The Union of Upper Silesians (; ; Silesian: Ferajn Gůrnoślůnzokůw) was an early 20th-century movement for the independence of Upper Silesia. The movement had its genesis during the revolutions of 1848. Allied with the Silesian People's Party, it dissolved in 1924 but has influenced the present-day Silesian Autonomy Movement.
Origins The movement was founded by the Upper Silesian Committee (; ) on 27 November 1918 in Rybnik, Poland by three Catholics: attorney and Wodzisław Śląski Workers Council chairman Ewald Latacz; Thomas Reginek, a priest from Mikulczyce (present-day Zabrze), and educator and Racibórz Workers' and Soldiers' Council chairman Jan Reginek. The Rybnik Upper Silesian Committee demanded an "independent political stance" from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany and guaranteed neutrality similar to that in Switzerland and Belgium. The committee had little structure, and no political programme.Andrea Schmidt-Rösler, "Autonomie und Separatismusbestrebungen in Oberschlesien 1918-1922" in Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung Heft 1 (1999). On 5 December 1918 a German-language brochure, "Oberschlesien – ein Selbständiger Freistaat" ("Upper Silesia – independent/autonomous free state", probably written by Thomas Reginek) was published by the Committee for the Creation of the Upper Silesian Free State in Katowice (). The brochure was an Upper Silesian Committee appeal to Silesians to take the lead in political, economic and social questions and create an independent state similar to Switzerland, where all linguistic groups would have equal rights. Its author predicted that the incorporation of Upper Silesia into Poland would be an economic catastrophe for the region; Upper Silesia would be "a source of income and taxes" for the Polish state, and Silesians would be treated as "second-category citizens" by Polish officials.Piotr Dobrowolski, Ugrupowania i kierunki separatystyczne na Górnym Śląsku i w Cieszyńskiem w latach 1918-1939, Warszawa i Kraków (1972).
Kędzierzyn conference A conference of Upper Silesian political parties was organized by German Catholic Centre Party leader Carl Ulitzka and held on 9 December 1918 in Kędzierzyn. Representatives of the Upper Silesian communists (KPOS), the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and Wojciech Korfanty's Polish party did not attend. At the conference, Upper Silesian Committee chairman Ewald Latacz spoke about the creation of an independent, neutral Upper Silesian Free State, it was proposed to crown Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg as the Duke of Upper Silesia because he was funding and diplomatically supporting the Organization. The attendees formed the Silesian Commission, with the Centre Party's Hans Lukaschek its chairman. The commission implemented the Upper Silesian Committee, with a mandate "to direct and expand the separatist vision in Upper Silesia".Guido Hitze, Carl Ulitzka (1873-1953), Oder Oberschlesien zwischen den Weltkriegen. Düsseldorf (2002).
Negotiations with neighbours In December, leaders of the Upper Silesian Committee (Górnośląskiego) travelled to Czechoslovakia, Poland and Germany to sound out the countries' positions on Upper Silesian independence. Only in Prague did officials inform Upper Silesian Committee representatives Ewald Latacz, Thomas Reginek, Jan Reginek and Fritz Wenske that the Western allies would consider the creation of an independent Upper Silesian state. Jan Reginek, representative of the Upper Silesian councils, requested recognition for the new status in Berlin. However, only two politicians (Hugo Haase and Helmuth von Gerlach) favoured independence for Upper Silesia. Thomas Reginek went to Poznań, the seat of the Polish People's Council, where he failed to persuade Kazimierz Czapla (the Upper Silesian representative in Poland) to support Upper Silesian independence. Another unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Germans was made by Thomas Reginek, Ewald Latacz and a representative of Upper Silesian industrialists.Edmund Klein, Miarodajne czynniki niemieckie a sprawa Górnego Śląska w grudniu 1918 roku, "Studia Śląskie" tom XIII, Opole, 1968.Andrea Schmidt-Rösler, Autonomie und Separatismusbestrebungen in Oberschlesien 1918-1922, "Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa” Forschung 1999, Heft 1.
On 19–20 December 1918 the Upper Silesian Committee published a bilingual brochure, "Appeal for the Creation of an Upper Silesian Free State", as a supplement in two popular Catholic Centre Party newspapers. There were 294 editions of Oberschlesischer Kurier published in Chorzów and 293 editions of Oberschlesische Zeitung published in Bytom, edited by brothers.Edmund Klein, Niemieckie plany separatystyczne w listopadzie i grudniu 1918, "Prawo XXXIV", Wrocław, 1971. On 19 December 1920 the Poles broke up a meeting in Rubnik which had been organised by Ewald Latacz with the agenda, "Upper Silesia for Upper Silesians". Organisers of the meeting were beaten, and the Poles described it as "propaganda".Gazeta Opolska, nr. 5 z 8.01.1919.Alojzy Targ, Opolszczyzna pod rządami Lukaschka i Wagnera, Katowice, 1958.J. Ligęza (ed.), Ziemia rybnicko-wodzisławska, Katowice, 1970; Praca zbiorowa, Wypisy do dziejów Rybnika i Wodzisławia Śląskiego, Opole, 1985.
Activity The political belief that Silesians should be a separate nation was not new in Prussian Upper Silesia; it dated back to the revolutions of 1848. In April 1849 painter and poet Jan Gajda published an appeal "to the Upper Silesian people" in the Polish-language newspaper Dziennik Górnośląski (Upper Silesian Journal) that the time had come when Silesians would count "to enlightened nations", supporting the creation of a Silesian League "to support Silesian nationality". At meetings organised by Józef Szafranek were chants of "Long live Silesian nationality", and calls were made to unite Prussian Upper Silesia and Austrian Silesia. These aspirations were also held by the Silesian People's Party in Cieszyn Silesia in 1909.Dariusz Jerczyński, Historia Narodu Śląskiego (History of the Silesian Nation), second edition (implemented and corrected), Zabrze, 2006.
According to a 31 December 1918 decree by the president of the Regency of Opole, supporters of an independent Upper Silesian republic were guilty of high treason; Section 96 of the act forbade public meetings about Upper Silesian independence. German authorities suspended the activity of the Union of Upper Silesians, arresting its leaders. Latacz and Jan Reginek became political prisoners, and Joseph Musiol was granted immunity by the Prussian parliament. Thomas Reginek escaped to Paris via Berlin and Poznań with a Polish passport; there, the leader of the Polish National Party informed him that France supported Polish opposition to Upper Silesian independence.
Latacz, thanks to his broad connections to German politicians in Upper Silesia, was released on probation in spring 1919 and forbidden any "verbal and written" support of Upper Silesian independence. Against this prohibition, the leader of the Upper Silesians, published the anonime edited German-language brochure Oberschlesien auf Subhasta!, in which it premised the shrinking German majority at the time a plebiscite and showed the need for the creation of an independent Upper Silesian state with the argument that Upper Silesian nation is homogeneous people about mixed blood.[Ewald Latacz], Górny Śląsk dostał się na subhastę, Bytom G.Ś. 1920
In spring 1919, after negotiations in Paris, London and Rome, Upper Silesian Catholic People's Party (Katholische Volkspartei) chairman Carl Ulitzka rejected Upper Silesian independence as a "utopia impossible to realise". Ulitzka began a campaign to incorporate Prussian Upper Silesia into Germany, demanding its exclusion from Prussia and its establishment as a free state of Germany (such as Bavaria). He was supported by four members of the Catholic People's Party and opposed by Joseph Musiol and Heinrich Skowronek.Guido Hitze, Carl Ulitzka (1873-1953), Oder Oberschlesien zwischen den Weltkriegen, Düsseldorf (2002).
Western allies In the final conditions of the Paris Peace Conference for the German delegation on 16 June 1919, the Western allies assigned southern Racibórz county to Czechoslovakia. In summer 1919, the Union of Upper Silesians sent a petition to the Paris Peace Conference criticising the treaty for its limitations on Upper Silesian plebiscite options to Poland and Germany. In the name of "many hundred thousands of Upper Silesians", the union demanded to change article 88 of the treaty so an Upper Silesian plebiscite would have the "option of [a] neutral free state". According to the petition, "Upper Silesian nation, in majority with oneself, indivisibility and independence of Upper Silesia".Andrea Schmidt-Rösler, Autonomie und Separatismusbestrebungen in Oberschlesien 1918-1922, "Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa" Forschung 1999, Heft 1. In late 1919 the United States, influenced by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, organised the creation of a "coal and steel state" under international protection which included the Upper Silesian Industrial Circle (Oberschlesische Industriebezirk) and the Ostrava-Karviná basin in the former Austrian Silesia.Jan Przewłocki, Czechosłowacja wobec problemu Górnego Śląska w latach 1919-1921, "Zaranie Śląskie", styczeń–marzec 1968. Because of French opposition, the United States withdrew from supporting a Silesian state. In fall 1919 the Reginek brothers accepted autonomy for Silesian lands which would be included into Poland, left the Union of Upper Silesians and joined the Polish Plebiscite Commission. At the time the chairman of the Union of Upper Silesians was Ewald Latacz, assisted by Joseph Musiol.
Silesian People's Party
In the winter of 1920 Latacz went to Cieszyn to attend a meeting of the Silesian People's Party and delegates from German parties to create an independent Silesian state, or autonomy in Czechoslovakia. Because of the Slavic-Germanic Silesian people and a similar industrial structure in Cieszyn Silesia, its demands to unite with Prussian Upper Silesia encouraged Latacz to hope for an economically strong, united Silesian state similar to Belgium.Rudolf Vogel, Deutsche Presse und Propaganda des Abstimmungkampfes in Oberschlesien, Beuthen O.S. 1931. At the meeting, Silesian People's Party chairman Józef Kożdoń advised the chairman of the Union of Upper Silesians. On 17 March 1920 editor Georg Cibis in Bytom began publishing the bilingual Ślązak (Silesian), the Silesian People's Party newspaper. Der Bund – Związek was sympathetic to the Silesian People's Party. The article "Free Upper Silesian state, the midpoint of all world policy" said, "The Upper Silesian people in large majority demand independence and indivisibility of their own country and connection with brothers in Austrian Silesia separated from it over 150 years ago ... The Upper Silesian people are strongly connected for hundreds of years by culture, employment and Slavic-Germanic blood ... almost three million souls, of whom 600,000 are in Austria".Maksymilian Harden, "Wolne państwo górnośląskie punktem środkowym polityki wszechświatowej", Der Bund – Związek, no. 20, 1.08.1920.
Freedom fighters