Zaolzie w stosunkach polsko‑czechosłowackich w czasie II wojny światowej
Zaolzie in Polish-Czechoslovakian relations during the Second World War

Summary/Abstract: Apart form the Piłsudki-ites, the Polish government along with underground organizations in the Nazi German-occupied country (the former Second Polish Republic), voiced their criticism regarding the partition of Czechoslovakia previously performed by the Sanation government side by side with the Germans in 1938, resulting in the Polish seizure of Zaolzie. Nonetheless, there was no single political faction in Poland, including the communists, that would have conceded to returning Zaolzie unconditionally to Czechoslovakia after the war. Even though in this very case the Polish government was open to some concessions, those did not include re-establishing the pre-September 1938 state of affairs. Polish authorities declared readiness to negotiate bilaterally or proceed with a form of arbitration. Political groups in the country tended towards reaching an agreement with Czechoslovakia based on exchanging Zaolzie for Lower Silesia along with Lusatia. They also put forward a mutually-agreed equilibrium between Polish ethnicity and Czechoslovakian economic interest in Zaolzie. Had the Polish-Czechoslovakian agreement not been attained, they should have opted for a plebiscite.

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