Protection of Minorities in Upper Silesia
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
[Distributed to the Council.] Official No. : C-422. I 932 - I- Geneva, May 30th, 1932. LEAGUE OF NATIONS PROTECTION OF MINORITIES IN UPPER SILESIA PETITION FROM THE “ASSOCIATION OF POLES IN GERMANY”, SECTION I, OF OPPELN, CONCERNING THE SITUATION OF THE POLISH MINORITY IN GERMAN UPPER SILESIA Note by the Secretary-General. In accordance with the procedure established for petitions addressed to the Council of the League of Nations under Article 147 of the Germano-Polish Convention of May 15th, 1922, concerning Upper Silesia, the Secretary-General forwarded this petition with twenty appendices, on December 21st, 1931, to the German Government for its observations. A fter having obtained from the Acting-President of the Council an extension of the time limit fixed for the presentation of its observations, the German Government forwarded them in a letter dated March 30th, 1932, accompanied by twenty-nine appendices. The Secretary-General has the honour to circulate, for the consideration of the Council, the petition and the observations of the German Government with their respective appendices. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page I Petition from the “Association of Poles in Germany”, Section I, of Oppeln, con cerning the Situation of the Polish Minority in German Upper Silesia . 5 A ppendices to th e P e t i t i o n ................................................................................................................... 20 II. O bservations of th e G erm an G o v e r n m e n t.................................................................................... 9^ A ppendices to th e O b s e r v a t i o n s ...............................................................................................................I03 S. A N. 400 (F.) 230 (A.) 5/32. Imp. Wyss. Berne. — 5 — [Translation] I. PETITION. ASSOCIATION OF POLES i n G e r m a n y Section I Oppeln, November ioth, 1931. To the Council of the League of Nations, Geneva. In a series of petitions and documents addressed to the Council of the League of Nations, the Upper Silesian Mixed Commission, the Minorities Office and to various German authorities, we have presented the situation of the Polish minority in Prussia and described in general terms and with detailed examples how that minority is discriminated against in every sphere and phase of its life a n d a c tiv ity . We had hoped that, on the one hand, the authorities and the general public would in time change their attitude and, on the other hand, that the action of the League Council would result in both the spirit and the letter of the Geneva Convention being observed and the provisions of P art III of that Convention being applied. Unhappily, our position has in the meantime not only not im proved— it has changed for the worse. In reply to our petitions and applications, we have only been given an explanation of the particular incident referred to, without any change whatever being made in the general policy of the administra tion as a whole. That section of the German public which, without any interference on the part of the authorities, remains bitterly opposed to the cultural development of any other race than the German, creates an atmosphere which is generally hostile and has, recently in particular, become considerably accentuated. Disregarding for the moment the causes and consequences of such a state of affairs, we consider it to be our bounden duty, in connection with the resolutions of the Council and, particularly, our petitions of — April 3rd, 1928 ....................................... Document C.249.1928.1, October 20th, 1928 ........................... „ C . 1 0 8 .1 9 2 9 .1, October 22nd, 1928 ........................... „ C.284.1929.1, October 22nd, 1928 . ...... „ C . 10 7 .1 9 2 9 .1, October 23rd, 1928 ....... „ C. 1 0 6 .1 9 2 9 .1, December 22nd, 1928 ...... „ C. 1 4 5 .1 9 2 9 .1, March 25th, 1929 ........ „ C.266.1929.1, March 26th, 1929 . ....................... „ C.335.1929.I, May 8th, 1929 .................................... „ C. 309.1929.1, June 4th, 1929 . „ C.491.1929.I, to apply once a g a in to the League Council in virtue of Article 147 of the Geneva Convention of May 15th, 1922, and to explain how the provisions of Part III of that Convention are applied and what is the position of the Polish minority generally. The main reason for this state of affairs is the policy of hostility towards minorities which the Government authorities and the German population continue to pursue towards the Poles in German Upper Silesia. The racial individuality of this m inority is highly developed; the best proof is the fact that, in spite of the territory in question having been German for centuries, and in spite of the German policy of denationalisation, this m inority has preserved its own language and customs. A t the present time, the German authorities and population combat the Polish element in German Silesia, by exploit ing the economic dependence of the Polish minority on German employers. The economic and poli tical pressure exerted on the Polish population contrary to the spirit and the letter of the Geneva Convention is a serious embarrassment in every phase of minority life in German Silesia. Nor are our compatriots in other parts of Prussia any better off. A cursory review of the various departments of political, economic, intellectual and religious life shows how unfairly the Poles in German Silesia are treated — and it is of this that we here com plain — as compared with the German population, a clear violation of the letter and the spirit, not only of the Geneva Convention, but of the generally accepted principle of the equality of all citizens of a State in the eyes of the law. The intolerant attitude of the German authorities and population towards the Polish minority can best be illustrated by a number of instances taken from the life of that minority. We cite these to prove that our general assertions are based on facts and cannot be said to be unfounded (see the German Government’s Observations of September 4th, 1929, last sentence, in documents C.491.1929.I and C.30.1929.I). In spite of the loyalty of the Polish population to Germany, it is constantly being accused, quite undeservedly, by the German Press and German organisations of irredentism. The German Nation alist Press is particularly fond of making this reproach in order to stir up German feeling against the Poles. The efforts of German leaders, supported by the whole of the German population, are directed towards exterminating the Poles from German Silesia entirely and destroying all traces of Polish tradition in that province. I — 6 — The same tendency may be observed in other districts also. As an instance, we may cite a couple of facts from Northern Prussia, where the authorities try to prevent members of the minority from keening in touch with Poland by refusing frontier permits and passports, this being considered to be • i, nffirial attitude of the German Government on the community of cultural tradi- don&rFo^m^ance in 192^ Ae Meseritz Landratsamt refused to give the son of M. Bimka farmer i„ Gross-Dammer a passport to travel to Poland for purposes of study. In the summer of 1931, the lo S com“ ôner of Kuschten in the above district declined to give passports to a number of ch,l- d 5 n w ho w ? e going to holiday camps in Poland on the pretext that they had well-to-do parents and did not need a rest. Wladvslaw Misiewicz, the son of a well-known Polish family in Scharzig, district of Meseritz, a m o ü of the Plock Secondary School, was deprived by the local authorities of his p a s s p o r t w hen he was spending the long vacation this year at home and was thus unable to return to Poland to continue the sTudies he had commenced there. His father's representations to the local authorities of Betsche and the Landratsamt of Meseritz proved fruitless. The official at the Landratsamt absolutely refused W iv e un the nassoort stating: "The famüy is in too close touch with Poland. There is far too much coming ^nd going”. Shortly afterwards, Mile. Walerja Misiewicz's pa^port was withdrawn vvithout any expfaimtfon , a n d , w h en personal enquiries were made, she was told at the Mesentz Landratsamt ?hat not only would no further passport be given to her and to her brother Wladislaw, but th a t the whole family would in future be refused permission to enter Poland even on frontier permits. Action by the Association of Poles also gave no results. In October 1030, the Landrat of the district of Stuhm informed several members of the Polish minority in Weichselgau that the Marienwerder Regierungsprasident had decided to withdraw their r ™ n fn^,>n nassnorts as these had to be returned to the authorities within three days. This measure ifuTdoubtedty an hSance of the terrorism show n towards the Polish minority, which is thus unable to communicate with Poland or with relatives resident there. The Lauenburg Landratsamt refuses the inhabitants of the village of Wierzchucino permits to cross the frontier to Poland, particularly to attend the religious festivals at Zarnowec. It has also withdrawn the church attendance permits of the inhabitants of Sellnow, Chinow and district, thus preventing them from attending the Catholic services at Gôra. On Tulv 20th 1030, M. Zimmermann, the mayor of Oslau-Damerow, threatened to dismiss the timber workers if they sent their children to the holiday camps m Poland. There have also been cases of open attacks by official personages on the Polish minority. For instance, Dr.