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'{{short description|Semi-autonomous European city-state (1920-1939)}} {{for|the Napoleonic client-state|Free City of Danzig (Napoleonic)}} {{Infobox country | conventional_long_name = Free City of Danzig | native_name = {{native name|de|Freie Stadt Danzig}}<br />{{native name|pl|Wolne Miasto Gdańsk}} | common_name = Danzig | status = Special territory | status_text = [[City-state|Free City]] under [[League of Nations]] protection | empire = League of Nations | p1 = West Prussia{{!}}{{nowrap|Province of<br>West Prussia}} | flag_p1 = Flagge Preußen - Provinz Westpreußen.svg | s1 = Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia{{!}}{{nowrap|Reichsgau<br>West Prussia}} | flag_s1 = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg | image_flag = Flag of the Free City of Danzig.svg | image_coat = Wappen Freie Stadt Danzig.svg | coa_size = 75px | national_motto = ''"{{lang|la|[[Nec Temere, Nec Timide]]}}"''<br />{{smaller|"Neither rashly nor timidly"}} | national_anthem = ''[[Für Danzig|{{lang|de|Für Danzig|nocat=y}}]]''<br />{{center| }} | image_map = Free City Danzig 1930.svg | image_map_caption = The Free City of Danzig in 1930 | capital = [[Gdańsk|Danzig]] | common_languages = {{plainlist| [[German language|German]], [[Polish language|Polish]]}} | religion = {{plainlist| *57% [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] *38% [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] *3% [[Judaism|Jewish]] *2% Other {{small|(1926)}}<ref name="Jürgensen"> Dr. Jürgensen: ''Die Freie Stadt Danzig.'' Kafemann, Danzig 1924/1925. </ref>}} | currency = [[Papiermark]]<br />{{Small|(1920–1923)}}<br />[[Danzig gulden|Gulden]]<br />{{Small|(1923–1939)}} | government_type = [[Republic]] | title_leader = {{nowrap|[[League of Nations|LoN]] [[#League of Nations High Commissioners|High Commissioner]]}} | leader1 = [[Reginald Tower]] | year_leader1 = 1919–1920 <small>(first)</small> | leader2 = {{nowrap|[[Carl Jacob Burckhardt|Carl J. Burckhardt]]}} | year_leader2 = 1937–1939 <small>(last)</small> | title_deputy = [[Administrations of Danzig before April 1945#Free City of Danzig|Senate President]] | deputy1 = [[Heinrich Sahm]] | year_deputy1 = 1920–1931 <small>(first)</small> | deputy2 = [[Albert Forster]]{{efn|As "Head of State"|name="Forster"}} | year_deputy2 = 1939 <small>(last)</small> | legislature = ''{{lang|de|[[Volkstag]]}}'' | era = Interwar period | event_start = [[Treaty of Versailles#Territorial changes|Established]] | date_start = {{nowrap|15 November 1920}} | event1 = [[Invasion of Poland|Annexed]] by [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] | date_event1 = 1 September 1939 | event_end = [[Potsdam Agreement|Awarded to Poland]] | date_end = 1 August 1945 | life_span = 1920–1939 | stat_year1 = 1923 | stat_pop1 = 366,730 | ref_pop1 = <ref name="Mason 1946"/>{{rp|11}} | stat_year2 = 1928 | stat_area2 = 1952 | ref_area2 = <ref name="Wagner1929" /> | today = [[Poland]] | demonym = Danziger, Gdańszczanie }} The '''Free City of Danzig''' ({{lang-de|Freie Stadt Danzig}}; {{lang-pl|Wolne Miasto Gdańsk}}) was a [[city-state]] under the protection and oversight of the [[League of Nations]] between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the [[Baltic Sea]] port of Danzig (now [[Gdańsk]], [[Poland]]) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrounding areas.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chestermann |first=Simon |title=You, the People; United Nations, Transitional Administration and State building |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DatHSnAojnYC |access-date=2011-04-26 |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-926348-6 |page=20 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105540/https://books.google.com/books?id=DatHSnAojnYC |url-status=live }}</ref> The polity was created on 15 November 1920<ref>{{cite book |title=Danzig&nbsp;– Biographie einer Stadt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ifeo6zdSMcC |date=February 2011 |publisher=C.H. Beck |language=de |isbn=978-3-406-60587-1 |page=189 |last1=Loew |first1=Peter Oliver |author-link1=Peter Oliver Loew |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105540/https://books.google.com/books?id=9ifeo6zdSMcC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Das Bistum Danzig in Lebensbildern |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VMvgZQrdkxcC |year=2003 |publisher=LIT Verlag |language=de |isbn=978-3-8258-6284-8 |page=8 |last1=Samerski |first1=Stefan |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105522/https://books.google.com/books?id=VMvgZQrdkxcC |url-status=live }}</ref> in accordance with the terms of Article 100 (Section XI of Part III) of the 1919 [[Treaty of Versailles]] after the end of [[World War I]]. Although predominantly [[Germans|German-populated]], the territory was bound by the imposed union with Poland covering foreign policy, defence, [[customs union|customs]], railways and post, while remaining distinct from both the post-war [[Weimar Republic|German Republic]] and the newly independent [[Second Polish Republic|Polish Republic]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Public International Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zd5nwF7o3_8C |year=2010 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-203-84847-0 |page=199 |last1=Kaczorowska |first1=Alina |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105542/https://books.google.com/books?id=zd5nwF7o3_8C |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, Poland was given certain rights pertaining to port facilities in the city.<ref name="Versailles">{{cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/partiii.htm |title=The Versailles Treaty June 28, 1919: Part III |access-date=May 3, 2007 |author=Yale Law School |work=[[The Avalon Project]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214175104/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/partiii.htm |archive-date=February 14, 2008 |author-link=Yale Law School}}</ref> In the [[1920 Free City of Danzig Constituent Assembly election|1920 Constituent Assembly election]], the [[Polish Party]] received over 6% of the vote, but its percentage of votes later declined to about 3%. A large number of Danzig Poles voted for the [[Catholic Centre Party]] instead.<ref name="Henryk" /><ref name="waszkiewicz" /> In 1921, Poland began to develop the city of [[Gdynia]], then a midsized fishing town. This completely new port north of Danzig was established on territory awarded in 1919, the so-called [[Polish Corridor]]. By 1933, the commerce passing through Gdynia exceeded that of Danzig.<ref name="ReferenceE">"Encyclopaedia Britannica Year Book for 1938", pp. 193–194.</ref> By 1936, [[Senate of the Free City of Danzig|the city's senate]] had a majority of local [[Nazi Party|Nazis]], and agitation to rejoin Germany was stepped up.<ref>Levine, Herbert S., ''Hitler's Free City: A History of the Nazi Party in Danzig, 1925–39'' (University of Chicago Press, 1970), p. 102.</ref> Many Jews fled from German [[antisemitism]], persecution, and oppression. After the [[German invasion of Poland]] in 1939, the Nazis abolished the Free City and incorporated the area into the newly formed {{lang|de|[[Reichsgau]]}} of [[Danzig-West Prussia]]. The Nazis classified the Poles and Jews living in the city as [[Untermensch|subhumans]], subjecting them to discrimination, forced labor, and extermination. Many were murdered at [[Nazi concentration camps]], including nearby [[Stutthof]] (now [[Sztutowo]], Poland).<ref name="Blatman">{{cite book |author-link1=Daniel Blatman |last1=Blatman |first1=Daniel |title=The Death Marches, The Final Phase of Nazi Genocide |date=2011 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0674725980 |pages=111–112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mT_A4ubQyXwC&pg=PA111 |access-date=2019-06-27 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105522/https://books.google.com/books?id=mT_A4ubQyXwC&pg=PA111 |url-status=live }}</ref> Upon the city's capture in the early months of 1945 by the [[Red Army|Soviet]] and Polish troops, a significant number of German inhabitants perished during ill-prepared and over-delayed attempts of evacuation over the sea, while the remainder [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)|fled or were expelled]]. The city was fully integrated into Poland as a result of the [[Potsdam Agreement]], while members of the pre-war Polish ethnic minority started returning and new Polish settlers began to come. Gdańsk suffered severe [[underpopulation]] from these events and did not recover until the late 1950s. ==Establishment== ===Periods of independence and autonomy=== Danzig had an early history of independence. It was a leading player in the [[Prussian Confederation]] directed against the [[Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights|Teutonic Monastic State of Prussia]]. The Confederation stipulated with the Polish king, [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]], that the [[Polish Crown]] would be invested with the role of head of state of western parts of Prussia ([[Royal Prussia]]). In contrast, [[Ducal Prussia]] remained a Polish fief. Danzig and other cities such as [[Elbing]] and [[Toruń|Thorn]] financed most of the warfare and enjoyed a high level of city autonomy. Danzig used the title ''Royal Polish City of Danzig''.{{cn|date=September 2023}} In 1569, when Royal Prussia's [[estates of the realm|estates]] agreed to incorporate the region into the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], the city insisted on preserving its special status. It defended itself through the costly [[Siege of Danzig (1577)|Siege of Danzig]] in 1577 in order to preserve special privileges, and subsequently insisted on negotiating by sending emissaries directly to the Polish king.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pelczar |first=Marian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeY7AAAAMAAJ&q=batory+gda%C5%84sk |title=Polski Gdańsk |date=1947 |publisher=Biblioteka Miejska |language=pl |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105545/https://books.google.com/books?id=YeY7AAAAMAAJ&q=batory+gda%C5%84sk |url-status=live }}</ref> Danzig's location as a deep-water port where the [[Vistula river]] met the [[Baltic Sea]] had made it into one of the wealthiest cities in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries as grain from [[Poland]] and [[Ukraine]] was shipped down the Vistula on barges to be loaded onto ships in Danzig, where it was shipped on to western Europe.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 211">Macmillan, Margaret ''Paris 1919'', New York: Random House p. 211</ref> As many of the merchants shipping the grain from Danzig were Dutch, who built Dutch-style houses for themselves, leading to other Danzigers imitating them, the city was thus given a distinctively Dutch appearance.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 211"/> Danzig become known as "the [[Amsterdam]] of the East", a wealthy seaport and trading crossroads that linked together the economics of western and eastern Europe, and whose location at where the Vistula flowed into the Baltic led to various powers competing to rule the city.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 211"/> Although Danzig became part of the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] in the [[Second Partition of Poland]] in 1793, Prussia was conquered by [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] in 1806, and in September 1807 Napoleon declared Danzig a semi-independent [[client state]] of the [[First French Empire|French Empire]], known as the [[Free City of Danzig (Napoleonic)|Free City of Danzig]]. It lasted seven years, until it was re-incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] in 1814, after Napoleon's defeat at the [[Battle of Leipzig]] ([[Battle of Nations]]) by a coalition that included Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The city remained part of Prussia until 1920, becoming part of the ''Reich'' in 1871.{{cn|date=September 2023}} Point 13 of U.S. president [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s [[Fourteen Points]] called for Polish independence to be restored and for Poland to have "secure access to the sea", a promise that implied that Danzig, which occupied a strategic location where the Vistula river flowed into the Baltic sea, should become part of Poland.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 211"/> At the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919, the Polish delegation led by [[Roman Dmowski]] asked for Wilson to honor point 13 of the Fourteen Points by transferring Danzig to Poland, arguing that Poland would not be economically viable without Danzig and that since the city had been part of Poland until 1793, it was rightfully part of Poland anyway.<ref name="ReferenceB">Macmillan, Margaret ''Paris 1919'', New York: Random House p. 211.</ref> However, Wilson had promised that national self-determination would be the basis of the Treaty of Versailles. As 90% of the people in Danzig in this period were German, the Allied leaders at the Paris Peace Conference compromised by creating the Free City of Danzig, a city-state in which Poland had certain special rights.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 218">Macmillan, Margaret ''Paris 1919'', New York: Random House p. 218.</ref> It was felt that including a city that was 90% German into Poland would be a violation of the principle of [[Self-determination|national self-determination]], but at the same time the promise in the Fourteen Points of allowing Poland "secure access to the sea" gave Poland a claim on Danzig, hence the compromise of the Free City of Danzig.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 218"/> The Free City of Danzig was largely the work of British diplomacy as both the French Premier [[Georges Clemenceau]] and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson supported the Polish claim to Danzig (Gdańsk), and it was only objections from the British Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]] that prevented Danzig from going to Poland.<ref name="Rothwell, Victor pages 106-107">Rothwell, Victor ''The Origins of the Second World War'', Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001 pp. 106–07.</ref> Despite creating the Free City, the British did not really believe in the viability of the Free City of Danzig with Lloyd George writing at the time: "France would tomorrow fight for Alsace if her right to it were contested. But would we make war for Danzig?"<ref name="Rothwell, Victor pages 106-107"/> The Foreign Secretary [[Arthur Balfour]] wrote in the summer of 1918 that the Germans had such a ferocious contempt for Poles that it was unwise for Germany to lose any territory to Poland even if morally justified as the Germans would never accept losing land to the despised Poles and such a situation was bound to cause a war.<ref name="Rothwell, Victor page 11">Rothwell, Victor ''The Origins of the Second World War'', Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001 p. 11.</ref> During the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the British consistently sought to minimize German territorial losses to Poland under the grounds that the Germans had such an utter contempt for the Poles together with the rest of the Slavic peoples that such losses were bound to deeply wound their feelings and cause a war.<ref name="Rothwell, Victor page 11"/> For all the bitterness of the [[French–German enmity]], the Germans had a certain grudging respect for the French that did not extend to the Poles at all. During the Paris Peace Conference, a commission of inquiry chaired by a British historian, [[James Headlam-Morley]], investigating where the borders between Germany and Poland should be, started to research Danzig's history.<ref name="Overy, Richard page 2">Overy, Richard & Wheatcroft, Andrew ''The Road to War'', Random House: London 2009 p. 2.</ref> Upon discovering that Danzig had been a Free City in the past, Headlam-Morley came up with what he regarded as a brilliant compromise solution under which Danzig would become a Free City again that would belong to neither Germany nor Poland.<ref name="Overy, Richard page 2"/> As the British were opposed to Danzig becoming part of Poland and the French and the Americans to Danzig remaining part of Germany, Headlam-Morley's compromise of the Free City of Danzig was embraced.<ref name="Overy, Richard page 2"/> The rural areas around Danzig were overwhelmingly Polish and the representatives of the Polish farmers around Danzig complained about being included in the Free City of Danzig, stating they wanted to join Poland.<ref name="ReferenceB_quote">{{cite book |last=Macmillan |first=Margaret |author-link=Margaret Macmillan |date=September 2003 |title=Paris 1919 |location=New York |publisher=Random House |page=283 |quote="The two men met privately and decided that Danzig should be an independent city and that Marienwerder in the corridor should also decide its own fate by plebiscite. On April 1 they persuaded a reluctant Clemenceau to agree. Lloyd George was reassuring; as Danzig’s economic ties with Poland strengthened, its inhabitants would turn like sunflowers toward Warsaw, in just the same way, he expected, as the inhabitants of the Saar would eventually realize that their true interests lay with France and not Germany. The Poles were enraged when they heard the news. “Danzig is indispensable to Poland,” said Paderewski, “which cannot breathe without its window on the sea.” According to Clemenceau, who saw him privately, he wept. “Yes,” said Wilson unsympathetically, “but you must take account of his sensitivity, which is very lively.” The fact that “our troublesome friends the Poles,” as Wilson called them, were continuing to fight around Lvov despite repeated calls from Paris for a cease-fire did not help Poland’s cause." |quote-page=283 |isbn=9780375760525}}</ref> For their part, the representatives of the German population of Danzig complained about being severed from Germany, and constantly demanded that the Free City of Danzig be reincorporated into the ''Reich''.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 219">Macmillan, Margaret ''Paris 1919'', New York: Random House p. 219.</ref> The Canadian historian [[Margaret MacMillan]] wrote that a sense of Danzig national identity emerged during the Free City's existence, and the German population of Danzig not always regarded themselves as Germans who had been unjustly taken out of Germany.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 219"/> The loss of Danzig did although deeply hurt German national pride and in the interwar period, German nationalists spoke of the "open wound in the east" that was the Free City of Danzig.<ref name="Overy, Richard page 16">Overy, Richard & Wheatcroft, Andrew ''The Road to War'', Random House: London 2009 p. 16.</ref> However, until the building of [[Gdynia]], almost all of Poland's exports went through Danzig, and Polish public opinion was opposed to Germany having a "choke-hold" on the [[Polish economy]].<ref>Overy, Richard & Wheatcroft, Andrew ''The Road to War'', Random House: London 2009 p. 3.</ref> ===Territory=== {{CSS image crop|Image = DAN-57-Bank von Danzig-1,000 Gulden (1924).jpg|bSize = 233|cWidth = 230|cHeight = 128|oTop = 2|oLeft = 2|Description={{center|1,000 [[Danzig gulden]] (1924) depicting City Hall}}}} The Free City of Danzig (1920–39) included the city of Danzig (Gdańsk), the towns of [[Sopot|Zoppot (Sopot)]], [[Oliwa|Oliva (Oliwa)]], [[Nowy Dwór Gdański|Tiegenhof (Nowy Dwór Gdański)]], [[Nowy Staw|Neuteich (Nowy Staw)]] and some 252 villages and 63 [[hamlet (place)|hamlets]], covering a total area of 1,966 square kilometers ({{nowrap|759 sq mi}}). The cities of Danzig (since 1818) and Zoppot (since 1920) formed independent cities (Stadtkreise), whereas all other towns and municipalities were part of one of the three rural districts (Landkreise), [[Danziger Höhe]], {{ill|Danziger Niederung|pl|Powiat Danziger Niederung}} (both seated in Danzig city) and {{ill|Großes Werder|de|Landkreis Großes Werder}}, seated in Tiegenhof.{{cn|date=September 2023}} In 1928, its territory covered 1,952&nbsp;km² including 58 square kilometers of freshwater surface. The border had a length of 290.5&nbsp;km, of which the coastline accounted for 66.35&nbsp;km.<ref name="Wagner1929">{{cite book |last=Wagner |first=Richard |year=1929 |title=Die Freie Stadt Danzig |series=Taschenbuch des Grenz- und Auslanddeutschtums |language=de |edition=2., Auflage |location=Berlin |publisher=Deutscher Schutzbund Verlag |page=3}}</ref> ===Polish rights declared by Treaty of Versailles=== The Free City was to be represented abroad by Poland and was to be in a [[customs union]] with it. The German railway line that connected the Free City with newly created Poland was to be administered by Poland, as were all rail lines in the territory of the Free City. On November 9, 1920, a convention that provided for the Presence of a Polish diplomatic representative in Danzig was signed between the Polish government and the Danzig authorities. In article 6, the Polish government undertook not to conclude any international agreements regarding Danzig without previous consultation with the Free City's government.<ref>Text in ''League of Nations Treaty Series'', vol. 6, pp. 190–207.</ref> A separate [[Polish Post Office (Danzig)|Polish post office]] was established, besides the existing [[municipal]] one. ===League of Nations High Commissioners=== [[File:Danzig passport.jpg|thumb|right|Passport of the Free City of Danzig|upright=0.8]] Unlike [[League of Nations mandate|Mandatory]] territories, which were entrusted to member countries, the Free City of Danzig (like the [[Territory of the Saar Basin]]) remained directly under the authority of the League of Nations. Representatives of various countries took on the role of High Commissioner:{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} [[File:Polish passport issued at Danzing, Gdansk.jpg|thumb|Polish passport issued at Danzig by the "Polish Commission for Gdańsk" in 1935 and extended again in 1937, before the holder immigrated to British Palestine the following year]] {| class="wikitable" |- ! No. ! Name !! Period !! Country |- | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 1 | [[Reginald Tower]] || 1919–1920 || {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}} |- | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 2 | [[Edward Lisle Strutt]] || 1920 || {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}} |- | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 3 | [[Bernardo Attolico]] || 1920 || {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}} |- | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 4 | [[Richard Haking]] || 1921–1923 || {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}} |- | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 5 | {{ill|Mervyn Sorley McDonnell|pl|Mervyn MacDonnell|de|Mervyn MacDonnell}} || 1923–1925 || {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}} |- | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 6 | {{ill|Joost Adriaan van Hamel|nl||de}} || 1925–1929 || {{flagcountry|Netherlands}} |- | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 7 | {{ill|Manfredi di Gravina|de|Manfredi Gravina|sv|Manfredi Gravina}} || 1929–1932 || {{flagcountry|Kingdom of Italy}} |- | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 8 | {{ill|Helmer Rosting|da||de||pl}} || 1932–1934 || {{flagcountry|Denmark}} |- | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 9 | [[Seán Lester]] || 1934–1936 || {{flagcountry|Irish Free State}} |- | 10 | [[Carl Jacob Burckhardt]] || 1937–1939 || {{flagcountry|Switzerland}} |} The League of Nations refused to let the city-state use the term of ''[[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic City]]'' as part of its official name; this referred to Danzig's long-lasting membership in the [[Hanseatic League]]:{{explanation needed|date=November 2023}}<ref name="Matull">{{cite web |url=http://library.fes.de/breslau/pdf/a20715/a20715_07.pdf |title=Ostdeutschlands Arbeiterbewegung: Abriß ihrer Geschichte, Leistung und Opfer |first1=Wilhelm |last1=Matull |publisher=Holzner |year=1973 |page=419 |language=de |access-date=2010-01-26 |archive-date=2011-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810074811/http://library.fes.de/breslau/pdf/a20715/a20715_07.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ===State Constabulary=== {{main|Free City of Danzig Police}} [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-14649, Danzig, Verhaftung am Wahltag.jpg|thumb|right|Danzig police arrest a protester in the aftermath of the [[1933 Free City of Danzig parliamentary election|1933 Parliamentary Elections]]]] With the creation of the Free City in the [[aftermath of World War I]] a security police force was created on 19 August 1919. On 9 April 1920, a military style marching band, the ''Musikkorps'', was formed. Led by composer Ernst Stieberitz, the [[police band (music)|police band]] became well known in the city and abroad. In 1921, Danzig's government reformed the entire institution and established the ''[[Schutzpolizei]]'', or protection police.<ref name= DPOL>{{Cite web |url=http://www.danzig-online.pl/grenze/polizeie.html |title=Polizei der Freie Stadt Danzig |website=www.danzig-online.pl |access-date=2016-02-28 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304091715/http://www.danzig-online.pl/grenze/polizeie.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Helmut Froböss became President of the Police (i. e. [[Chief of police|Chief]]) on 1 April 1921. He served in this capacity until the German [[annexation]] of the city.<ref name= DPOL /> The police initially operated from 12 precincts and 7 registration points. In 1926 the number of precincts was reduced to 7.<ref name= DPOL /> After the Nazi takeover of the Senate, the police were increasingly used to suppress free speech and political dissent.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/1862924/Działalność_policji_politycznej_w_Wolnym_Mieście_Gdańsku_w_latach_1920-1939_w_Policja._Kwartalnik_kadry_kierowniczej_Policji_4_2011_s._59-71 Policja. Kwartalnik kadry kierowniczej Policji] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620152655/http://www.academia.edu/1862924/Dzia%C5%82alno%C5%9B%C4%87_policji_politycznej_w_Wolnym_Mie%C5%9Bcie_Gda%C5%84sku_w_latach_1920-1939_w_Policja._Kwartalnik_kadry_kierowniczej_Policji_4_2011_s._59-71 |date=2017-06-20 }} (in Polish)</ref> In 1933, Froböss ordered the left-wing newspapers ''Danziger Volksstimme'' and ''Danziger Landeszeitung'' to suspend publications for 2 months and 8 days respectively.<ref name= DPLET>HeinOnline [http://www.freecitysourcebook.com/uploads/2/6/1/2/26123343/15leagueofnationsoj214-221.pdf 15 League of Nations (1934)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310001238/http://www.freecitysourcebook.com/uploads/2/6/1/2/26123343/15leagueofnationsoj214-221.pdf |date=2016-03-10 }} (translated from German)</ref> By 1939, Polish-German relations had worsened and war seemed a likely possibility. The police began making plans to seize Polish installations within the city, in the event of conflict.<ref name= DP>[http://www.deutscheundpolen.de/ereignisse/ereignis_jsp/key=polnische_post_1939.html Danzig: Der Kampf um die polnische Post] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603221536/http://www.deutscheundpolen.de/ereignisse/ereignis_jsp/key=polnische_post_1939.html |date=2016-06-03 }} (in German)</ref> Ultimately the Danzig police participated in the [[Invasion of Poland|September Campaign]], fighting alongside the [[SS Heimwehr Danzig|local SS]] and the German Army [[Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig|at the city's Polish post office]] and [[Battle of Westerplatte|at Westerplatte]].<ref name= DP /><ref name= DGW>Williamson, D. G. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wtg8a-0ggkEC&q=subject%3A%22History+%2F+Military+%2F+World+War+II%22+poland Poland Betrayed: The Nazi-Soviet Invasions of 1939] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105523/https://books.google.com/books?id=wtg8a-0ggkEC&q=subject%3A%22History+%2F+Military+%2F+World+War+II%22+poland |date=2023-03-30 }} p. 66</ref> Even though the Free City was [[Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia|formally annexed]] by [[Nazi Germany]] in October 1939, the police force more or less continued to operate as a law enforcement agency. The [[Stutthof concentration camp]], 35&nbsp;km east of the city, was run by the President of the police as an internment camp from 1939 until November 1941.<ref>United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. [http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005438 Holocaust Encyclopedia – Danzig] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507144134/https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005438 |date=2016-05-07 }}</ref> Administration was finally dissolved when the city was occupied by the [[Red Army|Soviets]] in 1945. ==Population== [[File:Polska II RP gestosc zaludnienia.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Population density]] of [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] and the Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk), 1930]] The population and demographics of the Free City are a matter of some dispute over the period of its existence. The Free City's population rose from 357,000 (1919) to 408,000 in 1929; according to the official census, 95% were [[Germans]],<ref name="Mason 1946">{{cite book |last=Mason |first=John Brown |title=The Danzig Dilemma, A Study in Peacemaking by Compromise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ORWrAAAAIAAJ |access-date=2011-04-26 |year=1946 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-2444-9 |page=<!--5, 11--> |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105525/https://books.google.com/books?id=ORWrAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|5, 11}} with the rest mainly either [[Kashubians]] or [[Polish people|Poles]]. According to E. Cieślak, the population registers of the Free City show that in 1929 the Polish population numbered 35,000, or 10.7% of the population.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cieślak |first1=Edmund |last2=Biernat |first2=Czesław |author-link1=:pl:Edmund Cieślak |author-link2=:pl:Czesław Biernat |date=1969 |title=Dzieje Gdańska|location=Gdańsk |publisher=Wydawnictwo Morskie |language=pl |page=473 |isbn=9788321572116 |quote="Spis ludności Wolnego Miasta Gdańska z 1929 r. wykazywał ponad 35 tysięcy ludności polskiej mającej obywatelstwo gdańskie lub polskie, ale zamieszkującej na terytorium Wolnego Miasta. W samym Gdańsku i Sopocie procent ten wynosił odpowiednio 10,7 i 21,1 %. |trans-quote="The 1929 census of the Free City of Danzig showed more than 35,000 Polish people with Danzig or Polish citizenship but residing in the territory of the Free City. In Danzig and Sopot alone, this percentage was 10.7 and 21.1 % respectively." |quote-page=473}}</ref> Some estimates put the proportion of Danzig Poles between at between 10 and 13%.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cieślak |first1=Edmund |title=Dzieje Gdańska |last2=Biernat |first2=Czesław |date=1969 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Morskie |isbn=9788321572116 |location=Gdańsk |page=473 |language=pl |quote="Spis ludności Wolnego Miasta Gdańska z 1929 r. wykazywał ponad 35 tysięcy ludności polskiej mającej obywatelstwo gdańskie lub polskie, ale zamieszkującej na terytorium Wolnego Miasta. W samym Gdańsku i Sopocie procent ten wynosił odpowiednio 10,7 i 21,1 %. |author-link1=:pl:Edmund Cieślak |author-link2=:pl:Czesław Biernat |trans-quote="The 1929 census of the Free City of Danzig showed more than 35,000 Polish people with Danzig or Polish citizenship but residing in the territory of the Free City. In Danzig and Sopot alone, this percentage was 10.7 and 21.1 % respectively." |quote-page=473}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Zapiski historyczne: Volume 60, p. 256, ''Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu.'' Wydział Nauk Historycznych&nbsp;– 1995</ref> Henryk Stępniak estimates the 1929 Polish population as around 22,000, or around 6% of the population, increasing to around 13% in the 1930s.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> In the 1920s and 1930s, the Polish population increased. According to some sources, in 1938, the Free City's population of 410,000 was 98% German, 1% Polish and 1% other.<ref name="ReferenceE" /><ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Mason |first=John Brown |title=The Danzig Dilemma; a Study in Peacemaking by Compromise |pages=4–5}}</ref> Other estimates suggest the proportion of Poles in the population of the Free City was around 20% in 1939.<ref name="somogyi">{{cite journal |last=Somogyi |first=Renáta |date=2023 |title=Poland and the Local Poles in the Free City of Danzig between the two World Wars |url=http://real.mtak.hu/164147/1/05_somogyi_77-92_ActaHumana2023_1.pdf |journal=Acta Humana |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=77–92 |doi=10.32566/ah.2023.1.5 |s2cid=258286366}}</ref><ref name="waszkiewicz" /> Based on the estimated voting patterns (according to Stępniak many Poles voted for the Catholic [[Zentrumspartei]] instead of Polish parties), Stępniak estimates the number of Poles in the city to be 25–30% of Catholics living within it or about 30–36 thousand people.<ref name="Henryk" /> Including around 4,000 Polish nationals who were registered in the city, Stępniak estimated the Polish population as 9.4–11% of population.<ref name="Henryk">Ludność polska w Wolnym Mieście Gdańsku, 1920–1939, page 37, Henryk Stępniak, Wydawnictwo "Stella Maris", 1991, "Przyjmując, że Polacy gdańscy stanowili 25–30% ogólnej liczby ludności katolickiej Wolnego Miasta Gdańska, liczącej w 1920 r. około 110 000 osób, można ustalić, że w liczbach bezwzględnych stanowiło można ustalić, że w liczbach bezwzględnych stanowiło to 30-&nbsp;– 36 tyś. osób. Jeśli do liczby tej dodamy ok. 4 tyś. ludności obywatelstwa polskiego, otrzymamy łącznie ok. 9,4–11% ogółu ludności."</ref> In contrast, Stefan Samerski estimates about 10 percent of the 130,000 Catholics were Polish.<ref>{{cite book |last=Samerski |first=Stefan |title=Das Bistum Danzig in Lebensbildern |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VMvgZQrdkxcC |year=2003 |publisher=LIT Verlag |language=de |isbn=978-3-8258-6284-8 |page=8 |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105522/https://books.google.com/books?id=VMvgZQrdkxcC |url-status=live }}</ref> Andrzej Drzycimski estimates that Polish population at the end of 30s reached 20% (including Poles who arrived after the war).<ref>Stuthoff Zeszyty 4 4 Stanislaw Mikos Recenzje i omówienia ''Andrzej Drzycimski, Polacy w Wolnym Mieście Gdańsku /1920&nbsp;– 1933/. Polityka Seantu gdańskiego wobec ludności polskiej'' Wrocław&nbsp;– Warszawa&nbsp;– Kraków&nbsp;– Gdańsk 1978,</ref> The Polish population increased disproportionately in the 1920s and 1930s and was estimated at 20% shortly before the start of World War II in 1939.<ref name="somogyi" /> The Catholic priest [[Franciszek Rogaczewski]] estimated that Poles made up about 20% of the population of the Free City of Danzig in 1936.<ref name="waszkiewicz">{{cite journal |last=Waszkiewicz |first=Zofia |author-link=:pl:Zofia Waszkiewicz |date=April 2006 |url=https://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media/files/Dzieje_Najnowsze_kwartalnik_poswiecony_historii_XX_wieku_/Dzieje_Najnowsze_kwartalnik_poswiecony_historii_XX_wieku_-r2006-t38-n4/Dzieje_Najnowsze_kwartalnik_poswiecony_historii_XX_wieku_-r2006-t38-n4-s53-70/Dzieje_Najnowsze_kwartalnik_poswiecony_historii_XX_wieku_-r2006-t38-n4-s53-70.pdf |title=Polska a polityka Stolicy Apostolskiej wobec Wolnego Miasta Gdańska (rokowania o konkordat i ustanowienie w Gdańsku polskich parafii personalnych) |journal=Dzieje Najnowsze |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=53–70 |issn=0419-8824 |location=Toruń |language=pl }}</ref> The accuracy of demographic estimates is complicated by the discrepancy between the ethnic and linguistic identities of the Danzig population - while 95% of the inhabitants of the Free City of Danzig were German-speaking, many Poles were bilingual and also spoke German, and were included in such estimates. Another significant minority were the Kashubs, another West Slavic group who derived their [[Kashubian language|language]] from [[Pomeranian language|Pomeranian]] and had their own independent identity.<ref name="somogyi" /> Additionally, as the result of [[Kulturkampf]] laws, German Catholics, who made up about 40% of the city's population,<ref name="waszkiewicz" /> supported the Polish national movement and stood up for Polish interests.<ref name="blanke">{{cite journal |last=Blanke |first=Richard |date=June 1983 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40868112 |title=The Polish Role in the Origin of the Kulturkampf in Prussia |publisher=Taylor & Francis, Ltd. |journal=Canadian Slavonic Papers |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=253–262 |doi=10.1080/00085006.1983.11091739 |jstor=40868112 }}</ref> This was further exacerbated by anti-Catholic legislation introduced by NSDAP-dominated Danzig Senate, which involved arrests of Catholic clergy as well as the activists and members of the [[Catholic Centre Party]].<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1937/10/20/archives/poles-are-angered-by-danzig-attacks-campaign-against-catholics-by.html| title = NY Times report| website = [[The New York Times]]| date = 20 October 1937| page=19}}</ref> The Catholic Centre Party was friendly to the Danzig Poles, and many Poles voted for the Centre Party instead of Polish organisations. The German Catholic clergy in Danzig also strongly supported the Polish minority, and the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gdańsk|Bishop of Danzig]], [[Edward O'Rourke]], actively fought for the interests of Danzig Poles.<ref name="waszkiewicz" /> In 1929, Tadeusz Kijański, a Polish citizen of Danzig, questioned the results of the official 1923 census, according to which only 3% to 1% of the Danzig population was Polish. Kijański pointed out that the census was conducted by the police, which was "a deviation from the usual and only sensible and proven way of conducting this type of census". The police officers in charge of conducting the census were mostly German citizens who were granted Danzig citizenship for the duration of their service, and there were several incidents in which they intimidated the local non-German population. The census also often relied on information provided by landlords or homeowners instead of asking each citizen directly; as a result, Kijański stated that "the results of the census show significant deviations from the actual proportions in terms of nationality data".<ref name="kijanski">{{cite book |first1=Tadeusz |last1=Kijański |title=Ilu jest Polaków na terenie Wolnego Miasta Gdańska |url=https://pbc.gda.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=5433 |year=1929 |location=Danzig |publisher=[[Gdańsk University of Technology Library]] |series=RG 2-3 |pages=113–121 |language=pl}}</ref> According to Kijański, many Poles in Danzig did not reveal their nationality in the census as a result of this intimidation, as well as pressure from German employers.<ref name="bacinski">{{cite journal |last=Baciński|first=Antoni |date=1973 |url=http://studiagdanskie.diecezja.gda.pl/pdf/sg_i.pdf |location=Danzig |title=Polskie Duchowieństwo Katolickie w Wolnym Mieście Gdańsku 1919-1939 |journal=Studia Gdańskie |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=37 |publisher=[[:pl:Gdańskie Seminarium Duchowne|Danzig Theological Seminary]] |language=pl }}</ref> He estimated that Poles accounted for 14.5% of the Free City's permanent population, but noted that the actual number of Poles may have been higher, as Poles made up 60% of all foreigners in Danzig at the time.<ref name="kijanski"/> The [[Treaty of Versailles]] required that the newly formed state have its own citizenship, based on residency. German inhabitants lost their [[German nationality law|German citizenship]] with the creation of the Free City, but were given the right to re-obtain it within the first two years of the state's existence. Anyone desiring German citizenship had to leave their property and make their residence outside the Free State of Danzig area in the remaining parts of Germany.<ref name="Versailles"/> {| class="wikitable" |+ Total population by language, November 1, 1923, according to the Free City of Danzig census<ref name="Mason 1946"/>{{rp|11}} |- style="vertical-align: top;" ! scope="col" | Nationality ! scope="col" | [[German language|German]] ! scope="col" | German and<br />[[Polish language|Polish]] ! scope="col" | Polish, [[Kashubian language|Kashub]],<br />[[Mazurs|Masurian]] ! scope="col" | [[Russian language|Russian]],<br />[[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] ! scope="col" | [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]],<br />[[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] ! scope="col" | Unclassified ! scope="col" | Total |- ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Danzig | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 327,827 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 1,108 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 6,788 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 99 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 22 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 77 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em; font-weight: bold; background: #f2f2f2;" | 335,921 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Non-Danzig | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 20,666 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 521 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 5,239 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 2,529 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 580 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 1,274 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em; font-weight: bold; background: #f2f2f2;" | 30,809 |- style="background: #f2f2f2; font-weight: bold;" ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Total | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 348,493 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 1,629 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 12,027 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 2,628 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 602 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em;" | 1,351 | style="text-align: right; padding: 0 1em; background: #f2f2f2;" | 366,730 |- style="background: #f2f2f2;" ! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Percent | style="text-align: right;" | 95.03% | style="text-align: right;" | 0.44% | style="text-align: right;" | 3.28% | style="text-align: right;" | 0.72% | style="text-align: right;" | 0.16% | style="text-align: right;" | 0.37% | style="text-align: right; font-weight: bold; background: #f2f2f2;" | 100.00% |} ===Notable people born in the Free City of Danzig=== [[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F034158-0018, Ausschnitt Eddi Arent.jpg|upright=0.55|thumb|[[Eddi Arent]] in 1971]] [[File:IMG 0220 Ingrid van Bergen.jpg|upright=0.55|thumb|[[Ingrid van Bergen]] in 2010]] [[File:Günter Grass auf dem Blauen Sofa.jpg|upright=0.55|thumb|[[Günter Grass]] in 2006]] [[File:Klaus Kinski Cannes-(retouched-cropped).jpg|upright=0.55|thumb|[[Klaus Kinski]] in the 1980s]] [[File:Rupert-neudeck001.jpg|upright=0.55|thumb|[[Rupert Neudeck]] 2007]] [[File:Portrat wolfgang voelz philipp von ostau.jpg|upright=0.55|thumb|[[Wolfgang Völz]] in 2011]] *[[Eddi Arent]] (1925 in Danzig – 2013 in [[Munich]]) was a German actor, cabaret artist and comedian.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0034357/ "Eddi Arent"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412105622/https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0034357/ |date=2019-04-12 }}, ''[[IMDb]]'', retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> He appeared in 104 films between 1956 and 2002. *[[Ike Aronowicz]] (1923 in Danzig – 2009 Israel) captain of the immigrant ship [[SS Exodus|SS ''Exodus'']], which unsuccessfully tried to dock in [[Mandatory Palestine]] with [[Holocaust survivors]] on July 11, 1947.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/world/middleeast/24ahronovitch.html "Yitzhak Ahronovitch, Exodus Skipper in Defiant ’47 Voyage of Jewish Refugees, Dies at 86"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114045757/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/world/middleeast/24ahronovitch.html |date=2010-01-14 }}, ''[[New York Times]]'' December 24, 2009, retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Elisabeth Becker]] (1923 in Danzig – executed 1946 in Biskupia Górka) was a [[SS-Totenkopfverbände|concentration camp guard]] in World War II.<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary.org">[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/stutthof-trial-april-may-1946 Stutthof Trial. Female guards in Nazi concentration camps Archived 2008] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007082036/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/stutthof-trial-april-may-1946 |date=2017-10-07 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Ingrid van Bergen]] (born 1931 in Danzig) is a German film actress.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0885706/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm IMDb] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319113957/https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0885706/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm |date=2022-03-19 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> She has appeared in 100 films since 1954. Convicted of manslaughter in 1977. *[[Miltiades Caridis]] (1923 in Danzig – 1998 in Athens) was a German-Greek conductor, his family moved to Greece in 1938. *[[Zygmunt Chychła]] (1926 in Gdańsk – 2009 in Hamburg) was a Polish boxer.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070314033650/http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=CHYCHZYG01 Olympic DB] retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> He won the [[Olympic medal|Olympic gold medal]] for [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]] at the [[1952 Summer Olympics]]. *[[Anna M. Cienciala]] (1929 in Danzig – 2014 in Florida) was a [[Polish Americans|Polish-American]] historian and author.<ref>[http://obituaries.ljworld.com/obituaries/ljworld/obituary.aspx?n=anna-m-cienciala&pid=173612122 Anna M. Cienciala. Obituary. Lawrence Journal-World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022033723/http://obituaries.ljworld.com/obituaries/ljworld/obituary.aspx?n=anna-m-cienciala&pid=173612122 |date=2017-10-22 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Holger Czukay]] (1938 in Danzig – 2017 in Weilerswist) was a German musician, co-founder of the [[krautrock]] group [[Can (band)|Can]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/arts/music/holger-czukay-dead-architect-of-experimental-band-can.html New York Times 8 Sept 2017] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20170911070227/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/arts/music/holger-czukay-dead-architect-of-experimental-band-can.html |date=2017-09-11 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Horst Ehmke]] (1927 in Danzig – 2017 in Bonn) was a German lawyer, law professor and SPD politician, served as [[Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection|Federal Minister of Justice]] (1969).<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/horst-ehmke-wird-80-der-flotte-hotte-sah-sich-als-kommenden-exzellenten-kanzler-a-463828.html Spiegel Online 04.02.2007] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818201934/http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/horst-ehmke-wird-80-der-flotte-hotte-sah-sich-als-kommenden-exzellenten-kanzler-a-463828.html |date=2017-08-18 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Jörg-Peter Ewert]] (born 1938 in Danzig) is a German [[neurophysiologist]] and researcher into [[Neuroethology]].<ref>[http://www.joerg-peter-ewert.de/5.html Own website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705031825/http://www.joerg-peter-ewert.de/5.html |date=2017-07-05 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Günter Grass]] (1927 in Danzig – 2015 in Lübeck) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 [[Nobel Prize in Literature]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32285705 "German author Guenter Grass dies"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724215954/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32285705 |date=2018-07-24 }}, ''[[BBC News]]'', 13 April 2015, retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Ursula Happe]] (1926 in Danzig – 2021 in Dortmund) was a German swimmer and Olympic champion.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200417170033/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/ursula-happe-1.html Sports-reference.com] retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> She competed at the [[1956 Summer Olympics]] and won the gold medal in 200 m breaststroke. *[[Hans Albert Hohnfeldt]] (1897 in Neufahrwasser – 1948) Nazi Party ''[[Gauleiter]]'' in Danzig. *[[Klaus Kinski]] (1926 in Zopot – 1991 in [[Lagunitas, California]]) was a controversial German actor.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001428/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 IMDb] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129022500/https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001428/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 |date=2020-11-29 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Wanda Klaff]] (1922 in Danzig – executed 1946 in [[Biskupia Górka]]) was a Nazi camp overseer.<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary.org"/> *[[Heinz-Hermann Koelle]] (1925 in Danzig – 2011 in Berlin) was an aeronautical engineer, and made the preliminary designs for [[Saturn I]].<ref>[http://www.resonancepub.com/interview1.htm Resonance Publications, March–June 1999] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215202808/http://www.resonancepub.com/interview1.htm |date=2012-02-15 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Erhard Krack]] (1931 in Danzig – 2000 in Berlin) was an [[East Germany|East German]] politician and mayor of [[East Berlin]] from 1974 to 1990. *[[Zdzisław Kuźniar]] (born 1931 in Gdańsk) is a Polish actor.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0476888/ Zdzislaw Kuzniar, IMDb] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414201151/https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0476888/ |date=2022-04-14 }}.</ref> *[[Hanna-Renate Laurien]] (1928 in Danzig – 2010 in Berlin) was a German [[CDU/CSU|CDU]] politician.<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/trauer-in-berlin-cdu-politikerin-laurien-ist-tot-a-683346.html Spiegel Online 12.03.2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170214002656/http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/trauer-in-berlin-cdu-politikerin-laurien-ist-tot-a-683346.html |date=2017-02-14 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Jack Mandelbaum]] (born 1927 in Danzig) is a Holocaust survivor.<ref>[https://mchekc.org/portfolio-posts/mandelbaumjack/ Midwest Center for Holocaust Education] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022032937/https://mchekc.org/portfolio-posts/mandelbaumjack/ |date=2017-10-22 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Rupert Neudeck]] (1939 in Danzig – 2016 in Siegburg) correspondent for [[Deutschlandfunk]] and founder of [[Cap Anamur]], a humanitarian organisation.<ref>[http://www.dw.com/en/rupert-neudeck-refugee-advocate-dead-at-77/a-19296123 "Rupert Neudeck, refugee advocate, dead at 77"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118204447/http://www.dw.com/en/rupert-neudeck-refugee-advocate-dead-at-77/a-19296123|date=2017-11-18}}, ''[[Deutsche Welle]]'' retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Zygmunt Pawłowicz]] (1927 in Danzig – 2010 in Gdańsk) ordained a Catholic priest in 1952, was the Polish Auxiliary bishop of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gdańsk]] from 1985 until 2005.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100620125557/http://catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bpawz.html Catholic-Hierarchy] retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Avi Pazner]] (born 1937 in Danzig) is a retired Israeli diplomat.<ref>[http://www.jcpa.org/israel-europe/ier-pazner-05.htm Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035853/http://www.jcpa.org/israel-europe/ier-pazner-05.htm |date=2016-03-04 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Richard Pratt (businessman)|Richard Pratt]] (1934 in Danzig – 2009 in Kew, Victoria) was a prominent Australian businessman, chairman of [[Visy]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090502004819/http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25366289-2862,00.html "Life and times of Richard Pratt"], ''[[Herald Sun]]'' April 28, 2009 retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> His family moved to Australia in 1938. *[[Georg Preuß]] (1920 in Danzig – 1991 Clenze) was a mid-ranking commander in the [[Waffen-SS]], a convicted war criminal. *[[Meta Preuß]] (1903–1981) one of seven members of the [[Communist Party (Free City of Danzig)]], elected to the [[Volkstag]] in 1930. *[[Henry Rosovsky]] (1927 in Danzig – 2022 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an economic historian, specializing in [[East Asia]], born of [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jewish]] parents.<ref>[https://economics.harvard.edu/people/henry-rosovsky Harvard College, Department of Economics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022033614/https://economics.harvard.edu/people/henry-rosovsky |date=2017-10-22 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Hermann Salomon]] (1938 in Danzig – 2020 in Mainz) was a German javelin thrower who competed in the [[1960 Summer Olympics|1960]], [[1964 Summer Olympics|1964]], and [[1968 Summer Olympics]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121216232625/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sa/hermann-salomon-1.html Sports-reference.com] retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Meir Shamgar]] (1925 in Danzig – 2019 in Jerusalem) was President of the [[Supreme Court of Israel|Israeli Supreme Court]] from 1983 to 1995.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bQEAmjk4Wh0C&pg=PA215 Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood. Cambridge University Press 2005 p. 215] retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Zalman Shoval]] (born 1930 in Danzig) is an Israeli politician and diplomat.<ref>[https://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=637 Knesset website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701095931/https://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=637 |date=2017-07-01 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[Wolfgang Völz]] (1930 in Danzig – 2018 in Berlin) was a German actor, known for his roles in theatre plays, TV shows, feature films and taped radio shows.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0905061/ IMDb] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180508162654/https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0905061/ |date=2018-05-08 }} retrieved 21 October 2017</ref> *[[F. K. Waechter]] (1937 in Danzig – 2005 in Frankfurt) was a German cartoonist, author and playwright. *[[David Dushman]] (1923 in Danzig - 2021 in Munich) was Jewish-Soviet Red Army soldier, assisted in the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. ===Religion=== In 1924, 54.7% of the populace was [[Protestant]] (220,731 persons, mostly [[Lutheran]]s within the [[united and uniting churches|united]] [[Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union|old-Prussian church]]), 34.5% was [[Roman Catholic]] (140,797 persons), and 2.4% Jewish (9,239 persons). Other Protestants included 5,604 [[Mennonite]]s, 1,934 [[Calvinist]]s ([[Reformed church|Reformed]]), 1,093 [[Baptist]]s, 410 [[Religious humanism|Free Religionists]]. The population also included 2,129 [[dissenter]]s, 1,394 faithful of other religions and denominations, and 664 [[irreligionism|irreligionists]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Danzig/index.htm |title=Die Freie Stadt Danzig im Überblick |website=www.gonschior.de |access-date=2010-03-02 |archive-date=2010-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301035437/http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Danzig/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Dr. Juergensen, ''Die freie Stadt Danzig'', Danzig: Kafemann, 1925.</ref> The Jewish community grew from 2,717 in 1910 to 7,282 in 1923 and 10,448 in 1929, many of them immigrants from Poland and Russia.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |author2=Vivian B. Mann |author3=Joseph Gutmann |title=Danzig Jewry: A Short History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vvIECPYRssIC |year=1980 |publisher=[[Jewish Museum (New York)]] |isbn=978-0-8143-1662-7 |page=31 |last1=Bacon |first1=Gershon C. |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105536/https://books.google.com/books?id=vvIECPYRssIC |url-status=live }}</ref> ====Regional Synodal Federation of the Free City of Danzig==== [[File:Danzig-Marienkirche.jpg|thumb|The Lutheran Supreme Parish Church of St. Mary's in Danzig's [[Main City|Rechtstadt]] quarter]] The mostly Lutheran and partially Reformed congregations situated in the territory of the Free City, which previously used to belong to the ''Ecclesiastical Province of West Prussia'' of the [[Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union]] (EKapU), were transformed into the ''Regional [[Synod]]al Federation of the Free City of Danzig'' after 1920. The executive body of that ecclesiastical province, the [[Consistory (Protestantism)|consistory]] (est. 1 November 1886), was seated in Danzig. After 1920 it was restricted in its responsibility to those congregations within the Free City's territory.<ref>Those congregations in Polish-annexed West Prussia ([[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Pomeranian Voivodeship]]) merged into the new United Evangelical Church in Poland, which emerged from the old-Prussian ''Posen ecclesiastical province'', with its consistory seated in [[Poznań]].</ref> First General Superintendent {{ill|Paul Kalweit|de}} (1920–1933) and then Bishop {{ill|Johannes Beermann|de|Johannes Beermann (Bischof)}} (1933–1945) presided over the consistory. Unlike the [[Second Polish Republic]], which opposed the cooperation of the {{ill|United Evangelical Church in Poland|pl|Ewangelicki Kościół Unijny w Polsce}} with EKapU, Volkstag and the Senate of Danzig approved cross-border religious bodies. Danzig's Regional Synodal Federation&nbsp;— just as the regional synodal federation of the autonomous [[Klaipėda Region|Memelland]]&nbsp;— retained the status of an [[Ecclesiastical province#Evangelical State Church in Prussia|ecclesiastical province within EKapU]].<ref>In June 1922 the Senate of Danzig and the old-Prussian ecclesiastical executive, the {{ill|Evangelical Supreme Ecclesiastical Council|de|Evangelischer Oberkirchenrat (Preußen)}}, EOK), concluded a contract to that end. Cf. Adalbert Erler, ''Die rechtliche Stellung der evangelischen Kirche in Danzig'', Berlin: 1929, simultaneously Univ. of Greifswald, Department of Law and Politics, doctor thesis of 21 February 1929, pp. 36&nbsp;seqq.</ref> After the German annexation of the Free City in 1939, the EKapU merged the Danzig regional synodal federation in 1940 into the Ecclesiastical Region of Danzig-West Prussia. This included the Polish congregations of the United Evangelical Church in Poland in the homonymous [[Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia]] and the German congregations in the [[West Prussia (region)|West Prussia governorate]]. Danzig's consistory functioned as an executive body for that region. With the flight and expulsion of most ethnically German Protestant parishioners from the area of the Free City of Danzig between 1945 and 1948, the congregations vanished. In March 1945, the consistory had relocated to [[Lübeck]] and opened a refugee centre for Danzigers (Hilfsstelle beim evangelischen Konsistorium Danzig) led by Upper Consistorial Councillor {{ill|Gerhard M. Gülzow|de}}. The Lutheran congregation of [[St. Mary's Church, Gdańsk|St. Mary's Church]] could relocate its valuable [[parament]] collection and the [[presbyterian polity|presbytery]] granted it on loan to [[St. Anne's Museum Quarter, Lübeck#Chamber of paraments|St. Annen Museum]] in Lübeck after the war. Other Lutheran congregations of Danzig could reclaim their church bells, which the [[Wehrmacht]] had requisitioned as non-ferrous metal for war purposes since 1940, but which had survived, not yet melted down, in storage (e.g. {{ill|Glockenfriedhof|de}}) in the British zone of occupation. The presbyteries granted them usually to Northwestern German Lutheran congregations which had lost bells due to the war. ====Diocese of Danzig of the Roman Catholic Church==== {{main|Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gdańsk#history|l1=Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gdańsk}} [[File:CH-NB - Freie Stadt Danzig, Danzig (Gdansk)- Kirche - Annemarie Schwarzenbach - SLA-Schwarzenbach-A-5-13-066.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Oliwa Cathedral|Archcathedral of the Holy Trinity, Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Bernard]] in Oliva, Danzig]] The 36 Catholic [[parish]]es in the territory of the Free City in 1922 used to belong in equal shares to the [[Bishopric of Culm (Chełmno)|Diocese of Culm]], which was mostly Polish, and the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia|Diocese of Ermland]], which was mostly German. While the Second Polish Republic wanted all the parishes within the Free City to form part of Polish Culm, Volkstag and Senate wanted them all to become subject to German Ermland.<ref name="May 175">{{cite book |author=Georg May |title=Ludwig Kaas: der Priester, der Politiker und der Gelehrte aus der Schule von Ulrich Stutz |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=978-90-6032-197-3 |page=175 |year=1981}}</ref> In 1922 the [[Holy See]] suspended the jurisdictions of both dioceses over their parishes in the Free State and established an [[exemption (church)|exempt]] [[apostolic administration]] for the territory.<ref name="May 175"/> The first apostolic administrator was [[Edward O'Rourke]] (born in [[Minsk]] and of Irish ancestry) who became [[Bishop of Danzig]] on the occasion of the elevation of the administration to an exempt diocese in 1925. He was naturalised as Danziger on the same occasion. In 1938 he resigned after quarrels with the Nazi-dominated Senate of Danzig on appointments of parish priests of Polish ethnicity.<ref name="db-thueringen.de">{{cite book |author2=Reimund Haas |author3=Karl Josef Rivinius |author4=Hermann-Josef Scheidgen |title=Ein aussichtsloses Unternehmen&nbsp;– Die Reaktivierung Bischof Eduard Graf O'Rourkes 1939 |url=http://www.db-thueringen.de/servlets/DerivateServlet/Derivate-5265/SamerskiFsAdrianyi.pdf |year=2000 |publisher=Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar |language=de |isbn=978-3-412-04100-7 |page=378 |last1=Samerski |first1=Stefan |access-date=2010-02-28 |archive-date=2012-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218160507/http://www.db-thueringen.de/servlets/DerivateServlet/Derivate-5265/SamerskiFsAdrianyi.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The senate also instigated the denaturalisation of O'Rourke, who subsequently became a Polish citizen. O'Rourke was succeeded by Bishop [[Carl Maria Splett]], a native from the Free City area. Splett remained bishop after the German annexation of the Free City. In early 1941, he applied for admitting the Danzig diocese as member in Archbishop [[Adolf Bertram]]'s [[Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province]] and thus at the [[Fulda Conference#Fulda Conference of Bishops (till 1965)|Fulda Conference of Bishops]]; however, Bertram, also speaker of the Fulda conference, rejected the request.<ref name="Pietrzak 2001 p. 162">{{cite book |author1=Hans-Jürgen Karp |author2=Joachim Köhler |title=Katholische Kirche unter nationalsozialistischer und kommunistischer Diktatur: Deutschland und Polen 1939–1989 |year=2001 |publisher=Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar |isbn=978-3-412-11800-6 |page=162}}</ref> Any arguments that the Free City of Danzig had been annexed to Nazi Germany did not impress Bertram since Danzig's annexation lacked international recognition. Until the reorganization of the Catholic dioceses in Danzig and the formerly eastern territories of Germany the diocesan territory remained unaltered and the see exempt. However, with the replacement of Danzig's population between 1945 and 1948 by mostly Catholic Poles, the number of Catholic parishes increased and most formerly Protestant churches were taken over for Catholic services. ====Jewish Danzigers==== [[File:GreatSynagogueDanzig.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Great Synagogue (Danzig)|Great Synagogue]] on Reitbahn Street in Danzig's Rechtstadt quarter]] {{main|Jewish Community of Gdańsk#Free City of Danzig|l1=Jewish Community in the Free City of Danzig}} Since 1883 most of the Jewish congregations in the later territory of Free State had merged into the Synagogal Community of Danzig. Only the Jews of [[Nowy Dwór Gdański|Tiegenhof]] ran their own congregation until 1938. Danzig became a centre of Polish and Russian Jewish emigration to North America. Between 1920 and 1925 60,000 Jews emigrated via Danzig to the US and Canada. At the same time, between 1923 and 1929, Danzig's own Jewish population increased from roughly 7,000 to 10,500.<ref>{{cite book |title=Danzig: Geschichte einer Deutschen Stadt |first=Rüdiger |last=Ruhnau |publisher=Holzner Verlag |year=1971 |page=94 |language=de}}</ref> Native Jews and newcomers established themselves in the city and contributed to its civic life, culture and economy. Danzig became a venue for international meetings of Jewish organisations, such as the convention of delegates from Jewish youth organisations of various nations, attended by [[David Ben-Gurion]], which founded the [[World Union of Jewish Youth]] on 2 September 1924 in the Schützenhaus venue. On 21 March 1926 the ''Zionistische Organisation für Danzig'' convened delegates of [[Hechalutz]] from all over for the first conference in Danzig using [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] as common language, also attended by Ben Gurion. With a Nazi majority in the Volkstag and Senate, anti-Semitic persecution and discrimination occurred unsanctioned by the authorities. In contrast to Germany, which exercised capital outflow control since 1931, emigration of Danzig's Jews was nonetheless somewhat easier, with capital transfers enabled by the [[Bank of Danzig]]. Moreover, the comparatively few Danzig Jews were offered easier refuge in safe countries because of favorable Free City migration quotas. After the anti-Jewish riots of [[Kristallnacht]] of 9/10 November 1938 in Germany, similar riots took place on 12/13 November in Danzig.<ref name="Sodeikat">{{cite web |url=http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/1966_2_2_sodeikat.pdf |title=Der Nationalsozialismus und die Danziger Opposition |first1=Ernst |last1=Sodeikat |publisher=[[Institut für Zeitgeschichte]] |year=1966 |page=139 ff |language=de |access-date=2010-02-04 |archive-date=2011-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720013656/http://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/1966_2_2_sodeikat.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="TYM">{{cite book |author2=Vivian B. Mann |author3=Joseph Gutmann |author4=Jewish Museum (New York, N.Y.) |title=Danzig 1939, treasures of a destroyed community |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vvIECPYRssIC |year=1980 |publisher=The Jewish Museum, New York |isbn=978-0-8143-1662-7 |page=33 |last1=Grass |first1=Günther |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105536/https://books.google.com/books?id=vvIECPYRssIC |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Great Synagogue (Danzig)|Great Synagogue]] was taken over and demolished by the local authorities in 1939. Most Jews had already left the city, and the [[Jewish Community of Gdańsk#Free City of Danzig|Jewish Community of Danzig]] decided to organize its own emigration in early 1939.<ref name="JVL">[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0007_0_07105.html Gdańsk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113051709/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0007_0_07105.html |date=2017-01-13 }} at the [[Jewish Virtual Library]].</ref> ==Politics== ===Government=== [[File:Danzig Senatsflagge 1920-1939.svg|thumb|Flag of the Danzig Senate]] {{Css Image Crop|Image = DAN-62-Bank von Danzig-100 Gulden (1931, specimen).jpg|bSize = 1000|cWidth = 220|cHeight = 205|oTop = 175|oLeft = 75|Location = right|Description={{center|The Danzig coat of arms depicted on a 100 [[Danzig gulden|gulden]] note (1931)}}}} {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ '''Heads of State of the Free City of Danzig'''{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} |- ! rowspan=2| {{abbr|No.|Number}} ! rowspan=2| Portrait ! rowspan=2| Name<br /><small>(Born-Died)</small> ! colspan=3| Term of office ! rowspan=2| Political Party |- ! Took office ! Left office ! Time in office |-style="text-align:center;" ! colspan=7| Presidents of the Danzig Senate {{Officeholder table | order2 = 1 | image = Heinrich Sahm.jpg |bSize = 70 | officeholder = [[Heinrich Sahm]] | born_year = 1877 | died_year = 1939 | term_start = 6 December 1920 | term_end = 10 January 1931 | timeinoffice = {{ayd|1920|12|06|1931|01|10}} | alt_party = Independent (politician) }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = 2 | image = Ernst Ziehm.jpg |bSize = 70 | officeholder = [[Ernst Ziehm]] | born_year = 1867 | died_year = 1962 | term_start = 10 January 1931 | term_end = 20 June 1933 | timeinoffice = {{ayd|1931|01|10|1933|06|20}} | alt_party = German National People's Party }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = 3 | image = Hermann Rauschning.jpg |bSize = 70 | officeholder = [[Hermann Rauschning]] | born_year = 1887 | died_year = 1982 | term_start = 20 June 1933 | term_end = 23 November 1934 | timeinoffice = {{ayd|1933|06|20|1934|11|23}} | alt_party = Nazi Party }} {{Officeholder table | order2 = 4 | image = Arthur Greiser 1934.jpg |bSize = 70 | officeholder = [[Arthur Greiser]] | born_year = 1897 | died_year = 1946 | term_start = 23 November 1934 | term_end = 23 August 1939 | timeinoffice = {{ayd|1934|11|23|1939|08|23}} | alt_party = Nazi Party }} |-style="text-align:center;" ! colspan=7| State President {{Officeholder table | order2 = 5 | image = Albert Forster.jpg |bSize = 70 | officeholder = [[Albert Forster]] | born_year = 1902 | died_year = 1952 | term_start = 23 August 1939 | term_end = 1 September 1939 | timeinoffice = {{ayd|1939|08|23|1939|09|01}} | alt_party = Nazi Party }} |} The Free City was governed by the [[Senate#Alternative meanings|Senate]] of the Free City of Danzig, which was elected by the parliament ([[Volkstag]]) for a legislative period of four years. The official language was German,<ref name="Lemkin">{{cite book |title=Axis Rule in Occupied Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y0in2wOY-W0C |date=2008 |publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. |isbn=978-1-58477-901-8 |page=155 |last1=Lemkin |first1=Raphael |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114040954/https://books.google.com/books?id=y0in2wOY-W0C |url-status=live }}</ref> although the usage of Polish was guaranteed by law.<ref>{{in lang|de}} [http://www.verfassungen.de/de/x/danzig/danzig22-index.htm Constitution of Danzig] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150309042207/http://www.verfassungen.de/de/x/danzig/danzig22-index.htm |date=2015-03-09 }}</ref><ref>Matull, "Ostdeutschlands Arbeiterbewegung", p. 419.</ref> The political parties in the Free City corresponded with the political parties in [[Weimar Germany]]; the most influential parties in the 1920s were the conservative [[German National People's Party]], the [[Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig]] and the [[Centre Party (Germany)|Catholic Centre Party]]. A [[Communist Party (Free City of Danzig)|Communist Party]] was founded in 1921 with its origins in the [[Spartacus League]] and the Communist Party of [[East Prussia]]. Several liberal parties and Free Voter's Associations existed and ran in the elections with varying success. A [[Polish Party]] represented the Polish minority and received between 3% ([[1933 Free City of Danzig parliamentary election|1933]]) and 6% ([[1920 Free City of Danzig Constituent Assembly election|1920]]) of the vote (in total, 4,358 votes in 1933 and 9,321 votes in 1920).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Danzig/Uebersicht_LTW.html |title=Danzig: Übersicht der Wahlen 1919–1935 |website=www.gonschior.de |access-date=2010-02-04 |archive-date=2009-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090706052744/http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Danzig/Uebersicht_LTW.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Initially, the [[Nazi Party]] had only a small amount of success (0.8% of the vote in [[1927 Free City of Danzig parliamentary election|1927]]) and was even briefly dissolved.<ref name="Matull"/> Its influence grew with the onset of difficult economic times and the increasing popularity of the Nazi Party in Germany proper. [[Albert Forster]] became the [[Gauleiter]] in October 1930. The Nazis won 50 percent of votes in the Volkstag elections of 28 May 1933, and took control of the Senate in June 1933, with [[Hermann Rauschning]] becoming President of the Senate of Danzig. In contrast to Germany, the Nazi Party was relatively weak in the Free City of Danzig, and remained unstable because of "furious factional struggles" which plagued the Nazi administration throughout its rule. The party membership was generally low, and the 1935 election in Danzig "amounted to an electoral defeat for the Nazis".<ref name="carsten">{{cite journal |page=305 |author=F. L. Carsten |title=Review of "Hitler's Free City: A History of the Nazi Party in Danzig 1925-1939" by Herbet S. Levine |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4206888 |journal=The Slavonic and East European Review |volume=52 |issue=127 |date=April 1974 |jstor=4206888 |publisher=the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School of}}</ref> The democratic opposition remained strong and was able to temporarily block the Nazi [[Gleichschaltung]] policies between 1935 and 1937.<ref name="huntrm">{{cite journal |pages=185–186 |author=Hunt, R. M. |title=Review of "Hitler's Free City: A History of the Nazi Party in Danzig 1925-1939" by Herbet S. Levine |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=412 |issue=1 |date=March 1974 |issn=0002-7162 |doi=10.1177/000271627441200139 |publisher=CSAGE Publications|s2cid=145646953 }}</ref> German Catholics were supportive of the Polish minority and most Danzig Poles voted for the Catholic Centre Party.<ref name="waszkiewicz"/> Social Democrats were also willing to cooperate with Catholics and Poles, and the Catholic Church in Danzig was pro-Polish and opposed National Socialism.<ref name="riekhoff">{{cite journal |pages=490–492 |author=Harald von Riekhoff |title=Review of "Hitler's Free City: A History of the Nazi Party in Danzig 1925-1939" by Herbet S. Levine |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40866777 |journal=Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes |volume=16 |issue=3 |date=1974 |jstor=40866777 |publisher=Canadian Association of Slavists}}</ref> Rauschning was removed from his position by Forster and replaced by [[Arthur Greiser]] in November 1934.<ref name =Sodeikat/> He later appealed to the public not to vote for the Nazis in the [[1935 Free City of Danzig parliamentary election|1935 elections]].<ref name=Matull/> Political opposition to the Nazis was repressed<ref>{{cite book |title=The new UN peacekeeping |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rf9SE2YI-UC |year=1995 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-12415-1 |page=94 |last1=Ratner |first1=Steven R. |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105536/https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rf9SE2YI-UC |url-status=live }}</ref> with several politicians being imprisoned and murdered.<ref>Sodeikat, p. 170, p. 173, Fn.92</ref><ref>Matull, "Ostdeutschlands Arbeiterbewegung", pp. 440, 450.</ref> The economic policy of Danzig's Nazi-led government, which increased the public expenditures for employment-creation programs<ref>{{cite book |title=Meine Danziger Mission |first=Carl Jakob |last=Burckhardt |page=39 |language=de}}<br />{{cite book |title=Die Juden der Freien Stadt Danzig unter der Herrschaft des Nationalsozialismus |first=Erwin |last=Lichtenstein |year=1973 |page=44 |language=de}}</ref> and the retrenchment of financial aid from Germany led to a devaluation of more than 40% of the [[Danzig gulden|Danziger Gulden]] in 1935.<ref name="Mason 1946"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Danzig&nbsp;– Biographie einer Stadt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ifeo6zdSMcC |year=2011 |publisher=C.H. Beck |language=de |isbn=978-3-406-60587-1 |page=206 |last1=Loew |first1=Peter Oliver |author-link1=Peter Oliver Loew |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105540/https://books.google.com/books?id=9ifeo6zdSMcC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Loose |first=Ingo |title=Kredite für NS-Verbrechen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R2Dr9gdFZoAC |year=2007 |publisher=[[Institut für Zeitgeschichte]] |language=de |isbn=978-3-486-58331-1 |page=33 |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105536/https://books.google.com/books?id=R2Dr9gdFZoAC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A4LiAAAAMAAJ&q=Arbeitsbeschaffungspolitik |title=Opposition und Widerstand in Danzig |first1=Marek |last1=Andrzejewski |publisher=Dietz |year=1994 |isbn=978-3801240547 |page=99 |language=de |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105551/https://books.google.com/books?id=A4LiAAAAMAAJ&q=Arbeitsbeschaffungspolitik |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2BpAAAAMAAJ&q=devaluation+gulden |title=History of Gdańsk |first1=Edmund |last1=Cieslak |first2=Czeslaw |last2=Biernat |publisher=Fundacji Biblioteki Gdańskiej |year=1995 |isbn=978-8386557004 |page=454 |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105537/https://books.google.com/books?id=O2BpAAAAMAAJ&q=devaluation+gulden |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Matull, "Ostdeutschlands Arbeiterbewegung", pp. 417, 418.</ref> The Gold reserves of the [[Bank of Danzig]] declined from 30&nbsp;million Gulden in 1933 to 13&nbsp;million in 1935 and the foreign asset reserve from 10&nbsp;million to 250,000 Gulden.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Intelligence Service Economic Intelligence Service |title=Commercial Banks 1929–1934 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fQdXGT6tA8AC |date=2007 |publisher=League of Nations |isbn=978-1-4067-5963-1 |page=lxxxix |author2=Service, Intellige Economic Intelligence |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105539/https://books.google.com/books?id=fQdXGT6tA8AC |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1935, Poland protested when Danzig's Senate reduced the value of the Gulden so that it would be the same as the [[Polish złoty|Polish zloty]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Danzig: Geschichte einer Deutschen Stadt |first=Rüdiger |last=Ruhnau |publisher=Holzner Verlag |year=1971 |page=103 |language=de}}</ref> As in Germany, the Nazis introduced laws mirroring the [[Ermächtigungsgesetz|Enabling Act]] and [[Nuremberg laws]] (November 1938);<ref>{{cite book |title="Die Blechtrommel" von Günter Grass: Bedeutung, Erzähltechnik und Zeitgeschichte |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2nue91Rlg-0C |date=2009 |publisher=Frank & Timme GmbH |language=de |isbn=978-3-86596-237-9 |page=396 |last1=Schwartze-Köhler |first1=Hannelore |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105553/https://books.google.com/books?id=2nue91Rlg-0C |url-status=live }}</ref> existing parties and unions were gradually banned. The presence of the League of Nations however still guaranteed a minimum of legal certainty. In 1935, the opposition parties, except for the Polish Party, filed a lawsuit to the Danzig High Court in protest against the manipulation of the Volkstag elections.<ref name=Matull/><ref name=Sodeikat/> The opposition also protested to the League of Nations, as did the Jewish Community of Danzig.<ref>{{cite book |title=Leo Baeck Institute New York Bibliothek und Archiv |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vvCsfz67i1wC |year=1970 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |language=de |isbn=978-3-16-830772-3 |page=67 |last1=Kreutzberger |first1=Max}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Danzig.html |title=Danzig Jewry: A Short History |first1=Gershon C. |last1=Bacon |publisher=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=2015-10-25 |archive-date=2017-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113051333/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Danzig.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The number of members of the Nazi Party in Danzig increased from 21,861 in June 1934 to 48,345 in September 1938.<ref name="Berendt">{{cite journal |page=53 |author=Grzegorz Berendt |title=Gdańsk – od niemieckości do polskości |language=pl |url=http://www.sierpien1980.pl/download/10/15909/biuletyn8-967-68.pdf |journal=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej IPN |volume=Nr. 8–9 (67–68) |date=August 2006 |access-date=2015-12-24 |archive-date=2018-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917203328/http://www.sierpien1980.pl/download/10/15909/biuletyn8-967-68.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> ===Foreign relations=== Foreign relations were handled by [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]].<ref>Article 104 (6) of the [[Treaty of Versailles]].</ref> In 1927, the Free City of Danzig sent a military advisory mission to [[Bolivia]]. The Bolivian government of [[Hernando Siles Reyes]] wanted to continue the pre-[[World War I]] German military mission but the Treaty of Versailles prohibited that. The German officers, including [[Ernst Röhm]], were transferred to the Danzig police force and then sent to Bolivia. In 1929, after problems with the mission, the British embassy handled the return of the German officers.<ref>{{cite journal |page=695 |author=Eleanor Hancock |title=Ernst Röhm versus General Hans Kundt in Bolivia, 1929–30? The Curious Incident |language=en |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=Nr. 4 (47) |issue=4 |date=October 2012 |jstor=23488391}}</ref> ===German-Polish tensions=== The rights of the [[Second Polish Republic]] within the territory of the Free City were stipulated in the [[Treaty of Paris (1920)|Treaty of Paris]] of 9 November 1920 and the [[Treaty of Warsaw (1920)|Treaty of Warsaw]] of 24 October 1921.<ref>{{cite book |title=Autonomy, Sovereignty and Self-Determination |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=28PEGfCDiZEC |date=2011 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |isbn=978-0-8122-1572-4 |page=375 |last1=Hannum |first1=Hurst |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105554/https://books.google.com/books?id=28PEGfCDiZEC |url-status=live }}</ref> The details of the Polish privileges soon became a permanent matter of disputes between the local populace and the Polish State. While the representatives of the Free City tried to uphold the city's autonomy and sovereignty, Poland sought to extend its privileges.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Law and Practice of International Territorial Administration |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j6e16GCIfiEC |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-87800-5 |pages=173 ff, 177 |last1=Stahn |first1=Carsten |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105634/https://books.google.com/books?id=j6e16GCIfiEC |url-status=live }}</ref> Throughout the [[Polish–Soviet War]], local dockworkers went on strike and refused to unload ammunition supplies for the [[Polish Army]]. While the ammunition was finally unloaded by British troops,<ref>{{cite book |title=The Post-War history of the British Working Class |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XV35N74_jk8C |date=2006 |publisher=Read Bookd |isbn=978-1-4067-9826-5 |page=38 |author-link1=Allen Hutt |last1=Hutt |first1=Allen |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105542/https://books.google.com/books?id=XV35N74_jk8C |url-status=live }}</ref> the incident led to the establishment of a permanent ammunition depot at the [[Westerplatte]] and the construction of a trade and naval port in [[Gdynia]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Poland&nbsp;– Key to Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KcfGbrKptoC |date=2007 |publisher=Read Books |isbn=978-1-4067-4564-1 |page=159 |last1=Buell |first1=Raymond Leslie |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105556/https://books.google.com/books?id=-KcfGbrKptoC |url-status=live }}</ref> whose total exports and imports surpassed those of Danzig in May 1932.<ref>Eugene van Cleef, "Danzig and Gdynia," Geographical Review, Vol. 23, No. 1. (Jan., 1933): 106.</ref> In December 1925, the Council of the [[League of Nations]] agreed to the establishment of a Polish military guard of 88 men on the [[Westerplatte]] peninsula to protect the war material depot.<ref>Cieślak, E Biernat, C (1995) ''History of Gdańsk'', Fundacji Biblioteki Gdanskiej. p. 436</ref><ref>''By a decision of the League Council in December 1925, the guard which the Poles were entitled to maintain on this spot [Westerplatte peninsula] was limited to 88 men, though the number might be increased with the consent of the High Commissioner.'' Geoffrey Malcolm Gathorne-Hardy. ''A Short History of International Affairs, 1920 to 1934''. Royal institute of international affairs (1934). [[Oxford University Press]]. p. 384.</ref> During the interwar period the Polish minority was heavily discriminated against by the German population, which openly attacked its members using racist slurs and harassment, and attacks against the Polish consulate by German students were praised by authorities.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rp.pl/artykul/55392-Mit-Gdanska--mit-Grassa.html |title=Mit Gdańska, mit Grassa |website=www.rp.pl |access-date=2021-01-31 |archive-date=2021-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509164857/https://www.rp.pl/artykul/55392-Mit-Gdanska--mit-Grassa.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 1932, a [[Danzig crisis (1932)|crisis]] broke out when the Polish destroyer [[ORP Wicher (1928)|ORP ''Wicher'']] was sent into Danzig harbour without the permission of the Senate to greet a visiting squadron of British destroyers.<ref name="auto">Wandycz, Piotr Stefan ''The Twilight of French Eastern Alliances'', Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988 p. 237</ref> The crisis was resolved when the Free City granted more access rights to the Polish Navy in exchange for a promise to not take the ''Wicher'' back into Danzig harbour.<ref name="auto"/> Several disputes between Danzig and Poland occurred in the sequel. The Free City protested against the Westerplatte depot, the placement of Polish letter boxes within the City<ref>[http://www.worldcourts.com/pcij/eng/decisions/1925/1925.05.16_danzig.htm worldcourts.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101210072938/http://www.worldcourts.com/pcij/eng/decisions/1925/1925.05.16_danzig.htm |date=2010-12-10 }} PCIJ, Advisory Opinion No. 11</ref> and the presence of Polish war vessels at the harbour.<ref>[http://www.worldcourts.com/pcij/eng/decisions/1931/1931.12.11_danzig.htm worldcourts.com] {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20130209113525/http://www.worldcourts.com/pcij/eng/decisions/1931/1931.12.11_danzig.htm |date=2013-02-09 }} PCIJ, Advisory Opinion No. 22</ref> The attempt of the Free City to join the [[International Labour Organization]] was rejected by the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]] at the League of Nations after protests of the Polish ILO delegate.<ref>[http://www.worldcourts.com/pcij/eng/decisions/1930/1930.08.26_danzig.htm worldcourts.com] {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20130209135635/http://www.worldcourts.com/pcij/eng/decisions/1930/1930.08.26_danzig.htm |date=2013-02-09 }} PCIJ, Advisory Opinion No. 18</ref><ref name="ILR">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KzYGaYaNswkC&q=International+Labour+Organization+danzig&pg=PA410 |title=International Law Reports 1929–1930 |access-date=2009-08-30 |work=Advisory Opinion No 18: Free City of Danzig and International Labour Organization on August 26, 1930, Collection of Advisory Opinions: Free City of Danzig and International Labour Organization, No. 18 Series B File F (1930) |publisher=H. Lauterpacht |year=1936 |isbn=978-0-521-46350-8 |author1=Lauterpacht, H |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105545/https://books.google.com/books?id=KzYGaYaNswkC&q=International+Labour+Organization+danzig&pg=PA410 |url-status=live }}</ref> After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, the Polish military doubled the number of 88 troops at Westerplatte in order to test the reaction of the new chancellor. After protests the additional troops were withdrawn.<ref>Hargreaves, R (2010) Blitzkrieg Unleashed: The German Invasion of Poland, 1939 pp. 31–32</ref> Nazi propaganda used these events in the [[Volkstag]] elections of May 1933, in which Nazis won absolute majority.<ref>Epstein, C (2012) Model Nazi: Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland, Oxford University Press p. 58</ref> Until June 1933, the High Commissioner decided in 66 cases of dispute between Danzig and Poland; in 54 cases one of the parties appealed to the Permanent Court of International Justice.<ref>Hurst Hannum, p. 377.</ref> Subsequent disputes were resolved in direct negotiations between the Senate and Poland after both had agreed to abstain from further appeals to the International Court in the summer of 1933 and bilateral agreements were concluded.<ref>{{cite book |title=Wörterbuch des Völkerrechts; Aachener Kongress&nbsp;– Hussar Fall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBSE1BF_w2AC |date=1960 |publisher=de Gruyter Verlag |language=de |isbn=978-3-11-001030-5 |pages=307, 309 |last1=Schlochauer |last3=Mosler |last2=Krüger |first1=Hans J. |first2=Herbert |first3=Hermann |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105610/https://books.google.com/books?id=EBSE1BF_w2AC |url-status=live }}</ref> In the aftermath of the [[German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact]] of 1934, Danzig–Polish relations improved and [[Adolf Hitler]] instructed the local Nazi government to cease anti-Polish actions.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Baltic and the Outbreak of the Second World War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4pKEQgAACAAJ |year=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-40467-9 |pages=74 ff, 80 |last1=Hiden |last3=Prazmowska |last2=Lane |first1=John |first2=Thomas |first3=Anita J. |author-link3=Anita J. Prazmowska |access-date=2020-10-25 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105548/https://books.google.com/books?id=4pKEQgAACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> In return, Poland did not support the actions of the anti-Nazi opposition in Danzig. The Polish Ambassador to Germany, [[Józef Lipski]], stated in a meeting with [[Hermann Göring]]<ref>Prazmowska, p. 80.</ref> <blockquote>"... that a National Socialist Senate in Danzig is also most desirable from our point of view, since it brought about a rapprochement between the Free City and Poland, I would like to remind him that we have always kept aloof from internal Danzig problems. In spite of approaches repeatedly made by the opposition parties, we rejected any attempt to draw us into action against the Senate. I mentioned quite confidentially that the Polish minority in Danzig was advised not to join forces with the opposition at the time of elections."</blockquote> When [[Carl Jacob Burckhardt|Carl J. Burckhardt]] became High Commissioner in February 1937, both Poles and Germans openly welcomed his withdrawal, and Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs [[Józef Beck]] notified him not to "count on the support of the Polish State" in the case of difficulties with the Senate or the Nazi Party.<ref>Prazmowska, p. 81.</ref> While the Senate appeared to respect the agreements with Poland, the "Nazification of Danzig proceeded relentlessly"<ref>Prazmowska, p. 85.</ref> and Danzig became a springboard for anti-Polish propaganda among the German and Ukrainian minority in Poland.<ref>Prazmowska, p. 83.</ref> The Catholic Bishop of Danzig, [[Edward O'Rourke]], was forced to withdraw after he had tried to implement four additional Polish nationals as parish priests in October 1937.<ref name="db-thueringen.de"/> ===Danzig crisis=== {{see also|Danzig crisis}} The German policy openly changed immediately after the [[Munich Conference]] in October 1938, when German Minister of Foreign Affairs [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] demanded the incorporation of the Free City into the Reich.<ref>{{cite book |title=Barbarism and Civilization |url=https://archive.org/details/barbarismciviliz00wass |url-access=registration |year=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-873074-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/barbarismciviliz00wass/page/279 279] |last1=Wasserstein |first1=Bernard}}</ref> The Polish ambassador to Germany, [[Józef Lipski|Jozef Lipski]], declined Ribbentrop's offer, saying that Polish public opinion would not tolerate the Free City joining Germany and predicated that if Warsaw allowed that to happen, then the ''[[Sanation]]'' military dictatorship that had ruled Poland since 1926 would be overthrown.<ref name="Overy, Richard page 16" /> [[Ernst von Weizsäcker]] on 29 March 1939 told the Danzig government the ''Reich'' would carry out a policy to the ''Zermürbungspolitik'' (point of destruction) towards Poland, saying a compromise solution was not wanted, and on 5 April 1939 told [[Hans-Adolf von Moltke]] under no conditions was he to negotiate with the Poles.<ref>Weinberg Gerhard ''The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany : Starting World War II 1937–39'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980 p. 560.</ref> All through the spring and summer of 1939 there was a massive media campaign in Germany demanding the immediate return of the Free City of Danzig to Germany under the slogan "Home to the ''Reich''!". However, the Danzig crisis was just a pretext for war. Ribbentrop ordered Count [[Hans-Adolf von Moltke]], the German ambassador to Poland, not to negotiate with the Poles over Danzig as it was always Ribbentrop's great fear that the Poles might actually agree to the Free City returning to Germany, thereby depriving the ''Reich'' of its pretext for attacking Poland.<ref>Weinberg Gerhard ''The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany : Starting World War II 1937–39'', Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980 pp. 560–562 & 583–584</ref> [[File:Adolf Hitler addresses an audience in Danzig 03.jpg|thumb|left|Hitler gives a speech in Danzig on 19 September 1939]] In the middle of August, Beck offered a concession, saying that Poland was willing to give up its control of Danzig's customs, a proposal which caused fury in [[Berlin]].<ref name="Rothwell, Victor page 161">Rothwell, Victor ''The Origins of the Second World War'', Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001 p. 161.</ref> However, the leaders of the Free City sent a message to Berlin on 19 August 1939 saying: "''Gauleiter'' Forster intends to extend claims...Should the Poles yield again it is intended to increase the claims further in order to make accord impossible".<ref name="Rothwell, Victor page 161"/> The same day a telegram from Berlin expressed approval with the proviso: "Discussions will have to be conducted and pressure exerted against Poland in such a way that responsibility for failure to come to an agreement and the consequences rest with Poland".<ref name="Rothwell, Victor page 161"/> On 23 August 1939, Albert Forster, the ''Gauleiter'' of Danzig, called a meeting of the Senate that voted to have the Free City rejoin Germany, raising tensions to the breaking point.<ref>Prazmowska, Anita "Poland" pp. 155–64 from ''The Origins of The Second World War'' edited by Robert Boyce and Joseph Maiolo, London: Macmillan, 2003 p. 163.</ref> The same meeting appointed Forster the Danzig State President, through this was due to Forster's long-running rivalry with [[Arthur Greiser]], a ''völkisch'' fanatic who regarded Forster as too soft on the Poles. Both the appointment of Forster as State President and the resolution calling for the Free City to rejoin the ''Reich'' were violations of the charter the League of Nations had given Danzig in 1920, and the matter should have been taken to the League of Nations's Security Council for discussion.<ref name="ReferenceC">Prazmowska, Anita "Poland, the 'Danzig Question', and the Outbreak of the Second World War" pp. 394–408 from ''The Origins of the Second World War'' edited by Frank McDonough, London: Continuum, 2011 p. 406.</ref> Since these violations of the Danzig charter would have resulted in the League deposing the Danzig's Nazi government, both the French and British prevented the matter from being referred to the Security Council.<ref>Prazmowska, Anita "Poland, the 'Danzig Question', and the Outbreak of the Second World War" pp. 394–408 from ''The Origins of the Second World War'' edited by Frank McDonough, London: Continuum, 2011 pp. 406–07.</ref> Instead the British and French applied strong pressure on the Poles not to send in a military force to depose the Danzig government, and appoint a mediator to resolve the crisis.<ref name="ReferenceD">Prazmowska, Anita "Poland, the 'Danzig Question', and the Outbreak of the Second World War" pp. 394–408 from ''The Origins of the Second World War'' edited by Frank McDonough, London: Continuum, 2011 p. 407.</ref> By late August 1939, the crisis continued to escalate with the Senate confiscating on 27 August 1939 stocks of wheat, salt and petrol that belonged to the Polish businesses that were in the process of being exported or imported via the Free City, an action that led to sharp Polish complaints.<ref>Watt, D.C. ''How War Came'', London: Heinemann, 1989 p. 512.</ref> The same day, 200 Polish workers at the Danzig shipyards were fired without severance pay and their identification papers revoked, meaning that they legally could not live in Danzig anymore.<ref name="Watt, D.C. page 513">Watt, D.C. ''How War Came'', London: Heinemann, 1989 p. 513.</ref> The Danzig government imposed food rationing, the Danzig newspapers took a militantly anti-Polish line, and almost every day there were "incidents" on the border with Poland.<ref name="Watt, D.C. page 513"/> Ordinary people in Danzig were described as being highly worried in the last days of August 1939 as it become apparent that war was imminent.<ref name="Watt, D.C. page 513"/> In the meantime, the German battleship ''[[SMS Schleswig-Holstein|Schleswig-Holstein]]'' had arrived in Danzig on 15 August.<ref name="ReferenceD"/> Originally, it was planned to send the light cruiser ''[[German cruiser Königsberg|Königsberg]]'' to Danzig for what was described as a "friendship visit", but it was decided at the last minute that a ship with more firepower was needed, leading to the ''Schleswig-Holstein'' with its {{convert|11|inch|adj=on}} guns being substituted.<ref>Watt, D.C. ''How War Came'', London: Heinemann, 1989 p. 484.</ref> Upon anchoring in Danzig harbor, the ''Schleswig-Holstein'' ominously aimed its guns at the Polish Military Depot on the Westerplatte peninsula in a provocative gesture that further raised the tensions in the Free City.<ref name="ReferenceD"/> At about 4:48am on 1 September 1939, the ''Schleswig-Holstein'' opened fire on the Westerplatte, firing the first shots of World War II.<ref>Watt, D.C. ''How War Came'', London: Heinemann, 1989 p. 530.</ref> ==Second World War and aftermath== [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-E10458, Polen, Zollstation, deutsche Soldaten.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|1 September 1939: Danzig police remove Polish insignia at the Polish–Danzig border near [[Zoppot]]]] On 1 September 1939, the day of the German invasion of the Free City of Danzig, Forster signed [http://www.verfassungen.de/x/danzig/danzig39.htm a law] declaring the Free City to be incorporated into Germany. On the same day, Hitler signed a law declaring the law signed by Forster to be German law and the Free City of Danzig was officially incorporated into Germany. The Polish military forces in the city held out until 7 September. Up to 4,500 members of the Polish minority were arrested with many of them executed.<ref>http://www.piasnica.auschwitzmemento.pl/download/pia_nica_2010__stan_bada__i_postulaty_ostateczne.pdf {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160607031825/http://www.piasnica.auschwitzmemento.pl/download/pia_nica_2010__stan_bada__i_postulaty_ostateczne.pdf |date=2016-06-07 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> In the city itself hundreds of Polish prisoners were subjected to cruel executions and experiments, which included castration of men and sterilization of women considered dangerous to the "purity of Nordic race" and beheading by [[guillotine]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sw.gov.pl/strona/opis-areszt-sledczy-w-gdansku |title=Opis jednostki - Służba Więzienna |website=www.sw.gov.pl |access-date=2017-08-21 |archive-date=2017-08-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822012236/http://www.sw.gov.pl/strona/opis-areszt-sledczy-w-gdansku |url-status=live }}</ref> The judicial system was one of the main tools of extermination policy towards Poles led by Nazi Germany in the city and verdicts were motivated by statements that Poles were subhuman.<ref>Eksterminacyjna i dyskryminacyjna działalność hitlerowskich sądów okręgu Gdańsk-Prusy Zachodnie w latach 1939-1945 "W wyrokach używano często określeń obraźliwych dla Polaków w rodzaju: „polscy podludzie" Edmund Zarzycki Wydawn. Uczelniane WSP, 1981 <nowiki>[</nowiki>Extermination and discriminatory activity of Nazi courts in the Gdańsk-West Prussia district in the years 1939-1945 "The judgments often used terms offensive to Poles, such as: "Polish subhumans" Edmund Zarzycki Wywn. University School of Fine Arts, 1981<nowiki>]</nowiki></ref> By the end of the Second World War, nearly all of the city had been reduced to ruins. On 30 March 1945, the city was taken by the [[Red Army]]. At the [[Yalta Conference]] in February 1945, the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] agreed that the city would become part of Poland.<ref>The History of Poland Since 1863 By Robert F. Leslie page 281</ref> No formal treaty has ever altered the status of the Free City of Danzig, and its incorporation into Poland has rested upon the general acquiescence of the international community.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Capps |first1=Patrick |last2=Evans |first2=Malcolm David |title=Asserting Jurisdiction: International and European Legal Perspectives |publisher=Hart Publishing |date=2003 |pages=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bb0VULJ8g5MC |isbn=9781841133058 |access-date=2020-01-18 |archive-date=2023-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330105549/https://books.google.com/books?id=bb0VULJ8g5MC |url-status=live }}</ref> Subsequently, several groups proclaimed they represented the [[Free City of Danzig Government in Exile]], a continuation of the state. The expulsion of the pre-war inhabitants started already before the decisions of the [[Potsdam conference]] of August 1945. From June to October an estimated number of 60,000 residents were expelled by Polish authorities, often units of the [[Polish Armed Forces]], the [[Ministry of Public Security (Poland)|Polish State Security]] and the [[Milicja Obywatelska]] encircled certain areas and forced the inhabitants to make room for newly arrived Polish settlers. About 20,000 Germans left on their own and by late 1945 between 10,000 and 15,000 pre-war inhabitants remained.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gdansk.pl/wiadomosci/maj-1945-i-pozniej-tak-narodzil-sie-polski-gdansk-rozmowa,a,113891 |title=Wiosna 1945 - czas, gdy rodził się polski Gdańsk |first=Sylwia |last=Bykowska |date=13 May 2018 |publisher=City of Gdańsk |language=pl |access-date=3 April 2020 |archive-date=29 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129082653/https://www.gdansk.pl/wiadomosci/maj-1945-i-pozniej-tak-narodzil-sie-polski-gdansk-rozmowa,a,113891 |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1950, around 285,000 fled and expelled citizens of the former Free City were living in Germany,{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} and 13,424 citizens of the former Free City had been "verified" and granted Polish citizenship.<ref name="BIPN">{{cite journal |last=Bykowska |first=Sylwia |year=2005 |title=Gdańsk&nbsp;– Miasto (Szybko) Odzyskane |journal=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej |volume=9–10 |issue=56–57 |pages=35–44 |issn=1641-9561 |url=http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/pl/24/1363/ |language=pl |access-date=2009-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022223440/http://ipn.gov.pl/portal/pl/24/1363/ |archive-date=2007-10-22 |url-status=dead}}</ref> By 1947, 126,472 Danzigers of German ethnicity were expelled to Germany from Gdańsk, and 101,873 Poles from Central Poland and 26,629 from [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]-annexed Eastern Poland took their place (these figures refer to the [[Gdańsk|city of Gdańsk]] itself, not to the whole area of pre-war Free City).<ref name="BIPN"/> ===Origin of the post-war population=== During the Polish post-war census of December 1950, data about the pre-war places of residence of the inhabitants as of August 1939 was collected. In case of children born between September 1939 and December 1950, their origin was reported based on the pre-war places of residence of their mothers. Thanks to this data it is possible to reconstruct the pre-war geographical origin of the post-war population. The same territory which corresponded to pre-war Free City of Danzig was inhabited in December 1950 by: {| class="wikitable sortable" |+1950 population by place of residence back in 1939:<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kosiński|first=Leszek|date=1960|title=Pochodzenie terytorialne ludności Ziem Zachodnich w 1950 r. [Territorial origins of inhabitants of the Western Lands in year 1950]|url=http://rcin.org.pl/Content/33932/WA51_50482_r1960-z2_Dokumentacja-Geogr.pdf|journal=Dokumentacja Geograficzna|language=Polish|location=Warsaw|publisher=PAN (Polish Academy of Sciences), Institute of Geography|volume=2|pages=Tabela 1 (data by county)|via=Repozytorium Cyfrowe Instytutów Naukowych}}</ref> !Region (within 1939 borders): !Number !Percent |- |[[Indigenous peoples|Autochthons]] (1939 [[Nazi Germany|DE]]/FCD citizens) |35,311 |12,1% |- |[[Polish population transfers (1944–1946)|Polish expellees]] from [[Kresy]] ([[Soviet Union|USSR]]) |55,599 |19,0% |- |Poles from abroad except the USSR |2,213 |0,8% |- |Resettlers from the [[Capital city of Warsaw (1919–39)|City of Warsaw]] |19,322 |6,6% |- |From [[Warsaw Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Warsaw region]] ([[Mazovia|Masovia]]) |22,574 |7,7% |- |From [[Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Białystok region]] and [[Suwałki Region|Sudovia]] |7,638 |2,6% |- |From [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|pre-war Polish Pomerania]] |72,847 |24,9% |- |Resettlers from [[Poznań Voivodeship (1921–1939)|Poznań region]] |10,371 |3,5% |- |Katowice region ([[East Upper Silesia]]) |2,982 |1,0% |- |Resettlers from the [[Łódź|City of Łódź]] |2,850 |1,0% |- |Resettlers from [[Łódź Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Łódź region]] |7,465 |2,6% |- |Resettlers from [[Kielce Voivodeship|Kielce region]] |16,252 |5,6% |- |Resettlers from [[Lublin Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Lublin region]] |19,002 |6,5% |- |Resettlers from [[Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Kraków region]] |5,278 |1,8% |- |Resettlers from [[Podkarpackie Voivodeship|Rzeszów region]] |6,200 |2,1% |- |place of residence in 1939 unknown |6,559 |2,2% |- !Total pop. in December 1950 !'''292,463''' !100,0% |} At least 85% of the population as of December 1950 were post-war newcomers, but over 10% of inhabitants were still pre-war Danzigers (most of them members of pre-war Polish and Kashubian minorities in the Free City of Danzig). Another 25% came from neighbouring areas of [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|pre-war Polish Pomerania]]. Almost 20% were Poles from areas of [[Kresy|former Eastern Poland]] annexed by the USSR (many from [[Wilno Voivodeship (1926–1939)|Wilno Voivodeship]]). Several percent came from the city of Warsaw, which had been [[Warsaw Uprising|largely destroyed in 1944]]. ==See also== *[[Administrations of Danzig before April 1945]] *[[Allgemeiner Arbeiterverband der Freien Stadt Danzig]] *[[Areas annexed by Nazi Germany]] *[[Danzig Corridor]] *[[Danzig Research Society]] *[[Alfons Flisykowski]] *[[History of Gdańsk]] ==References== {{notelist}} {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== *{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Danzig |volume=7 |pages=825&ndash;826 }} *{{cite journal |author=Clark, Elizabeth Morrow |title=The Free City of Danzig: Borderland, Hansestadt or Social Democracy? |journal=[[The Polish Review]] |volume=42 |issue=3 |year=1997 |pages=259–76 |jstor=25779004}} *Tadeusz Maciejewski and Maja Maciejewska-Szałas. 2019. "[[doi:10.1163/9789004417359 009|Constitutional Systems of Free European States (1918–1939)]]." in ''Modernisation, National Identity and Legal Instrumentalism''. Brill. *{{cite journal |author=Olzewska, Izabela |url=https://ispan.waw.pl/journals/index.php/ch/article/view/ch.2013.007 |title=Cultural Identity of Citizens of Gdańsk from an Ethnolinguistic Perspective on the Basis of Chosen Texts of the Free City of Danzig |journal=[[Colloquia Humanistica]] |publisher=Institute of Slavic Studies, [[Polish Academy of Sciences]] |year=2013 |issue=2 |pages=133–57 |doi=10.11649/ch.2013.007|doi-access=free}} – Polish abstract title: "Tożsamości kulturowa gdańszczan w ujęciu etnolingwistycznym na przykładzie wybranych tekstów publicystycznych Wolnego Miasta Gdańska" *{{cite web |author=Stilke, George |url=http://pbc.gda.pl/dlibra/plain-content?id=33875 |title=A Short Guide through the Free City of Danzig |year=1924}} – At [[Pomeranian Digital Library]] ({{lang-pl|Pomorska Biblioteka Cyfrowa}}, {{lang-de|Pommern Digitale Bibliothek}}, {{lang-csb|Pòmòrskô Cyfrowô Biblioteka}}) *[http://www.jstor.org/stable/25642478 Poland, Germany, and Danzig]. (May 20, 1939). ''Bulletin of International News'', Royal Institute of International Affairs; '''16'''(10), 3–13. *[http://www.jstor.org/stable/25642517 Mr. Chamberlain’s Review of the Danzig Question]. (Jul. 15, 1939). ''Bulletin of International News'', Royal Institute of International Affairs; '''16'''(14), 11–12. *[http://www.jstor.org/stable/25642539 Danzig, Germany, and Poland]. (Aug. 26, 1939). ''Bulletin of International News'', Royal Institute of International Affairs; '''16'''(17), 12–18. ==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Free City of Danzig}} {{Wikisource1911Enc|Danzig}} *[http://www.many-roads.com/libraries/prussia-histories/ Extensive Prussian/ Danzig Historical Materials] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914082324/http://www.many-roads.com/libraries/prussia-histories/ |date=2014-09-14 }} (many in German) *[http://www.danzig.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&func=showmedia&img_id=716 Map of the Free City] *[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Danzig.html Jewish community history] *[http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/eceurope/xdanzig.html History of Gdańsk / Danzig] *[http://www.danzig-online.pl/ Danzig Online] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20061007112725/http://www.experiencepoland.com/gdanskhistory.html Gdańsk history] *[http://www.globosapiens.net/travel-information/Gdansk-392.html Celebration of Gdańsk's centenary in 1997] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070428123313/http://www.salon.com/wlust/feature/1998/01/05feature.html History & Hallucination], ''Wanderlust'', [[Salon.com]], January 5, 1998. *{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930074120/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040522/POLAND22/TPTravel/TopStories |date=September 30, 2007 |title=The power of Gdansk }} *[https://archive.today/20130131044143/http://www.passportland.com/images/klein-franz/klein-franz.html 1933 Danzig passport], from passportland.com. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150927183436/http://www.storyvault.com/video/view/watching_hitler_drive_past_in_a_motorcade First hand account of growing up in Danzig in the 1930s], a video interview. {{Pomeranian history |adm}} {{Gdańsk}} {{Authority control}} {{Coord|54.40|N|18.66|E|type:country|display=title}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Danzig, Free City of}} [[Category:Free City of Danzig| ]] [[Category:States and territories established in 1920]] [[Category:League of Nations mandates]] [[Category:1920 establishments in Europe]] [[Category:1939 disestablishments in Europe]] [[Category:Holocaust locations in Poland]] [[Category:Former countries of the interwar period]] [[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1939]] [[Category:Former republics]] [[Category:City-states]]'