Joseph Musiol

Who is Joseph Musiol?

Joseph Musiol was a Silesian politician. He served as secretary of the Catholic Trade Union, as a member of the town council in Bytom, and as leader of a local group in Bytom. He was also a member of the German Catholic Centre Party and a member of the leadership of the Catholic People’s Party of Upper Silesia, an autonomic division of the Centre Party.

Musiol served as a deputy in the Prussian Parliament from January 26, 1919 to November 22, 1922 and argued for the independence of Upper Silesia as a multilingual but unified state like Switzerland. He was expelled from the Catholic People’s Party in April 1921 for activities that clashed with the official stance of the party. Around the same time, all local groups in Bytom were dissolved, and early in February 1921 Musiol was excluded from the leadership of this party. After leaving his position as deputy, he became manager of the law office of the Polish-language newspaper Katolik. He co-founded and managed a propaganda of the Union of Upper Silesians beginning in 1919, and he served as leader of the Union from December 1921 to its dissolution in 1924.