CONFLICTING CLAIMS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 142, 17 June 1932, Page 7

CONFLICTING CLAIMS

POLAND AND DANZIG

A flood of propaganda, pro-Polish and pro-German, is inundating East Prussia, the Polish Corridor, West Prussia, and this "free city" of Danzig (says the "San Francisco Chronicle").' 'long of pamphlets are being printed? to point out what dangers to civilisation lurk behind the political intentions of the two neighbour nations whose territory was intertwined by the Treaty of Ver-. saiUes.

Seen .through. German eyes, the creation of the Polish corridor has severed the province of East Prussia from tho Reich as effectively as if New Hampshire were to become a part.of Canada, leaving Maine out' on a limb. Seen through Polish eyes, L the corridor is a sore thumb sticking out from the palm of Poland and exposed to the dangers of German attack on two sides.:

To convince the world that there can be no peace in Europe until East Prussia is rejoined to the Fatherland by the restitution, of the corridor^ is the purpose of, German propaganda. To convince the world that the corridor' was,- is, and must remain 1 Polish' if the peace of Europe is to~T>e safeguarded, is the purpose of Polish propaganda.

Both nations invoke Father.Time as an aliy. The more that,'people.from all parts of the world pass through the j corridor and-see what, an r impossible economic and traffic situation it has created, the \ better will the justice of Germany's demand for restitution be understood, say the Germans. ;The more that north-south Polish railways are built within the corridor, and the more that money is sunk in the Polish port "of Gdynia, the • more obvious will become the Polish character of the coveted, strip, say the Poles. ..--.' The basic form of propaganda employed by both countries is the pamphlet. Pamphlets in "English, in German, .in French; pamphlets with and without illustrations; pamphlets with maps tracing the vicissitudes of the corridor through the centuries, are handed to the traveller. ..■:>■.'

■ Demonstrations along the - frontier are another favourite method of propaganda. The' Steel Helmet organisation: of German war veterans held its '1931 summer convention at Breslau, near the Polish frontier.I.' : '

A few months previously Polish leaders had delivered fiery speeches at Katowice, in an Upper Silesia that was once German, serving notice that every Pole would give, up.his life rather than yield one inch of. corridor- territory. The president, Ignaco Mosciciki ■ underscored the demonstration by his preisence.

Most recently, whispering campaigns have started on both sides." The .Germans pass along the word that Poland is plotting to swallow East Prussia:: As evidence they point to the distribution by.the Polish. National Union of maps showing that the Oder. Biver is the "natural boundary" between Germany and j Poland. The Poles point to the strength of the Hitler vote in, East .Prussia, where the Kazi leader obtained 400,000 votes, as evidence of German designs.