DANZIG

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 115, 18 May 1933, Page 8

DANZIG

THE FREE QTY 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 Alorning Herald. Two centuries later Pope Eugene HI. assigned the city to the diocese of Wloclawek in Poland. The first rulers of Danzig were the Slavonic princes of Pomerania, 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 th© 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 blood-thirsty warriors cast their eyes on Danzig. A sudden treacherous attack was made in November, 1308, when nearly 10,000 peaceful 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 large 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 th© memorable battle of Grunwald 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 in 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 tho hated oppressor. In 1457 King Casimir of Poland entered Danzig, and wag accorded an enthusiastic welcome. Gifts of gold 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 th© election of King Stephen Batory. Tho 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, blacksmiths, 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 tho 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 Russia coveted the port. From the first partition of Poland Frederic the Great sent a Prussian army to the. frontiers of tho city’s territory, and at first with tempting offers and later with direct threats, attempted to seize it. Tire 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 Io England, which prompted Frederic the Great to instruct his Ambassador in London that “Eng-

land 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.” Th© 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 destruction, and has Jacked of it its lifeblood. This tor many a year, until it is fully exhausted.” Danzig stubbornly resisted the Teutonic menace, and eventually pressure from Russia caused Frederic to relax. It wag 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 were 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 eventually had to surrender to overwhelming forces. The citizens, however, sent a final declaration of loyalty to the King of Poland expressing great sorrow at being forced to surrender to th© 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 Alarshall Lefebre took Danzig, in May, 1807, after a siege lasting several weeks. The victors were enthusiastically received by the population and great was thr disappointment when in the subsequent 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, control of th© 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 the German oppressors, and was delighted that when the Prussian commander attempted to issue orders, he wag immediately threatened with arrest by the commander of the Russian army. During the subsequent months preceding the congress of Vienna, Danzig made 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. Keidel interviewed Tsar Alexander I and gave him a document recalling the ruthless oppression the city had experienced at the hands of Frederic the Great and demanding its complete deliverance from Prussia. Danzig made similar strong representations to England, but, unfortunately, the Primo Minister, Lord Liverpool, and the Foreign Secretary, Lord Castloreagh, fearing Russia’s might, sided with Germany. Eventually, by virtue of the Treaty of Vienna, in 1815, Danzig reverted to Prussia. Prussi animation. 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 place 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 German ports, because it was the policy of the Government to give preferential treatment to Hamburg, Stetlin, and Kocnigsberg. 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 tho western world. She was concerned that a Polish Danzig should uot become tho rival of her own seaports.” Accordingly, while the imports into Danzig rose to 800,000 tons before the war, Hamburg’s figures were thirteen million, tons, and Stctliu’s two million. The growth of the population has been equally slow. Since the Great War, tho free city of Danzig, iu pursuance of the Treaty of Versaillies, forms part of the Polish Customs administration, and no Customs barrier can bo 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 tho city and of Poland, with a president, -who must, be a subject of Switzerland, nominated by the League of Nations*