Comment: According to article 88 of a peace treaty with Germany signed in Versailles on the 28th of June 1919 a plebiscite was to be held in Upper Silesia to decide upon nationality of the contentious territory. The treaty was ratified on the 10th of January 1920. Executing its decisions German forces and authorities left Upper Silesia. Rules over the province were taken over by the Inter-Allies Government and Plebiscite Committee as a temporary mandatary of the allies, which was to govern with help of allied forces. The plebiscite was scheduled for the 20th of March 1921.

The presented is one of many propaganda posters used in Upper Silesia during the plebiscite campaign. They were influencing voters - population of the region - with graphic forms (such as colors, symbols, illustrations), in order to convince them to vote either for Poland or for Germany. Apart from native Polish and German populations the area was inhabited by many people with no definite national identity. That group, of about 200 thousand people, was speaking Polish, but due to progressing germanization was indifferent to national issues and felt no connection with Polish nation. It was a target group of slogans from walls, houses and fences. Contents of posters referred to historical, national, religious and economical issues. Most often slogans were directly assuring that one of the states would win the plebiscite.

In the presented example advantage of Polish communes over German communes on map of Silesia was supposed to tip the scale in favor of Poland. The argument was basically true: more Poles were living in countryside communes around bigger cities. For example, in Bytom 10 102 persons voted for Poland (28 889 for Germany), whereas in a county of Bytom - 62 965 votes were cast in favor of Poland and 43 646 for Germany. However, since the votes were counted altogether Bytom became German. (Tomasz Hajewski)

External description: Original, in Polish and German, 1 poster size 630 x 440 mm.

Location: State Archive in Katowice, Polish Plebiscite Commissary, cat. no. 266, p. 2.