Show poland not danzig Is germanys germanas Germ anys ambition in Eu ropes newest crisis 0 0 observers claim theres a way to avoid war by making free city really free but hitler cant weaken hes a dictator lal by NORBERT KLEIN W WARSAW ARSAW A suntanned sun tanned peasant looked over a rippling field of six foot polish barley he figured it meant war 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 neither knows nor cares that some prussian statesman said he who con bohemia rules europe bohemia is far away to the south but he does know and cares intensely about a remark frederick the great once dropped whoever r rules I 1 s the mouth of the vistula aap poland notwithstanding who sing S ing ding therel there he cares about this because danzig lies at the mouth of the vistula a city where polands bolands Po lands vast world trade naturally finds outlet to the baltic sea but germany wants danzig the poles want independence and everyone knows frederick the great was right not vital to germany this is why the poles get nervous when nazi leader albert foerster parades his storm troopers in danzig or hurls threats of berlin interference unless warsaw lets the free city go back to the reich for 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 HEL peninsulas PENINSULA I POLISH FOR S baltic KO S sea ODYN ik C y 7 to BERLIN 0 houiss POLAN jwj the free city itself it is but a stepping stone in adolt adolf hillers Hit lers shrewd plan to bring poland under his power hes read about frederick the great dancigers Danz igers themselves watch this impending battle with little enthuse ent husi aam A few of the bolder less reasoning of them follow fuehrer foerster through the streets but the beer drinking burghers want only one thing peace danzig may be only A 4 per cent polish and 96 per cent german but the free city owes allegiance to no one but itself indeed should germany take control danzig would immediately dro drop P in importance as poland forced all her seagoing trade through the new artificial harbor she has created for this very purpose cydnia dancigers Danz igers have only to recite their history to realize that the present status is tar far superior to an with the reich until the twelfth century this seaport was but a pom lerellen me rellen fishing village where lubeck sea captains began stopping when they found it a breaking point tor for their long 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 unchristian christian un attitude by massacring dancigers Danz igers and taking possession of the city germans had been coveting for years but these men were master builders and the danzig they created still stands characterized by the Stock turm the kiek in die koeck the swan or fish tower and such great churches as st mary si john and st catharine it became a stronghold of the mighty league protected on land by a massive strongly fortified wall which surrounded the city it was a teutonic island in a slav sea became allied with poland this regime lasted until 1454 when polands bolands Po lands king who had ceaselessly sought an outlet to the balt baltic ic won support of overseas powers in a battle against the hansa and the teutonic order danzig its defender gone saw it must find a new one or 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 extra extraordinary y privileges staple right and guest right long after they had disappeared elsewhere danzig even outlived poland frederick the great came along late in the eighteenth century and for or 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 crisis it would be more in keeping with 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 I 1 seaport a city of inhabitants which last year cleared tons ot of freight and passengers 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 to id 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 cove covets ts danzig because it is 96 per cent german adolf hitler will take anything he can get poland included so the poles have buckled their belts armed their corridor to the hilt and prepared to do what no other nation in modern modem history has done call the bluff the peasants have subscribed to a national defense fund and the government claims it can stand up indefinitely against a crisis pressure which necessitates prolonged m mobilization at a day london would help 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 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 of this plan poland could give the reich tree free transit for her railroad and highway across the corridor to east prussia but adolt adolf hitler has told his people they shall have danzig and dictators cant back down released by western newspaper union |