Show Poland NO germanas germanys Germ anys ambition sAm bitio in Eu europe ropes s newest crisis observers claim HEL PENINSULA pill P LISH baltic KO sea y DANZI 07 2 HOURS OR POLAN theres a way to avoid war by making free city mcall really y free ree but hitler cant weaken hes cs a dictator 1 by NORBERT KLEIN released by western newspaper union ARSAW A suntanned sun tanned peasant looked over a rippling W VV field of six foot polish barley he figured it meant war 7 I 1 his grandfather told him that 1812 also brought a record crop to poland and the next winter came napoleon he himself remembers record crop the world war started that year poland will have another bumper crop this year this peasant net neither ther knows nor cares that some prussian statesman said he who controls bohemia rules europe bohemia is far away to the south but he does know and cares anti inti intensely ensely about a remark frederick the great once dropped whoever rules the mouth of the vistula rules poland notwithstanding who Is king therel there 1 he cares about this because danzig Z ig lies at the mouth of the vistula vist ula a city where polands bolands Po lands vast world tr trade a de naturally finds outlet to the baltic sea but germany wants danzig the poles want independence and everyone knows frederick the great was right 1 not vital to germany this is why the poles get nervous when nazi leader Albert Foer S ter parades his storm troopers in danzig or hurls threats of berlin interference unless warsaw lets the free city go back to the reich for D danzig itself is a minor consideration poland knows and nazis admit that danzig Is not in the least vital to germany as it is to poland moreover everybody admits that the free city itself Is but a stepping stone in adolt adolf hillers Hit lers shrewd plan to bring poland under tinder his power hes read about frederick the G great reat dancigers Danzl Danz Igers gers themselves watch this I 1 impending mp ending battle with little enthusiasm A few of the bolder less reasoning son ing ot of them follow fuehrer foerster through the streets but the beer drinking burghers want only one thing peace danzig may be only 4 per cent polish and 88 96 per cent german but the free city owes owe allegiance to no one but itself indeed should germany take control danzig would immediately drop in importance as poland forced all her seagoing trade through the new artificial harbor she has created for this very purpose cydnia traditionally a free city dancigers Danz igers have only to recite their history to realize that the present status is far superior to an with the reich until the twelfth century this seaport was but a pom me lerellen merell rellen cn fishing village where lubeck sea captains began stopping when they found it a breaking point for their long jour journeys along the baltic seacoast soon they began trading salt and cloth tor for furs amber grain and timber and danzig began its modern life as a trading post an unpleasant chapter in its history took place november 14 1308 when teutonic knights returning from palestine assumed an unexpectedly un chrestian attitude by massacring danzig dancigers Danz igers ers and taking possession of the city germans had been coveting tor for years but these men were master builders and the danzig they created still stands characterized by the st Stock 0 turm the klek ln in die koeck the swan or fish tower and such great churches as st mary st john and st catharine became allied with poland this regime lasted until 1454 when polands bolands Po lands king who had ceaselessly sought an outlet to the baltic won support ot of overseas powers in a battle against the hansi hansa and the teutonic order danzig its defender gone saw it must find a new one or r be absorbed by poland so the dancigers Danz igers did a surprising thing they disarmed polands bolands Po lands king by entering into a personal union with him that lasted until 1793 during this period the city existed as an independent republic and exercised those extraordinary privileges staple right and guest right long after they had disappeared elsewhere danzig even outlived outlive d poland frederick the great came along late in the eighteenth century and tor for the first time this independent city tell fell under a foreign rule it remained thus until the treaty of versailles again made it free in 1918 thus in the present crisis it would be more in k keeping with Danzi gs history and present presen t function if it were to remain free poles remember 1900 uprising why the argument then for one thing danzig did a foolish thing in 1920 by proving disloyal to poland during the 1920 bolshevik invasion the smart government fathers at warsaw could foresee this perfidy popping up again and threatening their precious outlet to the sea so they built cydnia from a small fishing village into the baltacs Balti cs no I 1 seaport a city of inhabitants which last year cleared tons of freight and passengers As trade has eap exp expanded ended Danzi gs has diminished this net naturally is Danzi gs chief complaint against warsaw warlaw but the poles quickly point out that danzig has three times the traffic it enjoyed in 1913 when it was a german port they also believe that with polands bolands Po lands economic growth the there I 1 a will be enough trade for both harbors but not unless danzig forswears its apparent allegiance to germany after all poland will not commit suicide it if she can help it poland bushes defense theres no solution in sight yet but the peasants still look at their bumper crop and say it means war they believe and warsaw has encouraged cou raged it that adolt adolf hitler does not want danzig but poland itself they sneer at explanations that he covets danzig because it is 96 per cent german adolf hitler will take anything he can get poland included theres only one peaceful way to settle the argument and that in bolves making danzig a really free city outside the polish customs union and thus eliminating Danzi gs principal grievance that the poles control its customs under such an arrangement poland might give danzig more of her overseas trade in return tor for ger banys acceptance ot of this plan poland could give the reich free transit for her railroad and highway across the corridor to east prussia but adolf hitler has told his people they shall have danzig and dictators cant back down |