Tuesday, May 30, 1922. Lincoln Memorial Dedicated.

Today was Memorial Day for 1922, the date at that time coming on May 30 and not being tied to a Sunday.

The day features national, and local, celebrations.

On this day in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated.

The event drew many notables, including the surviving son of the late President, Robert Todd Lincoln.

Speeches were delivered by a collection of dignatories, including former President Taft and current President Harding.

One of the big events was the Indianapolis 500, then as now.

On the same day, Germany flew its flags at half-mast outside of the Reichstag over the loss of Upper Silesia.

Latvia signed a concordat with the Vatican, allowing Catholics freedom to practice their faith.

Thursday October 27, 1921 Strike Averted. Silesia Divided. Thousand Yard Stare.

Railroad unions, feeling they'd been outmaneuvered by their employers, called off a threatened nationwide strike, but only narrowly.  The move came at 11:30 p.m.

The unions had run their threat a bit too long, and by this time forces opposing it, including the government, were fully mobilized against a move that threatened to paralyze the nation's transportation system during a time of economic depression.

Germany and Poland accepted the League of Nations division of Silesi

U.S. Army Sergeant Michael J. Donahue, a man whose face alone tells a story, was photographed on this day in 1921.  He was obviously a highly decorated soldiers. While I can't read the ribbons in this photograph, two of the awards in the upper row of ribbons have been awarded multiple times.

May 2, 1921. Uprising in Upper Silesia

Polish insurgents in 1921.

On this day in 1921, the Third Silesian Uprising commenced in which Poles in Upper Silesia who sought to separate from Germany.  The uprising followed a plebiscite which yielded indefinite results and followed Polish fears that the British would support German claims to the region, which was proved to be correct.  The French supported the Poles.

During the fighting, the French somewhat supported the Polish insurgents and the British somewhat supported German forces in the region, but outside forces were barred from entry.  Ultimately the Poles prevailed.

On the same day the US announced that it would not mediate reparations disputes involving Germany and the Allies.  The French mobilized 50,000 men for anticipated Ruhr occupation.

Also on that day President Harding was visited by the American Waldensian Aid Society.

American Waldensian Aid Society, 5/2/21

While I'd never heard of it, it still exists, and is based in the Waldensian Church, a protestant church that claims a connection with the Waldensian heresy of the Middle Ages.  In 1975 it merged with the Methodist Church.

Harding appears to have had a busy day of meetings.

He met with members of International Association of Printing House Craftsmen, depicted above.

And also with the Alabama Congressional delegation.

And with Social Service School Workers.

Somebody he didn't meet with, but who was photographed that day, was Prince Zerdecheno, who claimed the title of Emir of Kurdistan, and his wife, May 2, 1921.

Elsewhere the famous hairpin turn on the Mohawk Trail and the Niagara Falls Fire Department were photographed.

March 20, 1921. The Upper Silesian Plebiscite

"Vote for Poland and you will be free", a pro Polish campaign poster.  Interestingly, while the vote would go on largely ethnic lines, this poster was in Polish and German.

A plebiscite was held in Upper Silesia to determine its national fate. The result apportioned the territory between Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia. 

This would, of course, help set the game board for World War Two, as did the Treaty of Riga from the day prior.  Germany wasn't content with the results, and in actuality Poland really wasn't either.  When Germany dismembered Czechoslovakia in the following decade, Poland took a piece, although I think of lower Silesia and other border areas, before it soon faced Germany's territorial expansion itself.  Czechoslovakia took them back in October 1939 and then the border returned to its 1920 line following World War Two.

Also following World War Two almost all of Upper Silesia was placed in Poland.  Interestingly, unlike Lower Silesia, not all of its ethnic German population was expelled as some of it was bilingual and as the Germans in Upper Silesia were Catholic, and somewhat intermixed with the Polish population, some were allowed to remain.  The region currently has a small autonomy movement.