150th anniversary of Wojciech Korfanty’s birth

20th of April marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Wojciech Korfanty – one of the fathers of the independent Poland, a politician, a hero of Silesia and an advocate of the incorporation of Silesia into Poland.

Korfanty was born on the 20th of April 1873 in the settlement of Sadzawka (now Siemianowice Śląskie) into a family of miners. From his youth, he was already involved in patriotic activities by founding a secret circle to spread Polish culture and literature at the Royal Gymnasium (Middle School) in Katowice, which he attended. He was persecuted by the Prussian authorities for his pro-Polish activities and was, among other things, expelled from school. He did not graduate from secondary school until 1895, following the intervention of Józef Kościelski, a member of the Reichstag from the Greater Poland district.

He studied at the University of Wrocław’s Faculty of Letters (then called Königliche Universität zu Breslau.) He was a member of a student corporation founded by Upper Silesians studying at Wrocław’s universities – the Society of Upper Silesian Academicians, which was dissolved by the authorities in 1899.

He was sentenced to prison several times for sedition against the German state. He was a member of the League of Nations, a member of the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag, as well as the president of the reactivated Gymnastic Society in Katowice “Sokół” and the chairman of the supervisory board of the Silesian Bank.

In the newly re-established Poland, he was a member of the Sejm of the 1st and 2nd term from 1922 to 1930. He was associated with Christian Democracy.

Wladysław Korfanty’s wife was Elżbieta Szprotówna – Silesian political and social activist.

Translated by Weronika Maciejewska (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.