page_title: 1920 East Prussian plebiscite
section_title: Polish campaign
hierarchical_section_title: 1920 East Prussian plebiscite / Propaganda / Polish campaign
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Pomnik Bogumiła Linki w Olsztynie
context_page_description: The East Prussia plebiscite, also known as the Allenstein and Marienwerder plebiscite or Warmia, Masuria and Powiśle plebiscite, was a plebiscite for self-determination of the regions southern Warmia, Masuria and Powiśle, which had been in parts of the East Prussian Government Region of Allenstein and of West Prussian Government Region of Marienwerder, in accordance with Articles 94 to 97 of the Treaty of Versailles.
  Prepared during early 1920, it took place on 11 July 1920. The plebiscite was conducted by German authorities, formally under Inter-Allied control. According to Richard K. Debo, both German and Polish governments believed that the outcome of the plebiscite was decided by the ongoing Polish-Bolshevik War which threatened the existence of the newly formed Polish state itself and, as a result, even many German citizens of Polish ethnicity of the region voted for Germany out of fear that if the area was allocated to Poland it would soon fall under Soviet rule. At the time of the plebiscite the Soviet army came closer to Warsaw every day, committing crimes against the civilian population.
context_section_description: A delegation of Masurians petitioned the Allies in March 1919 to join their region with Poland.
  The Poles established an unofficial Masurian Plebiscite Committee (Mazurski Komitet Plebiscytowy) on June 6, 1919 under the chairmanship of the Polish citizen Juliusz Bursche, later Bishop of the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland. There was also an unofficial Warmian Plebiscite Committee. They tried to convince the Masurians of Warmia (Ermland) and Masuria  being victims of a long period of Germanisation, but ethnic Poles, now had the opportunity to liberate themselves from Prussian rule.
  Rennie reported to Curzon at the British Foreign Office, on February 18, 1920, that the Poles, who had taken control of the Polish Corridor to the Baltic Sea, had "entirely disrupted the railway, telegraphic and telephone system, and the greatest difficulty is being experienced."
  Rennie reported on March 11, 1920, that the Polish Consul-General, Dr. Zenon Lewandowski, aged about 60 and a former chemist who kept a shop in Poznań (Posen), had arrived. Rennie describes Lewandowski as having "little experience of official life". According to Rennie Lewandowski began to send complaints to the Commission immediately after his arrival, in which he declared that the entire ethnically Polish population of this district had been terrorised for years and, as a result, was unable to express their sentiments. Rennie reports an incident as Lewandowski repeatedly hoisted the Polish flag at the consular office which caused protests of the population. Rennie "pointed out to Dr. Lewandowski that he ought to realise that his position here was a delicate one........and I added it was highly desirable that his office should not be situated in a building with the Bureau of Polish propaganda."
  Undercover and illicit activities were also commenced and as early as March 11, 1920 the Earl of Derby reported a decision of the Allied Council of Ambassadors in Paris to make representations to the Polish government regarding violations of the frontiers of the Marienwerder Plebiscite Area towards Germans by Polish soldiers.
  Beaumont reported from Marienwerder at the end of March that "no change has been made in the methods of Polish propaganda. Occasional meetings are held, but they are attended only by Poles in small numbers." He continues "acts and articles violently abusive of everything German in the newly founded Polish newspaper appear to be the only (peaceful) methods adopted to persuade the inhabitants of the Plebiscite areas to vote for Poland."
  The German side tried to sway the voters in the area before the plebiscite using violence, Polish organisations and activists were harassed by pro-German militias, and those actions included murder; the most notable example being the killing of Bogumił Linka a native Masurian member of the Polish delegation to Versailles, who supported voting for Poland; his death described as "bestial murder", anyhow beaten to death by pro-German militias armed with crowbars, metal rods, and shovels. His ribs were punctured by shovel, and he was taken to hospital where he died, barely alive and bleeding additionally from neck and head. After his burial the grave of Linka was defiled.
  Masurians who supported voting for Poland were singled out and subjected to terror and repressions. Names of Masurians supporting the Polish side were published in pro-German newspapers, and their photos presented in shops of pro-German owners; afterwards regular hunts were organised after them. In the pursuit of Polish supporters the local Polish population was terrorised by pro-German militias Local "Gazeta Olsztyńska" wrote "Unspeakable terror lasted till the last days [of the plebiscite]" At least 3,000 Warmian and Masurian activists who were engaged for the Polish side had to flee the region out of fear of their lives. German police engaged in active surveillance of Polish minority and attacks against pro-Polish activists.
  It may be concluded that, concerning propaganda and manipulation, the German side was put in favour in many respects above the Pol
caption: Monument to Bogumił Linka, pro-Polish activist murdered by German militia during the plebiscite[55]
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