The border that cut through Upper Silesia

One border from 1922–1939 and the three connections it cut. Choose a connection and a phase: the drawing and the description change together, and whatever the sources do not state is hatched, not set to zero.

The cut model: connection, phase, three layers of knowledge

Delbrück mineD · Germany MakoszowyP · Poland restriction: gate = crossing
GliwiceD · Germany Makoszowy stationP · Poland change of description: track anchors the border
Bojków (Szynwałd)D · Germany KnurówP · Poland not established: crossing unknown

Selected connection and phase

Delbrück mine ↔ Makoszowy

1923–1939 · after adjustments

The adjustments and disputes came to an end (including the dispute over Delbrück), so the 1922 border did not follow an unchanging course from the outset. This description of the state of affairs holds until 1939. [3]

1 · GeometryWhere the border ran and what it cut

  • Per the source, to be checkedThe border ran along the works’ fence and cut its mining area; the Rheinbaben and Dorotka shafts ended up in Poland [2].

2 · Administrative statusWhich side each end of the connection lies on

  • Per the source, to be checkedDelbrück mine: Germany; Makoszowy: Poland [2].

3 · Crossing practiceWhat we know about the crossing itself, and what is missing

  • Per the source, to be checkedThe main gate of the works served as a border crossing until 1939. [2]
  • Not established in the materialThe text of procedures and regulations, required documents, and permit rules for particular groups of workers: absent from the material.

Sources for this connection: [2] [3] — references from V2, which need checking.

  • Thick line: geometry. A continuous line means continuity of infrastructure, not free passage. A gap or a sign: a place where the border changes something or where we do not know something.
  • Middle line: status. Dark segment D, light segment P; hatched: a dispute, no ruling or no description in the material (e.g. during the plebiscite); with a dashed outline: a state described without an exact date (1922 or 1923); solid grey: inferred from chronology (before 1921 there was no border, so no division into sides).
  • Bottom line: practice. Hatching means no data, not zero. Red segment: a documented crossing.
  • Diagonal band: the border. Red: demarcated; hatched red: being adjusted; amber: course not established. This is a schematic of the connections, not a map: sides D and P are placed by convention.
  • Labels in the description. “Per the source, to be checked”: a sentence from the V2 material and its reference, which was not reopened in this step. “Inferred from chronology”: the result of reasoning, not a record from a source. “State without a date”: described in the material, but without a ruling on whether it was 1922 or 1923. “Not established in the material”: no data, not zero.

Everything at once: three connections, four phases

Before the division and during the plebiscite, the three connections look the same in the material: as an absence of a border. Differences appear only after 1922. Clicking a cell sets the same connection and phase in the drawing above.

The sign in the drawing for each connection–phase pair. The short phrase is a label for the sign, not an assessment; the full distinction between fact, inference and missing data is in the readout above the drawing.
Connection Before 1921district without a border 20 March 1921plebiscite Summer 1922takeover of the zones 1923–1939after adjustments
Delbrück mine ↔ Makoszowy no border border not yet demarcated dispute over affiliation restriction: gate = crossing
Makoszowy–Gliwice railway no border border not yet demarcated anchored on the track, undated change of description: track anchors the border
Knurów ↔ Bojków (Szynwałd) no border border not yet demarcated stages, undated not established: crossing unknown

One cut, three different traces

The border did not “stop” the three connections in the same way. The sources in the V2 material allow a different kind of statement about each one, and that kind is what the drawing records.

Restriction per the source
Delbrück mine and Makoszowy. The border ran along the works’ fence, and the main gate served as a border crossing until 1939. The mining area was cut: the Rheinbaben and Dorotka shafts ended up in Poland. The mine’s affiliation was settled only in 1923.What is missing: the text of procedures and permit rules.
Change of description
Makoszowy–Gliwice railway. The same line is described differently: the border departs from the Czarniawka and rests on the track, and the station in Makoszowy lies on the Polish side, close to the German mine.What is missing: the rules for clearing trains and the position of the tracks in the source’s diagram. A continuous line is not free passage.
Not established
Knurów and Bojków (Szynwałd). Knurów was incorporated into Poland; Szynwałd (now Bojków) remained in Germany. The Museum in Gliwice holds a post from this section, marked “D”, “P” and the number “249/5”, recovered from a clay pit on Niepodległości Street in Knurów.What is missing: the place of the crossing. Finding the post in a clay pit does not indicate a crossing point and does not reconstruct the border on today’s plots.

What this page does not settle

  • Clearance proceduresThe material contains neither the text of regulations nor a list of documents. It is not known who crossed the border, on what basis or by whose decision. The page does not simulate travel or clearance.
  • RailwayNo rules for clearing trains and no timetables. The material implies neither a ban nor free passage.
  • Post 249/5The clay pit shows where the object was recovered, not where the crossing was or exactly where the border ran.
  • Dates of sectionsFor the railway and the Knurów–Bojków connection, the material does not separate the 1922 state from the 1923 state. That is why the “Summer 1922” phase has a question mark and a dashed outline rather than a firm conclusion.
  • Course of the roadIt is not described. V2 called the Knurów–Bojków connection a road; here it is a neighbouring connection to be checked in the source.
  • A schematic, not a mapThe arrangement of sides D and P, the angle of the band and the distances are conventional. There are no coordinates, tracks, shafts or property boundaries here.
  • Checking the sourcesThe content comes from the V2 material and its references. In this step the sources were not opened or verified again.

Sources

References carried over from V2. Each needs checking: the page does not claim they were reopened.

  1. [1] Muzeum w Gliwicach: o słupie granicznym [Gliwice Museum: about the border post]Used in V2 for: the post from Knurów, the Knurów–Bojków section, the stages of demarcation. Needs checking.
  2. [2] Dom Współpracy Polsko-Niemieckiej [House of Polish-German Cooperation]: „Na granicy”, Miejsca [On the border, Places]Used in V2 for: the Delbrück mine, the station and gate in Makoszowy, the border resting on the railway line. Needs checking.
  3. [3] Dom Współpracy Polsko-Niemieckiej [House of Polish-German Cooperation]: „Na granicy”, Wydarzenia [On the border, Events]Used in V2 for: the plebiscite, the division, and the adjustments and disputes of 1923. Needs checking.
  4. [4] Photograph of the mine in Makoszowy, 2013 (Monisiolek, Wikimedia Commons)Link only, not embedded; licence per V2: CC BY-SA 3.0, to be checked. The photograph shows the works many decades after the border was abolished and does not document the division itself.

What changed relative to V2

  • Removed the “own connection” form and the notebook in browser memory: they suggested simulating any case, while the sources speak of only three connections. Nothing is saved locally any more.
  • Removed the indicator bar and the separate audit dashboard; they were replaced by three layers of knowledge for each connection.
  • Removed from the drawing the “place where the post was found” point set on the border line, because it suggested the location of a crossing. Also removed the embedded photograph from the internet (the page works offline) and claims of “free” connections before the division, which the sources do not confirm.
  • Kept the three connections, the four phases, the distinction between fact and unestablished data, the wording of the warnings and the references to the sources.