Editing Opole (section)

===After World War I===
[[File:1921 UpperSilesia 15 25Pfg Oppeln Opole Poland.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|Stamps after the plebiscite in August 1921 featured the German name of ''Oppeln'']]
After the defeat of Imperial Germany in [[World War I]], a [[Silesian Plebiscite|plebiscite]] was held on 20 March 1921 in Oppeln to determine if the city would be in the [[Weimar Republic]] or become part of the [[Second Polish Republic]], which just regained independence. 20,816 (94.7%) votes were cast for Germany, 1,098 (5.0%) for Poland, and 70 (0.3%) votes were declared invalid. Voter participation was 95.9%. Results of the plebiscite in the Oppeln-Land county were different, with 30% of the population voting for Poland. The local newspaper ''Oppelner Nachrichten'' was published in Oppeln.

Oppeln was the administrative seat of the [[Province of Upper Silesia]] from 1919–1939. In the years 1928–1931, by the decision of the German regional administration, the Piast Castle was demolished. Thanks to the strong opposition of the local Polish community and protests of the [[Union of Poles in Germany]], the castle tower was saved from demolition.<ref>''Spotkania z Zabytkami''. 6, 2005, p. 21. (in Polish)</ref> Nowadays called the ''Piast Tower'' it is one of the city's landmarks. In 1929, a Polish theatre from [[Katowice]] came to Opole to perform the opera ''[[Halka]]'' by [[Stanisław Moniuszko]]. After the performance, the actors were brutally beaten by a German militia with the silent consent of the German police.<ref>Dorota Simonides, Jan Zaremba, ''Śląskie miscellanea: literatura-folklor'', 2006, p. 82 (in Polish)</ref>

[[File:Piastenschloss und Schlossteich in Oppeln.jpg|thumb|The [[:pl:Zamek Piastowski w Opolu|Piast Castle]], prior to its demolition by the German authorities]]
Local Polish activists were intensively persecuted from 1937 onwards.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cygański|first=Mirosław|year=1984|title=Hitlerowskie prześladowania przywódców i aktywu Związków Polaków w Niemczech w latach 1939-1945|journal=Przegląd Zachodni|language=pl|issue=4|page=24}}</ref> The local ''[[Gestapo]]'' terrorized and spied on Polish activities in the German-held part of Upper Silesia, participated in espionage and sabotage in the Polish part of Silesia and prepared border provocations against Poland.<ref name=mc29>Cygański, p. 29</ref> There was strong [[Anti-Polish sentiment|anti-Polish]] [[Propaganda in Nazi Germany|propaganda]] in the city and region.<ref name=mc29/>

The local Polish newspaper ''Nowiny Codzienne'' was frequently confiscated from 1937 and its editors were harassed, its work obstructed, its distributors persecuted, and its readers threatened.<ref>Cygański, p. 30–31</ref> In 1938–1939, the local ''Gestapo'' carried out [[Expulsion of Poles by Germany|expulsions]] of Polish activists from the region, which the local Polish press could still report.<ref>Cygański, p. 25</ref> On 2 July 1939 a Nazi militia attacked and severely beat Poles going to a Polish service in the Saint Sebastian Church.<ref name=mc30/>