pre-war allied occupation of Upper Silezia

Following 3 uprisals in Upper silezia the Allied (French , Brtitish and Italians occupied the Region of Oppeln and Gleiwitz in 1921 and organised a Plebiscite which led to to the division of the area. IT became Polish after 1945













more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Silesia_plebiscite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ypBM09kMXI



In the background there was antagonism between the French (Clemenceau) and the British (Llo Georgeyd) who wanted to favour the Poles at war against the Soviets and the British who wanted Germany to recover. A compromise was eventually reached but it was not a coicindence that the Nazis chose this disputed are for the Gleiwitz radio tower incident in 1939 .

 

Thanks for that enlightening post, on aspect I wasn't aware of. Great stuff!

 

Thanks , this was resolution 88 of the Treaty of Versailles. Initially the French garrisson was the largest majority of occupation troops , but the Germans complained that the French were not neutral and inclined to favour the Poles. Therefore more British troops were sent to Oppeln . Eventually , about 40 % of the area (Kattowitz) became polish and even a tiny part to the Czechs. The remaining (almost 60 % remained German ( until 1945 of course) .

If you are interesting in the Plebicite areas , there were more in Allenstein (Mazuria) , Marienwerder (West Prussia) and North Slesvig.

The French also occupied Memel until 1923 whne they handed it over to the Lithuanians. (Klaipeda)

 

The German presence was emboided by the Bismarck Towers which were loved by the Gemrans and hated by other countries. Here is the Kattowitz one



http://www.bismarcktuerme.de/ebene4/polen/kattow.html



There were hundreds of these but I shall open a thread for these later.

http://www.bismarcktuerme.de/suche.html

 

http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/weimar/aussenpolitik/oberschlesien/

Polish and German voting posters for the Plebiscite

 

http://www.dhm.de/archiv/ausstellungen/deutsche-polen/grenzkaempfe.html






coins too! http://www.ma-shops.co.uk/gaebler/item.php5?id=5016&lang=en&curr=EURGBP







more :






and stamps by the occupation troops :









more posters here :


http://www.sbc.katowice.pl/dlibra/sresults?action=SearchSimilarAction&eid=28315