Union of Upper Silesians

The movement was founded by the Upper Silesian Committee (German: Oberschlesisches Komitee; Polish: Komitet Górnośląski) on 27 November 1918 in Rybnik, Poland by three Catholics: attorney and Wodzisław Śląski Workers Council chairman Ewald Latacz; Thomas Reginek, a priest from Mikulczyce (present-day Zabrze), and educator and Racibórz Workers' and Soldiers' Council chairman Jan Reginek.

The Rybnik Upper Silesian Committee demanded an "independent political stance" from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany and guaranteed neutrality similar to that in Switzerland and Belgium.

[1] On 5 December 1918 a German-language brochure, "Oberschlesien – ein Selbständiger Freistaat" ("Upper Silesia – independent/autonomous free state", probably written by Thomas Reginek) was published by the Committee for the Creation of the Upper Silesian Free State in Katowice (German: Komitee zur Vorbereitung eines oberschlesischen Freistaates in Kattowitz).

Another unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Germans was made by Thomas Reginek, Ewald Latacz and a representative of Upper Silesian industrialists.

[7][8][9] The political belief that Silesians should be a separate nation was not new in Prussian Upper Silesia; it dated back to the revolutions of 1848.

Latacz and Jan Reginek became political prisoners, and Joseph Musiol was granted immunity by the Prussian parliament.

[12] In the final conditions of the Paris Peace Conference for the German delegation on 16 June 1919, the Western allies assigned southern Racibórz county to Czechoslovakia.

[13] In late 1919 the United States, influenced by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, organised the creation of a "coal and steel state" under international protection which included the Upper Silesian Industrial Circle (Oberschlesische Industriebezirk) and the Ostrava-Karviná basin in the former Austrian Silesia.

The Upper Silesian people are strongly connected for hundreds of years by culture, employment and Slavic-Germanic blood ... almost three million souls, of whom 600,000 are in Austria".

[16] On 18 August 1920, 68 member of the Union of Upper Silesians (Związku Górnoślązaków-Bund der Oberschlesier) met at its headquarters in Bytom.

[17] The conference was led by Latacz, from Wodzisław Śląski; Joseph Musiol from Bytom; Wiktor Durynek from Tarnowskie Góry, and Hubert Kraft (Count Strachwitz) from Lądek-Zdrój.

In the fall of 1920 editor Georg Cibis moved from the Union of Upper Silesians to the German Plebiscite Commission, succeeded at Der Bund – Związek by Wiktor Durynek.

[20] In April 1921 Joseph Musiol, Heinrich Skowronek and Wiktor Durynek demanded independence for Upper Silesia, and Adam Napieralski negotiated on behalf of Poland.

Ewald Latacz met with German Interior Minister Georg Gradnauer and Chancellor Joseph Wirth on 4 September 1921.

[21] In November 1921, Wiktor Durynek resigned as editor of Der Bund – Związek and retired from political activity.

On 4 December 1921 Ewald Latacz resigned from the Union of Upper Silesians and retired from politics at the organisation's meeting in Chorzów, and was succeeded by Musiol.

Upper Silesian industrialists withdrew their support; in March 1922 the weekly Der Bund – Związek began to be published irregularly; two months later it ceased publication, with a final circulation of 40,000 copies.

[22] The following November, Heinrich Skowronek stood for election to the regional assembly of Upper Silesian Province (Provinziallandtag).

The office was managed by Joseph Musiol, chairman of the Union of Upper Silesians and former deputy of the Prussian parliament (who had just lost his seat).