WHY A FREE DANZIG IS ESSENTIAL TO POLISH INDEPENDENCE

Strategic and Economic Background of Hitler's Demands By HUGH CARLETON GREENE, till recently Chief Berlin Correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, London

AN inconspicuous item of news r\ which appeared recently in the Polish Press illustrates the> firm optimism and self-con-fidence with which Poland is facing the. wot ot threat to her regained independence since the Soviet armies were at the gates of Warsaw 19 years ago. The Marine Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, it was announced, had decided to increase its investments in the port of Danzig and had approved plans for tho. further development; of the harbour. This shows how much Danzig means to Poland and is in itself an answer to •the German complaint that Danzig is systematically neglected by Poland in favour of Gdynia, the 0110 port on Polish territory. Hcrr Hitler's cry that Danzig is a German city and must return to tho Reich is answered by Poland with tho retort that "there is no Danzig problem." ' 14th-Century Massacre Things aro not, of course, quite as simple as that on either side. But after listening to both Polish and German arguments and studying the situation on the spot, I am convinced that there would bo more to bo said for the Polish standpoint than for the Gorman, even if only Danzig were at stake. And, as all Poles and most Englishmen and Frenchmen have realised by this time, much more than Danzig is at stake. Although it is almost Impossible to make any statement a.\>out Danzig which will not bo contradicted either by Poles or Germans, it is worth while, since both sides make great play with historical arguments, briefly _ to recapitulate the history of the city. When we first hear of Danzig in the 10th century it was undoubtedly inhabited by Slavs. It remained a Slav city until November 14, 1308 ; when those early exponents of "f rightfulness," the Teutonic Knights, who were fighting as the allies of King Ladislas the Short of Poland against the rulers of Brandenburg, captured tho city and massacred the inhabitants. They had been promised Danzig by Ladislas as a security for their expenses and, as a

This, in brief, is tho historical background to the conflict. Recent events must be considered in the light of the fact that, while Poland asks for no more than tho maintenance of tho preBont situation in Danzig and would even have been willing, until recently, to agree to certain modifications in Germany's favour, Herr Hitler is no longer interested m the "Danzig problem." He wishes to use tho incorporation of the Free City in tho Reich as a preliminary step toward tho recovery of tho Polish province of Pomorze (the "Corridor"), and to tho subsequent extension of German dominion over the rest of Poland.

This assertion is not made lightly. Responsible Nazi leaders in Danzig have told mo that the return of Danzig to the Reich must bo accompanied, or at least immediately followed, by tho acquisition of the "Corridor." Once Poland's access to the sea was barred ill this way, it would not be long beforo she was a "Protectorate" on the •Czech model.

The events of this yoar, which I had tho opportunity, until recently, to folllow in Germany, provide further proof that Herr Hitler has no interest in Danzig as such, and that ho only raised tho question when, after the seizure of Bohemia and Moravia last March, ho decided to "turn the heat" on Poland. When Colonel Beclc, the Polish Foreign Minister, visited Berchtesgaden in January, Herr Hitler told him that Danzig was a "provincial town," which was not worth a conflict.

19th-century German historian blandly explains, triey were forced . to adopt these drastic • methods, as otherwise their forces would not have been strong enough to hold tho city. Danzig remained under the rule or the Knights until 1454, and was resettled by Germans. Since 1308 there has been no doubt about its German character." . . , , By 1454, when a union was concluded between Danzig and the Kingdom of Poland, the city was among the most prosperous ports of Northern Europe. This union lasted until the second partition of Poland in 1793 —an inconvenient fact which German propagandists are unablo to explain away, although thoy insist, quite rightly, on Danziff s semi-independent position and control over her own affairsExcopt for a short period as a Free City between 1807 and 1814, Danzig was from 1793 part of Prussia until the ratification of

the Treaty of Versailles, in January, 1920. . „ r Thus, when the Peace Conference at Paris had to deal with the future of Danzig in the light of President Wilson's 13th Point, which declared that Poland should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, it was able to take into account tho faots that the city's association with Poland went much farther back than its subjection to Prussia* and that for most of its historical existence it had enjoyed a semiindependent status. The emergence of Danzig after the world war as a Jiroo City in which Poland enjoyed certain rights and privileges was certainly justified on 'historical grounds. ( That this solution was not ideal was shown by the conflicts between Poland and Danzig during the,post-war years. The tragedy of the situation lies in the fact that any other arrangement would quite certainly have been worse.

Nazi Fleet Activities Negotiations were opened for the transformation of League of Nations supervision in Danzig into a PolishGerman condominium. Although there was still a considerable gap to be covered, the talks were proceeding favourably until they wero suddenly broken off by Herr Hitler last March. Poland was then faced with the demands for tho reunion of Danzig with the Reich nnd tho construction of an extra-territorial route across the "Corridor" to connect East Prussia with tho body of Germany. Herr von Moltke, the German Ambassador in Warsaw, offered his resignation, but was told that he must remain in the "firing line." Poland is convinced that, had it not been for tho Polish mobilisation, Danzig would have been seized by tho German

fleet on its return from Herr Hitler's triumphal entry into Memel. On 51 recent visit to Danzig I found a good deal of evidence to support this view. The Gorman inhabitants had been provided with garlands'to celebrate their "liberation, and officials had been appointed to take over the railway administration, which is in ' Poland's hands. The Corridor While, to Germany, Danzig is merely a "stepping-stone to higher things," it is life itself to Poland. A glance at the map will show that if Germany were in control of Danzig she could at any moment cut off Poland's access to the sea at Gdynia. At its narrowest point the "Corridor" is barely 25 miles wide, and all the railway connections with Gdynia except one, which, for much of its length is still a single-track line, run tlirough Danzig territory. Perhaps, it may be suggested, Germany would be willing to give a guarantee not to remilitarise Danzig? Poland lias seen the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia and knows that any such guarantee would not be worth the paper on which it was written. On strategic and economic grounds Poland's claims arc unassailable. What of the "racial" aspect? It should be stated at once that there is no analogy whatever between the situation in Danzig to-day and that in the Sudetenland last year. Only Possible Solution

In Danzig Germans are in control of their own destiny. A National Social Government is in power, haying gained an overwhelming majority in the Diet by violence and trickery. All othyr parties have been eliminated, and the inhabitants' must bo presumed to have obtained in this way the Government that they desire.

Many books have been written on the subject of Danzig from every possible point of view, and in a short article like this it is impossible to consider every aspect of the problem. I have worked for many years in Germany, for a short timo in Poland, and I have paid half a dozen visits to Danzig in tho last five years. My conclusion is that the peace-makers at Versailles found the only possible solution of the Danzig question. In a rational world it would no longer be a problem.

Herr Hitler has put forward his demands and Poland has refused to accept thom. That Poland will never surrender is ft 100 per cent certainty, and she awaits Germany's next move, confident that Britain and France now realise that it is as much in their interest to defend Danzig as Gibraltar or Tunis.