Eastern Silesia 1918 - 1920
Originally
published in the Czechoslovak
Specialist no. 5 / 2000 (USA, www.czechoslovakphilately.com )
Revised
and updated versions of the article published in the Czechout no. 3 / 2002 (UK, www.cpsgb.org.uk )
and Oost Europa Filatelie no. 4 / 2002
(NL, www.geocities.com/fcoe2001/fcoe.htm
)
By Lubor Kunc
One of „the
well kept secrets" of the Czech history relates to the Czech occupation of
a part of Silesia. This story is not widely known, however every collector of
Czechoslovak stamps knows its outcome - the Czechoslovak and Polish stamps with
overprints SO 1920. Let’s look at it !
On October 28,
1918 the Czechoslovak Republic was established. At the same time a state of
German population called „The Province Sudetenland" with its capital
in Opava (Troppau) was founded in Northern Moravia and Bohemian part of Silesia
. The goal of establishing of this state was the same as the founding of
remaining German states in Bohemia - to save the area for German and for its
direct incorporating into Germany after WWI.
The Czech
population established in Ostrava on Oct. 29, 1918 own Národní výbor with aim
to incorporate the Eastern Silesia area into Czechoslovakia . And in addition
on October 30, 1918 the Polish population founded the Polish National Council
(Rada Narodowa) in Tešín (Cieszyn / Teschen). All these organisations play
the key roles in our story.
The main problem
was what are the borders between Czechoslovakia and Poland on the territory.
Národní výbor and Rada Narodowa set first preliminary borders on November 5,
1918, but both sides felt the borders are not definitive . The borders were not
convenient for Czechoslovakia, because some important towns and the large coal
mining areas belonged as per the agreement to Poland, but Czechoslovaks need to
earn time for fighting with „ Province Sudetenland" .
The Czechoslovak
government started late in November liberation of all German areas in Bohemia
and Moravia incl. the territory of „The Province Sudetenland". As
result of this action, Opava was occupied by Czechoslovak units on December 18,
1918. Until end of December the Czechoslovak troops occupied all towns and
villages belonging to the Province. After those action only two players for
Silesia remained .
The relationship
between Czechoslovaks and Poles in Eastern Silesia was getting worst in Dec.
1918 and Jan. 1919. No of both sides was prepared to accept the offers of the
second party, both of them wanted the whole area for own state.
On Jan. 10, 1919
the Polish government declared the elections for Polish Parliament, which were
planed for Jan. 26, 1919 (see a stamp in fig. 1 issued in Northern
Polish Postal District, Michel – Polen, Nr. 125, showing Mr.
Trampczynski, first Chairman of Polish Parliament – called Sejm –
elected in the 1919 elections).
The Polish voting
districts contained area of Eastern Silesia as well. The Czechoslovak
government refused the incorporating of the above area to the Polish voting
districts. Based on information contained in Mr. Permans´s book the Tešín
area was one of the Bolshevik centres, in which the Bolshevik agents called for
Soviet revolution, workers were under their influence and the coal production
goes rapidly down, which caused large problems in coal distribution in whole
Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia.
Because the
negotiations between Czech and Polish governments have no positive result and
the Polish government was not in position to defeat the communist movement in
Silesia, which had negative impact on Czechoslovak economy, the Czechoslovak
government decided to occupy the territory. This military action was called
„Expedition of colonel Šnejdárek" . Colonel Šnejdárek was
one of the officers of Czech Legions in France during WWI, after return from
France he was one of the best officers of Czechoslovak Army .
The expedition
started on Jan. 23, 1919. Czech troops occupied area between the preliminary
border of Nov. 5 and Wisla River and the expedition finished on Jan. 30, 1919,
when the Czechoslovak Ministry of Defence instructed the troops to stop the
expedition and to stay on the occupied territory.
On Feb. 3,
|
I. Post
Offices given by the Paris Conference to Czechoslovakia |
||
|
Czech Name |
Polish Name |
German Name |
|
Bohumín 1+2 |
Bogumin 1+2 |
Oderberg 1+2 |
|
Dolní Bludovice |
Bledowice Dolne |
Nieder Bludowitz |
|
Dolní Domaslovice |
|
Nieder Domaslowitz |
|
Dombrová |
Dabrowa |
Dombrau |
|
Hnojník |
Gnojnik |
Gnojnik |
|
Horní Suchá |
Górna Sucha |
Ober Suchau |
|
Chotebuz |
Kocobedz |
Kontzobendz |
|
Karvín 1 (Karviná) |
Karwina 1 |
Karwin 1 |
|
Komorní Lhotka |
Ligotka Kameralna |
Cameral Ellgoth |
|
Louky |
Laki, Slask.Austr |
Lonkau in österr.
Schlesien |
|
Pudlov |
Pudlów |
Pudlau |
|
Ropice |
Ropic |
Roppitz |
|
Rychwald |
Rychwald Slask |
Reichwaldau |
|
Stonava |
Stonawa |
Steinau |
|
II. Post Offices given
by the Paris Conference to Poland |
||
|
Czech Name |
Polish Name |
German Name |
|
Holešov ve Sl. |
Goleszów |
Golleschau |
|
Ohrazená |
Ogorodzona |
Ogorodzon |
|
Pruchná |
Próchna |
Pruchna |
|
Puncov |
Ponców |
Punzau |
|
Strumen |
Strumien |
Schwarzwasser |
|
Tešín 1 |
Cieszyn 1 |
Teschen 1 |
|
Ustron |
Ustron |
Ustron |
|
Velké Kuncice ve Slezsku |
Konczyce Wlk. |
Gross Kuntschitz |
|
Žibridlovice ve Sl |
Zebrzydowice Sl |
Seibersdorf |
From philatelic
point of view the stamps used at the post offices mentioned in the list no. II
from Jan. 23 to Feb. 25, 1919 are the Czechoslovak ones. More details you can find
in philatelic part of the article.
The conference
was more successful for Czechoslovakia, because we have got some towns and
mining areas belonging as per the agreement of 1918 to Poland . This solution
was accepted by both parties, the Czechoslovak units left the area by the above
deadline and the Polish troops occupied Polish part of the area set by the
Conference of Paris.
Another destiny
had following post offices, which the Paris Conference of 1919 decided to give
to Poland, but the Allied gave them to the Czechoslovakia in 1920 :
|
III. Post
Offices given by the Paris Conference to Poland, but on Aug. 10, 1920
returned to Czechoslovakia |
||
|
Czech Name |
Polish Name |
German Name |
|
Bystrice ve Sl. |
Bystrzyca |
Bistritz in Schl. |
|
Darkov |
Darków |
Darkau |
|
Detmarovice |
Dziecmorowice |
Dittmannsdorf |
|
Frýštát ve Slezsku |
Frysztat Slask. Austr. |
Freistadt, Österr.
Schlesien |
|
Jablunkov ve Sl. |
Jablonków |
Jablunkau in Schl |
|
Návsí |
Nawsie |
Nawsi |
|
Nemecká Lutyne |
NIemiecka Lutynia |
Deutschleuten |
|
Petrovice u Frýštátu |
Piotrowice k. Frysztatu |
Petrowitz b. Freistadt |
|
Skrecon |
Skrzecon |
Skrzecon |
|
Tešín 2 |
Cieszyn 2 |
Teschen 2 |
|
Trinec |
Trzyniec |
Trzynietz |
|
Vendryne |
Wendrynia |
Wendrin |
The peace negotiations
continued . In April 1919 first proposal of Czechoslovak-Polish borders was
introduced. On August 22, 1919 the proposal was refused by France and the
negotiations seem to be closed without success. The solution should be a
plebiscite in the Eastern Silesia area, which was announced by Allied on
September 27, 1919 . This decision incensed the Czechoslovak legions in Russia.
The outrage was so big, that a company refused to take part in a review in
Tomsk arranged for deputies of Czechoslovak government.
On July 7, 1920
next Peace Conference of Spa (Belgium) was open. The result of the conference
was common agreement of Czechoslovakia and Poland to ask Allied as arbiter to
set the borders instead of arranging the plebiscite. The Polish preparedness to
accept an Allied´s decision was caused by a need of Allied´s support in
Polish-Soviet conflict, the Czechoslovaks believed, that they pursue the Allied
to accept their demands, so they expressed agreement with the solution as well.
The Allied´s decision about new borders between both countries was made on July
28, 1920 and both states declared their acceptance of the borders. Based on
this agreement, the towns mentioned in list no. III were occupied by
Czechoslovak army between August 6 and 10, 1920.
I am sure you
have detected, that Tešín is mentioned in both lists no. II + III. This is
no error, it was really so. The town belonged until Šnejdárek´s expedition
to Poland. Than the whole town was occupied by Czechoslovaks . This situation
lasted only 1 month, because the Paris Conference decided to return Tešín
town to Poland. The Allied arbitrage of 1920 than divided the town into two
parts – Polish one called Cieszyn consisting of the centre of the town
(incl. post office Tešín 1) and the Czech one called Ceský Tešín
containing the railway station and post office Tešín 2. This division
lasts until now – as you can see, Berlin was not the only divided town in
Europe ! The hard times in the Tešín town could be illustrated by provisional
bank notes issued by Rada Narodowa, when the insufficient quantity of legal
tenders occurred.
Fig. 2a) shows a Polish side of a provisional banknote of
October 1919
and fig. 2b) shows German side of
another provisional banknote of April 1919 .
Because the
Polish party was less satisfied with the borders than the Czechoslovak one,
Poland occupied this area in 1938 thanks to the Munich Treaty. This action was
celebrated by a Polish stamp of 1938 (Michel – Polen Nr. 330) shown in fig.
3 celebrating “return of Tešín area to the fatherland” (I
thank to my friend Karl Ruzicka for discovery of the stamp!). But this is
another story !
The
Šnejdarek expedition had an influence on the Czechoslovak economy as well.
Because the Eastern Silesia was last area with unknown borders in
Bohemia/Moravia, it was needed to wait with the monetary reform replacing the
Austrian currency with the Czechoslovak one for a setting of borders. Because
the Parisian Conference set the borders in Eastern Silesia and exact date of
their validity, the Czechoslovak Finance Minister Rašín was allowed to
prepare the monetary reform for Feb. 26, 1919. As you know, one of the results
of the monetary reform was finishing of the validity of Austrian and Hungarian
postage stamps in whole Czechoslovakia on Feb. 28, 1919.
Fig. 4 shows a cutting of a money order franked with Austrian 25 Hellers stamp
and mailed at post office in Polska Ostrava (Polisch Ostrau ; situated in the
Czech part of Silesia) on Feb. 27, 1919, that means during the monetary reform
.
Now I would like
to draw your attention to the philatelic side of the above history.
Here is a table
showing, what postage stamps were used in the Eastern Silesia in years 1918
– 1920. As you can see, the situation was a bit different in Czechoslovak
and Polish parts of the area .
|
Stamp(s) |
Czechoslovak part of Silesia |
Polish part of Silesia |
|
Austrian
stamps (without overprints) see fig. 5 |
Oct.
28, 1918 – Feb. 28, 1919 (fig. 4,15,19) |
Oct.
28, 1918 – Jan. 20, 1919 (fig. 15,16) |
|
Austrian
stamps (with overprints) |
Dec.
12, 1919 – Jan. 31, 1920 (overprint Pošta Ceskoslovenská 1919) see
fig. 6 |
Jan.
10, 1919 - ? (overprint Poczta Polska) see
fig. 7 |
|
Czechoslovak
stamps see
fig. 8 |
Dec.
18, 1918 – 1938 on Czechosl. territory (fig.19) Jan.
23, 1919 – August
10, 1920 – |
Jan
23, 1919 – Feb. 25, 1919 only on territories occupied in frame of
Šnejdárek expedition (see list no. II ) (fig. 18) |
|
Polish
stamps see
fig. 9 |
Oct.
28, 1918 – Jan. 22, Feb.
26, 1919 – August 10, |
February
1919 – 1939 on Polish territory |
|
Czechoslovak
SO 1920 stamps see
fig. 10 |
Feb.
13, 1920 – August 10, 1920: only at the Czechoslovak post offices in
the Plebiscite area |
April
19 – August 10, 1920 : Post office of Cz. Prefect in Tešín (fig.
12) |
|
Polish
SO 1920 stamps see
fig. 11 |
April
15, 1920 – August 10, 1920 : in towns mentioned in list no. III fig.
17 b |
April
15, 1920 – Sept. 10, 1920 : only at the Polish post offices in the
Plebiscite area |
fig.
5 - 11
Generally we can
say, that Czechoslovak stamps were not valid on the Polish territory and Polish
ones on the Czechoslovak territory, with only few exceptions. The exception were
caused by violent acts like occupation of territory belonging to the second
party (e.g. by Šnejdárek expedition) or by agreements reached at various
Peace Conferences (e.g. decision of Paris Conference of Feb. 1919 dividing the
area into two portions – see lists no. I + II/III) . In both cases the
area belonged to one of both players, who started to use own postage stamps
there, which lasted until next occupation/peace conference.
The
"exceptions" relating to the Czechoslovak stamps were as follows :
1. On Polish
territory occupied by Czechoslovaks in Šnejdárek´s expedition only the
Hradcany stamps without any overprints could be used for period Jan. 23 –
Feb 25, 1919. This possibility finished by withdrawal of Czechoslovak forces
from the towns mentioned in list no. II in Feb. 1919 (see fig. 18 + 19) ;
2 . Just 1 post
office called “Poštovní úrad cs. prefektury v Tešíne”
(Post office of Czechoslovak Prefect Office at Tešín) being located in
Polish part of Tešín town used in period April 1920 – August 10,
1920 Czechoslovak SO 1920 postage stamps (see fig. 12: special delivery
SO 1920 stamp on a slip of paper mailed at the post office, red cancel, date
July 26, 1920) . This was special post office used by the Czechoslovak
Prefect in Tešín as well as by International Plebiscite Commission. The
mail was delivered by cars on the route Tešín (PL, Cz. Prefect’s
Post Office) – Mor. Ostrava (CZ)– Svinov (CZ, Rail. Station), where
it was given to the Czechoslovak Postal Administration.
The
"exception" relating to the Polish stamps was as follows :
- Before the territory mentioned in lists no. I +
III was occupied by Czechoslovaks, the Polish stamps were valid in the
towns only (by Polish I mean all stamps valid on Polish territory at that
time). Czechoslovak military action finished validity of the Polish stamps
in the towns stated in list no. I (see fig. 16), their validity in towns
mentioned in list no. III was only interrupted by the Šnejdárek ´s
expedition, after withdrawal of Cz. units Polish stamps remained valid
there by August 10, 1920 (see fig. 17b).
There is not
known any case enabling usage of stamps of both parties at one place on the
same moment or usage second state’s stamps on own territory. That means,
it was not possible e.g. to mix Czechoslovak and Polish SO 1920 stamps on 1
cover or to use Polish SO 1920 stamps on territory belonging to Czechoslovakia.
Interesting story
is the issuance of Czechoslovak and Polish stamps with overprint SO 1920. When
the plebiscite was announced in Sept. 1919, both parties decided to issue
special stamps for the plebiscite areas, which were under their command. On
Jan. 2, 1920 Polish body “Rada Narodowa” of Tešín approved
proposal for issue of the definitive stamps. This proposal was confirmed by
Ministerial Council of Warsaw, but yet on Feb. 3, 1920, which caused an
important delay in their issuance, so the Allied commission decided to stop
issuance of the definitive stamps and ordered to overprint existing Polish
stamps with the same overprint like the Czechoslovak ones were provided with.
The Polish stamps should show various patriotic Tešín themes like the Tešín´s
main square - see example of the unissued stamp on fig. 13 .
The Czechoslovak
SO 1920 stamps were issued continually from Feb. to August 1920. First of them
were issued on Feb. 13, 1920, the last ones (T.G. Masaryk issue of 1920) were
overprinted so late, that they could not reach the plebiscite area by August
10, 1920 and they exist only in mint condition. Examples of Czechoslovak and
Polish SO 1920 stamps you can find in fig. 10 + 11.
Entire no. 14 is a money order for an amount of 3 Crowns (!) sent
from Horni Vlckovice (Ober Wölkersdorf, probably part of German state
„The German Bohemia Province" at that time) on Nov. 27, 1918 to
Opava (Troppau). Opava was at the time capital of the German „Province
Sudetenland" situated in Silesia .
Entire no. 15 is a parcel dispatch note for a parcel sent from
Bystrovany (at that time and now Czechoslovakia) through post office Tešín
1 (at that time and now Poland) to Mosty u Tešína (at that time Poland,
now Czechoslovakia) on December 13, 1918. The postage was paid by Austrian
definitive stamps (used as preliminary stamps of Czechoslovakia) and on other
side you can find the Austrian postage due stamp (as Polish preliminary stamp).
Because no post office was located in the village Mosty u Tešína, the
parcel was delivered through a contract post office (CPO) - its cancel you can
find on the front page of the document. The cancels of CPOs on the parcel
dispatch notes are not often to be found. The one bears a cancel „Kann
ausgefolgt werden" . The cancel was used in old Austrian Monarchy for
parcels to show, the parcel can be given to the addressee . Because this cancel
was used after fall of the Austrian Monarchy, someone removed the Austrian
Eagle and the left part of the cancel remained empty. I believe the cancel was
used at post office Tešín 1 .
Another example
is entire no. 16 - money order for 80 Crowns sent from Bohumín (Oderberg
/ Bogumin) to the village Andelská hora ve Slezsku (Engelsberg, österr.
Schles.) on Dec. 16, 1918. Today the money order would be domestic mail, but at
that time Bohumin belonged to Poland and Andelská hora was located in
Czechoslovakia .
The money order
in fig. 17a was sent from Bohumín to Prague on June 19, 1919. You can
see the bilingual German - Polish cancel (coming from Austrian Monarchy ),
however at that time Bohumín was part of Czechoslovakia - see list no. I .
Entire no. 17b - a registered letter sent from post office Tešín
2 (at that time in Poland, now Czechoslovakia) in March 1920 to Karlovy Vary
(Karlsbad, at that time and now in Czechoslovakia)
Thanks to the
fact, that the Šnejdárek expedition was performed in January and February
1919, the Hradcany (and probably the Czechoslovak postage due) stamps were
valid on the occupied Polish territory about 1 month only !
Until now, we
know two Polish post offices using the Hradcany stamps: the post office
Tešín 1 and the post office Ustron. The Hradcany stamps with the cancels
of the two post offices (and if exists also with other post offices mentioned
in the list no. II.) from the period Jan. 23 - Feb. 25, 1919 are very rare,
because they were valid only for very short period and we know only small
quantity of covers franked with them.
The entire no.
18 is a money order sent from the occupied territory (post office
Tešín 1) on Feb. 20, 1919 to Kunštát (Kronstadt in Bohmen) franked
with the Hradcany stamps and in addition with the Czechoslovak postage due
stamp affixed in Kunštát . This is very interesting franking, because the
Czechoslovak postage due stamps were issued first time in Feb. 1919 and the
postage due stamps or covers with them sent in February 1919 are not often to
be found. And a mixed franking between Hradcany stamp used on occupied Polish
territory and Czechoslovak postage due stamps is very unusual !
Czechoslovak
postmen used in few post offices the Czechoslovak stopgap cancels because the
Polish postal employees moved the equipment of the post offices incl. cancels
to the Poland before Czechoslovak occupation of the towns. An example is entire
no. 19 . This is the money order sent on Feb. 22, 1919 from Poruba u Orlové
(Poremba) on Czechoslovak territory to Ustron situated on the occupied
territory . The money order was franked with mixed franking of Austrian and
Czechoslovak stamps . It reached Ustron on Feb. 24 - see the stopgap cancel
from Ustron.
Now short view to
the correspondence of Czechoslovak soldiers of Tešín area. The entire
no. 20 shows a postal card sent by one of the Czech soldiers to Podolí (now
in Prague) from the post office Tešín 1 on Feb. 5, 1919. The first very
interesting thing is that the cancel bears the letter 5d, which is not
mentioned in Votocek´s Monograph (see Monograph no. 16, vol. II, page 24) . The
second interesting thing is the mentioning of the full address of the sender : II.
brigáda I. ceskoslovenský delostrelecký pluk III. delobitna trídírna polní
pošty Uherské Hradište Morava. This card is a proof, that the
field post sorting office served not only to the Czechoslovak army in Slovakia,
but also to the Czechoslovak troops in Silesia.
We have to add,
that majority of correspondence sent by Czechoslovak soldiers from the occupied
territory was mailed at the post office Tešín 1, only small part was sent
through another post offices of the region. There exist no special field post
cancels for the Czechoslovak troops in Silesia.
Mr. Watt mentions
in his book, that Czechoslovak troops occupying Tešín area consisted of
15.000 men . Unfortunately, he doesn’t mention, where he has found the
figure. In my opinion the figure is much overestimated. For comparison I can
mention, that total number of Czechoslovak soldiers and officers serving in
whole Slovakia amounted at Dec. 31, 1918 to 10.000 men (see page 26 of
B.C.Day´s book).
The entire no.
21 is postal card sent on Jan. 22,
Finally the card no.
22 was sent by a Czech soldier serving in Czechoslovak Infantry Regiment
No. 93 from Slovak town Nové Zámky (Ersekujvar) early in March 1919. The sender
wrote in the message, that they moved from Silesia to Slovakia and that he posts
together with the card a letter he had written just before his departure from
Tešín. The message means, the soldier belonged to a unit operating in the
Tešín area, which was as per Paris Peace Conference’s result moved
back to the Czechoslovakia. Because at that time the tention in
Czechoslovak-Hungarian relations rose and yet in March the Communist took over
government in Hungary and set Hungarian Soviet Republic, the Czechoslovak
government immediately moved the units from Silesia to Slovakia to defend its
territory.
Czechoslovakia
and Romania attacked Hungarian Soviet Republic in April 1919, but during
Hungarian counter-offensive important parts of Slovakia were lost, where Slovak
Soviet Republic under Hungarian protection was established. The Slovak and
Hungarian Soviet Republics were beaten in early July 1919. More detailed
information you can find in Mr. Day’s book mentioned in the resources
section.
As you can see,
the postal history of Eastern Silesia is not easy, but very interesting part of
Czechoslovak postal history connected with other events as well. I wish you to
find similar philatelic items in your collection and I hope you will share them
with another collectors like Mr. Welvaart of the Netherlands, who provided me
with very useful information about diplomatic aspects of the theme, and
prepared scans of the nice illustrations. Thank you, Mr. Welvaart !
Resources :
Tovacovský : Monografie cs. známek, 5. díl,
Praha, 1998
M. Votocek: Monografie cs. známek, 16. díl,
Praha, 1982
J. Kypast : articles in the journal
Filatelie no. 4 and 5 / 1994
A. Welvaart,
T. Wincewicz : Znacki plebiscytowe Slask
Cieszynskiego z 1920 roku, Praha, 1995
General M. Janin: Moje úcast na
ceskoslovenském boji za svobodu, Praha, ?
D. Permans The Shaping of the Czechoslovak
State – Diplomatic History of the Boundaries of Czechoslovakia 1914-1920,
Leiden, 1962
R.M. Watt Bitter Glory – Poland and
its Fate, New York, 1982
B.C. Day Monograph Czechoslovak Field Post
1918 – 1921, London, 2002
team Michel Catalog, Europa – Ost,
Munich, 1992
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