SECTION VIII.-Poland.

ARTICLE 87.

Germany, in conformity with the action already taken by the Allied and Associated Powers, recognizes the complete independence of Poland, and renounces in her favour all rights and title over the territory bounded by the Baltic Sea, the eastern frontier of Germany as laid down in Article 27 of Part II (Boundaries of Germany) of the present Treaty up to a point situated about 2 kilometres to the east of Lorzendorf, then a line to the acute angle which the northern boundary of Upper Silesia makes about 3 kilometres north-west of Simmenau, then the boundary of Upper Silesia to its meeting point with the old frontier between Germany and Russia, then this frontier to the point where it crosses the course of the Niemen, and then the northern frontier of East Prussia as laid down in Article 28 of Part II aforesaid.

The provisions of this Article do not, however, apply to the territories of East Prussia and the Free City of Danzig, as defined in Article 28 of Part II (Boundaries of Germany) and in Article 100 of Section XI (Danzig) of this Part.

The boundaries of Poland not laid down in the present Treaty will be subsequently determined by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers.

A Commission consisting of seven members, five of whom shall be nominated by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, one by Germany and one by Poland, shall be constituted fifteen days after the coming into force of the present Treaty to delimit on the spot the frontier line between Poland and Germany.

The decisions of the Commission will be taken by a majority of votes and shall be binding upon the parties concerned.

Text of May 7:

Germany, in conformity with the action already taken by the Allied and Associated Powers, recognizes the complete independence of Poland, and renounces in her favour all rights and title over the territory bounded by the Baltic Sea; the eastern frontier of Germany as laid down in Article 27 of Part II (Boundaries of Germany) of the present Treaty; the frontier of the Czecho-Slovak State from a point situated 8 kilometres to the East of Neustadt to its meeting point with the former frontier between Germany and AustriaHungary; this last frontier to the meeting point of the former frontiers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia; the former frontier between Germany and Russia to the point where it crosses

Text of May 7-Continued

the course of the Niemen, and then the northern frontier of East Prussia as laid down in Article 28 of Part II aforesaid.

The provisions of this article do not, however, apply to the territories of East Prussia and the Free City of Danzig, as defined in Article 28 of Part II (Boundaries of Germany) and in Article 100 of Section XI (Danzig) of this Part.

The boundaries of Poland not laid down in the present Treaty will be subsequently determined by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers.

Note to III, 87

Germany had declared its acquiescence in the formation of an independent Poland "which should include all districts occupied by an indisputably Polish population" (the Thirteenth Point), but the treaty awarded to Poland, "in defiance of ethnographic considerations", numerous strongly German towns and districts for military or economic reasons (Foreign Relations, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, vi, 832).

The Allies replied that they had a "special obligation" to reestablish the Polish nation, for its partition was "one of the greatest wrongs of which history has record" (ibid., p. 945). The seizure of the western provinces of Poland had been "one of the essential steps" in building up the military power of Germany, and "to undo this wrong is the first duty of the Allies". In the Allied view the frontiers had been drawn so as to include "those districts which are now inhabited by an indisputably Polish population".

Posen, said the German delegation, could not be regarded as indisputably Polish (ibid., p. 835). Germany was prepared to cede the truly Polish parts, but the frontiers proposed were based on strategic, not national, considerations. Not only almost all of West Prussia, which was "an old German territory", but also even part of Pomerania, "without the slightest ethnographical justification", was to be ceded. Yet there were 744,000 Germans as against 580,000 Poles and Cashubians (who were not identical with Poles), and the German population was "far superior" as regards commercial, social, and cultural importance. Germany could not consent to the severance of East Prussia and insisted on a connecting bridge with it, but was willing to cede West Prussian territories "in so far as they have unquestionably been colonized by Poles".

The Allied reply asserted that when Poland was partitioned Posen and West Prussia were "predominantly inhabited by Poles"; but instead of applying the principle of historic right, the Allies "to

Note to III, 87—Continued

avoid even the appearance of injustice" had left to Germany "those districts on the west in which there is an undisputed German predominance in immediate contiguity to German territory" (ibid., p. 946). Since a frontier could not be drawn without creating minorities, "there must be some sacrifice on one side or the other" and "there can be no doubt as to who has the prior claim to consideration", for the Germans in these territories had not come there "in obedience to natural causes" but because of the policy pursued by the Prussian government. To recognize German title to the country "would be to give an encouragement and premium to the grossest acts of injustice and opposition". Nevertheless certain modifications in detail had been made in the frontier in order to diminish the number of Germans in Poland, and the historical frontier between Pomerania and West Prussia would be restored.

Poland did not ratify the treaty concerning frontiers concluded at Sèvres on August 10, 1920 between the Principal Allied and Associated Powers and Poland, Rumania, the Serb-Croat-Slovene State, and the Czechoslovak State (113 British and Foreign State Papers, p. 866).

Paragraph 3 refers particularly to the eastern boundary of Poland with Bolshevik Russia; see preamble of treaty with Poland, p. 791. The Delimitation Commission proposed a definitive delimitation of the East Prussian frontier which the Conference of Ambassadors confirmed on December 19, 1922. A provisional regulation on conditions of access to the Vistula was published at the same time and was replaced by a decision of November 21, 1924, in force February 1, 1925 (Reichsgesetzblatt, 1925, 11, No. 3, 17).

The German-Polish Delimitation Commission ended its work on October 18, 1924.

A convention with Germany relating to the transfer of the judicial administration to Poland, signed at Posen September 20, 1920, came into force January 1, 1921 (9 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 103).

ARTICLE 88.

In the portion of Upper Silesia included within the boundaries described below, the inhabitants will be called upon to indicate by a vote whether they wish to be attached to Germany or to Poland:

starting from the northern point of the salient of the old province of Austrian Silesia situated about 8 kilometres east of Neustadt, the

former frontier between Germany and Austria to its junction with | the boundary between the Kreise of Leobschütz and Ratibor; thence in a northerly direction to a point about 2 kilomètres south-east of Katscher:

the boundary between the Kreise of Leobschütz and Ratibor; thence in a south-easterly direction to a point on the course of the Oder immediately south of the Ratibor-Oderberg railway:

a line to be fixed on the ground passing south of Kranowitz; thence the old boundary between Germany and Austria, then the old boundary between Germany and Russia to its junction with the administrative boundary between Posnania and Upper Silesia ; thence this administrative boundary to its junction with the administrative boundary between Upper and Middle Silesia ;

thence westwards to the point where the administrative boundary turns in an acute angle to the south-east about 3 kilometres northwest of Simmenau:

the boundary between Upper and Middle Silesia;

then in a westerly direction to a point to be fixed on the ground about 2 kilometres east of Lorzendorf:

a line to be fixed on the ground passing north of Klein Hennersdorf:

thence southwards to the point where the boundary between Upper and Middle Silesia cuts the Städtel-Karlsruhe road:

a line to be fixed on the ground passing west of Hennersdorf, Polkowitz, Noldau, Steinersdorf and Dammer, and east of Strehlitz, Nassadel, Eckersdorf, Schwirz and Städtel;

thence the boundary between Upper and Middle Silesia to its junction with the eastern boundary of the Kreis of Falkenberg;

then the eastern boundary of the Kreis of Falkenberg to the point of the salient which is 3 kilometres east of Puschine;

thence to the northern point of the salient of the old province of Austrian Silesia situated about 8 kilometres east of Neustadt: a line to be fixed on the ground passing east of Zülz.

The régime under which this plebiscite will be taken and given effect to is laid down in the Annex hereto.

The Polish and German Governments hereby respectively bind themselves to conduct no prosecutions on any part of their territory and to take no exceptional proceedings for any political action performed in Upper Silesia during the period of the régime laid down in the Annex hereto and up to the settlement of the final status of the country.

Germany hereby renounces in favour 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 the result of the plebiscite.

Text of May 7:

A Commission consisting of seven members, five of whom shall be nominated by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, one by Germany and one by Poland, shall be constituted fifteen days after the coming into force of the present Treaty to delimit on the spot the frontier-line between Poland and Germany.

The decision of the Commission will be taken by a majority of votes and shall be binding upon the parties concerned.

Note to III, 88

The draft treaty presented to the German delegation on May 7 provided for the cession of Upper Silesia to Poland."

Upper Silesia, protested the German delegation, had not belonged to Poland since 1163 (Foreign Relations, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, vi, 833). In the elections of 1903, 1907, and 1912 large majorities had voted for German candidates; in the election of 1919 for the German National Assembly, when the Poles abstained, 60 percent of the possible voters had voted for German candidates. The parents of less than 22 percent of the schoolchildren had asked for instruction in a language other than German. Furthermore the Polish dialect of upper Silesia (Wasserpolnisch) was a mixed language and did not constitute a mark of nationality. Upper Silesia owed its entire material and intellectual development to Germany, which could not spare it. It supplied the entire industry of eastern Germany with coal, producing in 1918 43,500,000 metric tons. Poland did not need it, for Poland produced nearly 7,000,000 of the 10,500,000 tons of coal consumed and could easily import the deficit from Czechoslovakia. The conditions of life were "incomparably better" than in Poland, "where legislation for the benefit of the working classes has but scarcely begun". Without Upper Silesia Germany could not fulfil its obligations of reparation. The cession would "endanger seriously the peace of Europe and of the world".

The Allies admitted that Poland had "no legal claim" to the cession of Upper Silesia, but declared that in the district to be ceded "the majority of the population is indisputably Polish", according to "every German book of reference" (ibid., p. 947). Since the German Government contested these conclusions, the question should be determined "by those particularly concerned" through a plebiscite. As further concessions, an article had been included providing that min