Everything about Zaolzie totally explained
( literally:
Trans-Olza River Silesia) was an area disputed between
Poland and
Czechoslovakia, west of
Cieszyn. The term "Zaolzie" is used predominantly in Poland (literally meaning "lands beyond the Olza River") and also commonly by the Polish community living on this territory. In Czech it's more frequently referred to with the term
České Těšínsko/
Českotěšínsko or by the neutral
Těšínsko and
Těšínské Slezsko (meaning
Cieszyn Silesia).
Zaolzie was made up of the former districts of Těšín and
Fryštát and since the 1960 reform of administrative divisions it has been made up of
Karviná District and the eastern part of
Frýdek-Místek District. It is
de facto eastern part of the western portion of
Cieszyn Silesia.
Historically, the largest ethnic group inhabiting this area were the Poles. Under Austrian rule, the Cieszyn area was divided into four districts. One of them,
Friedeck, had a mostly Czech population, the other three were mostly inhabited by Poles. During the 19th century the number of Germans grew. After decline at the end of the 19th century, at the beginning of the 20th century and later from 1920 to 1938, the Czech population grew significantly (mainly as a result of immigration and the assimilation of locals) and Poles became a minority, which they're to this day. Another significant ethnic group were the
Jews, but almost the entire Jewish population was exterminated during
World War II.
History
Initially a part of Poland, from
1327 the whole area of the
Duchy of Cieszyn became an autonomic
fiefdom of the Bohemian crown. Upon the death of
Elizabeth Lucretia, its last ruler from the Polish
Piast dynasty in
1653, it passed to the
Habsburgs together with the rest of the
Duchy of Cieszyn.
From
1848 to the end of the 19th century, local Polish and Czech people co-operated, united against the Germanization tendencies of the
Austrian Empire and later of
Austria-Hungary. At the end of the century, ethnic tensions appeared as the area's economic significance grew. This growth caused an immigration wave from
Galicia. About 60,000 people arrived between 1880 and 1910. The new immigrants were Polish and poor, about half of them being illiterate. They worked in coal mining and metallurgy. For these people the most important factor was material well-being; they cared little about the homeland from which they'd fled. Almost all of them
assimilated into the Czech population. Many of them settled in
Ostrava (west of the ethnic border), as the heavy industry was spread in the whole western part of Cieszyn Silesia. Even today, etnographers traced about 25 thousands Polish surnames in Ostrava (about 8% of the population).
Czech population (settled mainly in the northern part of the area,
Oderberg,
Orlau etc.) numerically declined at the end of the 19th century, assimilating into the prevalent Polish population. This process shifted with the industrial boom in the area.
Decision time (1918-1920)
Originally, both national councils (the Polish
Rada Narodowa Księstwa Cieszyńskiego in its declaration "Ludu śląski!" of 30 October 1918 and the Czech
Národní výbor pro Slezsko in its declaration of 1 November 1918) claimed the whole Cieszyn Silesia for themselves.
On
31 October 1918, at the dusk of
World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the majority of the area was taken over by local Polish authorities supported by armed forces. The
interim agreement of 2 November 1918 reflected the inability of the two national councils to come to final delimitation. Before that, the majority of the area was taken over by Polish local authorities. In
1919 both councils were absorbed by the newly created and independent central governments in
Prague and
Warsaw. The former wasn't satisfied with this compromise and on
23 January 1919 invaded the area while Poland was engaged in
its war against the
West Ukrainian National Republic.
The reason for the Czech invasion in
1919 was primarily the organisation of
elections to the
Sejm (parliament) of
Poland in the disputed area. The elections were to be held in the whole Cieszyn Silesia. Czechs claimed that the polls must not be held in the disputed area as the delimitation is only interim and no sovereign rule should be executed there by any party. Czech demand was rejected by the Poles and, following the rejection, Czechs decided to solve the issue with force. The area was important for the Czechs as the crucial railway line connecting
Czech Silesia with
Slovakia crossed the area (the
Košice-Bohumín Railway, which was one of only two railroads that linked the Czech provinces to Slovakia at that time).
In this very tense climate it was decided that a
plebiscite would be held in the area asking people which country this territory should join. Plebiscite commissioners arrived there at the end of January 1920 and after analyzing the situation declared a
state of emergency in the territory on 19 May 1920. The situation on the territory remained very tense. Mutual intimidation, acts of terror, beatings and even killings affected the area. A plebiscite couldn't be held in this atmosphere. On 10 July both sides renounced the idea of plebiscite and entrusted the Conference of Ambassadors with the decision. Eventually 58.1% of the area of Cieszyn Silesia and 67.9% of the population was taken over by
Czechoslovakia on
28 July 1920 by a decision of the
Spa Conference.
According to Watt, the Allies were not fooled by this, even
Lloyd George (who as a rule wasn't appreciative of the Poles), was in this case on Polish side (on April 16, 1919, Lloyd George complained to the Commons: "How many members have ever heard of Teschen? I don't mind saying that I've not" .). During 1919 the matter of Cieszyn Silesia was studied by the Allies, they wanted to draw a just frontier line. Both Poles and Czechs were invited to Paris to present their views. The Poles based their claims on etnographical reasons and the Czechs had a more difficult task. They stated that they needed the Teschen coal in order to influence the actions of
Austria and
Hungary, whose capitals were fueled by coal from the duchy. Also, the Czechs held that the large Polish population in Teschen shouldn't influence its partition. They claimed that these Poles were only relatively recent arrivals in a territory that was historically Bohemian.
The Allies finally decided that the Czechs should get 60 percent of the coal fields, and the Poles were to get most of the people and the stategic rail line. Then something unusual happened - Czech envoy
Edvard Beneš proposed a plebiscite. The Allies were shocked, arguing that the Czechs were bound to lose it. However, Beneš was insistent and a plebiscite was announced in September 1919. As it turned out, Beneš knew what he was doing. A plebiscite would take some time to set up, and a lot could happen in that time -particularly when a nation's affairs were conducted as cleverly as were Czechoslovakia's.
In July 1920, while the Allies held a meeting in
Spa in
Belgium, Polish Prime Minister
Władysław Grabski came there asking for help in Poland's war with
Soviet Russia (see:
Polish-Soviet War). It was obvious that a country so desperate as Poland would accept any dictate of the Allies. And this was the moment Beneš had been waiting for.
The Cieszyn Silesia affair was indeed a tragedy. It poisoned relations between two nations that had every reason to act in concert. The Poles could never forget how they'd been duped. They swore that the day would come when the Czechs would find themselves in the same desperate position as the Poles had been in Spa. Then, there would be a different end to the story of Teschen. And eventually that day did come.
Victor S. Mamatey
A different account on the situation in 1918-1919 is given by historian
Victor S. Mamatey. He writes that "When the French government recognised Czechoslovakia's right to the "boundaries of
Bohemia,
Moravia, and
Austrian Silesia" in its note to
Austria of December 19, the Czechoslovak government thought it had French support for its claim to Teschen. However, the French government gave that assurance only against German-Austrian claims, not Polish. It viewed both
Czechoslovakia and
Poland as potential allies against
Germany, but regarded
Poland as more important than
Czechoslovakia. It refused to back the Czechoslovak claim. ... [Afterthe Czech invasion the Poles] brought the matter before the peace conference that had opened in
Paris on January 18. On January 29, the Council of Ten summoned
Beneš and the Polish delegate
Roman Dmowski to explain the dispute, and on February 1 obliged them to sign an agreement redividing the area pending its final disposition by the peace conference. Czechoslovakia thus failed to gain her objective in Teschen.".
With respect to the arbitration decision itself,
Mamatey writes that "On March 25, to expedite the work of the peace conference, the Council of Ten was divided into the Council of Four (The "Big Four") and the Council of Five (the foreign ministers). Early in April the two councils considered and approved the recommendations of the Czechoslovak commission without a change - with the exception of Teschen, which they referred to
Poland and
Czechoslovakia to settle in bilateral negotiations. When the Polish-Czechoslovak negotiations failed, the Allied powers proposed plebiscites in the Teschen area and also in the border districts of
Orava and
Spiš in
Slovakia to which the Poles had raised claims. In the end, however, no plebiscites were held. Instead, on July 28, 1920 ... the Conference of Ambassadors divided each of the three disputed areas between
Poland and
Czechoslovakia, leaving them both somewhat unhappy.".
Part of Czechoslovakia (1920-1938)
The local Polish population felt that Warsaw had betrayed them and they were not satisfied with the division of Cieszyn Silesia. About 12,000 to 14,000 Poles emigrated to Poland by choice or forcibly. It isn't quite clear how many Poles were in Zaolzie in Czechoslovakia. Estimates (depending mainly whether the
Silesians are included as Poles or not) The 1921 and 1930
census numbers are not accurate since nationality depended on self-declaration and many Poles filled in Czech nationality mainly as a result of fear of the new authorities and as compensation for some benefits. Czechoslovak law guaranteed rights for national minorities but reality in Zaolzie was quite different. Local Czech authorities made it more difficult for local Poles to obtain citizenship, while the process was expedited when the applicant pledged to declare Czech nationality and send his children to a Czech school. Newly built Czech schools were often better supported and equipped, thus inducing some Poles to send their children there. Czechs schools were built in ethnically almost entirely Polish municipalities. This and other factors contributed to the
cultural assimilation of Poles and also to significant emigration to Poland. After few years, the heightened
nationalism typical for the years around 1920 receded and local Poles increasingly co-operated with Czechs. Still,
Czechization was supported by Prague, which didn't follow certain laws related to language, legislative and organizational issues. The Polish Army, commanded by General
Władysław Bortnowski, annexed an area of 801.5 km² with a population of 227,399 people. Within the region originally demanded by Nazi Germany was the important railway junction city of
Bohumin. The Poles regarded the city as of crucial importance to the area. Polish leader, Colonel
Józef Beck believed that he must act rapidly to forestall the German occupation of the city. At noon on September 30, Poland gave an ultimatum to the Czech government. It demanded the immediate evacuation of Czech troops and police and gave Prague time until noon the following day. At 11:45 A.M. on October 1 the Czech foreign ministry called the Polish ambassador in Prague and told him that Poland could have what it wanted. The Germans were delighted with this outcome. They were happy to give up a provincial rail center to Poland, it was a small sacrifice indeed. It spread the blame and confused the issue, Poland was accused of being an accomplice of Germany - a charge that Warsaw was hard put to deny.
The Polish side argued that Poles in Zaolzie deserved the same rights as Germans in the
Munich Agreement. The vast majority of the local Polish population enthusiastically welcomed the change, seeing it as a liberation and a form of historical justice. But they quickly changed their mood. The new Polish authorities appointed people from Poland to various key positions from which Czechs were fired. The Polish language became the sole official language. Using Czech (or German) by Czechs (or Germans) in public was prohibited and Czechs and Germans were being forced to leave the annexed area. About 35,000 Czechs emigrated to Czechoslovakia by choice or forcibly. The behaviour of the new Polish authorities was different but similar in nature to that of the Czech ones before 1938. Two political factions appeared: socialists (the opposition) and rightists (loyal to the new authorities). Leftist politicians and sympathizers were discriminated against and often fired from work. The Polish political system was artificially implemented in Zaolzie. Local Polish people continued to feel like second-class citizens and a majority of them were dissatisfied with the situation after October 1938. Zaolzie remained a part of Poland for only 11 months.
Richard M. Watt describes Polish capture of Teschen in these words: "Amid the general euphoria in Poland - the acquisition of Teschen was a very popular development - no one paid attention to the bitter comment of the Czech general who handed the region over to the incoming Poles. He predicted that it wouldn't be long before the Poles would themselves be handing Teschen over to the Germans".
Watt also writes that "The Polish 1938 ultimatum to Czechoslovakia and its acquisition of Teschen were gross tactical errors. Whatever justice there might have been to the Polish claim upon Teschen, its seizure in 1938 was an enormous mistake in terms of the damage done to Poland's reputation among the democratic powers of the world".
World War II
On
1 September 1939 Zaolzie was annexed by
Germany after it
invaded Poland. During
World War II Zaolzie was a part of
Nazi Germany. During the war, strong
Germanization was introduced by the authorities. The
Jews were in the worst position, followed by the Poles. Poles received lower food rations, they were supposed to pay extra taxes, they were not allowed to enter theatres, cinemas, etc. This massacre is known as Tragedia Żywocicka (the
Żywocice tragedy). The
resistance movement, mostly comprised of Poles, was fairly strong in Zaolzie.
Volkslists - a document in which a non-German citizen declared that he'd some German ancestry by signing it; refusal to sign this document could lead to deportation to a concentration camp - were introduced. Local people who took them were later on enrolled in the
Wehrmacht. Many local people with no German ancestry were also forced to take them. The World War II death toll in Zaolzie is estimated at about 6,000 people: about 2,500 Jews, 2,000 other citizens (80% of them being Poles) and more than 1,000 locals who died in the Wehrmacht (those who took the Volksliste).
Percentage-wise, Zaolzie suffered the worst human loss from the whole of Czechoslovakia–about 2.6% of the total population. The local Polish population again suffered discrimination, as many Czechs blamed them for the discrimination by the Polish authorities in 1938-1939. Polish organizations were banned, and Czech authorities conducted many arrests and firings from work. Situation had somehow improved when the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took the power in February
1948. Polish properties stolen by the Germans during the war were never returned. Poland signed a treaty with Czechoslovakia in Warsaw on
13 June 1958 confirming the border as it existed on
1 January 1938. After the Communist takeover of power, industrial boom continued and many immigrants arrived to the area (mostly from the other parts of Czechoslovakia, mainly from
Slovakia). Arrival of
Slovaks significantly changed ethnical structure of the area when almost all Slovak immigrants assimilated into the Czech majority in the course of time. Number of self-declared Slovaks is rapidly declining. Last Slovak elementary school was closed in
Karviná several years ago. Zaolzie continued to be part of Czechoslovakia until the latter's dissolution in 1993, and since then has been part of the
Czech Republic.
Significant
Polish minority in Zaolzie still persist to date.
Census data
Ethnic structure of Zaolzie based on census results:
| Year |
Total |
Poles |
Czechs |
Germans |
Slovaks |
| 1880 |
94,370 |
71,239 |
16,425 |
6,672 |
- |
| 1890 |
177,176 |
68,034 |
88,556 |
18,260 |
- |
| 1930 |
216,255 |
76,230 |
120,639 |
17,182 |
- |
| 1939 |
213,867 |
51,499 |
44,579 |
38,408 |
- |
| 1950 |
219,811 |
59,005 |
155,146 |
- |
4,388 |
| 1961 |
350,825 |
56,075 |
263,047 |
- |
26,806 |
1980 |
366,559 |
51,586 |
281,584 |
- |
28,719 |
1991 |
368,355 |
43,479 |
263,941 |
706 |
26,629 |
Sources: Zahradnik 1992, 178-179. Siwek 1996, 31-38.
Further Information
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