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Elections to the Warsaw City Council were held in July 1916 – under German occupation during World War I. It was the first modern municipal election in Warsaw, as well as the first local election in Poland after the Russian retreat.[1][2] The electorate was divided into six curiae, each with 15 seats in the council. As a pre-electoral pact was reached for four out of the six curiae, voting was held only in the Third Curia (intellectuals) and the Sixth Curia (general public).[3] In the Sixth Curia, to which most voters belonged, the winners were the National Democracy on the Polish side and the Folkists on the Jewish side. Per Jesse Kaufmann (2015) "the election brought to the fore the question of Polish-Jewish relations and triggered an attempt on part of the occupiers to limit Jewish influence while maintaining a facade of strict impartiality".[4]
Background
On July 1, 1915, the German authorities issued call for convening City Councils in occupied Poland based on Prussian model, to replace system of Citizens Committees put in place under Russian rule.[5] On August 6, 1915, the Warsaw Citizen's Committee overtook functions of the city government.[6] The Warsaw Citizens Committee eventually approached the German authorities asking for elections, and on March 23, 1916, the German occupation authorities agreed that the Citizens Committee would be replaced by an elected City Council.[6][4]
Furthermore, during the spring of 1916, the city boundaries of Warsaw were expanded with suburbs being integrated into the city – on the Vistula River left bank; Czerniaków, Siekierki, Szopy, Mokotów, Ochota, Czyste, Wola, Koło, Powązki, Bielany, Marymont, Buraków and Słodowiec, on the right bank; Golędzinów, Żerań, Szmulowizna, Bródno, Pelcowizna, Targówek, Kawęczyn, Grochów, Saska Kępa, Kamionek and Gocławek.[7] Through the incorporation of these areas into the city, the area of Warsaw grew from 32.75 square kilometres to 114.83 square kilometres.[7] Under German rule, the city was divided into 26 militia commissariat districts.
Citizens Committee draft ordinance
The Warsaw Citizens Committee held several extraordinary meetings in April 1916, to discuss a draft electoral ordinance for the City Council election. The most extensive of these meetings occurred on April 16, 1916. At the meeting Piotr Drzewiecki called for a fixed quota for Jewish members of the City Council, to avoid a potential Jewish majority. Zdzisław Lubomirski, installed by the German authorities as mayor of Warsaw, called for measures to restrict the numbers of Jews that could participate in the election in order to guarantee the Polish character of the City Council. Others criticized Lubomirski's propositions, stating that such measures would cause embarrassment to Poland internationally. Samuel Dickstein, a Jewish assimilationist, rejected the argument that Jews would constitute a unified political bloc. In the end the proposals calling for restricting Jewish participation were voted down with 8 votes in favour, 15 against and 1 abstention.[8][4]
Prussian electoral system and voter registry
The German occupation authorities ultimately rejected the Warsaw Citizens Committee April 1916 draft electoral ordinance, and instead opted for an electoral ordinance based on the Prussian system of separate and unequal curiae.[1] On May 28, 1916, the German occupation authorities issued a bulletin with the provisions for the election of the Warsaw City Council.[9] The electoral regulation mixed a system of curiae with proportional election (except in the Third Curia).[9] The new City Council would have 90 seats.[9] Candidates had to be men over the age of 30 years, with "spotless moral and political reputation" and fluent Polish language skills.[9][4] Voting rights were given to men aged over 25 years.[9][4] Moreover, a small number of wealthy and educated women were given the right to vote, albeit only through a male proxy.[9][4] The German authorities divided the voters into six curiae, with each of the curiae being allotted 15 seats in the City Council.[4] On June 4, 1916, Warsaw residents began entering their names in electoral rolls of the six curiae.[6] Initially interest in the election was low, but the electoral campaign soon captured the attention of the city.[6] All in all by late June 1916, there were a total of 82,223 registered voters.[10]
| Curia | Number of registered voters | % of registered voters | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Curia | Real estate owners (landlords) | 5,674 | 6.90% |
| Second Curia | Trade or industrial license (patent) payers, i.e. representatives of heavy industry and large commercial concerns | 1,283 | 1.56% |
| Third Curia | Intellectuals, subdivided into six groups – 1st group – Roman Catholic clergy (1 seat), 2nd group – lawyers (3 seats), 3rd group – tutors, teachers and school inspectors (3 seats, with one of the seats reserved for faculty of Warsaw University), 4th group – physicians, dentists, veterinarians and pharmacists (3 seats), 5th group – engineers and technicians with higher education (3 seats, with one seat reserved for faculty of Warsaw Technical College), 6th group – students and others with higher education who did not belong to any of the other five groups of the Third Curia (2 seats) | 2,345 | 2.85% |
| Fourth Curia | Trade or industrial license (patent) payers (at a lower rate than 2d Curia members), i.e. representatives of craft-based industries, smaller merchants and small businesses | 16,050 | 19.52% |
| Fifth Curia | Payers of housing tax in Warsaw (in 1915 and 1916) | 5,794 | 7.05% |
| Sixth Curia | Registered inhabitants of Warsaw who did not fulfill any of the criteria of the first five Curiae, i.e. the working class | 51,077 | 62.12% |
The city was divided into 52 electoral districts.[10] The 2,345 registered voters of the Third Curia were not divided into electoral districts.
