Administrative commissions of Cieszyn and Bielsko between 1920 and 1922. Studies on interwar Polish-German relations in the Cieszyn Silesia
Administrative commissions of Cieszyn and Bielsko between 1920 and 1922. Studies on interwar Polish-German relations in the Cieszyn Silesia

Summary/Abstract: The authors attempt to discuss the activity of Administrative Commissions of Bielsko and Cieszyn as seen in the context of Polish-German relations in the Cieszyn Silesia of the interwar period. The presentation of the main problem area is preceded by a synthetic analysis of the origins of the self-government in the area in question in the context of the changes affecting the Habsburg’s dynasty in the second half of the 19th century. As a result of the events taking place between 1918-1920, the German ethnic element lost the possibility of creating an independent national centre in the territory of the Cieszyn Silesia; the above notwithstanding, it still managed to establish an economic lobby. The taking of political control over a part of the Cieszyn Silesia by the Poles, on the other hand, necessitated the enter of its representatives to the self-government structures thus far dominated by Germans. Such a state of affairs evoked natural pressures, which necessitated the introduction of ethnic regulations, which also constitutes the subject of the authors’ deliberations in the present article.

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