Wojciech Korfanty

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Wojciech Korfanty

Wojciech Korfanty (20 April 1873 - 17 August 1939), born Albert Korfanty, was a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
nationalist

Nationalism

Nationalism refers to an ideology, a feeling, a form of culture, or a social movement that focuses on the nation. While there is significant debate over the historical origins of nations, nearly all Expert accept that nationalism, at least as an ideology and social movement, is a Modernity phenomenon originating in Europe....
activist

Activism

Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social change or politics change. This action is in support of, or opposition to, one side of an often controversy argument....
, journalist

Journalist

A journalist is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that aren't biased....
and politician

Politician

A politician is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of politics or a person who influences the way a society is governed....
, serving as member of the German

German Empire

The German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of William I, German Emperor as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became Weimar republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of William II, German Emperor ....
parliaments Reichstag

Reichstag (institution)

Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland is the Republic of Poland between World War I and World War II....
Sejm
Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Poland parliament.Before the 20th century, the term "Sejm" referred to the entire three-Chambers of parliament Polish parliament, comprising the lower house , the upper house and the monarch....
. Briefly, he also was a paramilitary

Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organisation are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status....
leader, known for organizing the Polish Silesian Uprisings

Silesian Uprisings

The Silesian Uprisings were a series of three armed Rebellion of the Poles and Polish Silesians of Upper Silesia, from 1919?1921, against Weimar Republic rule; the resistance hoped to break away from Germany in order to join the Second Polish Republic, which had been established in the wake of World War I....
in Germany's Upper Silesia

Province of Upper Silesia

The Province of Upper Silesia was a Provinces of Prussia of the Free State of Prussia created in the aftermath of World War I. It composed much of the region of Upper Silesia and was eventually divided into two administrative regions , Kattowitz and Oppeln ....
.

He was known for his irredentist

Irredentism

Irredentism is any position advocating annexation of territories administered by another state on the grounds of common ethnicity or prior historical possession, actual or alleged....
policies in the wake of World War I

World War I

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Encyclopedia

Wojciech Korfanty (20 April 1873 - 17 August 1939), born Albert Korfanty, was a Polish

Poland

Nationalism

Activism

Journalist

Politician

German Empire

Reichstag (institution)

Second Polish Republic

Paramilitary

Silesian Uprisings

Province of Upper Silesia

Irredentism

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
. He fought to protect Poles from discrimination

Discrimination

Discrimination toward or against a person or group is the treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit. It is usually associated with prejudice....
and against the policy

Policy

A policy is typically described as a deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. However, the term may also be used to denote what is actually done, even though it is unplanned....
of Germanisation

Germanisation

Germanisation is either the spread of the German language, German people and German culture either by force or assimilation, or the adaptation of a foreign word to the German language in linguistics, much like the Romanization of many languages which do not use the Latin alphabet....
in Upper Silesia before the war. Wojciech was one of the chief advocates of joining Upper Silesia to the new Polish state

Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland is the Republic of Poland between World War I and World War II....
after the war.

Biography

Early life

Korfanty was born the son of a coal miner in Sadzawka, part of Siemianowice (at the time Laurahütte), in Prussian Silesia, then German Empire

German Empire

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, law

LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
, and economics

Economics

File:Ballard Farmers' Market - vegetables.jpgEconomics is the Social sciences that studies the Production theory basics, Distribution , and Consumption of Good and Service ....
, first at the Technical University in Charlottenburg (Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
) (1895) and at the University of Breslau, where Marxist Werner Sombart

Werner Sombart

Werner Sombart was a Germany economics and sociology, the head of the ?Youngest Historical School? and one of the leading Continental European social scientists during the first quarter of the 20th century....
was among his teachers and remained on friendly terms with him for many years.

In 1901, Korfanty became editor-in-chief of the Polish language

Polish language

Polish , an official language of Poland, has the largest number of speakers of any West Slavic languages. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner through most of Poland, and it has a regular orthography....
paper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on Politics, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports....
Górnoslazak (The Upper Silesian), in which he appealed to the national consciousness

Consciousness

Consciousness is a difficult term to define, because the word is used and understood in a wide variety of ways, so that it frequently happens that what one person sees as a definition of consciousness is seen by others as about something else altogether....
of the region's Polish-speaking population

Population

File:Population density.pngIn biology, a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular species; in sociology, a collection of human beings....
.

In 1903, Korfanty was elected

Election

An election is a decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office. This is the usual mechanism by which modern Representative democracy fills offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for regional government and local government....
to the German Reichstag

Reichstag (institution)

The Reichstag was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945. The main chamber of the German parliament is now called Bundestag , but the building in which it meets is still called "Reichstag" ....
and in 1904 also to the Prussian Landtag, where he represented the independent "Polish circle" (Polskie kolo). This was a significant departure from tradition, as the Polish minority in Prussia had so far predominantly supported the Catholic

Catholic

Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek language adjective , meaning "whole" or "complete". In the context of Christianity ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages....
'Centre Party'

Centre Party (Germany)

The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The party dissolved itself on 5 July, 1933 as a condition of the conclusion of Reichskonkordat between the Holy See and Germany....
in elections. As the Catholic 'Centre Party' had refused to protect Polish rights

Minority rights

The term minority rights embodies two separate concepts: first, normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or sexual minorities, and second, collective rights accorded to minority groups....
, the Poles distanced themselves from the party, seeking protection elsewhere. In a polemic

Polemic

Polemics is the practice of disputing or controverting religion, philosophy, politics, or scientific matters. As such, a polemic text on a topic is often written specifically to dispute or refute a position or theory that is widely viewed to be beyond reproach....
paper entitled Precz z Centrum ("Away with the Centre Party", 1901), Korfanty had urged the Catholic Polish-speaking minority in Germany to overcome their national indifference and shift their political allegiance from supra-national

Multinational

The word multinational can refer to:* A multinational corporation* A multinational state* International* Transnational* Multiethnic...
Catholicism to the cause of the Polish nation. However, Korfanty retained his Christian Democratic convictions and later returned to them in domestic Polish politics.

Polish Restoration

At the end of World War I

World War I

Independence

Independence is the self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, or some portion thereof, generally exercising sovereignty....
Polish state. In a Reichstag speech on October 25, 1918, Korfanty demanded that the provinces of West Prussia

West Prussia

West Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth province of Royal Prussia....
(including Ermeland and the city of Danzig (Gdansk)), the Province of Posen

Province of Posen

The Province of Posen was a province of Kingdom of Prussia from 1848-1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918; the whole area is now part of Poland....
, and parts of the province

Province

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state....
s of East Prussia

East Prussia

East Prussia refers to the main part of the Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Sea from the 13th century to 1945. From 1772?1829 and 1878?1945, the Province of East Prussia was a province of the Germany state of Prussia....
(Masuria

Masuria

Masuria is an area in northeastern Poland famous for its Masurian Lakeland. Together with Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast to the north and a small section of Lithuania, the region used to be a part of Prussia and of the province of East Prussia, a Germany exclave between the world wars....
) and Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in present-day Poland, with parts in the Czech Republic and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas....
(Upper Silesia) be included in the Polish state. After the war, during the Great Poland Uprising

Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919)

The Greater Poland Uprising of 1918–1919, or Wielkopolska Uprising of 1918–1919 or Posnanian War was a military insurrection of Poles in the Greater Poland region against Weimar Republic....
, Korfanty became a member of the Naczelna Rada Ludowa (Supreme People's Council) in Poznan

Poznan

Poznan is a city in west-central Poland with over 567,882 inhabitants . Located on the Warta River, it is one of the oldest cities in Poland, making it an important historical centre and a vibrant centre of trade, industry, and education....
(Posen), and a member of the Polish provisional parliament, the Constituanta-Sejm
Sejm

The Sejm is the lower house of the Poland parliament.Before the 20th century, the term "Sejm" referred to the entire three-Chambers of parliament Polish parliament, comprising the lower house , the upper house and the monarch....
. He was also the head of the Polish plebiscite committee

Committee

A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"....
in Upper Silesia. He was one of the leaders of the Second Silesian Uprising in 1920 and the Third Silesian Uprising in 1921 — Polish insurrections, supported and financed by Warsaw, against German rule in Upper Silesia. The German authorities were forced to leave their positions by the League of Nations and the occupying French and Italian troops did not protect the country. Despite majority votes for Germany Poland took roughly half of the population and the most valuable mining districts, which were eventually attached to Poland. Korfanty was accused by Germans of organizing terrorism

Terrorism

Terrorism, according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, is the systematic use of terror, "violent or destructive acts committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands." At present, there is no internationally agreed upon definition of terrorism....
against the German civilian

Civilian

A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces. The term is also often used colloquially to refer to people who are not members of a particular profession or occupation, especially by law enforcement agency, which often use rank structures similar to those of military units...
s of Upper Silesia. They also accused him of ordering the murder

Murder

Murder as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide....
of Silesian politician Theofil Kupka.

Republican Politics

Mr. Korfanty was a member of the national Sejm from 1922 to 1930, and in the Silesian Sejm (1922-1935), where he represented a Christian Democratic view-point. He opposed the autonomy

Autonomy

Autonomy is the right to self-government. Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political, and bioethics philosophy. Within these contexts, it refers to the capacity of a Rationality individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision....
of the Silesian Voivodship, which he saw as an obstacle against its re-integration

Integration

Integration may refer to:In sociology and economy:*Social integration*Racial integration, refers to social and cultural behavior; in a legal sense, see desegregation...
into Poland. However, Mr. Korfanty defended the rights of the German minority in Upper Silesia, because he believed that the prosperity

Prosperity

Prosperity is the state of flourishing, thriving, success, or good forture. Prosperity often encompasses wealth but also includes others factors which are independent of wealth to varying degrees, such as happiness and health....
of minorities enriched the whole society

Society

A society is a group of humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive culture and/or institutions....
of a region

Region

Region is a geographical term that is used in various ways among the different branches of geography. In general, a region is a medium-scale area of land or water, smaller than the whole areas of interest , and larger than a specific site A region may be seen as a collection of smaller units or as one part of a larger whole ....
.

He briefly acted as vice-premier in the government

Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
of Wincenty Witos

Wincenty Witos

Wincenty Witos was a prominent member of the Polish People's Party from 1895, and leader of its "Piast" faction from 1913. He was a member of parliament in the Galician Sejm from 1908-1914, and an envoy to Reichsrat in Vienna from 1911 to 1918....
(October-December 1923). From 1924, he resumed with his journalist activities as editor-in-chief of the papers Rzeczpospolita ("The Republic

Rzeczpospolita

Rzeczpospolita is a Polish language word for "republic" or "commonwealth", a calque translation of the Latin expression res publica .The word rzeczpospolita has been used in Poland since at least 16th century, originally a generic term to denote any state with a republican or similar form of government....
", not to be confused with the modern paper

Rzeczpospolita (newspaper)

Rzeczpospolita is one of Poland's large nationwide daily newspapers, with a circulation of 160,000, although a few years ago it reached even 260,000....
of the same name) and Polonia. He opposed the May Coup of Józef Pilsudski

Józef Pilsudski

]]In 1892 Pilsudski returned from exile. In 1893 he joined the Polish Socialist Party and helped organize its Lithuanian branch. Initially he sided with the Socialists' more radical wing, but despite the socialist movement's ostensible internationalism he remained a Polish nationalist....
and his subsequent establishment of Sanacja
Sanacja

Sanacja was a coalition political movement in the interbellum Second Polish Republic. It was created in 1926 by J?zef Pilsudski as a broad movement to support the "moral sanation" of the Polish body politic before and after the May Coup d'Etat that brought Pilsudski to virtually dictatorial power....
-government from a Christian Democratic position. In 1930, he was arrest

Arrest

An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the investigation and prevention of crime. The term is Anglo-Norman language in origin and is related to the French word arr?t, meaning "stop"....
ed and imprison

Prison

A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or internment and usually deprived of a range of personal Freedom ....
ed in the Brest-Litovsk fortress, together with other leaders of the Centrolew
Centrolew

The Centrolew was a coalition of several Polish political parties after the Polish legislative election, 1928. The coaltion was directed against J?zef Pilsudski and the sanacja government....
, an alliance of left-wing and centrist

Centrism

In politics, centrism usually refers to the political idea of promoting moderate policies which land in the middle between different political extremes....
parties

Political party

A political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain politics power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns....
in opposition to the ruling government.

Exile

In 1935, he was forced to leave Poland and emigrated to Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918 until 1992 . On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia dissolution of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia....
, where from he participated in the "center-right" Morges Front group formed by émigrés Ignacy Paderewski and Wladyslaw Sikorski

Wladyslaw Sikorski

Wladyslaw Eugeniusz Sikorski was a Poland military and political leader. He was born in Tusz?w Narodowy a village in the present-day Subcarpathian Voivodeship of south-eastern Poland, which at the time was part of Austria-Hungary, one of Poland's three Partitions of Poland....
. After the German

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
invasion

Fall Grün

Before World War II, Fall Gr?n was a Nazi Germany plan for an aggressive war against Czechoslovakia. The first draft of the plan was made in late 1937, with new versions coming as the military situation and requirements changed....
of Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918 until 1992 . On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia dissolution of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia....
, Mr. Korfanty moved on to France. He returned to Poland in the April of 1939, after Nazi Germany had cancelled the Polish-German non-aggression pact of 1934, hoping that the renewed threat to Polish independence would help overcome the domestic political cleavage. He was arrested immediately upon arrival. In August, he was released as unfit for prison due to his bad health

Health

In 1948, the World Health Organisation defined health as ?a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.? ...
, and died

Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
shortly afterwards, two weeks before World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
began with the German invasion of Poland

Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland in 1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak invasion of Poland contingent....
. Although his cause of death

Cause of Death

Cause of Death is a 1990 album by United States death metal band Obituary . Cause of Death is considered a landmark album in the history of death metal....
remains unclear, it has been claimed that the treatment he received in prison may have caused his health to deteriorate.

Ex Post Facto

After 1945, when the Polish communists sought legitimation the as champions and guarantors of Polish independence, Mr. Korfanty was finally rehabilitated

Political rehabilitation

Political rehabilitation is the process by which a member of a political organization or government who has fallen into disgrace is restored to public life....
as a national hero

Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, the offspring of a mortal and a deity,their Greek hero cult being one of the most distinctive features of Religion in ancient Greece....
due to his fight to protect the Polish population in Upper Silesia from discrimination, and his efforts to join the Polish population in Silesia to Poland. Today, many street

Street

A street is a public thoroughfare in the built environment. It is a public parcel of landform adjoining buildings in an urban area context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about....
s, places and institution

Institution

Institutions are social structure and social mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals. Institutions are identified with a social purpose and permanence, transcending individual human lives and intentions, and with the making and enforcing of rules governing cooperative human behavior....
s are named for him. When Opole Silesia became part of Poland in 1945, the town of Friedland in Oberschlesien

Korfantów

Korfant?w [] is a town in the Opole Voivodeship of Poland. It has a population of approximately 1,860 inhabitants. It is named after Wojciech Korfanty....
, inside German Upper Silesia

Province of Upper Silesia

Korfantów

Korfant?w [] is a town in the Opole Voivodeship of Poland. It has a population of approximately 1,860 inhabitants. It is named after Wojciech Korfanty....
in his honour

Honour

File:Hamilton-burr-duel.jpgHonour or Honor , is the evaluation of a person's trustworthiness and social social status based on that individual's espousals and actions....
.

Literature

Sigmund Karski: Albert (Wojciech) Korfanty. Eine Biographie. Dülmen 1990. ISBN 3-87466-118-0
Marian Orzechowski: Wojciech Korfanty. Breslau 1975.

Wojciech Korfanty

Biography

Early life

Polish Restoration

Republican Politics

Exile

Ex Post Facto

Literature

External links