DANZIG AND THE PEACE FRONT

(By General Ladislas Sikorski, former Prime Minister and War Minister of Poland.)

(World Copyright 1939 by

Co-operation.)

The national movement aroused in Poland by the German coup de force has nothing to do with . narrow Chauvinism, it is essentially patriotic. In particular, it has nothing in common with Prussian nationalism, which is actuated by a spirit of conquest and seems to have bequeathed to the Third Reich its brutal policy of the accomplished fact.

Poland is content with what she has. Even if she had the right to do so, she would make no claim upon her German neighbour. In Prussia and Silesia, however, there would be claims to be made without any difficulty, in view of the existence in these x'egions of a Polish minority of 1,500,000, which is constantly fighting to maintain its nationality, to practise its religion, and to live according to its custom. The Poles are merely defending their land and the rights restituted to them after a century and a half of slavery. And it is their land and their rights which they are defending in the case of Danzig, and in that of their sovereignty over Polish Pomerania (known as the Polish Corridor).

Like all other peoples, the Poles dispose of a certain vital space, which extends on either side of the Vistula up to its mouth, and is, more- particularly, limited by the Baltic Sea. Not so very long ago, the Chancellor ana Fuhrer of the Third Reich admitted, in one of his sensational speeches, Poland's necessity for a free access to the sea., since it is perfectly evident that a nation of 35 million souls, like Poland, can neither live nor freely develop nor even defend herself, if restricted in her sovereignty over her maritime province, Pomerania, and in her free access to the sea through Danzig at the mouth of the Vistula. Still more: the same statesman, at that time, disavuwed the German claims to Danzig and had described as "fantastic and unpractical" the scheme for the construction of a motor road from the Reich to East Prussia. Today, it is true, under the influence of Mr. yon Ribbentrop, Mr. Hitler is on the point of unleashing a general conflagration on the question of the Free City! HISTORY OF DANZIG. The story of Danzig is very old and can be summed up in a few words: during a thousand years, that is, since this region entered into history, the territory and the city of Danzig were governed by the Germans for two centuries (exactly 218 years, from 1308 to 1410 and from 1793 to 1806 and from 1815 to 1918) and by the Slavs and the Poles for eight centuries. There would be no trouble about Danzig or the Polish Corridor if the Poles had not made two mistakes: first in the. eleventh and twelfth centuries when they abstained from occupying East Prussia, a Slav province which the Prussians had Christianised according to their fashion; secondly, by allowing the German Order to implant itself in the lower reaches of the Vistula. J Having seized Danzig in 1308, the • Order systematically exterminated the I Slav population of the region. These methods of Christianisation continued! up to HlO, when the German Order was destroyed by the Poles in a ranged j battle at Grunwald. But the Poles did not exploit the fruits of their victory. Although- Danzig remained under Polish sovereignty until the second partition of Poland in 1793, the Poles abstained from the radical methods of their neighbours and tolerated, instead of getting rid of, the German population that had settled in Danzig. This population, which had moreover acquired citizenship in Danzig, was entirely loyal to Poland. And in 1793, the Danzigers themselves, arms in hand, vainly opposed the incorporation of Danzig with Prussia. The character of Danzig has none the less remained German up to the present day, a fact which has been cynically exploited by the Prussian nationalists in making Danzig a platform of German imperial-1 ism.

POLAND'S DETERMINATION,

Many a lesson could doubtless be drawn from these mistakes. For the moment, the Polish nation is unanimously decided to defend, up to the last man, the rights which it regained in 1919 over the mouth of the Vistula. If the revision of the Treaty of Versailles were to be justified, it should obviously be in the direction of a change in the statute of the Free City which would leave Danzig its independence under Polish sovereignty. There can be no doubt that in normal circumstances (the situation is not normal and will not be so for a long time), that is to say, if the vote were uninfluenced, the majority of the natives of Danzig would decide, as earlier, in favour of a solution of this kind. But Poland does not ask for as much, and will confine herself to defending her rights of possession in the Baltic, such as they are. The future of the Polish Republic depends upon Poland's answer to the Reich on the question of Danzig and the consequences entailed. This is the specifically Polish viewpoint as far as this problem is concerned. But all questions are interlinked, *and the local interests, justified by the geographical, strategical, historical, and economic considerations which I have mentioned, must bow to considerations of a more general character. Danzig is an international problem and has become the criterion " )i- the tenacity, moral force, resistance, and usefulness of the peace front. Impelled by her political common sense and her vital interests, Poland has adhered to a group of States assembled by Great Britain and France for the constitution of a peace front. For Poland, the principle on which this coalition was based was that which prevailed in the case of the FrancoPolish alliance, which, in its turn, served as model for the alliance with Great Britain. To tell the truth, such alliances have not been very popular during the past few years. They tended, it was said, to complicate the international situation by ths automatic generalisation of a purely local conflict. This was at any rate the leitmotiv exploited by the German propaganda. The real objer' of these allegations has been realised somewhat late. They were obviously founded on imperialistic policy and competition. Poland has never engaged in either the one or the other, and she will not do so now. The alliances she has concluded differ radically from the agreements binding the Powers of the Axis. The former ■ are merely defensive and aimed at international law and order. It is, in fact, all too evident that it

A POLISH STATEMENT

FIRM ATTITUDE AGAINST AGGRESSION

is only by energetic and constructive opposition to the front of the aggressors that the peace front can fulfil its mission, that is maintain peace. AXIS POWERS' INTENTIONS. Evidence as to the aggressive Intentions of the Powers of the Axis is amply forthcoming. The sufferings endured by the Czechs are a daily reminder to those who incline to forget this fact. But these Powers are all the more dangerous as they are more closely united. To their union, to their cohesion, the peace front must oppose its own union, its own cohesion, and the vigilant solidarity of all ixs members; only on this condition can peace be achieved and Western civilisation continue. This is, moreover, fully realised by the Hitlerian propagandists. They endeavour to wear out the resistance of the adversary, and to divide the front,- As, when they annexed the Sudetes, they succeeded in isolating Czecho-Slovakia, they hope now to achieve similar results. But the times have changed. The German superiority in war material is defin.itely a thing of the past. There remains the question of the moral forces In Poland, these forces are intact and will remain so as long as is necessary for the defence of Danzig, for Poland is determined to defend her rights and the peace front. The question is noi whether French and English should i sacrifice their lives for Danzig. Th*> | question is whether Danzig is to be the i scene of a further victory of the bruta' violence of racism and the deadly peril thereby entailed for, Europe and Western civilisation, or whether it will finally be possible to assure thy respect of engagements and of the law of nations. This is the real stake ai issue. "THEY SHALL NOT PASS." At this critical moment, Danzig is called upon to fulfil a similar mission to that by which the name of Verdun was immortalised. Soldiers had come from all corners of the world to fight on French soil. But whereas they, were in theory fighting in France and for France, they were, in reality, op- I posing the Teutonic invasion, defending the right of the peoples to live in freedom according to their customs and the ideals common to all mankind.

If Poland were to cede Danzig to Germany, she would not only be weakening the peace front, but would bring nearer and multiply the chances of a modern war. Just as the Sudetes furnished the pretext for the conquest of the Czech bastion which barred the road to Central Europe, Danzig is today the pretext for the suppression of Poland and the last obstacle in Germany's way towards conquest of Em-ope.

There is therefore no such thing as secondary and local problems, as the Third Reich would have us believe. Paris, London, Warsaw, and, at this moment, Danzig, all belong to the same front. In this respect, it is but fair that it should have been realised that Poland, a country of Western culture, a great military Power, and an indispensable factor in the equilibrium of Eastern Europe, is a sure ally and entirely to be relied upon. Russia, on the other hand, has the advantage of her mass, but has no common frontier with the Reich, and her methods, which smack of both Europe and Asia, are somewhat remote from Western conceptions. Therefore, while in favour of an arrangement with Russia which could, in principle and failing unforeseen circumstances, provide a second line of defence, one is compelled that Poland lies foremost in the eastern sector of the first Jine of the peace front. Poland, if necessary, will be called upon to bear the formidable brunt of the German onslaught. Poland does not fear it; she is prepared, unanimous, and resolute. She is rich in courage and attached to an honour which she will not sacrifice. Her Maginot line mainly consist in the flesh and blood of her warriors. If her allies increase their supplies of war materials, tanks, artillery, and planes to Poland, this country will be invincible.

Meanwhile, to make the slightest concession in the question of Danzig would be to weaken and divide the peace front, by preparing a further victory of the Third Reich and the advent of a new barbaric age.

What is necessary is to consolidate the positions gained, to reinforce the peace front on all sides and in all fields; then and then only will it be possible to dream of a Europe fit for the free peoples, governed in their international relations not by the law of the jungle, but by the law of nations.