Abstract
One of the principal issues which arose at the Paris Peace Conference, called to conclude the Great War, was that of the territorial boundaries of Poland. And one of the most troublesome problems concerning the Polish borders was the status of a district in the Prussian province of Silesia known simply as Oberschlesien, in English, Upper Silesia. | Originally this industrial district was to be ceded to Poland in accordance with the draft treaty prepared by the Allied representatives at Versailles. The German Government, not realizing the severity of the draft treaty, had instructed its plenipotentiaries to make certain that the Allies would not decide on a plebiscite in Upper Silesia, and had prepared evidence to the fact that the district was inhabited for the most part by Germans and thus should remain part of Germany. Once the plenipotentiaries ascertained that the Allies had planned to grant the district to Poland, they protested vehemently, claiming the area on the basis of the nationality of the inhabitants of the area, and on economic necessity for Germany.