| German–Polish Convention regarding Upper Silesia | |
|---|---|
| Type | BilateralMinority Treaty |
| Signed | 15 May 1922 (1922-05-15) |
| Location | Geneva |
| Ratified | 24 May 1922 |
| Effective | 20 June 1922 |
| Expiration | July 15, 1937 (1937-07-15) |
| Mediators |
|
| Parties | |
| Language | French |
TheGerman–Polish Convention on Upper Silesia (French:Convention germano-polonaise relative à la Haute Silésie;German:Deutsch–Polnisches Abkommen über Oberschlesien,Polish:Konwencja genewska o Górnym Śląsku), also known as theGeneva Convention of 15 May 1922, dealt with the constitutional and legal future ofUpper Silesia, part of which becamePolish territory after the 1921Upper Silesia plebiscite.
Upper Silesia, with its mixed Polish and German population, was a province ofPrussia in theGerman Reich prior toWorld War I. In theTreaty of Versailles, after the defeat of Germany andAustria-Hungary in World War I, the population of Upper Silesia was to 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 aroundHlučín (Hultschiner Ländchen), which was granted toCzechoslovakia in 1920 despite its German-speaking majority. The plebiscite, organised by theLeague of Nations, was held in 1921. InTeschen Silesia, there was an interim agreement between the Polish and Czechoslovakianlocal self-government councils on the partition of past lands of theDuchy of Teschen along ethnic lines. However, it deal was not approved by the Czechoslovak government in Prague. Poland held elections in the entire disputed area, and in thePolish–Czechoslovak War, Czechoslovak troops invaded the lands of Teschen Silesia on 23 January 1919 and stopped on 30 January on theWeichsel River nearSkotschau.[1][2]
The planned plebiscite was not organised in the Teschen region but was held in most of the other parts of Upper Silesia. On 28 July 1920, theSpa Conference divided Teschen Silesia between Poland and Czechoslovakia along the present-day border.
In 1918, various proposals emerged defining the division ofUpper Silesia. At theParis Peace Conference, a commission for Polish affairs was created to prepare proposals for the Polish borders. In its first two proposals (on 27 March 1919 and of 7 May 1919), most of the future province was ceded to Poland, together with the region ofOppeln. That was not accepted by the Big Four, however, and British Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George successfully suggested for aplebiscite to be organised.
Before it took place on 20 March 1921, twoSilesian uprisings had been organised and instigated byPolish inhabitants of the area. Poland won 41% of the votes in the plebiscite, and a plan for the division of Upper Silesa was then made.[3] that led to a new phase of the Silesian Uprisings, the so-calledThird Silesian Uprising and theBattle of Annaberg. The result of the 1921 referendum was legally nonbinding and was ignored.
A new partition plan was prepared by the League of Nations and was adopted by the Conference of Ambassadors, the successor of the Supreme Council of the Principal Allied Powers, on 20 October 1921. That plan was due to enter into effect by 20 June 1922, but it still created a situation in which some rural territories that had voted for Poland were granted to Germany, and some urban territories that had voted for Germany were granted to Poland.
In 1921, a convention in Geneva to regulate the conditions in Upper Silesia took place under the chairmanship ofFelix Calonder, a member of theSwiss Federal Council. The conference had the aims of alleviating the economic consequences of the partition of the highly-industrialised region and guaranteeing minority rights in both Polish and German Upper Silesia.[4]
On 20 June 1922, the division according to the plan of the Conference of the Ambassadors became effective. Germany had to accept the loss of its coal-bearing land and was left with the economically-unimportant West Upper Silesia although Silesian coal was then highly relevant to the German economy. The major part of Silesia remaining inGermany was reorganised into the provinces ofUpper Silesia andLower Silesia.
The PolishSejm decided that the easternmost Upper Silesian areas should become an autonomous area within Poland, organised as theSilesian Voivodeship and with theSilesian Parliament as a constituency and Silesian Voivodeship Council as the executive body. A central political figure wasWojciech Korfanty. The part of Silesia that was awarded to Poland was by far the best-developed and richest region of the newly formed state and produced most of Poland's industrial output.
TheUpper Silesian Mixed Commission (or "Mixed Commission for Upper Silesia"), composed of an equal number of Polish and German delegates and headed by a neutral Swiss president,Felix Calonder, was set up as a quasi-judicial body to arbitrate disputes for a 15-year interim period until 1937. The Mixed Commission was headquartered in the Polish-heldKatowice. TheUpper Silesian Arbitral Tribunal (or "Arbitral Tribunal for Upper Silesia"), headquartered in the German-heldBytom and presided over by the Belgian international lawyerGeorges Kaeckenbeeck, also played an adjudicating role.[5][6][7]
The two states made little use of the commission, with only 18 complaints over the years. However, Calonder, who was active in protectingminority rights, handled more than 3,400 minority rights cases by individuals and groups. His opinions were non-binding on the contracting states and were not always followed, but they had an effect. In particular, theBernheim 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. Its wide-ranging powers included a procedure, known as "evocation", which prefigured thepreliminary ruling procedure before theEuropean Court of Justice,[8] and the tribunal has even been described as "the most sophisticated international tribunal of [its] day".[6]
