Show poland not danzig Is Germ germany anys s ambition h Eu E europe ropes s newest crisis observers claim HEL PENINSULA POLISH FORTS baltic K 0 NN I 1 B apa sea 0 D Y N I 1 k 9 arlitt 2 HOURS L CORRIDOR POLAN JJ Theres eres a way to avoid war by making free city really free but hitler cant weaken hes a dictator I 1 Ss by NORBERT KLEIN released by western newspaper union A suntanned sun tanned peasant looked over a rippling WARSAW vr field of six foot polish barley he figured it meant war 1 his grandfather told him that 1812 also brought a record rop to poland and the next winter came napoleon he himself self remembers record crop the world war started shat J year Z poland will have another bumper crop this year this peasant neither knows nor cares cafes that some prussian datesman tta said he who con a bohemia rules europe bohemia is far away to the auth bouth but he does know be and nd cares intensely about a A lemark remark 1 frederick the great ance dropped whoever inkles ules the mouth of the vistula obes ules poland notwithstanding who ts s king there A ahe cares about this because danig dang lies at the mouth of the vistula P city where polands bolands Po lands vast world rade ade naturally finds outlet to the sea but germany wants annig the poles want ance nce and everyone knows frederick ue ie great was right not vital to germany t this is why the poles get nerv ais as when nazi leader albert foers sr ir parades his storm troopers in or hurls threats of berlin ie interference unless warsaw lets the i free ree city go back to the re reich h for r J annig itself is a minor considers wn von poland knows and nazis ad sebit that danzig is not in the least etal to germ germany any as it is to poland moreover Jore over everybody admits that agie free city itself is but a s stepping aicone sitione in adolf hillers Hit lers shrewd plan bring poland under his power themselves watch this he spending battle with little enthuse i m A few of the bolder less rea thening ahe ining of them follow fuehrer ig berster ip erster through gh the streets but the ozer drinking burghers want only ie e thing peace danzig may be uy Y 4 per cent polish and 96 per nf German but the free city wes es allegiance to no one but itself traditionally a free city dancigers Danz igers have only to recite t their heir tory story to realize that the present atus us is far fair superior to an alth the rei reich lc it until the T twelfth th ventury len tury this seaport was but a pom Pie rellen fishing village where lu ck sea captains began stopping en they found it a breaking point jr their long journeys along the seacoast soon they began iding ding salt and cloth for furs amr grain and timber and danzig gan its modern life an unpleasant chapter in its his iry ry took place november 14 1308 1303 ien en teutonic knights returning ni palestine assumed an anex gedly c unchristian christian un attitude by a as cring dancigers Danz igers and king ing possession of the city gerans ns had been coveting for years this his regime lasted until 1454 when lands ands king who had ceaselessly aught an outlet to the baltic won port of overseas powers in a pie atle against the hansa and the order danzig its defend gone saw it must find a new one be absorbed by poland 30 0 the dancigers Danz igers did a surprising ng 9 they disarmed polands bolands Po lands king entering into a personal union tb him that lasted until 1793 dur ftc this period the city existed as y independent republic 10 rederick the great came along 0 e in the eighteenth century and yf tao the first time this independent city fell under a foreign rule it remained thus until the treaty of versailles again made it free in 1918 thus in the present cr crisis 1 s as it would be more in keeping wi with t h Danzi gs history and present 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 1 seaport As trade has expanded Danzi gs has diminished this naturally is Danzi gs chief complaint against warsaw but the poles quickly point out that danzig has three times the traffic it enjoyed in 1913 when it was a german port poland rushes 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 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 theres only one peaceful way to settle the argument and that involves making danzig a really free city outside the polish customs union and thus eliminating Danzi gs principal grievance under such an arrangement poland might give danzig more of her overseas trade in return for ger banys acceptance 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 |