Wojciech Korfanty

Wojciech Korfanty (20 April 1873 - 17 August 1939) was a Polish nationalist activist, journalist and politician, serving as member of the German parliaments Reichstag and Prussian Landtag, and later on, in the Polish "Sejm". Briefly, he also was a paramilitary leader, known for organizing the Polish Silesian Uprisings in Germany's Upper Silesia.

He was known for his irredentist policies in the wake of World War I. He fought to protect Poles from discrimination and against the policy of Germanisation in Upper Silesia before the war. Wojciech was one of the chief advocates of joining Upper Silesia to the new Polish state after the war.

Biography

Early life

Korfanty was born the son of a coal miner in was among his teachers and remained on friendly terms with him for many years.

In 1901, Korfanty became editor-in-chief of the Polish language paper "Górnoslązak" ("The Upper Silesian"), in which he appealed to the national consciousness of the region's Polish-speaking population. [cite book |title=Practicing Democracy: Elections and Political Culture in Imperial Germany |last=Anderson |first=Margaret Lavinia |year=2000 |publisher=Princeton UniversityPress |isbn=0691048541 |pages=p. 136 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=nwG1MhqV_9AC&pg=PA136&dq=%22Wojciech+Korfanty%22&num=100&as_brr=3&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=lezDAZx2sVlumhyv9Qi1U1UGv0o] In 1903, Korfanty was elected to the German Reichstag [cite book |title=National Identity and Weimar Germany: Upper Silesia and the Eastern Border, 1918-1922 |last=Tooley |first=T. Hunt |year=1997 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=0803244290 |pages=p. 15 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QIAXSaC3lMQC&pg=RA1-PA262&dq=%22Wojciech+Korfanty%22&num=100&as_brr=3&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=uQQmphqlgpqjqZSTSmolkjJ6KtM#PRA1-PA15,M1 ] and in 1904 also to the Prussian Landtag, [cite book |title=Polen. In Zusammenarbeit mit zahlreichen Fachgelehrten |last=Markert |first=Werner |year=1959 |publisher=Böhlau Verlag |pages=p. 730 |language=German |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JiEwAAAAIAAJ&q=Korfanty%2Blandtag+-wikipedia&dq=Korfanty%2Blandtag+-wikipedia&num=100&as_brr=0&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1 ] where he represented the independent "Polish circle" ("Polskie koło"). This was a significant departure from tradition, as the Polish minority in Prussia had so far predominantly supported the Catholic 'Centre Party' in elections. [cite book |title=Regions in Central Europe: The Legacy of History |last=Tägil |first=Sven |year=1999 |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |isbn=1850655529 |pages=p. 223 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ll-6JYQyPsIC&pg=PA223&dq=%22Wojciech+Korfanty%22&num=100&as_brr=3&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=Oy8ypSf--yY-80dXqmMAOufMyPw#PPA223,M1] As the Catholic 'Centre Party' had refused to protect Polish rights, the Poles distanced themselves from the party, seeking protection elsewhere. In a polemic paper entitled "Precz z Centrum" ("Away with the Centre Party", 1901), Korfanty had urged the Catholic Polish-speaking minority in Germany to overcome their national indifference and shift their political allegiance from supra-national Catholicism to the cause of the Polish nation. [cite book |title=Wojciech Korfanty: biografia polityczna |last=Orzechowski |first=Marian |year=1975 |publisher=Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich |pages=p. 39 | language=Polish |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6AIsAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Precz+z+Centrum%22+%2Bkorfanty&dq=%22Precz+z+Centrum%22+%2Bkorfanty&num=100&as_brr=0&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1 ] However, Korfanty retained his Christian Democratic convictions and later returned to them in domestic Polish politics. [cite book |title=Eastern Europe in the twentieth century - and after |last=Crampton |first=R. J. |year=1997 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0415164222 |pages=p. 42 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SGnKpNf2RbAC&pg=PA42&dq=sejm+%2Bkorfanty+%2Bchristian&num=100&as_brr=0&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=ltN9QZiQov3CBtbV7EzjIcgccuc ]

Polish Restoration

At the end of World War I, in 1918, a Kingdom of Poland was proclaimed by Germany, which was replaced by an independent Polish state. In a "Reichstag" speech on October 25, 1918, Korfanty demanded that the provinces of West Prussia (including Ermeland and the city of Danzig (Gdańsk)), the Province of Posen, and parts of the provinces of East Prussia (Masuria) and Silesia (Upper Silesia) be included in the Polish state. [cite book |title=Zur Neuordnung Deutschlands: Schriften und Reden 1918-1920 |last=Weber |first=Max |year=1988 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=3168450537 |pages=p. 390 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kwUce4gRiTMC&pg=PA390&dq=1918+%2Bkorfanty+%2Breichstag+%2Boktober&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=mqiTaXd_4c4oW9JQoaY4Zj_Zsu4] After the war, during the Great Poland Uprising, Korfanty became a member of the "Naczelna Rada Ludowa" (Supreme People's Council) in Poznań (Posen), and a member of the Polish provisional parliament, the "Constituanta-Sejm". [cite book |title=The Shadow of Death: The Holocaust in Lithuania |last=Gordon |first=Harry |year=1992 |publisher=University Press ofKentucky |isbn=0813117291 |pages=p. 9 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=80r6Mbnxf8IC&pg=PA9&dq=1918+%2Bkorfanty+%2Breichstag&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=V395jYHhl9FNWAmsNGRS5ZQ6TzU] He was also the head of the Polish plebiscite committee in Upper Silesia.cite book |title=A Lesson Forgotten: Minority Protection Under the League of Nations : the Case of the German Minority in Poland, 1920-1934 |last=von Frentz |first=Christian Raitz |year=1999 |publisher=LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster |isbn=3825844722 |pages=p. 76 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4MtobfZEYcEC&pg=PA173&dq=%22Wojciech+Korfanty%22&num=100&as_brr=3&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=8HDZLHA06LYEESf43sJnuuSdJe0#PPA76,M1] He was one of the leaders of the Second Silesian Uprising in 1920 and the Third Silesian Uprising in 1921 [cite book |title=A History of Poland |last=Halecki |first=Oskar |coauthors=Polonsky, Antony |year=1978 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0710086474 |pages=p. 289 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PJA9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA289&dq=%22Wojciech+Korfanty%22&num=100&as_brr=3&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=BV0EG9WYJhvZyXUyR8-Sdq1ZIGo#PPA289,M1] — Polish insurrections, supported and financed by Warsaw, against German rule in Upper Silesia. The German authorities were forced to leave their positions by the League of Nations and the occupying French and Italian troops did not protect the country. Despite majority votes for Germany Poland took roughly half of the population and the most valuable mining districts, which were eventually attached to Poland. Korfanty was accused by Germans of organizing terrorism against the German civilians of Upper Silesia. [cite book |title=Zródla do dziejów powstań śląskich |last=Popiołek |first=Kazimierz |coauthors=Zieliński, Henryk |year=1963 |publisher=Zakład Narodowy im. Ossoliń skich |pages=p. 330 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OG4gAAAAMAAJ&q=%2Bkorfanty+%2Bterrorism&dq=%2Bkorfanty+%2Bterrorism&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1 ] They also accused him of ordering the murder of Silesian politician Theofil Kupka. [cite book |title=Italien und Oberschlesien 1919-1922 |last=Herde |first=Peter |coauthors=Kiesewetter, Andreas |year=2001 |publisher=Verlag Königshausen& Neumann |isbn=3826020359 |language=German |pages=p. 25 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Qm21L14YWbwC&pg=PA25&dq=%2Bkorfanty+%2Bkupka&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=mW8jBIHbAIbwNiEFcRl51gtBCAg]

Republican Politics

Mr. Korfanty was a member of the national "Sejm" from 1922 to 1930, and in the Silesian Sejm (1922-1935), where he represented a Christian Democratic view-point. He opposed the autonomy of the Silesian Voivodship, which he saw as an obstacle against its re-integration into Poland. However, Mr. Korfanty defended the rights of the German minority in Upper Silesia, because he believed that the prosperity of minorities enriched the whole society of a region.

He briefly acted as vice-premier in the government of Wincenty Witos (October-December of 1923). From 1924, he resumed with his journalist activities as editor-in-chief of the papers "Rzeczpospolita" ("The Republic", not to be confused with the modern paper of the same name) and "Polonia". [cite book |title=Political Catholicism in Europe, 1918-45 |last=Kaiser |first=Wolfram |coauthors=Wohnout, Helmut |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=071465650X |pages=p. 155 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=IQcLhKgyum4C&pg=PA150&dq=%22Wojciech+Korfanty%22&num=100&as_brr=3&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=2t_5wpbCNUwNurq1HdIiZUwoG3E#PPA155,M1 ] He opposed the May Coup of Józef Piłsudski and his subsequent establishment of "Sanacja"-government from a Christian Democratic position. In 1930, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Brest-Litovsk fortress, together with other leaders of the "Centrolew", an alliance of left-wing and centrist parties in opposition to the ruling government. [cite book |title=A Lesson Forgotten: Minority Protection Under the League of Nations : the Case of the German Minority in Poland, 1920-1934 |last=vonFrentz |first=Christian Raitz |year=1999 |publisher=LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster |isbn=3825844722 |pages=p. 173 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4MtobfZEYcEC&pg=PA173&dq=%22Wojciech+Korfanty%22&num=100&as_brr=3&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=8HDZLHA06LYEESf43sJnuuSdJe0]

Exile

In 1935, he was forced to leave Poland [cite book |title=Political Catholicism in Europe, 1918-45 |last=Kaiser |first=Wolfram |coauthors=Wohnout, Helmut |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=071465650X |pages=p. 165 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=IQcLhKgyum4C&pg=PA156&vq=korfanty&dq=%22Wojciech+Korfanty%22&num=100&as_brr=3&sig=3hIfxYxlrGIH7eAwKDEW3EeMrqo#PPA165,M1 ] and emigrated to Czechoslovakia, where from he participated in the "center-right" Morges Front group formed by émigrés Ignacy Paderewski and Władysław Sikorski. After the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, Mr. Korfanty moved on to France. He returned to Poland in the April of 1939, after Nazi Germany had cancelled the Polish-German non-aggression pact of 1934, hoping that the renewed threat to Polish independence would help overcome the domestic political cleavage. He was arrested immediately upon arrival. In August, he was released as unfit for prison due to his bad health, and died shortly afterwards, two weeks before World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. Although his cause of death remains unclear, it has been claimed that the treatment he received in prison may have caused his health to deteriorate.

"Ex Post Facto"

After 1945, when the Polish communists sought legitimation the as champions and guarantors of Polish independence, Mr. Korfanty was finally rehabilitated as a national hero due to his fight to protect the Polish population in Upper Silesia from discrimination, and his efforts to join the Polish population in Silesia to Poland. Today, many streets, places and institutions are named for him. When Opole Silesia became part of Poland in 1945, the town of Friedland in Opole Silesia was renamed Korfantów in his honour.

References

Literature

* Sigmund Karski: "Albert (Wojciech) Korfanty. Eine Biographie." Dülmen 1990. ISBN 3-87466-118-0
* Marian Orzechowski: "Wojciech Korfanty." Breslau 1975.

External links

*
* [http://www.deutsche-und-polen.de/_/personen/person_jsp/key=wojciech_korfanty.html Biografie]
* [http://www.republikasilesia.com/silesia-journal/Arek/Text.htm Die polnischen Aufstände unter Korfanty]