THE TRUE POSITION AT DANZIG

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 57, 1 September 1939, Page 8

THE TRUE POSITION AT DANZIG

GERMANS NOT ALL NAZI SUPPORTERS By John Crocker.. Everybody knows that Danzig ;-s the present danger spot of Europe, but so many irrelevant elements have been introduced into the present tangle of conflicting claims that the true issues have been obscured. The fate of Danzig has come to be regarded as a trial of strength between the democracies and Germany Which'is proof of the utterly chaotic and • unreal state of modern .inter, national affairs, for neither Britain nor France has or can have the slightest national interest in the Free City. It is a further strange reflection on, present-day international affairs that practically the only justifiable claim ever put forward by Hitler against ' another country should be opposed by the democracies even to the extent of war.

The position in regard to Danzig is, of course, that Hitler wants it to come back to the Reich, and Poland says "No." The justification of Hitler's claim is that the population of the Free City is between 96 and 1)7 per cent German. (Even the Poles admit it is 94 per cent German). Consequently, being indisputably a German city, Danzig should be entitled to join up with the rest oft Germany. The second basis of Hitler's claim is that, notwithstanding Polish propaganda and statements to the contrary Danzig is not economically nccessarv to Poland. Danzig was separated by the League of Nations from East Prussia in order that it should be Poland's port and oulet to the sea. But it has now very largely ceased to be Poland's port; for Poland has got a port of her own a few miles away on her own soil at Gdynia. This town in 1924 was a little fishing village with some hundreds of inhabitants. Now it is a modern seaport, which already handles several million more tons of goods a year than Danzig. Soon u will be able to handle all Poland's overseas trade. The result is that, with the progressive diversion of Poish trade from Danzig to Gdjmia, the wharves of the Free City are iempty and her economic life crippled. The Nazi case for return, therefore, is based on two points —neither of which either can be or are disputed by the Poles—That Danzig is. first, a German city, and, secondly, that it is being economically crippled by the diversion of trade to Gdynia. Behind the now all too familiar smoke-screen of Nazi propaganda ami ballyhoo ("Zurueck scum. Reich!" ""Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer!"') there remain these two indisputably just and incontrovertible arguments for the union of Danzig with the Reich. Nor has any of this got anything to do with Britain and France.

Probing deeper into the matter, however, the question of AA'hat Danzig' itself feels about the question, of return to the Reich arises. Danzig is 96 per cent German; but Danzig is by no means 90 per cent Nazi. It is true that the Nazis now have complete control of. the city, and all opposition is stifled, but as recently as 1937 in Danzig estimated that between. 60 and 65 per cent of the population opposed the Nazis. At that time there was almost an exact parallel betAveen conditions in the Free City and those which obtained in Germany itself in the years immediately before Hitler- 1 ."? rise to poAver. That is to say that the population Avas d'mded between Nazis on the one hand, and ConservatiA'es, Social Democrats, Catholic Centre Parties Socialists and Communists, on the other. Up till about the end of 193 ft there aa'rs st'll a certain amount of free speech—Avhich, incidentally, is guaranteed by the Constitution.; —in Danzig, but as in Germany in" the last days of the Weimar Republic, the non_Nazi parties, representing a majority of the population, failed completely to compose their differences and unite against the common menace to Nazism. The result "Avas that the Nazis, after the election to the Danzig Senate in the spring of 1936—n AA'hich they obtained only 57 per cent of the A'ote.s, despite the hsc of the nsunl methods of coercion "mml threat, and despite declaring 10,000 votes null awl void—set out to silence all opposition by arresting the leading members of other par--ies and suppressing all but Nazi newspapers. From then on the Con. titution of the Free C'tv. as laid (Ovn? by. the League of Nations ivas ly ar<J cperly Ignced.

The voice of Danzig is now 'the voice of the Nazi party, the voice of Hitler; but there still remains the large percentage of the population which—secretly*, at any rate— opposes the Nazis arid whose one desire is to avoid union with the Reich. Thus, Hitler's claim that Dansfig is unanimous in its desire for union is not justified, Danzig's boss is, of course, Hitler, but the ruler on the spot is a young man in the early thirtiescalled ,Poerster. He was sent there in. 1938 by Hitler to organise the Nazi party and pull it together. Foerster is a typical ' Nazi Gauleiter (District Leader). He was an early convert to Nazism, having spent his youth unsuccessfully attempting to hold down various subordinate jobs in, different parts of Germany He spent his consequently plentiful spare time in delivering fiery speeches in the cause of Nazism. This soon brought Jiim to the notice of Hitler, who regarded him as being just the type to spread the Nazi doctrine in Danzig. a town which hitherto had shoAvn surprisingly little enthusiasm for the Fuehrer. Foerster is a fine example of a successful Nazi storm trooper who has risen to high rank, He is totally uneducated, a fanatic, and a past.master in, the art of intimidation. He has " complete control of the Nazi party in Danzig, and Greiser, whom he placed in office us head of the Senate in 1934, is merely his puppet. • Greiser also has all the qualifications necessary for a successful career in the Nazi movement, chief of which being unscrupulousness. For many years he was the proprietor of a small motor boat which plied for hire at a pleasure resort near Dan. zig. Through of bad seasons he into debt and wenc bankrupt. Foerster "saw the possibilities of having such a man as President of the Senate, and, accordingly. in 1934 Greiser succeeded I3r Rauschnigg in that office. Dr Rausch nigg, a. man of broad views and education was forced to resign on the ground that, by pursuing a pol'cv of moderation toleration, and justice, he had forfeited the confidence of the people.

These, then, arc the two men who rule Danzig, and it has always been a cardinal point in their policy that the third man. who. by the Constitution, should have a certain amount of say in the affairs of i-he Free City, the League High Commissioner, should be boycotted and over-ri'lden at every possible turn. The duties or the League High Commissioner (a position at present occupied by Dr Burckhardt, a Dutchman) were to act as guardian, through the League, of the Constitution of the Free City; but the position is now. merely an unpleasant sinecure, because tlie Constitution has been so often and so flagrantly violated that it. ha s come to be regarded as obsolete. The sole remaining duty; therefore, of the High Commissioner is to occupy a large red brick house in the centre of the town and suffer the inconvenience of having his telephone conversations tapped and his letters opened.

The second cardinal point in thr* policy of Foerster and was to behave with great toleration in the disputes between the Government of the Free City and Poland. This also enabled them to boycott more efTectiveh r the High Coiimrssioner, whose prescribed duty it Avas to act as arbitrator in such disputes. The result was that, till quite rc-> cently, the Poles declared themselves to be in favour of the Nazi regime in Danzig. They agreed to the boycott of the High Commissioner when it became apparent that they could settle their disputes far more quickly and far more satisfactorily by direct negotiation with the Nazis. The sole nominal duty which remained therefore, to the- Hislh Commissioner was that of reporting to the League of Nations breaches ri the Constitution which the Nazi Government intended to ao on committing and to which the Poles Avcre completely indifferent. Poland anil quite frankly she was not concerned Avith the internal politics of Danzig and avouM take no action in regard to the breaches of a Constitution which, affected only Germans. The Poles had their representatiA'es on the Harbour Board, they hnd control of the Posts and Railways, and Avcre in a position to dominate the econonrc life of th? town bv a threat to transfer their whole trade to Gdynia. Danzig, as far as Poland Avas concerned., conid do what it liked, pi'OA'iding it re. mained separate f-ipm Germany. Thus, until i-ccent eA-ent> in Europe forced the Poles to tak- stork of their position the Naz'.s led the Poles up the garden path. There was- the treaty of non-agg'~ession between Poland and Germany, and there Avas the League of Na 1 ions a? the ultimate guarantor of the five

V status of.Danzig. Then, afteK the Austrian and Czech crisis, it became apparent' that the League—whose authority in, Danzig the Poles, by co-operating with the Nazis, had done their best to undermine —was really quite helpless in regard to international disputes and finally Hitler denounced the non-aggression, pact with Poland. It thus became .apparent that Danzig was Hitler's for the asking, and something had to be don e - about it. And so arose the situation which exists to-day. Britain and France have finally dug their toes in, and have declared their determination to resist the rule of force in Europte. To this end they have, guaranteed Poland against aggression an,d warned Hitler to lay hands off Danzig. Even though Danzig may not he one hundred per cent Nazi, it is no concern of Britain or France if a German city elects to return to the Reich. But the rule of fcJtce must be checked in Europe. And Britain and France must fight -over Danzig in order to repair the mistakes made in previous dealings with Germany and to help Poland out of the mess into which she got herself by undermining the very authority in the Free City which she is now bent on restoring. It would be a fitting climax to the fantastic development of European affairs in recent years if the world were plunged into war over one of the pfovisions of Versailles Which everyone admits needs rectifying, and over a Baltic seaport about which no English-speaking a,nd no French-speaking man or woman in a sane world could have the slightest concern.