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Revision as of 14:58, 7 April 2006 editKänsterle~enwiki (talk | contribs)1,155 edits {{NPOV}} restored - apparently the German population just vanished into thin air?← Previous edit Revision as of 15:01, 7 April 2006 edit undoMolobo (talk | contribs)13,968 edits If you know what happened to them expand it.Using reliable no nationalistic, non-neo-nazi sources by objective modern historiansNext edit →
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== Napoleonic-era Danzig == == Napoleonic-era Danzig ==
] ] of ] and Free City of Danzig]] ] ] of ] and Free City of Danzig]]

Revision as of 15:01, 7 April 2006

Napoleonic-era Danzig

19th century map of Duchy of Warsaw and Free City of Danzig

The Free City of Danzig, sometimes referred to as the Republic of Danzig, was a semi-independent state established by Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars in years 9 September 180722 January 1813/1815. It consisted of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) with all its rural possessions in the mouth of Vistula river and the Hel peninsula.

After the Congress of Vienna (1815), Danzig became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and was made the capital of a district and the province of West Prussia. The traditional autonomy of the city was significantly reduced.

Interwar Danzig

The Free City of Danzig (German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; French: Ville Libre de Dantzig) was a separate state established on 10 January 1920.

Banknote: 20 Danzig Guilders

Its territory included the city of Danzig and the surrounding area, which from 1815 had been part of Prussia (which itself became part of the German Empire in 1871). The Free City comprised 1,966 km² (754 mi²) including the cities of Danzig, Zoppot (Sopot), Tiegenhof (Nowy Dwór Gdański), and Neuteich (Nowy Staw), as well as 252 villages and 63 hamlets with a total population of 357,000 in 1919. Under the Treaty of Versailles it was separated from Germany, created as a separate state under the protection of the League of Nations with special rights reserved to Poland. Most of the population of the Free City of Danzig used the German language for communication (over 90%), although some (4 - 8%) used Kashubian and Polish.While Germans had now citizenship of the city, according to the Treaty of Versailles they could apply for and receive German citizenship at any time if they desired.

The Free City was represented abroad by Poland and was in a customs union with Poland. The railway line that connected the Free City with Poland was administered by Poland. 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 and a second Polish.

In May 1933, the Nazi Party won the local election. However, they received only 57 percent of the vote, less than the two thirds required by the League of Nations to change the Free City's constitution. The government introduced laws that were anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic. The city served also as training point members of German minority in Poland that were recruited from organisations such as Jungdeutsche Partei, Deutsche Vereinigung, that would form the leading cadres of Selbstschutz an organisation involved with mass murder and atrocities during German invasion of Poland in 1939.

The opening of Polish Post Office in January 5 1925

Beginning in 1939, in the upcoming conflict between Poland and Germany, the Free City's Nazi government engaged in persecutions of Poles, including the eviction of all Polish students from the Danzig Technical University to Poland. It then voted to be annexed by Nazi Germany on September 2, 1939, the day after the German invasion of Poland, and was incorporated into the province of Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen. The annexation was illegal from the point of view of the Free City's constitution. Two areas of the city were defended by Polish forces: The Polish Post Office in Danzig until 2 September, and the fortified Westerplatte until 7 September. The defenders of the Post Office were subsequently executed.

The city was taken by Soviet forces on 30 March 1945. Ninety percent of the city was reduced to ruins in the war and thereafter, and it is estimated that more then 90 % percent of the pre-war population were gone. In the sinking of the military training ship for U-boat trainees "Wilhelm Gustloff by Soviet submarine, which had 5,000 to 7,000 refugees and over 1,000 soldiers and sailors on board at the time, some inhabitants of the city died.

At the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, Gdańsk returned under Polish administration, along with most of Pomerania, Silesia and southern East Prussia.

By 1950, around 285,000 former Free City of Danzig inhabitants lived in the remaining parts of Germany, while an estimated 100,000 had lost their lives in the war or were expelled.


November 1, 1923 Census by language
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 % 95,03% 0,44 % 3,28 % 0,72 % 0,16 % 0,37 %


See also

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