83rd anniversary of Wojciech Korfanty's death

Wojciech Korfanty was a political leader who played a major role in the national reawakening of the Poles of Upper Silesia and who led their struggle for independence from Germany. The dictator of the Third Silesian Uprising became a co-creator of the rebirth of the Republic of Poland. He led his life with the way that guided him to a democratic attitude based on Christian universalism thought.

In the elections of 1903, Korfanty was elected a member of the German parliament (Reichstag), where he was the first Upper Silesian to join the Polish parliamentary group. He became one of the most recognizable Polish politicians in Germany. In view of the unfavorable course of the talks on the division of Upper Silesia in 1921, the Polish side decided to resort to an armed solution as a political manifestation of the will of the Upper Silesians. The Third Silesian Uprising broke out on May 2/3, 1921, and Korfanty became its head as a dictator.

On  the Third Silesian Uprising, Korfanty’s goal was simple: an armed demonstration to convince international opinion of a different division of Upper Silesia and consequently, the incorporation of a part of it, including the industrial district, into Poland. Korfanty intended to achieve political victory through a policy of fait accompli: to occupy the areas in which the majority of the plebiscite participants voted for Poland.

As early as 22 March 1921, Wojciech Korfanty, as the Polish Plebiscite Commissioner, issued a proclamation which read, “Compatriots! We have won a great historic victory in the struggle for the national belonging of Upper Silesia and the freedom and happiness of the Polish people. We have not managed […] to gain the whole territory of Upper Silesia, but what we did gain is the most valuable part of it. In vain are the recent German prevarications, which try to convince the residents of Upper Silesia and the world that Upper Silesia is one indivisible whole and that the absolute majority of votes in the entire plebiscite territory decides on where Upper Silesia belongs”. 

The results of the Upper Silesian plebiscite were as follows: 59.4% of the voters voted to remain within Germany’s borders, and 40.3% to into incorporate Poland. The border in Upper Silesia was considered the most curious, most difficult and the worst in Europe. Formally created in 1920, the autonomous Silesian Voivodeship was the smallest administrative unit of its kind in the whole country, covering only 1.1% of the country’s area, but in which 90% of Poland’s industrial output was located. Without it, the Second Republic would have been an agrarian-pastoral country.

Read more about the topic in the related articles below:

“THE MIRACLE OVER ODRA GAVE POLAND SILESIA” 101TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE THIRD SILESIAN UPRISING
THE II SILESIAN UPRISING BROKE OUT A HUNDRED YEARS AGO
A NEW NATIONAL HOLIDAY ON THE 20TH OF JUNE – THE SILESIAN UPRISINGS DAY [PHOTOS]