Joseph Musiol ( pl, Józef Musioł; born 22 June 1865 in Mikołów) was a

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

n politician. He served as secretary of the Catholic Trade Union,

Dariusz Jerczyński Dariusz is a male given name, predominantly in Polish. Etymologically, it derives from the Proto-Slavic "dar" gift, and signifies the giver/gift giver or possessors as well as "goods", and Persian name ''Dariush'', meaning "he possesses" or "good". ...

, "Józef Musioł (Joseph Musiol)", in: ''Orędownicy niepodległości Śląska'', Zabrze: 2005, page 144"Joseph Musiol", in: ''Handbuch für den Preussischen Landtag. Ausgabe für die 1. Wahlperiode (von 1921 ab)'', Berlin: April 1921. as a member of the town council in

Bytom Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', german: Beuthen O.S.) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capital ...

, and as leader of a local group there. He was also a member of the German Catholic Centre Party and a member of the leadership of the Catholic People’s Party of Upper Silesia, an autonomic division of the Centre Party. Musiol served as a deputy in the

Prussian Parliament The Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag) was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper House of Lords (''Herrenhaus'') and the lower House of Representat ...

from 26 January 1919 to 22 November 1922 and argued for the independence of Upper Silesia as a multilingual but unified state like

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He was expelled from the Catholic People's Party in April 1921 for activities that clashed with the official stance of the party. Around the same time, all local groups in Bytom were dissolved, and in early February 1921, Musiol was excluded from the leadership of his party. After leaving his position as deputy, he became manager of the law office of the Polish-language newspaper ''Katolik'' (Catholic). He co-founded and managed a propaganda of the

Union of Upper Silesians The Union of Upper Silesians (german: Bund der Oberschlesier; pl, Związek Górnoślązaków; Silesian: ''Ferajn Gůrnoślůnzokůw'') was an early 20th-century movement for the independence of Upper Silesia. The movement had its genesis durin ...

beginning in 1919, and he served as leader of the Union from December 1921 until its dissolution, in 1924.Marek Czapliński, ''Adam Napieralski 1861-1928 biografia polityczna'', Wrocław: 1974. In 1922, he ran for a town council position in Bytom as part of the Union Tenants Protection. Nothing is known of his life after 1924.

References

Sources

, "Józef Musioł (Joseph Musiol)", in: ''Orędownicy niepodległości Śląska'', Zabrze: 2005, pages 144-150. * Guido Hitze, ''Carl Ulitzka (1873–1953) oder Oberschlesien zwischen den Weltkriegen'', Düsseldorf: 2002. * Andrea Schmidt-Rösler, "Autonomie und Separatismusbestrebungen in Oberschlesien 1918-1922", in '' Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa Forschung'', 1, 1999. * Günther Doose, ''Die separatistische Bewegung in Oberschlesien nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg (1918–1922)'', Wiesbaden: 1987.

References

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See also