Quieta non movere? The B’nai B’rith in the Eastern Upper Silesia 1921–1934

Abstract

This article aims to narrate and examine a unique story of ‘Polonisation’ of a certain population group in the interwar Central-European border area. It deals with the question of belonging and affiliation of a group of members of a Jewish organisation in East Upper Silesia. The area, which was transferred to Poland from Germany after WWI, experienced an intensive process of nationalisation, or Polonisation. The article focuses mostly on the former German city Kattowitz, or Katowice, which after the border shift became the capital of Poland’s new province, the Silesian Voivodeship. A period of thirteen years has been taken into account: from 1921, the year of the plebiscite in Upper Silesia, until 1934, when Poland and Germany signed the non-aggression pact. Both the plebiscite and the signing of the non-aggression pact were crucial for the Upper Silesian minorities. At the time of the plebiscite, these minorities had to opt for a national affiliation, while none of them considered themselves completely German or Polish. Therefore, after the plebiscite and with the borders rearranged, these groups should have been fit for getting Polonised. The article focuses at the Jewish test case, in a wide and comparative context of international political and diplomatic background. It therefore places micro-history cases within the macro-history of Central Europe between the two World Wars.