1920 East Prussian plebiscite
The East Prussia plebiscite, also known as the Allenstein and Marienwerder plebiscite or Warmia, Masuria and Powiśle plebiscite, was a plebiscite for self-determination of the regions southern Warmia, Masuria and Powiśle, which had been in parts of the East Prussian Government Region of Allenstein and of West Prussian Government Region of Marienwerder, in accordance with Articles 94 to 97 of the Treaty of Versailles.
Prepared during early 1920, it took place on 11 July 1920. The plebiscite was conducted by German authorities, formally under Inter-Allied control. According to Richard K. Debo, both German and Polish governments believed that the outcome of the plebiscite was decided by the ongoing Polish-Bolshevik War which threatened the existence of the newly formed Polish state itself and, as a result, even many German citizens of Polish ethnicity of the region voted for Germany out of fear that if the area was allocated to Poland it would soon fall under Soviet rule. At the time of the plebiscite the Soviet army came closer to Warsaw every day, committing crimes against the civilian population.
According to several Polish sources the German side engaged in mass persecution of Polish activists, their Masurian supporters, going as far as engaging in regular hunts and murder against them to influence the vote. Additionally the organisation of the plebiscite was influenced by Great Britain, which at the time supported Germany, fearing the increased power of France in post-war Europe.
According to Jerzy Minakowski due to terror and unequal status of German and Polish side, Poles boycotted the preparations for the plebiscite which allowed Germans to engage in falsifications.
The German conducted plebiscite reported that majority of voters selected East Prussia over Poland ; most of the territories in question remained in the Free State of Prussia, and therefore, in Germany.
Historical background
The area concerned had changed hands at various times over the centuries between Old Prussians, Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, Duchy of Prussia, Germany, and Poland. The area of Warmia was part of the Kingdom of Prussia since the first partition of Poland in 1772 and the region of Masuria was ruled by the German Hohenzollern family since the Prussian Tribute of 1525 During the period of the German Empire, harsh Germanisation measures were enacted in the region. The Polish delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, led by Roman Dmowski, made a number of demands in relation to those areas which were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1772 and despite their protests, supported by the French, President Woodrow Wilson and the other allies agreed that plebiscites according to self-determination should be held.In the former German Province of Posen and parts of West Prussia an armed revolt had already removed the German authorities in 1919.
Plebiscite areas
The plebiscite areas were placed under the authority of two Inter-Allied Commissions of five members appointed by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers representing the League of Nations. British and Italian troops under the command of these Commissions had arrived on and soon after February 12, 1920. The regular German Reichswehr had previously left the plebiscite areas. Civil and municipal administration was continued under the existing German authorities who were responsible to the Commissions for their duration.In accordance with Articles 94 to 97 of the Treaty of Versailles the Marienwerder Plebiscite Area was formed from northeastern parts of the Marienwerder Government Region encompassing the Districts of Marienwerder, Stuhm, as well as parts east of the Nogat. The treaty defined the Allenstein Plebiscite Area as "The western and northern boundary of Allenstein Government Region to its junction with the boundary between the districts and ; thence, the northern boundary of the Oletzko District to its junction with the old frontier of East Prussia." Thus the Allenstein precinct comprised all the Allenstein Region plus the Oletzko District.
According to Jerzy Minakowski the area of the plebiscite was inhabited by 720,000 people, German citizens, of whom 440,000 are considered Polish by him by their Mazurian e.g. Polish language. The official Prussian census of 1910 showed 245,000 Polish- and Mazurian speakers and 289,000 German-speakers in the Allenstein Government Region and 23,000 versus 136,000 in the Marienwerder Government Region.
Allenstein / Olsztyn Plebiscite Area
The Allied forces had to intervene in this area already in 1919 to release imprisoned Masurians, who tried to reach the Paris conference.The President of and British Commissioner on the Inter-Allied Administrative and Plebiscite Commission for Allenstein was Mr. ; French Commissioner was M. ; the Marquis Fracassi, a Senator, for Italy; Mr. Marumo for Japan. The German Government were permitted under the Protocol terms to attach a delegate and they sent Reichskommissar Wilhelm von Gayl, formerly in the service of the Interior Ministry and lately on the Inner Colonisation Committee. The local police forces were placed under the control of two British officers, Lieutenant-Colonel Bennet and Major David Deevis. Bennet reported that he regarded them as "well-disciplined and reliable". There was also present a battalion from the Royal Irish Regiment and an Italian regiment stationed at Lyck. According to Jerzy Minakowski those small forces had proven themselves inadequate to protect pro-Polish voters in the precincts from pro-German repressions.
This Commission had general powers of administration and, in particular, was "charged with the duty of arranging for the vote and of taking such measures as it may deem necessary to ensure its freedom, fairness, and secrecy. The Commission will have all necessary authority to decide any questions to which the execution of these provisions may give rise. The Commission will make such arrangements as may be necessary for assistance in the exercise of its functions by officials chosen by itself from the local population. Its decisions will be taken by a majority."
The commission was welcomed by national Poles in the region, who hoped that their situation would improve due to its presence, however, petitions were made to remove German officials and the Sicherheitswehr, while demanding that the official welcoming committee made up from German officials should show the representatives of the Allies the plight of ethnic Polish population. On 18 February 1919 the Allenstein-based Commission decreed that the Polish language would gain equal rights to the German language in the region.
The Commission had to eventually remove both the mayor of Allenstein,, and an officer of Sicherheitswehr, Major Oldenburg, after a Polish banner at the local consulate of Poland was defaced; the Polish side expressed gratitude for Allied protection of Polish rights and underlined its desire for peaceful coexistence with German-speaking population.
In April 1920 during a Polish theatrical performance in Deuthen near Allenstein, ethnic Poles were attacked by pro-German activists; on the demands of the Allied Commission, the German police escorted Polish actors but ignored the attackers. In Bischofsburg a pogrom against ethnic Poles was organised, which prompted the creation of a special commission to find the perpetrators. The Allensteiner Zeitung newspaper called on its readers to remain calm and cease pogroms against ethnic Poles, pointing out that it could lead to postponing the plebiscite which would go against German interests. Italian forces were sent to Lötzen, according to Jerzy Minakowski to protect the ethnic Polish population, after a pogrom happened there on 17 April. In May several attacks on ethnic Poles were reported in Osterode, and included attacks on co-workers of the Masurian Committee.
Marienwerder / Kwidzyn Plebiscite Area
Parts of the Marienwerder Government Region were confined as the Marienwerder Plebiscite Area. The British commissioner Henry Beaumont and the other members of the Commission for the plebiscite area reached Marienwerder on February 17, 1920. Upon their arrival they found an Italian battalion of Bersaglieri on guard who afterwards marched past at the double. This commission had about 1,400 uniformed German police under its authority. Beaumont was accused of a cold and ironic attitude to the Poles by the Polish side.Beaumont said that with the exception of the, where ethnic Poles admittedly numbered 15,500 out of a population of 36,500, they had national Polish sympathies as far as being catholics. In the other districts, with the exception of Allenstein, ethnic Poles depicting themselves as Mazurians were lutherans and German in national conviction. On the eve of the plebiscite, Beaumont reported Poles strictly guarding the new frontier between East-Prussia en Poland, thus preventing people from passing to East-Prussia without vexatious formalities, holding up trains for hours, and constantly interrupt or even completely suppress postal, telegraphic and telephonic communication service. The at Dirschau was barred by sentries "who refuse to understand any language but Polish". As a result, Beaumont writes, this area was "cut off from its shopping centre and chief port almost completely". After the plebiscite the bridge was removed. To Beaumont it would be "desirable to convey a hint to the Warsaw Government that their present policy is scarcely calculated to gain them votes."
Sir Horace Rumbold, the British Minister in Warsaw, also wrote to Curzon on March 5, 1920, saying that the Plebiscite Commissions at Allenstein and Marienwerder "felt that they were isolated both from Poland and from Germany" and that the Polish authorities were holding up supplies of coal and petrol to those districts. Sir Horace had a meeting with the Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. Patek, who declared he was disappointed with his people's behaviour and "spoke strongly about the tactlessness and rigidity of the Polish Military authorities."
On March 10, 1920, Beaumont wrote of numerous continuing difficulties being made by Polish officials and stressed the "ill-will between Polish and German nationalities and the irritation due to Polish intolerance towards the German inhabitants in the Corridor, far worse than any former German intolerance of the Poles, are growing to such an extent that it is impossible to believe the present settlement can have any chance of being permanent..."
The Poles began to harden their position and Rumbold reported to Curzon on March 22, 1920 that Count, an official of the Polish Foreign Office, had told Sir Percy Loraine that the Poles questioned the impartiality of the Inter-Allied Commissions and indicated that the Polish Government might refuse to recognise the results of the Plebiscites.
Infiltration attempts of Polish irregulars into the Marienwerder area were checked by Italian troops.
Propaganda
German "Heimatdienst"
Both sides started a propaganda campaign. Already in March 1919 Paul Hensel, the Lutheran Superintendent of Johannisburg, travelled to Versailles to hand over a collection of 144,447 signatures to the Allied Powers to protest against the planned cession. Pro-German campaigners collected several regional associations under the title of the "Ostdeutscher Heimatdienst", which collected over 220,000 members. The Heimatdienst in the region was led by, an author and publisher of the "Ostdeutsche Nachrichten".The Heimatdienst exerted strong psychological pressure on Masurians to vote for Germany, and threatened pro-Polish forces with physical violence. They appealed to Prussian history and loyalty to the Prussian state and also disqualified Polish culture and warned against Catholic religion and Poland's alleged economical backwardness. German side presented the probability that all men would be drafted into Polish military to fight against Soviet Russia in case of pro-Polish victory. Note that at that moment a Soviet invasion was going on in the alleged eastern parts of Poland.
These were no new standpoints but rather prevailing common sense in Mazurian public mind for preceding decades. The national German feelings were recently still more strengthened by the massive rebuilding program of the devastated towns, destroyed during the Russian invasion in the autumn of 1914, and financially adopted by large German cities. Rennie, the British Commissioner in Allenstein, reported on March 11, 1920, that "in those parts which touch the Polish frontier a vigorous German propaganda is in progress", and that "the Commission is doing all it can to prevent German officials in the district from taking part in national propaganda in connection with the Plebiscite. Ordinances and instructions in this sense have been issued."
Polish campaign
A delegation of Masurians petitioned the Allies in March 1919 to join their region with Poland.The Poles established an unofficial Masurian Plebiscite Committee on June 6, 1919 under the chairmanship of the Polish citizen Juliusz Bursche, later Bishop of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland. There was also an unofficial. They tried to convince the Masurians of Warmia and Masuria being victims of a long period of Germanisation, but ethnic Poles, now had the opportunity to liberate themselves from Prussian rule.
Rennie reported to Curzon at the British Foreign Office, on February 18, 1920, that the Poles, who had taken control of the Polish Corridor to the Baltic Sea, had "entirely disrupted the railway, telegraphic and telephone system, and the greatest difficulty is being experienced."
Rennie reported on March 11, 1920, that the Polish Consul-General, Dr., aged about 60 and a former chemist who kept a shop in Poznań, had arrived. Rennie describes Lewandowski as having "little experience of official life". According to Rennie Lewandowski began to send complaints to the Commission immediately after his arrival, in which he declared that the entire ethnically Polish population of this district had been terrorised for years and, as a result, was unable to express their sentiments. Rennie reports an incident as Lewandowski repeatedly hoisted the Polish flag at the consular office which caused protests of the population. Rennie "pointed out to Dr. Lewandowski that he ought to realise that his position here was a delicate one........and I added it was highly desirable that his office should not be situated in a building with the Bureau of Polish propaganda."
Undercover and illicit activities were also commenced and as early as March 11, 1920 the Earl of Derby reported a decision of the Allied Council of Ambassadors in Paris to make representations to the Polish government regarding violations of the frontiers of the Marienwerder Plebiscite Area towards Germans by Polish soldiers.
Beaumont reported from Marienwerder at the end of March that "no change has been made in the methods of Polish propaganda. Occasional meetings are held, but they are attended only by Poles in small numbers." He continues "acts and articles violently abusive of everything German in the newly founded Polish newspaper appear to be the only methods adopted to persuade the inhabitants of the Plebiscite areas to vote for Poland."
The German side tried to sway the voters in the area before the plebiscite using violence, Polish organisations and activists were harassed by pro-German militias, and those actions included murder; the most notable example being the killing of a native Masurian member of the Polish delegation to Versailles, who supported voting for Poland; his death described as "bestial murder", anyhow beaten to death by pro-German militias armed with crowbars, metal rods, and shovels. His ribs were punctured by shovel, and he was taken to hospital where he died, barely alive and bleeding additionally from neck and head. After his burial the grave of Linka was defiled.
Masurians who supported voting for Poland were singled out and subjected to terror and repressions. Names of Masurians supporting the Polish side were published in pro-German newspapers, and their photos presented in shops of pro-German owners; afterwards regular hunts were organised after them. In the pursuit of Polish supporters the local Polish population was terrorised by pro-German militias Local "Gazeta Olsztyńska" wrote "Unspeakable terror lasted till the last days " At least 3,000 Warmian and Masurian activists who were engaged for the Polish side had to flee the region out of fear of their lives. German police engaged in active surveillance of Polish minority and attacks against pro-Polish activists.
It may be concluded that, concerning propaganda and manipulation, the German side was put in favour in many respects above the Polish one, but it must be disputed at the same time if this was influential for the outcome in the end.
The plebiscite
The plebiscites asked the voters whether they wanted their homeland to remain in East Prussia, which was part of Weimar Germany, or instead become part of Poland. All inhabitants of the plebiscite areas older than 20 years of age or those who were born in this area before 1 January 1905, were entitled to return to vote.Reproaches of falsification and manipulation
According to Jerzy Minakowski before the plebiscite pro-Polish activists decided to boycott the preparations for electoral commissions to protest unequal treatment of the Polish and German side and pro-German terror, this allowed German officials to falsify lists with eligible voters, writing down names of dead people or people who weren't eligible to vote. During the plebiscite Germans transported pro-German voters to numerous locations allowing them to cast votes multiple times. In Allenstein cards with pro-Polish votes were simply taken away by a German official who declared that they were "invalid" and presented voters with cards for the pro-German side. Voters were observed by German police in polling stations. Pro-Polish voting cards were often hidden or taken away and Polish controllers were removed from polling stations A large number of ethnic Poles – out of fear of repressions – did not attend the plebiscite.Results
The plebiscite took place on 11 July 1920; at the time Poland appeared on the verge of defeat in the Polish-Soviet War. The pro-German side was able to organise a very successful propaganda campaign, building on the long campaign of Germanisation; notably the plebiscite asking the electorate to vote for Poland or East Prussia is said to have masked the pro-German choice under the provincial name of East-Prussia. But the weight of this argument can not have been strong because East-Prussia was just a German province and not a sovereign party as an alternative for the German state, and the voters were aware of this. The activity of pro-German organisations, and the Allied support for the participation of those who were born in the plebiscite area but did not live there any longer, was supposed to further the voting in favour of Germany e.g. East-Prussia. In the end, the weight of the evidently substantial number of pro-German emigration voters can be ignored in the light of the 96% pro-German over all total. Anyhow, the plebiscite resulted in a vast majority for East Prussia. Only a small part of the territory affected by the plebiscite was awarded to Poland, while the majority remained with Germany.Poland supposed disadvantage by the Versailles Treaty stipulation which enabled those to return to vote who were born in the plebiscite areas but not living there any more. Most of them were supposed to have been influenced by German national sentiments. For this reason national German societies and political parties wanted to assist them, facilitating their travel to the plebiscite area. Approximately 152,000 such individuals participated in the plebiscite. Nevertheless debate went on whether this was a Polish or German condition at Versailles as it might have been expected that also many Ruhr Area Poles would vote for Poland. So it is also reported, that the Polish delegation planned to bring Polish émigrés not only from other parts of Germany but also from America to the plebiscite area to strengthen their position, but these plans were not executed the Polish delegation claimed that it was a German condition.
After the plebiscite in Masuria attacks on nationally Polish population were commenced by pro-German mobs. In particular nationally Polish priests and politicians were charged, even in their homes.
Results as published by Poland thus giving also Polish place names as fixed in the late 1940s.
Olsztyn/Allenstein Plebiscite Area
The results for Olsztyn/Allenstein Plebiscite Area were:| District | Capital | Region | votes for East Prussia | votes for Poland |
| Allenstein, urban district | Allenstein | 98% | 2% | |
| Allenstein | Allenstein | 86.68% | 13.32% | |
| Johannisburg in East Prussia | Allenstein | 99.96% | 0.04% | |
| Lötzen | Allenstein | 99.97% | 0.03% | |
| Lyck | Allenstein | 99.88% | 0.12% | |
| Neidenburg | Allenstein | 98.54% | 1.46% | |
| Marggrabowa | Gumbinnen | 99.99% | 0.01% | |
| Ortelsburg | Allenstein | 98.51% | 1.49% | |
| Osterode in East Prussia | Allenstein | 97.81% | 2.19% | |
| Bischofsburg | Allenstein | 97.9% | 2.1% | |
| Sensburg | Allenstein | 99.93% | 0.07% | |
| total % | 97.89% | 2.11% | ||
| total votes | 363,209 | 7,980 | ||
| Voter turnout 87,31 %% |
registered voters: 425,305, valid: 371,189, turnout: 87.31%
To honour the exceptionally high percentage of pro-German votes in the, with 2 votes for Poland compared to 28,625 for Germany, the district town Marggrabowa was renamed "Treuburg" in 1928, with the district following this example in 1933.
In the villages of Lubstynek, Czerlin and Groszki in the , situated directly at the border, a majority voted for Poland. These villages became a part of Poland after the plebiscite. Other majority Polish villages were scarce but would have been multiplied by more alike villages if they should not have been surrounded by Mazurian German disposed villages making a geographical connection with Poland improbable and so a vote for Poland not useful.
Due to the strategical importance of the Prussian Eastern Railway passing there, the area of Soldau in the was transferred to Poland without plebiscite, and renamed Działdowo.
Marienwerder / Kwidzyn Plebiscite Area
The results for the precincts of Marienwerder / Kwidzyn were:| District | Capital | Region | votes for East Prussia | votes for Poland |
| Marienburg in West Prussia | Danzig | 98.94% | 1.06% | |
| Marienwerder | Marienwerder | Marienwerder | 93.73% | 6.27% |
| Rosenberg in West Prussia | Marienwerder | 96.9% | 3.1% | |
| Stuhm | Marienwerder | 80.3% | 19.7% | |
| total % | 92.36% | 7.64% | ||
| total votes | 96,923 | 8,018 | ||
| Voter turnout 84% |
registered voters: 125,090 valid: 104,941 turnout: 84.00%
The West Prussian plebiscite area remained with Germany and became part of the new East Prussian West Prussia Government Region.