The régime under which this plebiscite will be taken and given effect to is laid down in the annex hereto.

The Polish and German Governments hereby respectively bind themselves to conduct no prosecutions on any part of their territory and to take no exceptional proceedings for any political action performed in Upper Silesia during the period of the régime laid down in the annex hereto, and up to the settlement of the final status of the country Germany hereby renounces in favor of Poland all rights and title over the portion of Upper Silesia lying beyond the frontier line fixed by the principal Allied and Associated Powers as this result of the plebiscite.

ANNEX

  1. Within fifteen days from the coming into force of the present treaty the German troops and such officials as may be designated by the commission set up under the provisions of Paragraph 2 shall evacuate the plebiscite area. Up to the moment of the completion of the evacuation they shall refrain from any form of requisitioning in money or in kind and from all acts likely to prejudice the material interest of the country.
  2. Within the same period the workmen's and soldiers' councils which have been constituted in this area shall be dissolved. Members of such councils who are natives of another region and are exercising their functions at the date of the coming into force of the present treaty, or who have gone out of office since the 1st March, 1919, shall be evacuated.
  3. All military and semi-military unions formed in the said area by the inhabitants of the district shall be immediately disbanded. All members of such military organizations who are not domiciled in the said area shall be required to leave it.
  4. The plebiscite area shall be immediately placed under the authority of an international commission of four members to be designated by the following powers: The United States of America, France, the British Empire, and Italy. It shall be occupied by troops belonging to the Allied andAsociated> Associated Powers, and the German Government undertakes to give facilities for the transference of troops to Upper Silesia.
    1. Have completed their twentieth year on the 1st of January of the year in which the plebiscite takes place;
    2. Were born in the plebiscite area or have been domiciled there since a date to be determined by the commission, which shall not be subsequent to January 1, 1919, or who have been expelled by the German authorities and have not retained their domicile there.
    3. Persons convicted of political offenses shall not exercise their right of voting. Every person will vote in the commune where he is domiciled, or in which he was born, if he has not retained his domicile in the area.
    4. The result of the vote will be determined by the communes according to the majority of votes in each commune.
  5. The commission shall enjoy all the powers exercised by the German or by the Prussian Government; except those of legislation or taxation. It shall also be substituted for the Government of the Province and the Regierungsbezirk.
  6. It shall be within the competence of the commission to interpret the powers hereby conferred upon it, and to determine to what extent it shall exercise them and to what extent they shall be left in the hands of the existing authorities.
  7. Changes in the existing laws and the existing taxation shall only be brought into force with the consent of the commission.
  8. The commission will maintain order with the help of the troops which will be at its disposal and to the extent which it may deem necessary by means of gendarmerie recruited among the inhabitants of the country. The commission shall provide immediately for the replacement of the evacuated German officials, and, if occasion arises, shall itself order the evacuation of such authorities and proceed to the replacement of such local authorities as may be required. It shall take all steps which it thinks proper to insure the freedom, fairness, and secrecy of the vote. In particular, it shall have the right to order the expulsion of any person who may in any way have attempted to distort the result of the plebiscite by methods of corruption or intimidation.
  9. The commission shall have full power to settle all questions arising from the execution of the present clauses. It shall be assisted by technical advisers, chosen by it from among the local populations. The decision of the commission shall be taken by a majority vote.
  10. The vote shall take place at such date as may be determined by the principal Allied and Associated Powers, but not sooner than six months or later than eighteen months after the establishment of the commission in the area.
  11. The right to vote shall be given to all persons, without distinction of sex, who:
  12. On the conclusion of the voting the number of votes cast in each commune will be communicated by the commission to the principal Allied and Associated Powers with a full report as to the taking of the vote and a recommendation as to the line which ought to be adopted as the frontier of Germany in Upper Silesia. In this recommendation regard will be paid to the wishes of the inhabitants, as shown by the vote, and to the geographical and economic conditions of the locality.
  13. As soon as the frontier has been fixed by the principal Allied and Associated Powers the German authorities will be notified by the International Commission that they are free to take over the administration of the territory which it is recognized should be German; the said authorities must proceed to do so within one month of such notification and in the manner prescribed by the commission. Within the same period and in the manner prescribed by the commission, the Polish Government must proceed to take over the administration of the territory which it is recognized should be Polish.
  14. When the administration of the territory has been provided for by the German and Polish authorities respectively the powers of the commission will terminate.
  15. The cost of the Army of Occupation and expenditure by the commission, whether in discharge of its own functions or in the administration of the territory, will be a charge on the area.

ARTICLE 89.—Poland undertakes to accord freedom of transit to persons, goods, vessels, carriages, wagons, and mails in transit between East Prussia and the rest of Germany over Polish territory, including territorial waters, and to treat them at least as favorably as the persons, goods, vessels, carriages, wagons, and mails, respectively, of Polish or of any other most-favored nationality, origin, importation starting point, or ownership, as regards facilities, restrictions, and all other matters.

Goods in transit shall be exempt from all customs or other similar duties.

Freedom of transit will extend to telegraphic and telephonic services under the conditions laid down by the conventions referred to in Article 98.

ARTICLE 90.—Poland undertakes to permit, for a period of fifteen years, the exportation to Germany of the products of the mines in any part of Poland in accordance with the present treaty. Such export shall be subject to duties or other charges or restrictions on exportation.

Poland agrees to take such steps as may be necessary to secure that such products shall be available for sale to purchasers in Germany on terms as favorable as are applicable to like products sold under similar conditions to purchasers in Poland or in any other country.

ARTICLE 91.—German nationals habitually resident in territories recognized as forming part of Poland will acquire Polish nationality ipso facto and will lose their German nationality. German nationals, however, or their descendants who became resident in these territories after January 1, 1908, will not acquire Polish nationality without a special authorization from the Polish State.