Plebiscites held in all German ceded areas after WW1

MSZ

Banned
A "fair population exchange" was kind of taking place OTL in the inter-war era. Migrations between Poland and Germany went two ways, with both the Germans in Poland leaving for the Reich, as well as Poles in Germany moving to the II Republic. And both movements were quite significant: German population droped from circa 1 mln to 700k in the years 1921 - 1931. The Polish population in Germany droped from circa 1 mln to 750k in the years 1925 to 1939. So if this trend was to continue at this pace, the problem would solve itself in a few decades without having to resort to forceful actions. The best thing that could happen for both contries would be for both of them to become/remain liberal democracies, allowing for free movement of people to determine their desired occupation.

Besides, accepting "financial compensation" as an alternative to "self-determination" destroys the reason for the latter to exist in the first place. It would simply mean that a state can pay it's population and kick it out wherever it wants, de facto terminating their right to territory.
 
Well, I think Poland will get a corridor, but parts of the OTL corridor will choose to stay with Germany.

A-L, would probably lean towards France, sure they are mostly Germans, but the German Empire had not exactly treated A-L in the best possible way, and many would just choose to throw their towel with the victor, since they'd probably not be treated well if they voted for Germany, it would be no secret that France would get it back regardless of what the vote said.

I doubt that somewhat. Even if the German Empire treated them sub-standard compared to the rest of the country, they would be even worse off with the French, who'd insist on the german-speaking inhabitants of A-L learning French to conduct any kind of official business, just for starters, which for the average man on the street means more than some nebulous concept of autonomy.

Of course, that is assuming there even is an honest and genuine plebiscite in the area; to get the French zo consent to anything other than annexation would take some really extreme measures on Wilson's part.

- Kelenas
 
Fair Population Exchange

MSZ, thank you for your feedback. I was not thinking about the government compensating the people as much as the people having time to sell their property to individuals for a fair price. Also I was thinking that after a couple of years, people may decide that they are OK with staying where they are at.

I would hope that the government would not force people to leave. However that did happen in many countries including my own with the people who left often having to sell their property for pennies. These actions left a legacy of bitterness that lasted for decades.

Again, thank you on your feedback!
 

Nietzsche

Banned
Indeed. As I said in other threads there are numerous factors that compel people to vote for Germany instead of Poland. Stability, the size of the economy, experience in statehood, approaching Red Army, more resources for propaganda and such.

One of the ways to nullify that sort of pro-German bias would be to delay the plebiscites for, lets say, 5 years. During this 5 years Poland would govern these territories and use the added resources to firmly establish itself as a state. The plebiscite could then be conducted on all previously German territories under joint LoN-German supervision. The end results would probably be a more favourable results in Upper Silesia and East Prussia and Danzig returning to Germany.

...by doing that, you're going to enable Poland to flood the areas with migrants and firmly push the vote in Poland's favour. You can either do it after the war or not at all, doing it significantly later just lets the person who's had it for those years do all they can to make sure they get to keep it.

Germany would do it, Poland would do it, any rational state would do it.
 

MSZ

Banned
...by doing that, you're going to enable Poland to flood the areas with migrants and firmly push the vote in Poland's favour. You can either do it after the war or not at all, doing it significantly later just lets the person who's had it for those years do all they can to make sure they get to keep it.

Germany would do it, Poland would do it, any rational state would do it.

You are exactly right. Hence why I think any such plebiscites ought to be restricted to the native population - introduce some kind of grandfather clause, excluding migrant/settler population, grant additional votes to the decendents of those who perished due to attrocities etc.
 
Probably, although given the Polish State's record in reducing the German speaking population of Posen between 1920 and 1930, they might be able to have a good go at it.

Except of course that OTL the German population knew that they were in Poland irrevocably - bar a successful war of revenge, in which case they could always come back. So they might as well leave.

TTL, they know that they have only to hang on for five years and then may well return to the Reich following a plebiscite. So they may well do so.
 
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