The 1919-1921 Silesian Uprisings in the contemporary German history writing

Abstract

References to the Silesian Uprisings in the German history writing are not very
common. Following 1922 what came to dominate the latter was mostly journalistic
accounts of the “heroic deeds” of the German Selbstschutz in the Battle of
Annaberg. After the establishment of West Germany that narrative was continued.
As Juliane Haubold-Stolle demonstrated in her monograph Mit Górnego Śląska.
Walka o pamięć w Niemczech i w Polsce 1919-1956, published in 2008, the articles
in the German press were often authored by the same pre-war activists. 1961
saw the publication of Wolfgang Schumann’s book Górny Śląsk 1918/19 which
highlighted class antagonisms instead of national differences. However, it was
in 1972 that another book came out signalling a major shift of approach: Martin
Broszat called the division of Upper Silesia guaranteed by the League of Nations
“quite a fair compromise.” The publications of the early 21st century brought out in Polish-German cooperation (such as Polsko-Niemieckie Miejsca Pamięci edited by
Robert Traba and Hans H. Hahn, or Historia Górnego Śląska. Polityka, gospodarka
i kultura europejskiego regionu researched and published under the supervision of
Joachim Bahlcke, Dan Gawrecki and Ryszard Kaczmarek)