User talk:KDS4444/SS Silesia

"There were 2 ships by the name S.S. Silesia and the original sailed in the second half of the 19th century mainly with immigrants from Hamburg to New York, but this was not the steamship named on this cover. There are 2 references to the second S.S. Silesia during WW2 and it was used as a troop ship, as well as for rescuing POWs and civilian internees gathered in the Dutch East Indies. No picture of this ship or additional details have been found." http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/601.shtml

In May of 1920, the Italian government, upholding the decision of the Trieste Maritime Tribunal, confiscated the SS Silesia from the Chinese government. The Silesia had been interred at Shanghai during the Chinese civil war and sequestrated when China declared war. It was initially chartered to a Chinese company, but later, at the request of the Chinese government, was chartered to the Czechoslovakia government to repatriate China's troops from Siberia. However, once the vessel arrived in Trieste on February 20, the Italian shipping company Lloyd Triestino filed suit against the vessel in the Italian national court which ultimately ruled in the Italian company's favor, effectively seizing the ship from China. The decision sparked outrage in the Chinese government which did not recognize the authority of the Italian court to decide matters such as the sequestration of a international passenger vessel.