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. 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). 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".
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. On August 6, 1915, the Warsaw Citizen's Committee overtook functions of the city government. 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.
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. Through the incorporation of these areas into the city, the area of Warsaw grew from 32.75 square kilometres to 114.83 square kilometres. 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.
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. On May 28, 1916, the German occupation authorities issued a bulletin with the provisions for the election of the Warsaw City Council. The electoral regulation mixed a system of curiae with proportional election (except in the Third Curia). The new City Council would have 90 seats. Candidates had to be men over the age of 30 years, with "spotless moral and political reputation" and fluent Polish language skills. Voting rights were given to men aged over 25 years. Moreover, a small number of wealthy and educated women were given the right to vote, albeit only through a male proxy. The German authorities divided the voters into six curiae, with each of the curiae being allotted 15 seats in the City Council. On June 4, 1916, Warsaw residents began entering their names in electoral rolls of the six curiae. Initially interest in the election was low, but the electoral campaign soon captured the attention of the city. All in all by late June 1916, there were a total of 82,223 registered voters.
The city was divided into 52 electoral districts. The 2,345 registered voters of the Third Curia were not divided into electoral districts.
The newspaper "Kurjer Warszawski" estimated that 55.86% of the eligible voters were Polish (Christians) and 44.14% Jews. The newspaper made the following estimates for the voters of the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth curiae,
Among the Polish right-wing, there were strong concerns about the German-imposed unequal curiae electoral system, as Jews were well represented in the first five curiae. In particular the Polish right-wing was worried about the Fourth Curia (merchants and artisans) where Jews were expected to dominate the vote. The announcement of the electoral ordinance prompted a campaign of harsh attacks against Jewish candidates in "Gazeta Poranna 2 Grosze" (a newspaper linked to National Democracy). The attacks were especially targeted at the assimiliationists, questioning their Polish credentials. "Gazeta Poranna 2 Grosze" was somewhat more conciliatory in its tone towards the Orthodox Jews, arguing that the Orthodox Jews did not get involved in Polish affairs and that they were "always remembering that this is a Polish country, not a Polish-Jewish country."
The two Polish committees.
The Central National Electoral Committee ("Centralny Narodowy Komitet Wyborczy", abbreviated 'CNKW'), a coalition of right-wing forces that included the National Democratic Party, National Workers Union, the Christian Democratic Party and independents, called for a City Council that could function as City Parliament and would serve function as a model for the country. As it would be the first elected body in Poland and as the assembly of the Polish capital, they hoped the City Council would be able to function as a national council in the process of moving toward independence.
Another bloc was the Central Democratic Electoral Committee ("Centralny Demokratyczny Komitet Wyborczy", CDKW), a coalition of leftist and centrist parties of the "independence camp". They denounced anti-semitism but their agitation als included anti-Jewish slogans, calling to struggle against the threat posed by "Litvaks and Jewish social democracy".
Launch of the Association of Jewish Voters.
On June 14, 1916, the Jewish parties established their own electoral committee, the Association of Jewish Voters. Before the beginning of World War I the Zionists had been the major Jewish faction in the city. But in August 1915, part of the Zionist leadership left the Kingdom of Poland. Weakened after the departure of their leaders, the Warsaw Zionists agreed to making an electoral alliance with other Jewish sectors. The Association of Jewish Voters was formed, including Orthodox Jews, Hasidim, neo-assimiliationists and non-partisan independents.
The following day, the assimilationists published a proclamation in the press, calling on Warsaw residents to vote according to political views and that a separate Jewish electoral campaign should be avoided, in the name of Polish patriotism. It affirmed that the electoral regulation did not provide for any separate curiae based on nationality. About one hundred individuals signed the appealed, including Samuel Dickstein, Henryk Nusbaum, Michał Bergsohn, Kazimierz Natanson, Jan Natanson and Stanisław Aleksander Kempner.
Polish-Jewish pact.
Largely, due to efforts by the assimilationists, there was a rapprochement between the Association of Jewish Voters and the Central Democratic Electoral Committee, and the two blocs moved towards a consensus solution on the divisions of City Council seats. Eventually the Central National Electoral Committee got on board as well, and on June 30, 1916, an agreement was reached between the two Polish electoral committees (Central National Electoral Committee and Central Democratic Electoral Committee) and the Association of Jewish Voters. The pact divided the seats in the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Curiae; 26 seats for the National Electoral Committee, 19 seats for the Democratic Electoral Committee and 15 seats for the Jews (12 to the Association of Jewish Voters and 3 to the Bolesław Eiger group). As the joint Polish-Jewish slate derived from this pact was the sole candidate list in the First, Second, Fourth and Fifth Curiae, no voting was conducted in these Curiae.
In these negotiations, the Association of Jewish Voters had settled for a conservative number of Jewish seats. They wanted to avoid a repeat of the aftermath of the 1912 Duma election, which had been used by the National Democracy to spark Polish-Jewish conflict. In 1912, Jews in Warsaw had supported a Polish socialist candidate, and after the election there had been a backlash with boycott of Jewish businesses in the city.
The signing of the pact was celebrated with a reception, with the participation of several German Jews from the occupation administration. Jewish press outlets such as "Der Hajnt" lauded the pact, stating that for the first time Jews were recognized as political partners. On the Polish side, the liberal publication "Nowa Gazeta" celebrated the pact as new union of citizens and beginning of harmony between communities. Among the deputies that would be elected from the quota of the Association of Jewish Voters were Zionists (Farbstein, Poznański, Seideman), assimilationists (Eiger, Kirszrot, Weisblat, Natanson), neo-assimiliationists (Berenson, Goldflam, Mutermilch), Orthodox (Dawidsohn, Prywes, Wagmajster) and independents (Szereszowski, Truskier).
Some Jewish national activists perceived the Polish-Jewish pact as a betrayal and decided to contest the Sixth Curia election in order to "save Jewish honor". A stormy meeting was held at the premises of the Association of Jewish Writers and Journalists on Tłomackie Street, during which the Jewish Popular Electoral Committee ('Folkskomitet') was founded. The committee was headed by Noach Pryłucki. For the Folkists the real percentage of Jewish voters in the first five curiae were much greater than the proportion of Jewish seats allocated through the Polish-Jewish pact (the Folkists desired that 35% of the City Council seats be allocated to Jews). The Polish-Jewish pact was also rejected by some Orthodox Jews.
Third Curia election.
Whilst there were attempts to agree on compromise candidate lists for the Third Curia, eventually competing candidacies emerged in some groups within the curia. The voting for the elections in the Third Curia was held July 10-12, 1916 at the City Hall (Jabłonowski Palace).
First Group – Catholic Clergy.
The vote in the Catholic clergy group held under supervision of Imperial Electoral Commissar Jaraczewski on July 12, 1916. Out of 101 registered eligible voters, 70 voted. The election in the clergy group was calm, without competition between candidacies. 65 votes were cast in favour of Kazimierz Leon Bączkiewicz, Assessor of the Metropolitan Consistory, who was elected as the deputy in the Warsaw City Council representing the Catholic clergy. 3 votes were cast in favour of Karol Bliziński (who was elected alternate member with 65 votes), one vote for Marceli Szkopowski (who was elected alternate member with 70 votes) and one vote for Karol Wesołowski.
Second Group – Lawyers.
The lawyers group voted on July 11, 1916. The election was overseen by Imperial Electoral Commissar Jaraczewski. Out of 427 registered voters, 369 cast their ballots. The candidatures in the fray were a democratic-independence oriented list led by Wacław Makowski, a politically neutral list organized by Feliks Ochimowski and an anti-democrat list. The three elected deputies were the "Goniec Poranny" editor Zygmunt Makowiecki (270 votes), Makowski (252 votes) and the Central National Electoral Committee candidate Ignacy Baliński (226 votes). Ochimowski obtained 222 votes.
Third Group – Teachers.
The teachers' group voted under the supervision of Deputy Imperial Electoral Commissar Dziembowski on July 11, 1916. Out of 346 registered voters, 266 cast their ballots. The two elected deputies were Michał Archichowski (227 votes) and Józef Stypiński (132 votes). Other candidates in the fray had been Klimek (121 votes) and Sosnowski (12 votes). In the subgroup for faculty at Warsaw University there were 32 registered voters, out of whom 30 voted. University rector Józef Brudziński was elected with 28 votes. One vote was cast for Dean Alfons Parczewski (who was elected as one of the alternate members, with 32 votes) and one vote was cast for Professor Józef Mikułowski-Pomorski.
Fourth Group – Medical.
On July 8, 1916, the Democratic Physicians Committee met and agreed to endorse the candidatures of Dr. Witold Chodźko and Dr. Klemens Pawlikowski. In the fourth group (physicians, dentists, veterinarians and pharmacists) the counting of votes cast was completed at 9 p.m. on July 10, 1916. Out of 544 eligible voters, 458 had cast their ballots. Jan Rutkowski was elected from a subgroup of pharmacists, receiving 557 votes. Among the physicians the democratic candidate Dr. Witold Chodźko was elected with 379 votes whilst the national candidate Kazimierz Chełchowski was elected with 224 votes. Other candidates were Dr. Bronisław Sawicki (182 votes), the pharmacist