Hero Against Hitler: General Ludwig Beck

This was first published 11/4/11


"Heroes Against Hitler:" Ludwig Beck

One of the most important figures in the German resistance to Hitler was Colonel General Ludwig Beck. He was born in what is now a part of Wiesbaden in the German state of Hessen. Beck served in World War One and remained in the treaty-limited army after the war. At first Beck was favorable toward Hitler, whose plans to expand the army were seen by him as a positive sign in Germany's restoration from the defeat of 1918. He became Chief of the General Staff (Chef des Generalstabes),* and as such had knowledge of Hitler's various military plans. Beck was NOT antiwar, and he believed wars, although limited in size, would be impossible to avoid as Germany moved to regain its position within Europe. His differences with Hitler largely centered around his belief that Hitler was moving too fast, and that a Hitler-planned attack on Czechoslovakia in 1938 would bring Britain and France, and possibly the Soviet Union into a war against an unprepared Germany,** bringing her a devastating defeat,*** a view shared by other top generals, but not all. Beck worked for months trying to convince Hitler not to attack Czechoslovakia, seemingly believing Hitler had been influenced by other military advisers to attack Czechoslovakia. Such was Hitler's hold over the people around him, who wanted to believe mistakes were the fault of others, not the Führer. Beck, however, came to realize that Hitler was the main culprit, only bolstered in his beliefs by others. In the late summer of 1938, Beck resigned his position, and thus lost any influence over future military policies.

As Hitler pushed the question of Germans in Czechoslovakia to the front burner, Beck and other opponents of the regime wanted Britain and France to take a hard stand against Hitler's demands, and thus give the German resistance a chance to topple the Nazis from power. The opposite happened, as an agreement with Britain and France was signed in Munich giving Hitler control of the German areas of Czechoslovakia, and this diminished the immediate desire of many conspirators to unseat the Nazi government, as Hitler rose to new heights of popularity. Beck remained an active leader in trying to recruit opponents of the regime, which certainly took a turn in his direction with the severe losses suffered by German forces in Russia. It all ended with the bomb planted in Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia on July 20, 1944. The bomb exploded, but Hitler survived and the plot to take over the German government, with Beck as its temporary head, fell apart. Beck was taken into custody the same day by the head of the German Replacement Army ("Ersatzheer") and attempted to commit suicide, but only wounded himself. Another officer then finished the job. Beck and some other members of the resistance to the Nazis were given a memorial in Berlin, which still exists today. Beck is seen by many as the first major opponent of the Nazi regime and a sort of leader of the German resistance; after all, he was a high ranking general.

* The German General Staff was a group of select, highly dedicated, well trained professional officers who were experts in all aspects of warfare. They were noted for their detailed planning going well back into the 1800s, first as part of the Prussian army, and then in unified Germany from 1871, and it is largely due to this group that the German reputation for detail and efficiency in military matters developed. To many outsiders, they became the symbol of Prussian/German militarism, because their very lives were so devoted to military matters, and thus, war.

** Prominent British historian A.J.P. Taylor later essentially argued that Hitler's talk of war against Czechoslovakia was more of an act to get his way, and that his convincing performance made the western powers back down and give him the German areas of Czechoslovakia. Of course, other historians have argued that Hitler wanted such a war. Since Hitler didn't really have a single close friend to whom he confided his innermost thoughts, nor did he keep a diary to anyone's knowledge, I suppose we'll never really know for certain, and these are all academic arguments. After getting the agreement from Britain and France for Germany to receive the heavily German-populated Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia (the Czechs weren't even invited), Hitler did, at times, complain the agreement had deprived him of a war against Czechoslovakia. Whether this was talk for effect as a prelude to his next move is another historical debate.

*** The idea that Czechoslovakia would have fallen as easy prey to Hitler's forces is optimistic, in my opinion. The Czechs were well trained, equipped, and motivated, with formidable fortifications along their mainly mountainous borders with Germany (mountainous terrain gave them another advantage). Czech military equipment was so good, much of it was later used by the Germans to equip some units of their army, after all of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Hitler. This would have been far from a walk over, and had it taken place, it may have brought Hitler and his regime down.

WORD HISTORY:
Ship-The ultimate origins of this word are uncertain, although some tie it to an Indo European source, "skei(b)," that meant "cut, rip," and then Old Germanic used it with the idea being of a ship "cutting through the water, ripping up the water," or of, "cutting or ripping out logs to make floating vessels." The idea of a "water going vessel" does seem to come from Old Germanic, which had "skipam" or "skipan," with that meaning, "water going vessel." This then helped produce Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "scip," with the same meaning. The spelling "ship" has been around for many centuries in English. The verb form, "to ship," came from the noun in the latter part of the 1200s or the early 1300s. Common throughout the other Germanic languages: West Frisian "skip," German "Schiff," Low German "Schipp" (although some low dialects have "Schepp"), Dutch "schip," Norwegian and Icelandic "skip," Swedish "skepp," and Danish "skib." By the way, Old Italian borrowed the word as "scifo," meaning "small boat," from Old High German/Lombardic^ "skif/scif." This was borrowed into French as "esquif," "small open boat," and in the 1500s this then was borrowed into English as "skiff."

^ Lombardic was a Germanic language spoken by the Germanic tribe, the Lombards, who settled in northern Italy, and gave their name to the Italian region of "Lombardy" (Lombardia). A moment of silence, please, as Lombardic died out several centuries ago.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-Six

"Hitler & The German Question" Part Two

Hitler's increasingly violent racism certainly excluded German Jews as being "Germans," first with legal measures and later by mass murder.

As in Poland, Germans were forcibly expelled from Czechoslovakia immediately after the end of the war, and those expulsions continued for more than a year, but some Germans remained, in some cases being "retained;" that is, not permitted to leave by the Czech government, because of special work skills. The numbers were relatively small compared to the prewar German population. There were deaths among the German population during the expulsions, and the number of casualties is very much in dispute, but 15,000 to 20,000 is a likely minimum.

The Soviet military began arresting Germans in Hungary, even before the war was over. Thousands were sent to the Soviet Union, never to return. After the war, the communist government of Hungary expelled tens of thousands of Germans to occupied Germany and Austria, but even then some Germans remained as part of the national Hungarian population. In the case of Rumania too, thousands of Germans had fled the advancing Red Army, but at least a quarter of a million Germans remained, although as communism "waned" (there's that word, see previous "Word History") in the late 1980s, many left for Germany. Similar happened in the Soviet Union, although untold thousands of ethnic Germans died in Soviet prisons or labor camps, or when they were forcibly moved from their home areas to Siberia or to other remote regions.

As the war wound down in Yugoslavia, many Germans fled, but many were killed by communist resistance or military units, or sent to Soviet labor camps. Quite a number of the Germans from northern Yugoslavia eventually emigrated to the United States in the 1950s, with many coming to Cleveland, where their presence, more so now their descendants, is still evident.

Austria was reestablished as an independent nation, although a pro-German unification party remained on election ballots, with an ever decreasing share of the vote as the years ticked by. I must admit, I regret the separation of Austria from Germany, and I often wonder if things would have been different, if Austria had become part of Germany after World War One, as was likely before the Versailles Treaty forbade it. Would the Germans still have gone berserk under Hitler or some other right wing leader? Maybe, as let's not forget where the chief nutcase came from... Austria!

It is my "intention" to finish this series in three more articles: the next one about the western boundaries, one about the positive German contributions to the world (especially after all of this nasty period of Hitler and the Nazis), and one with a basic bibliography. I'm not guaranteeing it will be just three articles, but let's see if I can do it.

WORD HISTORY:
Wax-This is the now archaic verb, not the substance made by bees or used for candles, and it is most commonly used in modern times in the expression "wax and wane" (see previous article for "wane"), and it is related to English "eke," as in "eke out a living." It goes back to Indo European "wegs, weks," and the related Indo European "aug," which had the meaning "to increase." This gave Old Germanic "wahksijan," with the general sense of "to increase, to grow." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "weaxan," with the same "increase, grow" meaning. This later became "waxen," before the modern version. Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "wachsen," Low German Saxon and Dutch have "wassen," West Frisian has "waakse," Danish and Norwegian have "vokse," Swedish has "växa," and Icelandic has "vaxa;" all with the same general meaning of "to grow."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Nine

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
Foreign Policy & The German Question" Part Seven
"A Possible Turning Point; Hitler Takes Czechs Into The Reich"

NOTE: I forgot to mention that during the "Sudeten German crisis," the German public was highly apprehensive about going to war, according to the many correspondents there. The hysterical crowds at the 1938 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg and at a Hitler speech in Berlin* just prior to the Munich Conference were not really representative of the average German (from what is known). While there were no actual public opinion polls, there were many foreign reporters in Germany during that era, including Americans, and virtually all noted the downbeat mood of the German public about the possibility of war.

So now Czechoslovakia was much smaller in size,** but still with problems, primarily now from the Slovaks, who wanted total independence. Hungary had received some territory with substantial Hungarian population as part of a separate agreement made at Vienna the month after the Sudetenland was ceded to Germany, but the Hungarians still harbored ill feelings toward the peace treaties and border adjustments made after World War One, especially as they applied to the rest of Slovakia, which they ruled prior to the end of the war. By March 1939, the Czechs sent troops into Slovakia and Slovak leaders were removed from their positions. The Slovaks declared independence (with Hitler's support and insistence). President Hacha went to meet Hitler in Berlin, where he was told the capital of Prague would be bombed unless he cooperated with Germany. Hacha gave in and German troops crossed into his country later that morning, and Hitler himself followed a bit later. The Czech territories were occupied by Germany and declared the "Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia," and Slovakia was independent, although with foreign policy tied to Germany (as a satellite country, in other words).

During the Sudeten crisis the previous year, Hitler had said Germany wanted "no Czechs." Further, he made the statement that the Sudetenland was his "last territorial demand in Europe."*** These two things and Hitler's signing of Chamberlain's "peace for our time" agreement were not forgotten in other countries, and Hitler, by taking Czechs into Germany, lost any credibility for just being a German patriot who wanted to unite Germans. Other European governments now began to reassess their policies toward Hitler and about how to deal with him.

* In a much anticipated speech given to 20,000 at the Berliner Sportpalast (Berlin Sport Palace), Joseph Goebbels whipped the faithful into a frenzy as he introduced Hitler. The speech was given on September 26, just three days before the Munich Conference, and I believe it was carried on radio throughout various parts of the world. No question in my mind that Goebbels, the propaganda genius, arranged everything to demonstrate German public support for Hitler's demands made on the Czech leaders. Twenty thousand Nazi Party members, however, were not the same as millions of average Germans, but in times of crisis, humans don't always think of such things, and the effect of the speech as it came across on radio with the hysterical crowd shouting "Führer befiehl, wir folgen" ("Führer command, we follow"), served Goebbels' purpose of making the world believe Germans were totally committed to Hitler's policy (although even if they weren't committed, there wasn't a hell of a lot they could do about it in a totalitarian police state).

** Technically, the official name of the country became "Czecho-Slovakia," to indicate the Slovaks had declared self government in the Slovak region, under Jozef Tiso. Edvard Beneš resigned as president of the country and went to England. He was replaced by Emil Hacha.

*** It is hard to believe that others from those times would have accepted this statement about territorial demands, as there were still several contentious issues of Germans living under non-German rule; especially, the city of Danzig, where the population was more than 90% German, and under a League of Nations Commissioner, the Polish Corridor and parts of Silesia where more than a million Germans lived under Polish rule, and in Memel and environs, where a substantial German majority lived under Lithuanian rule.

WORD HISTORY:
Hail-This is not related to "hail"=ice pellets, rather this word is used as a verb, an adjective and an interjection. This is the word used as an old greeting. It is closely related to "health," and indeed, that was the basic meaning lying behind its use as a greeting; that is, "health (to you)." Like its relatives, "health, heal and whole," it goes back to Indo European "koilos/kailo," with the general meaning "healthy, unharmed, in a sound, complete ("whole") condition." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "(k)hailaz," with the same general meaning. This produced Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "hal," also with the same meaning. It "seems" Old English "hal" was then influenced in extended meaning by Old Norse "heill," or more specifically by the Norse expression "ves heill," which meant "be healthy, have good health." This expression gave Old English "wæs hæil," with the same meaning, and it eventually was contracted into "wassail;" that is, "a toast to someone's health," that later came to also be applied to a specific drink used for such a toast. The general idea, however, remained just in the word "haeil," which came to be used as a greeting, and was later spelled "hail." The same idea lies behind the closely related German word "heil," which the Nazis used in greetings "Heil Hitler" and "Sieg heil," the latter meaning "hail to victory." By the way, before English borrowed the word "victory," English had "sige," obviously a close relative to German "Sieg."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Six

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
"Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/3)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 3)

The leader of the Sudeten German Nazis was Konrad Henlein. Henlein and his associates were essentially instructed by Hitler to keep the pressure on the Czech government, but to avoid agreeing to any solution to German grievances. In the meantime, Hitler instructed the German military to prepare a plan for an attack on Czechoslovakia. There has been some debate by historians whether Hitler ever really intended to launch an invasion of Czechoslovakia, or whether he simply intended to threaten to use force to achieve his aims. I go with the latter. Again, this is not an attempt to "whitewash" Hitler, for while he was evil, he wasn't always stupid. The Czechoslovak military was seen as potentially very good, and given their defensive system and the mountainous terrain, there's no question in my mind that Czechoslovakia would have been one tough nut for Hitler to crack, especially since it is doubtful that Britain and France would have stood by idly, if indeed Hitler had launched an attack. With the German military not fully prepared for war at that point, I can't imagine how they would have successfully fought a war on two fronts; against the French and British in the west, and against the Czechs in the east.* Czechoslovakia also had an alliance with the Soviet Union, but the Czechs looked "westward," especially given that the Soviets were communist, and they didn't completely pursue getting the Soviets involved in this crisis. If, however, you add in the "potential" of intervention by the Soviet Union, there is just no way that Germany could have prevailed. Hitler's plans, however, rattled the German generals, some of whom feared he was going to bring about Germany's destruction if he attacked Czechoslovakia. Some of the less inhibited generals began to plot to remove Hitler from power. This is significant, because it marked the beginning of a limited, but true, and more organized "resistance" to Hitler within Germany.

The problem for Czechoslovakia was public opinion; that is, public opinion in other countries, especially in Britain (and also America), where people tended to favor the German point of view that Germans in the Sudetenland belonged in Germany. The President of Czechoslovakia was Edvard Beneš, and he was a pretty smart man. He believed Hitler wanted not only the German population of the Sudetenland, but Czechoslovakia as a satellite country. Hitler often looked to the German past (fascists often look to the past), and the Czech areas, Bohemia and Moravia, had been a part of the old German Empire, which ended in 1806. Beneš hoped to show the world that Hitler and the Sudeten Germans were not really interested in reaching an agreement.

* France had an alliance with Czechoslovakia, but Britain did not; however, I certainly believe the British would have sent troops to reinforce the French, if Hitler had attacked Czechoslovakia.

WORD HISTORY:
Heal-Like its close relatives "health" and "whole," this goes back to Indo European "koilos/kailo," with the idea of "healthy, unharmed, in a sound condition/state, complete/entire." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "hailjan(an)," a verb form meaning "to make whole, to make sound, to save." This gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "healan," with the same basic meaning. Later it became "helen," before the modern spelling. The other Germanic languages have: German has "heilen," Low German has both "helen" and "heele," depending upon dialect, Dutch has "helen," West Frisian has "hielje," Swedish has "hela," Danish has "leles," Norwegian has "helbrede." Icelandic no longer uses a form of the word. 

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Five

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
"Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/2)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 2)

Hitler seems to have wanted to deal with Czechoslovakia first, and let Austria become part of Germany by natural course; that is, Austrians wanted to become part of Germany so much, that the Austrian government would eventually let it happen, and by that time, with many Nazis in top positions, the "coordination" between Germany and Austria would have been so great, that Austria would not really have been an independent country anyway. Schuschnigg's plebiscite announcement took Hitler by surprise and by sending in troops, Hitler looked aggressive, even though there was huge support in Austria for its becoming part of Germany, and there was no fighting whatsoever.*

Czechoslovakia, but especially the Sudetenland, provided Hitler with three potential benefits: 1) uniting more Germans with Germany (there were more than three million Germans in the Sudetenland); 2) removing a well trained and equipped army from a nation with close ties to Britain and France that jutted into Germany; and 3) depriving Czechoslovakia of defensive positions along its border areas, leaving the nation vulnerable to attack afterward.**

Czechoslovakia needed the support of Britain and France, but these countries were in western Europe, and neither had moved to do anything to help Schuschnigg. The French government had been in a state of confusion when the Austrian events took place, as the previous government had fallen just days before the Austrian situation fully developed, but the new French government was willing to call up some troops to put pressure on Hitler, "IF" Britain consented. Britain did not respond, so nothing happened.***

* This is not to "whitewash" Hitler. It just seems that, at that point in time, he believed Austria would become part of Germany without the use of force, until Schuschnigg's action, after which he sent in troops. Now, some say this exposed him to the world for what he was, a megalomaniac willing to use force to achieve his goals, and I would agree with that, but I'm just saying that, in this particular case, Schuschnigg's announcement of a vaguely worded plebiscite forced Hitler's hand. Remember, Germany was not a democratic nation subject to debating such issues. If Hitler was "offended" by some action, like Schuschnigg's, that was it, he could act without consent from anyone. Forget the "morality" arguments. I understand those arguments, but Hitler wasn't interested in morality, except when it worked in his favor, as we'll see in the very near term regarding Germans in Czechoslovakia, and later, elsewhere.

** Because the vast bulk of the German population of Czechoslovakia lived in the border regions called the Sudetenland, if Hitler could get these areas ceded to Germany, Czechoslovakia's defensive positions would also be removed, because, naturally, that's where the border defenses were. By the way, the Czech army was highly respected, as were some of their weapons of that time, including tanks.

*** In fairness, the British and French have taken a lot of criticism for their "inaction" at various times regarding Hitler's aggressiveness, but there was not a hell of a lot they could really do. Would they go to war for Austria, a German country that openly and cheerfully welcomed Hitler and German troops over the border? Would you go into such a war, or would you want to send your kids to fight such a war? After World War One, France wanted provisions in the treaties and in the new borders drawn throughout much of Europe to make them feel safer from any future German attack (they were always fearful the Germans would come back after Alsace-Lorraine). The problem was, the new boundaries were not based upon Woodrow Wilson's principle of self determination for the various ethnic groups, but rather (surprise!), by politics and self interest (I'm shocked!). These moves left "German" Austria out of Germany, even though sentiment in both countries was for unification; it left more than three million Germans in Czechoslovakia, and cranky as hell over it; left lots of Germans in Poland and equally cranky, and put the overwhelmingly German city of Danzig under a League of Nations Commissioner, but economically dependent upon Poland. Once an aggressive leader like Hitler took power, who seemed much more concerned with actually seeking remedies for German grievances (real or perceived) than just complaining, the fuse on the powder keg was just waiting for the match.

WORD HISTORY:
Health-This word, closely related to "whole," goes back to Indo European "koilos/kailo," which meant "healthy, unharmed, in a sound condition/state, complete/entire." This then gave Old Germanic "(k)hailitho," with the sense of "wholeness, state of being unharmed or damaged." This then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "haelth," meaning "the state of being whole, being sound." Later it was spelled "helthe," before acquiring the modern spelling. See this article for forms of the word in the other Germanic languages: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/07/german-question-part-one-hundred-twenty_31.html

Understand, the other Germanic languages do not always use their forms with the exact same meaning as English "health," but they all revolve around "being whole, wholeness."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Four

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B"
Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Five/1)
"Germans In Czechoslovakia" (Part 1)

First a little background:
Czechoslovakia was formed after World War One from parts of the former "Austria-Hungary." The western areas, usually referred to as "Bohemia and Moravia," were Czech majority, and the eastern areas were Slovak majority. When Austria and Hungary agreed to share power in 1867, Hungary had ruled the Slovak areas and Austria had ruled Bohemia and Moravia. The significant thing was, the outer border areas of Bohemia and Moravia (sort of a semi-circle and much of it mountainous or hilly) were populated by Germans, some settlements dating back hundreds of years, and indeed, the area was part of the Old German Empire, and specifically became a Habsburg family possession in the 1500s. Poles, Hungarians and Ruthenians also formed smaller minorities within the nation's boundaries. When the Old German Empire was dissolved, these lands remained under Habsburg control, and thus became part of what was then called, the Austrian Empire, which later became Austria-Hungary, as noted above. When Czechoslovakia was formed, the Czechs essentially dominated the government, and although closely related to the Slovaks, both ethnically and linguistically, the two peoples did not always get along well together. The German population was upset that it then found itself as a distinct minority, with somewhat less than 25% of the population.* Later, when the Great Depression struck, the German areas were heavily hit by unemployment, which only caused further discontent. When Hitler came to power in Germany, and German nationalism surged, the German population of Czechoslovakia began to stir, and the situation was eventually set for Hitler to make claims against Czechoslovakia.

* It should be noted that some Germans also lived in the "interior" parts of the Czech lands, and also, but to a lesser degree, in the Slovak areas, but the vast majority lived in the outer edges of the Czech lands. This outer boundary area came to be called the "Sudentenland" by Germans, after the Sudeten Mountains in the area.

WORD HISTORY:
Whole-This word goes back to Indo European "koilas/kailo," which seems to have meant "healthy, unharmed, in a sound condition/state, complete/entire." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "(k)hailaz," with the same general meaning. This produced Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "hal," with the same meanings, but the meaning "complete" eventually began to dominate. That meaning comes from the notion, if you are "unharmed, healthy," you are "complete." Later it was spelled "hool" and then "hole," but by the late 1400s or early 1500s, the "w" was added to differentiate it from the word of the same spelling, but meaning "opening, orifice, or perforation." In northern England and parts of Scotland it came to be pronounced and spelled "hale," where it also retained the meaning, "healthy," and indeed, "whole" and "hale" are closely related to "health and healthy." Numerous forms are common in the other Germanic languages, although with variations in exact meaning, but all generally centering around "healthy" and "unharmed," and some even with a similar meaning to English "whole;" that is "complete:" German has "heil," Low German has both "heel" and "heil," Dutch has "heel," West Frisian has "hiel," Norwegian has "heil," Swedish and Danish have "hel," and Icelandic has "heill."

The German Question, Part Ninety-Six

"A Divisive Treaty" Part Six/C-1"

Territorial Changes/Eastern Boundaries"

The territorial changes to Germany's eastern boundaries were significant, and some of the changes were highly controversial. Most of the province around the city of Posen ("Poznan" in Polish) was returned to the "new" Poland, although by that time the Poles had already captured much of the area from German control.* It contained a population of more than four million, overwhelmingly Polish, but with a German minority. There was no referendum, but the area would have undoubtedly voted in substantial numbers to be a part of Poland.

A small portion of Upper Silesia also became part of Poland, with some 25,000 citizens, most of them Polish. Again, no referendum, but similar to the above. Another portion of Upper Silesia went to the new state of Czechoslovakia, with nearly 50,000 residents, many of them of Czech ancestry. There was no referendum, but as the area had been under German rule and influence for so long, these "Germanized Czechs" may have opted for Germany, but the call to nationalism can be very powerful, and they likely would have chosen Czechoslovakia, but we will never know. In a larger part of Upper Silesia, a referendum had been held in accordance with the Versailles Treaty, with 60% voting to remain with Germany,** but a large portion of the area, with more than 900,000 people, was given to Poland after Poles took military control of that part of the region, after some serious fighting with nationalist German units. This territorial loss remained something of a German grievance. For Germans who had lived under authoritarian rule for centuries, this was not a good example of "democracy in action." In fact, for a people more accustomed to "might makes right," this whole episode only reinforced that notion, as the Poles seized much of the territory they were then awarded by the Allies, which went against the whole principle of the referendum established by the Treaty of Versailles. This is not a matter of being for Germany and against Poland. The problem was the provision of the Treaty of Versailles. Personally, I favor the idea of the heavily Polish districts joining Poland, rather than observing the overall regional vote, which would have given all to Germany. The more evenly divided districts would have been a problem, as no matter how the vote tilted, the other side would have been less than happy. Then there may also well have been pockets of either Germans or Poles within larger areas where one or the other group was a majority. Moving over the border into one country or the other is about the only solution, but not without great pain, as many of these folks may have lived in these areas for generations.

Next, "The Polish Corridor and Danzig"....

* For more information on Poland and the Polish uprising against German rule, see:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/03/german-question-part-eighty-eight.html

** The overall region had more than 2 million people, and about 1.2 million participated in the referendum. About 717,000 votes were cast for Germany and 483,000 for Poland. Generally speaking, the eastern areas, adjacent to Poland, voted more heavily for Poland and the western areas, adjacent to, and with strong historical ties to, Germany (Prussia), voted heavily for Germany. The areas more around the middle tended to vote for Germany, but by less than overwhelming majorities, and there were definite pockets of pro-Poland votes. It seems that "some" people of Polish background supported Germany, perhaps because of German domination of the area for so long. Just a guess, but I would think many of these people spoke both German and Polish. Silesia was important economically, because part of the area was a major industrial sector, so not only was ethnic identity an issue, but substantial economic impact was a concern for both Poland and Germany.

WORD HISTORY:
Speak-Forms of this word are common in the West Germanic languages (English is West Germanic), but beyond that fact, its ancestry is uncertain. It traces back to Old Germanic "sprekanan," which had the notion of "make sounds." This gave Old English "sprecan," but gradually the "r" sound died out (by 1100s?), which also happened in certain forms in other Germanic dialects back then, but these forms did not overtake the original pronunciation as in English. This left English with "specan," which then became "speken," before acquiring the modern spelling. Standard German has "sprechen," Low German and Dutch have "spreken," West Frisian has "sprekke."