''Kattowitzer Volkswille'' ('Kattowitz/Katowice People's Will'), generally called just ''Volkswille'', was a

German-language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is a ...

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

newspaper published from

Kattowitz Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

(today Katowice). The newspaper was founded in 1916 by the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD) politician

Otto Braun Otto Braun (28 January 1872 – 15 December 1955) was a politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) during the Weimar Republic. From 1920 to 1932, with only two brief interruptions, Braun was Minister President of Prussia, Ministe ...

. Initially, the newspaper carried the devise 'Upper Silesian Free Press - Organ of the Upper Silesia Agitation District of the Social Democratic Party of Germany'.Blachetta-Madajczyk, Petra.
Klassenkampf oder Nation?: deutsche Sozialdemokratie in Polen 1918-1939. Schriften des Bundesarchivs, 49
'.

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

: Droste, 1997. p. 39 As Kattowitz/Katowice was transferred to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

after the

Silesian Uprisings The Silesian Uprisings (; ; ) were a series of three uprisings from August 1919 to July 1921 in Upper Silesia, which was part of the Weimar Republic at the time. Ethnic Polish and Polish-Silesian insurrectionists, seeking to have the area tran ...

, the devise of the newspaper was changed to 'Organ of the German Social Democratic Party of Poland for the Working People'. ''Volkswille'' became the central party organ of the

German Social Democratic Party of Poland German Social Democratic Party (, DSDP) was a political party in Poland, founded on March 26, 1922.Blachetta-Madajczyk, Petra. Klassenkampf oder Nation?: deutsche Sozialdemokratie in Polen 1918–1939. Schriften des Bundesarchivs, 49'. Düsseld ...

(DSPP), which had been formed out of the remains of SPD,

USPD The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of anti-war members of t ...

and

SDAPÖ The Social Democratic Party of Austria ( , SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria () from 1945 unt ...

branches in areas that were now within the Polish republic. As

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

was divided between

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and Poland, a new SPD organ ('' Oberschlesisches Volksblatt'') was founded in the parts of Upper Silesia that remained in Germany. When the DSPP merged into the

German Socialist Labour Party in Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ger ...

(DSAP), '' Lodzer Volkszeitung'' became the new central party organ of the unified party. ''Volkswille'' continued to published though, being the DSAP organ in Katowice. In January 1931 the

Bielsko Bielsko (, ) was until 1950 an independent town situated in Cieszyn Silesia, Poland. In 1951 it was joined with Biała Krakowska to form the new town of Bielsko-Biała. Bielsko constitutes the western part of that town. Bielsko was founded by ...

DSAP organ ''Volksstimme'' was, due to lack of funds, merged into ''Volkswille''. In 1933, ''Volkswille'' was converted from a daily to a weekly newspaper. The cause was rather simple, the German '' Machtübernahme'' meant that financial subventions from Germany for ''Volkswille'' ceased. In 1935 all DSAP organs were merged into one, ''Volkszeitung-Volkswille-Volksstimme'', published from

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

.Kowalski, Werner.
Geschichte der sozialistischen Arbeiter-Internationale: 1923 - 19
'. Berlin: Dt. Verl. d. Wissenschaften, 1985. p. 319

Editors

Karl Okonsky became editor of ''Volkswille'' on December 12, 1918. Between 1922 and 1924 the editor was Dr. Wilhelm Wolf, chairman of AfA-Bund. From 1924 to 1935 the DSPP chairman

Johann Kowoll Johann Kowoll (December 27, 1890 in Laurahütte – 1941) was a Germans, German socialist politician. In his young years, Kowoll had several jobs; as stenographer, office assistant, journalist, cottage worker and machine operator. In 1906 he j ...

served as the ''Volkswille'' editor.

Edition

In January 1928 ''Volkswille'' was estimated to have a daily circulation of about 1,800-1,900. By 1932, the daily circulation had risen to around 4,000-5,000. But soon thereafter, circulation shrunk. In August 1933, the now-weekly newspaper had around 1,200 subscribers. Around 800 of them lived in the Katowice area and 400 in Bielsko.

References

{{Authority control Defunct newspapers published in Germany Defunct newspapers published in Poland German-language newspapers published in Europe Socialist newspapers History of Katowice Mass media in Katowice Daily newspapers published in Poland Weekly newspapers published in Poland