Vereinsaktivitäten der Deutschen in Polnisch-Oberschlesien 1922-1939

The aim of this article were the sociopolitical activities of the German ethnic group in the former Prussian part of the Voyvodeship of Silesia in the years 1922—1939 reflected in clubs. Dates and information for this contribution were delivered by different records from archives, as well as by what has been left over from the German clubs themselves, and also by Polish State and church authorities. From these activities of the Germans in Polish-Upper Silesia on the basis of the present position of research two different conclusions can be drawn: 1. The main centre of the Germans' club activities was the cultural and educational field as well as in the confessional area, and 2. An exclusively political work became clearly evident not before the 30's (and not without resistance of a large number of the functionaries). At that time new (so-called young) national-radical and national-socialistical oriented parties came forth. The most significant of them was the Jungdeutsche Partei (Young German Party), founded in 1931. In spite of the efforts and expectations of its leaders the party was not able to reach the complete streamlining of the German political life in the Voyvodeship of Silesia. The clubs with their rich traditions formed up to 1939 the hard core for the German movement in Polish-Upper Silesia.