Wojciech Korfanty is known primarily as the dictator of the Third Silesian Uprising and plebiscite commissioner, thanks to whom a large part of Upper Silesia was incorporated into Poland. Hardly anyone remembers an episode from his political career a few years earlier:the supplementary elections to the Reichstag on June 6, 1918.
The mandate of the German parliament from the Gliwice-Lubliniec district expired due to the death of a centrist MP, Augustin Warlo. Although the bankrupting Reich was already on the brink of a catastrophe, elections were organized anyway - in accordance with the regulations and the spirit of German formalism. In this ethnically mixed area, both Poles and Germans had a chance, although it seemed that the latter would re-occupy the empty parliamentary seat.
The Poles initially proposed priest Władysław Robota, but he did not receive the bishop's approval for political involvement. In this situation, Korfanty was approached, whose political career seemed to be at a standstill. It was a purely pragmatic decision:Wojciech Korfanty was at odds with the National Democratic Party, but according to the polls he had the best chance of winning. The Germans brought Benno Nehlert, attorney from Gliwice, notary public and city councilor against him. As Jan F. Lewandowski states in Korfanty's biography, it was the strangest campaign for the Reichstag for him . The German candidate put himself forward, supporting the continuation of the war at a time when everyone had had enough of it. In addition, he had a Lutheran wife, which in the Catholic region was not without significance for many people.
This is what Gliwice looked like at the beginning of the 20th century…
Anyway, in a situation where his opponent was a great advocate of the reconstruction of the Polish state, and at the same time a demagogue or even a puffer, at every step opposing the authorities of the Empire, it seemed that he must win (at least among the Germans) regardless of what he was going to do and to talk. And yet! Wojciech Korfanty gained the support of the German socialists (SPD) and many centrist Germans. He won the election almost twice as much:12,000 people voted for him, while only 7,000 voted for Nehlert. Even towns inhabited by the vast majority of Germans, such as Gliwice, supported Korfanty.
Having the mandate of his voters (mostly Germans!), Korfanty already three months later demanded in the Reichstag meeting room a separation from the Empire: Upper Silesia, Cieszyn Silesia, Średzki Silesia, Poznań, Polish West Prussia and Polish districts of East Prussia. Let us add that his views at the time of the elections were well known:it was a confrontational, anti-amicable position that had emerged in politics several years earlier. On the wave of new popularity, thanks to, among other things, the elections he won, he again entered the front line of politics. This wave took him to the post of plebiscite commissioner and dictator of the anti-German uprising.
To be precise, the Germans from Gliwice finally came to their senses. In 1921, they were not ready to side with Korfanty for the second time and 78.7% of the city's inhabitants voted against Poland's nationality.
Source:
- Jan F. Lewandowski, Wojciech Korfanty , Videograf II, Katowice 2009, pp. 61-62.