[Enclosure]
The Polish Legation
to the Department of State
Memorandum
For some time past there has been a great deal of discussion in
connection with the so-called security pacts of the alleged
injustice of those clauses of the Treaty of Versailles which gave to
Poland the Province of Pomerania, commonly known as the “Polish
Corridor”, and of the allotment of a part of Upper Silesia to Poland
on the basis of the Treaty of Versailles and the subsequent
plebiscite.
Pomerania is the district extending from Poznania to the Baltic Sea.
It constitutes Poland’s only free access to the sea. The population
is and always has been predominantly Polish. Before the war,
according to the official German census, Poles constituted 80.4% of
the population and Germans 19.6%. In the elections to the Polish
Diet held in Pomerania November 5, 1922, the Polish lists embraced
85% of the population and the German lists 15%. Since 1922 a
considerable number of Germans have left Pomerania and an additional
number will have to leave before 1926, in accordance with the terms
of the Convention of Vienna signed August 30, 1924, regulating the
question of option of nationality. A fair estimate of the present
numerical relation of Poles and Germans in Pomerania would be,
Poles, 90%, Germans 10%.
On fifteen occasions between 1875 and 1918 the people of Pomerania
cast their ballots for the election of a member to represent that
district in the German Reichstag. These elections invariably
resulted in the choice of a Pole to represent Pomerania.
The Transit Convention of Paris, signed by Poland and Germany April
25, 1921, provides for free and unrestricted traffic between the
German Province of East Prussia lying to the east of Pomerania and
the main body of Germany lying to the west. For the settlement of
complaints and grievances arising in connection with this transit
traffic the contracting parties established a Mixed Transit
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Tribunal under neutral
presidency with final jurisdiction. The first case which this
Transit Tribunal was called upon to hear in the course of its three
years of existence was a German protest in connection with the
railway disaster occurring at Starogard on April 30, 1925. In this
case the Tribunal exonerated the Polish Government of any
responsibility for the disaster, the evidence pointing to a criminal
attempt by parties unknown. Pomerania constitutes no barrier to
communication between one part of Germany and another. Persons and
goods are moved through the territory in question without being
subject to any formality whatever. Neither passports nor visas are
required, and freight and baggage are liable to no tariff nor
inspection. This is true not only on the railroads but on the
waterways.
The first draft of the Treaty of Versailles provided that the
Polish-inhabited districts of Upper Silesia should be given to
Poland. Because of Germany’s protest and in deference to the opinion
of the British representative who reversed his position the final
Treaty provided for the taking of a plebiscite as a guide in the
delimitation of the boundary line. Article 88 of the Treaty of
Versailles provided as follows:
“In …,37 Upper Silesia …,37 the inhabitants will be called upon
to indicate by a vote whether they wish to be attached to
Germany or to Poland: …37 Germany
hereby renounces in favor of Poland all rights and title
over the portion of Upper Silesia lying beyond the frontier
line fixed by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers as
a result of the plebiscite.
“Annex Paragraph 4. …37 The result
of the vote will be determined by communes according to the
majority of votes in each commune.
“Paragraph 5. On the conclusion of the voting, the number of
votes cast in each commune will be communicated by the
Commission to the Principal Allied and Associated Powers,
with a full report as to the taking of the vote and a
recommendation as to the line which ought to be adopted as
the frontier of Germany in Upper Silesia. In this
recommendation regard will be paid to the wishes of the
inhabitants as shown by the vote and to the geographical and
economic conditions of the locality.”
The plebiscite was held under Interallied supervision on March 20,
1921. As was expected, in some districts heavy majorities were cast
for Poland, in other districts heavy majorities for Germany. Faced
with the problem of delimiting the frontier so as to conform as
nearly as possible with the spirit and letter of the Treaty, the
Supreme Council invoked the good offices of the Council of the
League of Nations. The Council appointed a Polish-German Commission
under the presidency of Felix Calonder, former President of the
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Swiss Republic, which
actually delimited the boundary line in conformity with the wishes
of the inhabitants as expressed in the vote by communes and with due
regard for geographical and economic considerations. The work of
this Commission was approved by the Council of the League and
accepted by the Supreme Council. On May 15, 1922, Poland and Germany
signed a Treaty at Geneva embodying the terms of the settlement
including the boundary line as approved by the Council of the League
and the Supreme Council. No boundary line could have been drawn
which would have placed all of the Poles within Poland and all of
the Germans within Germany. Sizeable minorities of Poles and Germans
respectively were by the force of necessity excluded from the
country of their choice.
Immediately after the incorporation within Poland of the part of
Upper Silesia allotted by the Treaty, a very large measure of
autonomy was granted it by the Polish Diet. A special Upper Silesian
Diet was elected by universal suffrage. In the Diet so elected there
are 48 members of which number 35 are Poles and 13 are Germans.
These facts which set forth the legal and moral rights of Poland in
respect to Pomerania and Upper Silesia will serve to explain why it
is unthinkable that any Polish Government could permit itself to
enter into a discussion which would in whatever form tend to
question Poland’s rights to these parts of her territory. In so
refusing to enter into any international discussion of its rights to
these territories the Polish Government has ample proof of the
unanimous support of its people.
Washington, May 28,
1925.
