Wojciech Korfanty (; born Adalbert Korfanty; 20 April 1873 – 17 August 1939) was a Polish activist, journalist and politician, who served as a member of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

parliaments, the Reichstag and the

Prussian Landtag 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 Represent ...

, and later, in the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

''. Briefly, he also was a paramilitary leader, known for organizing the Polish

Silesian Uprisings The Silesian Uprisings (german: Aufstände in Oberschlesien, Polenaufstände, links=no; pl, Powstania śląskie, links=no) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic ...

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

, which after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

was contested by Germany and Poland. Korfanty fought to protect

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...

from discrimination and the policies of Germanisation in Upper Silesia before the war and sought to join Silesia to Poland after Poland regained its independence.

Early life

He was born the son of a coal miner in Sadzawka, part of Siemianowice (at the time ''Laurahütte''), in

Prussian Silesia The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an official p ...

, then German Empire. From 1895 until 1901, he studied philosophy, law, and economics, first at the Technical University in Charlottenburg (

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

) (1895) and then at the

University of Breslau A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

, where the Marxist

Werner Sombart Werner Sombart (; ; 19 January 1863 – 18 May 1941) was a German economist and sociologist, the head of the "Youngest Historical School" and one of the leading Continental European social scientists during the first quarter of the 20th century. ...

was among his teachers. Korfanty and Sombart remained friends for many years. In 1901, Korfanty became editor-in-chief of the

Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In a ...

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...

''Górnoslązak'' (''The Upper Silesian''), in which he appealed to the national consciousness of the region's Polish-speaking population. In 1903, Korfanty was elected to the German Reichstag and in 1904 also to the

, where he represented the independent "Polish circle" (''Polskie koło''). That was a significant departure from tradition, as the

Polish minority in Germany Poles in Germany are the second largest Polish diaspora (''Polonia'') in the world and the biggest in Europe. Estimates of the number of Poles living in Germany vary from 2 million to about 3 million people living that might be of Polish descent. ...

had so far predominantly supported the conservative Centre Party, which represented the large Catholic community in Germany, which felt inferior in the Protestant-dominated Reich. However, when it refused to advocate Polish

minority rights Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or gender and sexual minorities, and also the collective rights accorded to any minority group. Civil-rights movements ...

(beyond the Poles' rights as Catholics), the Poles distanced themselves from it, seeking protection elsewhere. In a paper entitled ''Precz z Centrum'' ("Away with the Centre Party", 1901), Korfanty 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. However, Korfanty retained his Christian Democratic convictions and later returned to them in domestic Polish politics.

Polish restoration

During

, in 1916, a

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

was proclaimed by the German and the Austro-Hungarian Empires, which was then replaced by an independent Polish state in 1918. In a ''Reichstag'' speech on 25 October 1918, Korfanty demanded that the provinces of

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...

(including Ermeland (Warmia)) and the city of Danzig (Gdańsk), the Province of Posen, and parts of the provinces of East Prussia (

Masuria Masuria (, german: Masuren, Masurian: ''Mazurÿ'') is a ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the ...

) and

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 ...

(Upper Silesia) to be included in the Polish state. After the war, during the Great Poland Uprising, Korfanty became a member of the '' Naczelna Rada Ludowa'' (Supreme People's Council) in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

and a member of the Polish provisional parliament, the ''Constituanta-

''. He was also the head of the Polish plebiscite committee in Upper Silesia. He was one of the leaders of the Second

Silesian Uprising The Silesian Uprisings (german: Aufstände in Oberschlesien, Polenaufstände, links=no; pl, Powstania śląskie, links=no) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic ...

in 1920 and the

Third Silesian Uprising The Silesian Uprisings (german: Aufstände in Oberschlesien, Polenaufstände, links=no; pl, Powstania śląskie, links=no) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic ...

in 1921, which were Polish

insurrection Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

s against German rule in Upper Silesia. The German authorities were forced to leave their positions by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. Poland was allotted by the League of Nations roughly half of the population and valuable mining districts, which were eventually attached to Poland. Korfanty was accused by Germans of organizing terrorism against German civilians of Upper Silesia. German propaganda newspapers also "smeared" him with ordering the murder of Silesian politician Theofil Kupka.

Polish politics

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 viewpoint. He opposed the autonomy of the

Silesian Voivodship Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province ( pl, województwo śląskie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia ('), with Katowice serving as its capital. Despite the Silesian V ...

, which he saw as an obstacle against its reintegration into Poland. However, he defended the rights of the German minority in Upper Silesia because he believed that the prosperity of minorities enriched the whole

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

of a

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. He briefly acted as vice-premier in the government of

Wincenty Witos Wincenty Witos (; 22 January 1874 – 31 October 1945) was a Polish politician, prominent member and leader of the Polish People's Party (PSL), who served three times as the Prime Minister of Poland in the 1920s. He was a member of the Polish Peo ...

(October–December 1923). From 1924, he resumed his journalist activities as editor-in-chief of the papers ''Rzeczpospolita'' (" The Republic", not to be confused with the modern

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

of the same name) and ''Polonia''. He opposed the May Coup of

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Naczelnik państwa, Chief of State (1918–1922) and Marshal of Poland, First Marshal of Second Polish Republic, Poland (from 1920). He was ...

and the subsequent establishment of ''

Sanacja Sanation ( pl, Sanacja, ) was a Polish political movement that was created in the interwar period, prior to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 ''Coup d'État'', and came to power in the wake of that coup. In 1928 its political activists would go on ...

''. In 1930, Korfanty was arrested and imprisoned in the

Brest-Litovsk fortress Brest Fortress ( be, Брэсцкая крэпасць, '; pl, Twierdza brzeska, russian: Брестская крепость), formerly known as Brest-Litoŭsk Fortress, is a 19th-century fortress in Brest, Belarus. In 1965, the title "H ...

, together with other leaders of the ''

Centrolew The ''Centrolew'' (, ''Center-Left'') was a coalition of several Polish political parties ( Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie", German Socialist Labour Party of Poland, Polish People's Party "Piast", National Workers' Party, Polish Socialist Part ...

'', an alliance of left-wing and centrist parties in opposition to the ruling government.

Exile

In 1935, he was forced to leave Poland and emigrated to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, from where he participated in the centre-right Morges Front group, founded by émigrés

Ignacy Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation's Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versaill ...

and

Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Prior to the First World War, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause for Polish i ...

. After the

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

of Czechoslovakia, Korfanty moved on to France. He returned to Poland in the April 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 because of his bad health and died shortly afterwards, two weeks before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

began with the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

. Although the cause of death remains unclear, it has been claimed that the treatment he received in prison may have caused his health to deteriorate.

Legacy

After 1945, when the Polish communists sought legitimisation as the champions and guarantors of Polish independence, Korfanty was finally rehabilitated as a national

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...

for his fight to protect the Polish population in Upper Silesia from discrimination and for his efforts to join the Polish population in Silesia to Poland. Today, many streets, places and institutions are named after him. When Opole Silesia became part of Poland in 1945, the town of Friedland in Oberschlesien, in German

, was renamed

Korfantów Korfantów (german: Friedland in Oberschlesien, szl, Fyrlōnd), formerly known in Polish as Fryląd, is a town in the Opole Voivodeship of southwestern Poland, with 1,808 inhabitants (2019). In 1946 the town was renamed in honour of politician a ...

in his

honour Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

References

Literature

* Sigmund Karski: ''Albert (Wojciech) Korfanty. Eine Biographie.'' Dülmen 1990. * Marian Orzechowski: ''Wojciech Korfanty.'' Breslau 1975.

External links

*
Biografie

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Korfanty, Wojciech 1873 births 1939 deaths People from Siemianowice Śląskie People from the Province of Silesia Polish Roman Catholics Polish Party politicians National-Democratic Party (Poland) politicians Polish Christian Democratic Party politicians Labor Party (Stronnictwo Pracy) politicians Deputy Prime Ministers of Poland Members of the 11th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 12th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the Prussian House of Representatives Members of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1922–1927) Members of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1928–1930) Senators of the Second Polish Republic (1930–1935) Members of Silesian Parliament Technical University of Berlin alumni University of Breslau alumni Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) Polish deputies to the Reichstag in Berlin Members of the Polish Gymnastic Society "Sokół"