Brandys, Paweł

Brandys, Paweł (Paul Brandys), 1907-18 member of the Reichstag of the German Empire. *4.12.1869 Pawlowitz/Pawłowice, †24.4.1950 Michałkowice, Catholic priest. His father was the owner of a farmstead and mayor of Pawlowitz. He attended the Volksschule in Schwarzwasser (Austrian Silesia, today Černá Voda, Czech Republic), and then the German grammar schools in Cieszyn and Nikolsburg (today Mikulov, Czech Republic) and (for A-levels) the Royal grammar school in Pleß/Pszczyna till 1892. Between 1892 and 1895 he studied Catholic theology for seven semesters at the University of Breslau and was ordained a priest in 1896. Subsequently he was a chaplain in Zabrze and Rybnik, and from 1899 onwards the parish priest of Dziergowitz/Dziergowice. Starting in 1898 he was the speaker of the Polish electoral committee, and furthermore head of the Catholic Workers Union, chair of the Savings and Loans Union of Dziergowitz and member of the Silesian Farmers Union. In January 1907 he was elected as a member of the Polish parliamentary group in the German Reichstag as the member for the constituency of Oppeln with a majority of of 54.55%. He was a member of the select committees on support for the army, double taxation, potash, petitions, the law on bars and the law on courts. In January 1912 he was elected to the Reichstag with a majority of 51.57% in the second ballot, and until November 1918 was a member of the select committees on the penal law book, meat imports, potassium salts, the Reich budget and population policies. Starting in 1919 he devoted his energies to Polish Upper Silesia and in 1920 he was elected to the Sejm (the Polish parliament). In 1922 he became the parish priest in Michałkowice, in 1924 a deacon, and a canon and prelate. In 1928 he was a co-founder of the Polonia publishing house. As a Christian Democrat activist in Silesia he was the vice president of the executive in 1936; and in 1939 the chair of the Provincial Council in Silesia. After German troops invaded Poland he was put under surveillance by the Gestapo until March 1940 when he was interned in Żory and finally in Krzyżowice. After the war he returned to Michałkowice. He was awarded the Cross of the Commander of the Order of Polonia Restituta. picture: in 1907.

Further reading:

Reichstag-Handbuch, 12. Legislaturperiode, Berlin 1907, 223, 486 (picture); 13. Legislaturperiode, Berlin, 1912, 220f., 484; Reichstagsprotokolle 1895-1918, Register 238, 269, 297; A. Kotowski: Zwischen Staatsräson und Vaterlandsliebe, Düsseldorf 2007, 165, 189.

Online:

http://zhsf.gesis.org, Parlamentarierportal, BIORAB Kaiserreich online;

http://www.reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de/

http://www.reichstagsprotokolle.de

Biblioteka Sejmowa, http://biblioteka.sejm.gov.pl

Axel Feuß, March 2017 

Link to the minutes of the Reichstag: 

http://www.reichstagsprotokolle.de