not be subsequent to January 1, 1919, or who have been expelled by the German authorities and have not retained their domicile there.

Persons convicted of political offences shall be enabled to exercise their right of voting.

Every person will vote in the commune where he is domiciled or in which he was born, if he has not retained his domicile in the

area.

The result of the vote will be determined by communes according to the majority of votes in each commune.

Note to III, 88, Annex (4)

A convention concerning the release of persons in custody and the granting of amnesty signed between Germany and Poland on October 1, 1919 did not finally eliminate differences of that character. A supplementary convention signed at Berlin February 12, 1921 and in force December 5 remitted all disciplinary penalties on persons released and further provided for the immediate release of all persons interned on the occasion of the Polish disturbances in the frontier territory of Upper Silesia, or in connection with the advance of Russian troops in Polish territory, or who had been arrested as hostages (9 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 149). Full amnesty was granted for offenses, including those described as high treason and those of lesser seriousness, committed before December 1, 1920.

5.

On the conclusion of the voting, the number of votes cast in each commune will be communicated by the Commission to the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, with a full report as to the taking of the vote and a recommendation as to the line which ought to be adopted as the frontier of Germany in Upper Silesia. In this recommendation regard will be paid to the wishes of the inhabitants as shown by the vote, and to the geographical and economic conditions of the locality.

6.

As soon as the frontier has been fixed by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, the German authorities will be notified by the International Commission that they are free to take over the administration of the territory which it is recognised should be German; the said authorities must proceed to do so within one month of such notification and in the manner prescribed by the Commission.

Within the same period and in the manner prescribed by the Commission, the Polish Government must proceed to take over the administration of the territory which it is recognised should be Polish.

When the administration of the territory has been provided for by the German and Polish authorities respectively, the powers of the Commission will terminate.

The cost of the army of occupation and expenditure by the Com mission, whether in discharge of its own functions or in the ad ministration of the territory, will be a charge on the area.

Note to III, 88, Annex (6)

The notice stipulated in the first paragraph was approved by the Conference of Ambassadors on June 2, 1922.

On June 1, 1929 unpaid balances of the costs of the occupation of the Upper Silesian plebiscite zone were fixed at 79,412,735.89 gold marks, of which 50,214,144.39 was due from Poland and 29,198,591.50 from Germany.

ARTICLE 89.

Poland undertakes to accord freedom of transit to persons, goods, vessels, carriages, wagons and mails in transit between East Prussia and the rest of Germany over Polish territory, including territorial waters, and to treat them at least as favourably as the persons, goods, vessels, carriages, wagons and mails respectively of Polish or of any other more favoured nationality, origin, importation, starting point, or ownership as regards facilities, restrictions and all other matters.

Text of May 7:

Poland undertakes to grant to persons and to means of transport of whatever nationality, coming from or destined for East Prussia, the same rights of transit over Polish territory situated between East Prussia and Germany as she gives to her own nationals.

Goods in transit shall be exempt from all customs or other similar duties.

Freedom of transit will extend to telegraphic and telephonic services under the conditions laid down by the conventions referred to in Article 98.

Note to III, 89

The important question of frontier traffic facilities between Germany and Poland was regulated by a detailed agreement signed at

Note to III, 89—Continued

Posen April 29, 1922 and in force on September 15, 1922 (21 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 391), which was first extended by an agreement of December 23, 1924 and then until November 1, 1925 by four protocols and exchanges of notes at short intervals in 1925 (41 ibid., p. 226). Frontier traffic became a controversial question after the National Socialists came into power in Germany.

Germany and Poland concluded an agreement on December 30, 1924 regarding facilities for minor frontier traffic (52 League of Nations Treaty Series, p. 51) and on December 2, 1925 at Posen a protocol concerning the opening of customs roads and other crossings at points on the German-Polish frontier, neither of which entered into force by approval of the two Governments until January 1, 1928 (70 ibid., p. 427).

The agreement relating to the frontier zone of Upper Silesia provided for in article 233 of the German-Polish convention of May 15, 1922 was concluded by Germany and Poland at Warsaw on February 23, 1924 and was in force July 16, 1924 (41 ibid., p. 197); it was continued in force by protocols and exchanges of notes until superseded by the agreement of December 30, 1924.

ARTICLE 90.

Poland undertakes to permit for a period of fifteen years the exportation to Germany of the products of the mines in any part of Upper Silesia transferred to Poland in accordance with the present Treaty.

Such products shall be free from all export duties or other charges or restrictions on exportation.

Poland agrees to take such steps as may be necessary to secure that any such products shall be available for sale to purchasers in Germany on terms as favourable as are applicable to like products sold under similar conditions to purchasers in Poland or in any other country.

Text of May 7:

German nationals habitually resident in territories recognised as forming part of Poland will acquire Polish nationality ipso facto and will lose their German nationality.

German nationals, however, or their descendants who became resident in these territories after January 1, 1908, will not acquire Polish nationality without a special authorisation from the Polish State. Note to III, 90

See notes under article 268 (b).

ARTICLE 91.

German nationals habitually resident in territories recognised as forming part of Poland will acquire Polish nationality ipso facto and will lose their German nationality.

German nationals, however, or their descendants who became resident in these territories after January 1, 1908, will not acquire Polish nationality without a special authorisation from the Polish State. Within a period of two years after the coming into force of the present Treaty, German nationals over 18 years of age habitually resident in any of the territories recognised as forming part of Poland will be entitled to opt for German nationality.

Poles who are German nationals over 18 years of age and habitually resident in Germany will have a similar right to opt for Polish nationality.

Option by a husband will cover his wife and option by parents will cover their children under 18 years of age.

Persons who have exercised the above right to opt may within the succeeding twelve months transfer their place of residence to the State for which they have opted.

They will be entitled to retain their immovable property in the territory of the other State where they had their place of residence before exercising the right to opt.

They may carry with them their movable property of every description. No export or import duties or charges may be imposed upon them in connection with the removal of such property.

Within the same period Poles who are German nationals and are in a foreign country will be entitled, in the absence of any provisions to the contrary in the foreign law, and if they have not acquired the foreign nationality, to obtain Polish nationality and to lose their German nationality by complying with the requirements laid down by the Polish State.

In the portion of Upper Silesia submitted to a plebiscite the provisions of this Article shall only come into force as from the definitive attribution of the territory.

Text of May 7:

Within a period of two years after the coming into force of the present Treaty, German nationals over 18 years of age habitually resident in any of the territories recognised as forming part of Poland will be entitled to opt for German nationality.

Poles who are German nationals over 18 years of age and habitually resident in Germany will have a similar right to opt for Polish nationality.

Text of May 7-Continued

Option by a husband will cover his wife and option by parents will cover their children under 18 years of age.

Persons who have exercised the above right to opt must within the succeeding twelve months transfer their place of residence to the State for which they have opted.

They will be entitled to retain their immovable property in the territory of the other State where they had their place of residence before exercising the right to opt.

They may carry with them their movable property of every description. No export or import duties or charges may be imposed upon them in connection with the removal of such property.

Within the same period Poles who are German nationals and are in a foreign country will be entitled, in the absence of any provisions to the contrary in the foreign law, and if they have not acquired foreign nationality, to obtain Polish nationality and to lose their German nationality by complying with the requirements laid down by the Polish State.

Note to III, 91

The German delegation declared that Germany would have to protect its former nationals in Poland using the German language, all the more so because the Poles had not yet proved themselves "reliable protectors of the rights of national and religious minorities" (Foreign Relations, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, vi, 839). Recent massacres of Jews in Poland were cited to illustrate the point.

The German delegation protested "as a matter of principle" against paragraph 2 of article 91, because there was no apparent reason why Germans who transferred their residence after January 1, 1908 should be treated differently from those who emigrated at an earlier date. German officials in the ceded territories would have to be protected, and the damages caused by the Poles in the recent uprising should be determined by commissions.

The decision of the Conference of Ambassadors of October 20, 1921 provided that questions relating to the nationality of persons domiciled in the Polish portion of Upper Silesia on the date of definitive allocation should be decided in accordance with this article and articles 3-6 of the treaty between the Principal Allied and Associated Powers and Poland signed June 28, 1919.

Two systems of nationality and minorities regulation therefore came into being for Polish territory:

1. A consolidated plan with a special jurisdictional structure set forth in articles 25-170 of the German-Polish convention of May 15, 1922 relative to Upper Silesia; and