DANZIG

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 108, 10 May 1933, Page 16

DANZIG

THE FREE CITY

ITS CHEQUERED CAREER

GEEMM ATTITUDE

The name of the city "Gdansk" betrays its Slavonic origin, for it was originally a fishing village in the Vistula, which first came under Poland's influence in the 10th century, writes L. de Noskowski in the "Sydney Morning Herald." Two centuries later Pope Eugene 111. assigned the city to the diocese cl Wloclawek in Poland. The first rulers of Danzig were the Slavonic princes of Poinera'nia, and when the province became an integral part of Poland the city acknowledged the Polish King Ladislas' as its rightful master, at the end of the 13th century. The favourable geographical situation • of the port resulted in increased trade with the- whole of Poland, and Danzig rapidly developed. Unfortunately, at the invitation of the King of Poland, the Teutonic Knights of the Cross were allowed to settle on the right bank of the Vistula, and it was not long before the bloodthirsty warriors cast their eyjes on Danzig. A sudden treacherous attack was made in November, 1308, when nearly 10,000 paceful inhabitants were mercilessly murdered and their homes plundered' and subsequently levelled. Poland made a strong protest to ,_the Pope, who demanded an explanation. The Grand Master of the Teutonic Order stated that a dozen robbers had been killed, and that "the people of the city, of their own free.will, laid waste their homes and settled in another place!" German historians later acknowledged the'massacre of Danzig as a historical fact, but most of them claimed that it was a political necessity (!) owing to the inability of the Order to garrison laTge cities. THE VENGEANCE. For over a century Danzig experienced the ruthless oppression of the mailed Teutonic fist, until the power of the Order was shattered by Poland in the memorable battle of Grunwalrl in 1410. The entry of the Polish King was celebrated with boundless enthusiasm, and he was hailed as a deliverer. A few months later the remnants of the mighty Order returned to the castle of Danzig, and as a friendly gesture the brother of the Grand .Master invited the Mayor and two leading aldermen, who had shown particular friendship for Poland. The vengeance was ic. keeping with the spirit of the Order —the citizens -were murdered in cold blood, and their bodies delivered to the terror-stricken city. Punishment was not long in coming, and during the subsequent war, in which Poland decided once and for all' to wipe out the rapacious and bloodthirsty knights, the inhabitants of Danzig took the castle, razed it to the ground in 1454, and provided Poland with .money and a volunteer army of 15,000 to crush the hated oppressor. 1n'1457 King Casimir of Poland entered Danzig, and was accorded an enthusiastic welcome. Gifts of geld and silver were showered upon him, and he immediately granted the city full autonomy, extensive trade rights, a reduction of taxes, rights to parley with foreign Powers, and additional territory, including the peninsula and Nehring. During the next three and a half centuries Danzig remained under the sovereignty of Poland, and the cordial relations were interrupted only once, when the city refused ■to recognise the election of King Stephen Batory. The army „marched against the city,' and after a short and gallant resistance Danzig surrendered. Instead of punishing the inhabitants, the King immediately confirmed and even extended former privileges, and .cordial relations were in no way impaired. The city's Third Committee, representing the guilds of butchers, shoemakers, blacks smiths, and bakers, at every step showed its strong pro-Polish tendencies, and men frequently enlisted in the Polish army. During every subsequent war Danzig helped Poland with money, ammunition, and men, and the Polish Diet on several occasions gratefully acknowledged the unswerving loyalty of Danzig. ■ TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS. In 1754 Danzig celebrated the tercentenary of its happy union with Poland, With the approaching disintegration of Poland, Danzig, found itself in an unenviable position, for both Prussia and Eussia coveted the port. From the first partition, of Poland Frederic the Great sent a Prussian army to the frontiers .of the city's territory, and _at first with tempting offers and later with direct threats, attempted to seize it. Tho city was virtually blockaded, the Prussian King having seized the lower Vistula bank, and gradually throttled it by imposing crushing Customs duties. Protests were even made to England, which prompted Frederic the Great to instruct hia Ambassador in London that "England has no reason for worrying about Polish matters. They are really strange to her, and cannot have the least effect either upon her position or interests." The mother of the great philosopher, Schopenhauer, who had spent all her life in the city, wrote:' "Like a vampire'the Prussian King has* fallen upon my unhappy, city, committed to destruc^ tion, and has sucked out of it its life-' blood. This for many' a year, until it ia fully exhausted." Danzig stubbornly resisted the Teutonic menace, and eventually pressure from Eussia caused Frederic to relax. It was not until the reign of his successor that by the secret treaty between Prussia and Russia, in 1793, Danzig was delivered to the former as compensation for the promised help to crush the French Revolution. A strong army was sent to capture the city. Its citizens wero prepared for a stubborn defence, and for three days discussed the Prussian ultimatum. Wiser counsels prevailed to prevent useless bloodshed, for the city would have evcntiially had to surrender to overwhelming forces. The citizens, however, gent. a final declaration of loyalty to tho King of Poland expressing great sorrow at being forced to surrender to the enemy. NAPOLEONIC WARS. The first Prussian occupation did not last long, for fourteen years later, during Napoleon's war against Prussia, a French-Polish army under Marshal Lefebre took Danzig, in May, 1807, after a siego lasting several weeks. The victors were enthusiastically received by the population, and great was the disappoinment when in the subsequent like the monkey folk. Here is the last verse:— Now these are the Laws of the Jungle, and many and mighty are they, But the head and the hoof of the Law and the haunch and the hump is— Obey! , District Officers.—A number of groups are weak and short officered. District officers are ef^rnestly recommended to regularly visit and give all help _ possible to such groups, and to confer with their District Commissioners before discouragements and disappointments met with in such cases threaten the very existence of the groups concerned. Next week a list of district secretaries will be published in case they desire to "get together." Times are exceptional, as we all know; nevertheless for those who keep a. stiff upper lip and keep on paddling along there are good times coming.

peace treaty Danzig was not incorporated in the newly-created Duchy of Warsaw. It was declared a free city, and was occupied, by two Polish regiments until the disastrous campaign of Russia in 1812. Danzig was retaken in 1813, this time by a. Russian army, and an interesting situation developed. Russia in ISI2. Danzig was retaken in control'of tho city,-and King Frederic William, greatly alarmed at the Russian success, appointed a Governor and a commander, who were ignored by the Russian command. The population once more showed its traditional distrust of tho German oppressors, and was delighted that when the' Prussian commander attempted'to issue orders, he was immediately threatened -with arrest by the commander of "he Russian army. During the: subsequent months preceding the congress of Vienna, Danzig mado strenuous diplomatic efforts to have the city incorporated with Poland. The Senate of Danzig instructed its plenipotentiary, Keidel, to press for.its rights and to fight against the return under Prussian domination. Kijidel interviewed Tsar Alexander I and gave him a document recalling the ruthless oppression the city had.experienced at the hands of Frederic the Groat, and demanding its complete deliverance from Prussia. Danzig made similar strong representations to England, but, unfortunately the Prime Minister, Lord [Liverpool, and, the Foreign Secretary, Lord Castlercagh, fearing Russia's might, sided with Germany. Eventually, by virtue of the Treaty of Vienna, in 1815, Danzig reverted to Prussia. PRUSSIANISATION. A relentless policy of ■ Prussian bureaucracy and Germanisation followed, and the former affluence of the city gradually declined. Several riots fostered by general poverty took plac-j between 1819-22. The Polish language was officially suppressed •in 1837, and gradually Danzig assumed a more thoroughly German character. Its trade did not develop as that of other Gorman ports, because it was the policy of the Government to give preferential treatment to Hamburg, Stetlin, and Koenigsberg. As recently as 1907 the Danzig Chamber of Commerce bitterly complained to the German Government about the railway freights from Lodz (in Russian Poland) 'to Danzig, which were higher than from Lodz to Stetlin', although the distance was shorter. Danzig has always been treated by the German Government in a stepmotherly fashion, and Professor Simon Askenazy, in his authoritative book on the city, pointed out that Prussia "was concerned not to permit a direct means of communication between" Poland and the Western world. She was concerned that a Polish Danzig should not become the rival of her own seaports.'' Accordingly, while the imports into Danzig rose to 800,000 tons before the war, Hamburg's figures wero thirteen million tons, and Stetlin's two million. The growth of the population has been equally slow. . ■ * Since the Great War, the free city of Danzig, in pursuance of the Treaty of Versailles, forms part of the Polish Customs administration, and no Customs barrier can be established between the city and the Republic of Poland. The port of Danzig is administered by a harbour board comprising an equal number of representatives of the city and of Poland, with a president, who must be a subject of Switzerland, nominated by the League of Nations.