Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship

During the period of parliamentarism (1921-1926)

Created as a result of a plebiscite in 1921 , the Geneva Conventions , three Silesian rebellions , and the division of Upper Silesia between Poland , Germany and Czechoslovakia . On July 15, 1920, the Legislative Seimas adopted the Organic Statute of the Silesian Voivodeship ( Statut Organiczny Województwa Śląskiego ), according to which Eastern Upper Silesia was proclaimed parliamentary autonomy, the representative body of which was the Silesian Sejm, elected by the people according to the proportional system, elected by the executive body - Silesian Sejm. In the first parliamentary elections of the autonomy in 1922, the first place was won by the block of the Christian Democratic and National Democratic parties that ruled in Poland, with the predominant role of Christian democrats; the block of German parties also went to the parliament of autonomy (took second place), the German social Democracy, the Polish Socialist Party and the Polish People's Party "Piast".

During the period of the rehabilitation regime (1926-1939)

In 1926, after the coup and seizure of power in Poland, the Silesian Sejm was dissolved, the voivode elected by the sejm was replaced by the appointed one. On March 25, 1930, regular parliamentary elections were held, in which the German bloc won first place, pilots and Christian Democrats took second and third places, receiving an approximately equal number of votes. However, already on September 25 of the same year, after the adoption of the budget by the regional parliament, which threatened with an excessive deficit, it was dissolved, and in the elections held in November, the German bloc received half the votes. After the accession to Poland of Tesin Silesia in 1938, it was annexed to the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship.

During the occupation of the Third Reich (1939-1945)

After the occupation of Poland by Germany in the fall of 1939, East Upper Silesia was annexed to Germany as the Administrative District of Kattowice as part of the Prussian province Upper Silesia . After the war, the Silesian Voivodeship was finally officially abolished on May 6, 1945 by a decision of the Regional Council of the People’s , which also abolished autonomy.

The Silesian Voivodeship was the smallest in area from the voivodships of the Second Polish Republic , its area in 1921 was 4216 km², and as of 1938, after Poland occupied part of Tesinska Silesia, 5021 km² ^[1] .

The autonomous Silesian Voivodeship was rich and highly developed from all the voivodships of interwar Poland. The economy of the region was based on the mining and metallurgical industries. The reason for its solvency is rich coal deposits, for the development of which a network of coal mines and metallurgical plants was built, where as of 1923 73% of coal, 87.7% of zinc, 71% of steel and 99.7% of lead production were mined in relation to all relevant developments in Poland ^[2] .

The resources of the voivodship made it a strategically important region for Polish arms production. However, the location of the province directly on the border with Germany made its industry vulnerable. Therefore, the Polish government in the mid-1930s decided to move the heavy industry sector to the center of the state, creating the Central Industrial Region .

With its extremely efficient agricultural potential, the Silesian Voivodeship was also an important food producer, despite its small size. Foreign capital, mainly German, was abundantly involved in the economy of the autonomous region. Later, the place of German companies was increasingly replaced by French, Belgian and American capital, the outflow of which, however, occurred due to the German-Polish conflict, which reached its climax in 1925 and resulted in a tariff war.

German foreign policy at that time was aimed at destabilizing the economic and political situation in Poland, and, if possible, leading to a civil war, so that ultimately it was possible to achieve a revision of borders ^[3] . Germany's economic sanctions particularly affected the economies of the Autonomous Silesian Province, which turned out to be close to collapse. The situation has stabilized somewhat thanks to subsidies from Warsaw and American investment in the steel industry, as well as the miners' strikes in England.

Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship was an autonomous region within Poland with a parliamentary, and since 1926, with a governor form. The representative body is the Silesian Parliament ( Sejm Śląski , Schlesisches Parlament ), to which the executive body was responsible - the Silesian Voivodship Council ( Wojewodschaftsrat , Śląska Rada Wojewódzka ), which consisted of the voivode and members of the Silesian Voivodship Council, was elected by 3 Kattowitz, Krulevska Huta, Cieszyn), the most influential parties represented in it were:

• The Polish Party of Christian Democracy ( Polskie Stronnictwo Chrześcijańskiej Demokracji , PSChD ) - enjoyed the greatest influence among the Catholic Poles in the rural regions of the province, formed together with the ND the National Bloc ( Blok Narodowy ), which was dominated by the PSChD, in 1922-1930. the bloc was the most influential political force, in 1930 part of the PSChD electoral niche passed to the National Christian Labor Association ( Narodowo-Chrześcijańskie Zjednoczenie Pracy ), which supported strong presidential power (received 10 seats in 1930), the remaining part of the electoral niche gave PSChD to 1930 13 mandates;
• National Democracy ( Narodowa Demokracja , ND ) - enjoyed influence both among Catholic Poles and Protestant Poles in rural regions of the province, together with PSChD formed the National Bloc ( Blok Narodowy ), which was dominated by PSChD, in 1922-1930. the bloc was the most influential political force, in 1930 ND in the voivodship lost influence together its electoral niche passed to the National Christian Labor Association ( Narodowo-Chrześcijańskie Zjednoczenie Pracy ), which supported the strong presidential power (in 1930 received 10 mandates);
• The Polish Socialist Party ( Polska Partia Socjalistyczna , PPS ) - enjoyed the greatest influence among the Poles in the urban areas of the voivodeship, in 1922 received 8 mandates, in 1930 - 4 mandates, in November of the same year - 1 mandate;
• The National Workers Party ( Narodowa Partia Robotnicza , NPR ) - enjoyed the greatest influence among the Poles who resettled from the former Kingdom of Poland, who lived in urban areas of the voivodship, in the 1922 elections was able to get 7 seats, behind the PPP influence, in the 1930 elections - 3 seats
• The Polish People's Party “Piast” ( Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe “Piast” , PSL “Piast” ) - did not use much influence in the voivodship, with the exception of the Polish part of Tieszyn Silesia
• The German Party ( Deutsche Partei , DP ) - created in 1922 by combining East Upper Silesian NNNP, NNP, NDP, enjoyed the greatest influence among Germans-Protestants and Germanized Poles-Protestants of rural areas, together with KVP formed the German Electoral Bloc ( Deutschen Wahlblock ), in the Silesian Parliament the German Bloc ( Deutschen Klub ), in both structures KVP and DP enjoyed approximately equal influence, in 1922-1930. - the bloc was the second most influential political force, in May 1930 it became the most influential political force in the voivodship (15 mandates), in November of that year it received 7 mandates (in one of the constituencies the candidate list of the German electoral bloc was withdrawn from the election);
• The Catholic People’s Party ( Katholische Volkspartei , KVP ) - enjoyed the greatest influence among German Catholics and Germanized Catholic Poles, together with DP formed the German Electoral Bloc ( Deutschen Wahlblock ), in the Silesian Parliament the German Bloc ( Deutschen Klub ), in both structures KVP and DP enjoyed approximately equal influence, in 1922-1930. - the bloc was the second most influential political force, in May 1930 it became the most influential political force in the voivodship (15 mandates), in November of that year it received 7 mandates (in one of the constituencies the candidate list of the German electoral bloc was withdrawn from the election);
• The German Social Democratic Party of Polish Upper Silesia ( Deutsche Sozialdemokratische Partei Polnisch-Oberschlesiens , DSP ) did not use much influence in the voivodship, it enjoyed the greatest influence among Germans, Germanized Poles and Germanized Jews in urban areas of the voivodeship, it was able to hold 2 elections formed a common fraction together with PPS
• The Communist Party of Upper Silesia ( Kommunistische Partei Oberschlesiens ) did not use much influence in the voivodship in general, enjoyed the greatest influence in the urban areas of the voivodeship, in the 1930 elections it was able to hold 2 deputies
• The German People's Union of Polish Silesia ( Niemiecki Związek Ludowy dla Polskiego Śląska , Deutscher Volksbund für Polnisch-Schlesien ) - united the Nazis, did not use much influence in the voivodship as a whole

• Diocese of Katowice - united the majority of Catholic Poles (both Germanized and non-Germanized) and German Catholics and most believers in general
• The Unionist Evangelical Church of Polish Upper Silesia ( Unierte Evangelische Kirche in Polnisch Oberschlesien ) - mainly united Lutheran Germans and Calvinist Germans, as well as Germanic Lutheran Poles and Germanized Calvinist Poles, was governed by the Land Synod ( Landessynode ) and president ( Kirchenpräsident )
• The Old Catholic Community - mainly united the German Starokaliks and the Germanic Pole Starokoliks
• The Diocese of the Evangelical Augsburg Church in the Polish Republic - mainly united Lutheran Poles, as well as Lutheran Germans who resettled from the former Kingdom of Poland

There was a medium broadcasting station in Polish - Radio Katowice owned by PR , Radio Warsaw I, also owned by PR , broadcasting from Warsaw was available on long waves.

City districts - Katowice , Bielsko , Krulevska Huta .

According to the 1931 census, 92.3% of the population said that Polish is their mother tongue, which makes it the most widely used language of the entire voivodship. German is 7% and Jewish is only 0.5%, which was the lowest percentage nationwide. Poles lived mainly in villages (95.6% of the rural population), while Germans preferred cities (12.9% of the population of the cities of the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship was German).

The population density (299 people / 1 km²) was the highest in the country (comparisons - in Polesskie Voivodeship, the density was only 31 people / 1 km²). January 1, 1937, forest coverage amounted to 27.9% of the region (with a national average of 22.2%). The density of the railway was the highest in the country (18.5 km / 100 km², for comparison - in Polesskie Voivodeship it was only 3.1 km / 100 km²) In 1931, illiteracy was only 1.5% of the population (with a national average of 23.1%, in Polesskie Voivodeship - 48.4%) ^[7] .

• : Województwo Śląskie / Red .: F. Serafin. - Kattowitz: Schlesische Universität, 1996.

• Silesian uprisings
• Upper Silesian plebiscite
• Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Silesia