión prejudicial europea?" (2017) 63 Revista Española de Derecho Europeo 13–45

Further reading
  • Dan Diner, Das Jahrhundert verstehen: Eine universalhistorische Deutung. Luchterhand Literaturverlag, 1999.
  • Thomas Ditt, "Stoßtruppfakultät Breslau": Rechtswissenschaft im "Grenzland Schlesien" 1933–1945 (Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts). Mohr Siebeck, 2011.
  • Jörg Menzel, Tobias Pierlings, and Jeannine Hoffmann (eds.), Völkerrechtsprechung: Ausgewählte Entscheidungen zum Völkerrecht in Retrospektive. Mohr Siebeck, 2005.
  • Edward Długajczyk, Tajny front na granicy cieszyńskiej. Wywiad i dywersja w latach 1919–1939. Katowice Śląsk, ISBN 83-85831-03-7, 1993.
  • Carole Fink, "Minority Rights as an International Question," Contemporary European History, vol. 2 (November 2000), pp. 385–400.
  • Carole Fink, Defending the Rights of Others: The Great Powers, the Jews, and International Minority Protection. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  • Stanisław Zahradnik, Marek Ryczkowski, Korzenie Zaolzia. PAI-press 177389723, Warszawa – Praga – Trzyniec, 1922.
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