Upper Silesia: Stamps

In 1919, after WWI the eastern part of Prussian Upper Silesia (with a majority of ethnic Poles) came under Polish rule while the mostly German-speaking western part remained part of the Weimar Republic as the newly established Upper Silesia Province.
From 1919-1921 three Silesian Uprisings occurred among the Polish-speaking populace of Upper Silesia.
In the Upper Silesia Plbicite of March 1921, a majority of 59,4% voted against merging with Poland and a minority of 40,6% voted for, with clear lines dividing Polish and German communities.
The exact border, the maintenance of cross-border railway traffic and other necessary co-operations, as well as equal rights for all inhabitants in both parts of Upper Silesia, were all fixed by the German-Polish Accord on East Silesia, signed in Geneva on May 15, 1922.

The 1921 overprints Sc 33-42

  


  


  

Scott and others note that there are forgeries - unusual that someone would turn a $0.25 stamp into a $20 one

I am submitting a likely candidate, genuine left, unknown right

 

The main key is the shape of the "9" and how close together the "9 & 2" are
The 9 has a large upper oval with the bottom curve almost touching the oval

So the goodies in the cardboard envelope were my auction winnings for last month, and the big piece is this Upper Silesia stamp, AFA #10a, 5pf overprint on 15pf purple, type I, on piece, SON cancel, proofed:

Thanks for your post, ausbrasilien .  A quick web search on the history of Upper & Eastern Silesia turns up a lot of information, some of which seems quite detailed.  From what I could see, one of the best sites would seem to be this one:

www.stamp-collecting-world.com/uppersilesiaplebiscite_history.html

This is an article titled Upper Silesia Plebiscite: A Brief History, but it seems quite extensive and covers not only Upper Silesia, but mentions Eastern Silesia, too.  There is also an index for many other subjects related to the history of Germany, which may also be of interest to you.

I hope this helps a little. 

---

Edit:  I noticed after making this post that it seems that the article I found also gives attribution to Wikipedia, so that may be the primary source of its information.

Upper Silesia - yes, was part of Prussia then Germany until after WWI. Then after the war it was divided into German/Polish sections as a result of the post-war plebiscite. Now the entire area is part of Poland as part of the post-WWII shift of German/Polish lands westwards.

Eastern Silesia - this is a separate area, was actually part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until after WWI. In its case, it was divided between Czechoslovakia and Poland as a result of its 1920 plebiscite. That division hasn't changed (I believe) since then.

A fascinating part of postal history - along with other plebiscite areas such as Marienwerder. (I used to collect them all but am selling what I have off as I narrow my focus).

Silesia was seized by the King of Prussia in 1740 and retained after several more wars with Austria. In 1806, Napoleon's army under the command of his brother advanced into Silesia. Breslau (Wroclaw), and Schweidnitz (Swidnica) surrendered without fighting. Others in Silesia held out for varying amounts of time. During the period Napoleon's forces occupied Silesia; i.e., until 1815, it remained the territory of Prussia; however, the French continued their occupation and remained in administrative control, making regular collection of reparations, plundering and mistreating the Silesian population and making themselves very unpopular.In the twentieth century, rapid industrialisation within Silesia resulted in it once more being the object of serious conflicts involving Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Geographically, Silesia, is a region that extends over an area of approximately 380 x 120 kilometres in a north-westerly - south-westerly orientation along the fertile valley of the upper and middle Oder River. It roughly coincides with the southern part of the Oder's drainage basin and its tributaries.
On the south-west, it is bounded by the Sudeten mountains. In the south-east, the Silesian Uplands merge with the Beskids (series of mountain ranges). Silesia was divided historically into three parts:

• Lower Silesia (Niederschlesien), to the northwest, includes rolling lowland valley of Oder. It was primarily agricultural with potatoes, grain, and sugar beets grown. Wroclaw (Breslau) was the most important city in Lower Silesia

• Upper Silesia (Oberschlesien), to the southeast, was characterised by uplands and is a heavily industrialized area with extensive iron, coal, and other mineral deposits. Katowice (Kattowitz) was the most important city in Upper Silesia.

• Austrian Silesia, or Teschen, borders Upper Silesia on the south and was also a coal and iron-mining region.