Karol Śliwka

Karol Śliwka (; 13 March 1894 – 19 March 1943) was a Polish communist politician. He was one of the most prominent political leaders of the Polish minority in Trans-Olza region of the First Czechoslovak Republic and a member of National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic from 1925 to 1938.

Biography

Śliwka was born son of a metallurgy worker in Bystrzyca. After finishing five classes of primary school in his native village he entered the Polish gymnasium (grammar school) in Cieszyn. Śliwka was the foremost leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia within the Polish minority. He was an advocate of unity between Polish, Czech and German communists in Český Těšín. Following the cession of Trans-Olza territory to Poland, Śliwka and another Polish parliamentarian Leon Wolf, leader of the League of Silesian Catholics, lost their parliamentary seats on 30 October 1938. Other parliamentarians representing national minorities suffered a similar fate.