Free City of Danzig facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Free City of Danzig Freie Stadt Danzig  (German) Wolne Miasto Gdańsk  (Polish)
1920–1939
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Nec Temere, Nec Timide"
Anthem: Für Danzig / Gdańsku
Danzig, surrounded by Germany and Poland
Location of the Free City of Danzig in 1930s Europe
Status	Free City under League of Nations protection
Capital	Danzig
Common languages	German Polish
Religion	64.6% Lutheran 32.2% Catholic (1938)
Government	Republic
High Commissioner
• 1919–1920	Reginald Tower
• 1937–1939	Carl Jacob Burckhardt
Senate President
• 1920–1931	Heinrich Sahm
• 1934–1939	Arthur Greiser
Legislature	Volkstag
Historical era	Interwar period
• Independence from Germany	15 November 1920
• Invasion of Poland	1 September 1939
• Annexed by Germany	2 September 1939
Area
1923	1,966 km2 (759 sq mi)
Population
• 1923	366730
Currency	Papiermark (before 1923) Danzig gulden (from 1923)
Preceded by Succeeded by West Prussia Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia
Today part of	Poland

The Free City of Danzig (German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was a self-governing port on the Baltic Sea port and a city-state. It was set up on January 10, 1920, by Part III Section XI of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, and put under League of Nations protection, with special rights reserved to Poland, because it was the only port in the Polish Corridor.

The Free City ceased to exist after 1939 when it was occupied and annexed by Nazi Germany. After Germany's defeat in 1945 Danzig was occupied and annexed by Poland under the Polish name Gdańsk.

Establishment

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. Its area was 1,966 km² (759.1 sq mi).

Polish rights

The Free City was represented abroad by Poland's ambassadors. 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 for the Danzig Postal Service, the other was Polish-run.

League of Nations High Commissioners

League of Nations mandated territories, were run by member countries on behalf of the League. But Danzig and the Saargebiet were run by the League of Nations itself, with representatives of various countries taking on the role of High Commissioner:

	Name	Period	Country
1	Reginald Thomas Tower	1919-1920	UK
2	Edward Lisle Strutt	1920	UK
3	Bernardo Attolico	1920	Italy
4	Richard Cyril Byrne Haking	1921-1923	UK
5	Mervyn Sorley McDonnell	1923-1925	UK
6	Joost Adriaan van Hamel	1925-1929	Netherlands
7	Manfredi di Gravina	1929-1932	Italy
8	Helmer Rosting	1932-1934	Denmark
9	Seán Lester	1934-1936	Irish Free State
10	Carl Jakob Burckhardt	1937-1939	Switzerland

Population

The Free City's population was 357,000 in (1919). 98% were German-speakers, with the rest mainly speaking either Kashubian or Polish.

The Treaty of Versailles, split Danzig from Germany. The treaty made the people living in the city citizens of the Free City. German inhabitants lost their German nationality, if they wanted to stay German they had to go and live outside the Free City's territory.

Politics

Heads of State of the Free City of Danzig

In May 1933, the Nazi Party won the local elections in the city. But they had less than the two-thirds majority that would let them change the Constitution of the Free City of Danzig. The government introduced anti-Semitic and also anti-Catholic laws against the Poles and Kashubian inhabitants.

Poland always refused to allow the status of Danzig to change. In April 1939 the Polish Commissioner-General said that Poland was willing to fight if there was a change..

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.

Around 90% 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 USSR. It is thought that more than 90% of the pre-war population were either dead or had fled by 1945.

The Allied Powers were told at the Potsdam conference that the former Free State was now part of Poland. (The Yalta conference was unclear whether the Free City would be recreated or not).

Related pages

• Gdańsk
• Danzig Corridor

A 20 Danzig gulden note

Images for kids

• 

  Passport of the Free City of Danzig

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  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

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  Danzig police arrest a protester in the aftermath of the 1933 Parliamentary Elections

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  Population density of Poland and the Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk), 1930

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  Eddi Arent in 1971

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  Günter Grass in 2006

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  Klaus Kinski in the 1980s

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  Rupert Neudeck 2007

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  Wolfgang Völz in 2011

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  The Lutheran Supreme Parish Church of St. Mary's in Danzig's Rechtstadt quarter

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  The Archcathedral of the Holy Trinity, Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Bernard in Oliva, Danzig

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  The Great Synagogue on Reitbahn Street in Danzig's Rechtstadt quarter

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  1 September 1939: German troops remove Polish insignia at the Polish–Danzig border near Zoppot

See also

In Spanish: Ciudad Libre de Dánzig para niños