Free City of Danzig

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Flag of Danzig
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Flag of Danzig

The Free City of Danzig refers to either of two short-lived city-states which were centered on the present-day Baltic port known as Gdańsk (German: Danzig).

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[edit] Napoleonic-era Dantzic (1807-1815)

19th century map showing the Duchy of Warsaw with the Free City of Dantzic to the north
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19th century map showing the Duchy of Warsaw with the Free City of Dantzic to the north

The Free City of Dantzic, sometimes referred to as the Republic of Danzig, was a semi-independent state established by Napoleon on September 9, 1807, during the time of the Napoleonic Wars. This territory was carved out from lands that made up part of the Kingdom of Prussia, consisting of the city of Danzig along with its rural possessions on the mouth of Vistula, together with the Hel Peninsula and the southern half of the Vistula Spit. The state came to an end on January 22, 1813.

After the Congress of Vienna of 1815, Danzig was reincorporated into Prussia. Although made the capital of a district and the province of West Prussia, the traditional autonomy of the city was significantly reduced.

[edit] Danzig between the World Wars (1920-1939)

A 20 Danzig gulden note
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A 20 Danzig gulden note

The Free City of Danzig (German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was an autonomous city-state established on January 10, 1920. It was established in accordance with the terms of Section XI of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, which redrew Germany's borders and placed the city under League of Nations protection, with special economic-related rights reserved for Poland.

[edit] Territory

The Free City of Danzig included the major city of Danzig (Gdańsk) as well as Zoppot (Sopot), Tiegenhof (Nowy Dwór Gdański), Neuteich (Nowy Staw) and some 252 villages and 63 hamlets. Covering a total area of 1,966 km² (754 mi²), the territory was roughly twice the size of the Napoleonic statelet.

[edit] Population

The Free City had a population of 357,000 [1919], most of whom (about 90%) were German-speakers, with the rest mainly speaking either Kashubian or Polish.

The state had its own citizenship, based on residency. German inhabitants lost their German nationality with the creation of the Free City, but were given the right within the first two years of the state's existence to re-obtain it; however, if they did so they were required to make their residence in Germany.

Total population by language [November 1, 1923]
Nationality Total German German and Polish Polish, Kashub, Masurian Russian, Ukrainian Hebrew, Yiddish Unclassified
Danzig 335,921 327,827 1,108 6,788 99 22 77
Non-Danzig 30,809 20,666 521 5,239 2,529 580 1,274
Total 366,730 348,493 1,629 12,027 2,628 602 1,351
Percent 100.00% 95.03% 0.44% 3.28% 0.72% 0.16% 0.37%

[edit] Polish rights

The opening of the Polish Post Office on January 5, 1925
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The opening of the Polish Post Office on January 5, 1925

The Free City was represented abroad by Poland and was in a customs union with it. The railway line that connected the Free City with Poland was administered by Poland. Similarly, the separated military post within the city's harbour, the Westerplatte (formerly a city beach), was also given to Poland. There were also two post-offices, one municipal, the other Polish-run.

[edit] Politics

In May 1933, the Nazi Party won the local election in the city. However, they received 57 percent of the vote, less than the two thirds required by the League of Nations to change the Constitution of Free City of Danzig. The government introduced anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic laws, the latter primarily being directed against the few Poles and the mostly Catholic Kashubian inhabitants. The city also served as a training point for members of the German minority within Poland that, recruited by organisations such as the Jungdeutsche Partei ("Young German Party") and the Deutsche Vereinigung ("German Union") that would form the leading cadres of Selbstschutz, an organisation allegedly involved with mass murder and atrocities during German invasion of Poland in 1939.[citation needed]

In 1939, as tensions peaked between Poland and Germany, the Free City's Nazi government engaged in persecutions of Polish Danzigers, including the expulsion to Poland of all Polish students from the Danzig Technical University.

[edit] Second World War and Aftermath

The Nazi government voted for re-unification with Germany on September 2, 1939, the day after the German invasion of Poland began. Although illegal under the terms of the city's constitution, the state was nevertheless formally incorporated by Germany into the newly-formed Reichsgau of Danzig-West Prussia. The Polish forces in the city, disguised in civilian clothes, resisted at the Polish Post Office and held out until the 7th at the fortified Westerplatte. The defenders of the Post Office (identified as militarymen by their underdrawers) were executed upon the surrender.

Around ninety percent of the city was reduced to ruins towards the end of the Second World War. On March 30, 1945 the city was taken by the Red Army. It is estimated that more than 90% of the pre-war population were either dead or had fled by 1945. A number of inhabitants of the city perished in the sinking of a ship assisting evacuation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. It had up to 10,000 refugees on board at the time, including about 1,000 soldiers and sailors.

The Allied Powers agreed at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, that the city should become part of Poland.

By 1950, around 285,000 former inhabitants of the Free City were living in an Allied-occupied Germany. It is estimated that 100,000 Danzigers lost their lives in the War or its immediate aftermath.[citation needed]

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

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