German Interests in Upper Silesia (Treaties only bind signatories)

The First World War was ended by two documents, the Armistice Agreement, which came into effect on 11 November 1918, and the Treaty of Versailles, which came into effect in January of 1920. One outcome of those documents was that the nation of Poland, which had existed in various forms for a thousand years, but which in the late 19th century had been absorbed into Germany, was recognised again as a sovereign and independent nation. The Armistice Agreement included provisions which granted previously German lands to different countries, and also imposed on Germany what are called reparations. These are financial payments, essentially to compensate the Allied countries for the costs of the war. The Armistice included the right for the countries who gained German lands to take assets on those lands and to use them as reparations. One area of contention was an area known as Upper Silesia. This area was within traditional Polish lands, but was heavily populated by German people. There was eventually a referendum where the inhabitants decided to become part of Poland. Poland then took over a range of German assets in Upper Silesia on the basis of the Armistice Agreement, taking them as a form of reparations. The Germans objected, and the German government brought the matter before the Permanent Court of International Justice. The Court began by stating the general international law position that when one sovereign government comes into possession of land which had previously belonged to another government, individuals are entitled to remain in possession of their private goods. The question was whether this was disturbed by the Armistice Agreement or the Treaty of Versailles. The Court found that the Armistice Agreement could not provide a basis for Poland to take the private assets of Germans, because Poland as a sovereign nation had not actually existed at the time of the Armistice. It had been part of Germany. The Court said a treaty only creates law as between the states which are parties to it. In case of doubt, no rights can be deduced from it in favour of third states. As a result, Poland had no right to simply take private assets from people who had previously owned those assets when Upper Silesia was part of Germany. The key lesson from this case is that treaties can only bind those states, those countries, which have become parties to the treaty.