Upper Silesia

Upper Silesia, Polish: Górny Śląsk, German: Oberschlesien, is a region in what is now southernmost Poland.
 * It was a province of Germany at the end of World War I. In 1919, Czechoslovakia invaded and took the western part of Upper Silesia.
 * After a 1919 uprising by ethnic Poles, an Allied plebiscite commission was sent to Upper Silesia in February 1920. Stamps were issued inscribed COMMISSION DE GOUVERNEMENT / HAUTE-SILESIE. Various German stamps were overprinted C.I.H.S. as official stamps.
 * 4 Upper Silesian stamps were surcharged in different styles/fonts.
 * In March, a new series showing a dove over the landscape was released.
 * In April, German local officials were overprinted C.G.H.S.. These are commonly found inverted and in other orientations, plus doubled and tripled in various orientations. Used stamps are mostly favor cancelled.
 * In March 1921, overprints reading Plébiscite / 20 mars 1921. were issued to publicize the vote. Though the majority voted for union with Poland, the Allies could not agree whether Upper Silesia was to be awarded to Poland or on any kind of partition. This led to another, larger uprising. Finally, only part of Upper Silesia was then annexed to Poland.

 File:Upper Silesia first.jpg|5 pfennig value of the first issue. File:Upper Silesia 15 pictorial.jpg|15pf pictorial. File:Upper Silesia 5mark.jpg|5 mark pictorial. File:Upper silesia plebiscite.jpg|1921 1m plebisicte overprint. File:Upper Silesia 7.5.jpg|7½pf first official stamp. File:Upper Silesia CGHS ovpt.jpg|15pf second official with inverted overprint. See notes above. 

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