Danzig

Full Name 83 Free City of Danzig
Alliance Neutral or Non-Belligerent
Entry into WW2 1 Sep 1939
Population in 1939 420,000

Contributor:

ww2dbaseThe Free City of Danzig (German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdansk) was created by the League of Nations in Nov 1920 per the terms of the Versailles Treaty at the end of WW1. This new semi-autonomous nation was formed without referendum; the newly re-established nation of Poland had special rights in Danzig despite that the city was under direct control of the League of Nations. The Free City of Danzig was consisted of the city itself as well as the town of Zoppot (Polish: Sopot), the town of Tiegenhof (Polish: Nowy Dwór Gdanski), the town of Neuteich (Polish: Nowy Staw), 252 villages, and 63 hamlets; the total area of the country was 1,966 square kilometers or 754 square miles. In terms of ethnicity, somewhere between 80% to 90% of the population were German, thus when members of the Nazi Party became influential starting around 1933, it became a driving reason for the movement for Germany to take over Danzig. Shadowing the development of the Nazi Party in Germany, the Nazi Party members in Danzig similarly gained control of the Danzig Volkstag and Senate, using the legislative powers to enact anti-Semitic laws. With a much less restrictive emigration law in place when compared to Germany, Danzig, already a popular point of departure for Jews emigrating to North America, saw a greater flight in the late 1930s. Trade unions, again similar to their counterparts in Germany, also faced increasing restrictions through the 1930s.

ww2dbaseStarting in Jun 1939, a force 4,000-strong and loyal to the Nazi Party was organized in Danzig, reinforced by 1,000 German SS men later in that month; in Jul, this force publicly proclaimed itself Home Guard Danzig. Meanwhile, German forces assembled in preparation for war against Poland and Danzig as Adolf Hitler and his diplomats demanded more from Poland and Danzig than what they knew Poland was willing to concede. On 1 Sep 1939, German forces crossed into Poland and Danzig, and on the following day, Germany incorporated Danzig into German borders as a part of Reichsgau of Danzig-West Prussia.

ww2dbaseDuring the Soviet East Pomeranian Offensive, Soviet forces reached the Baltic Sea coast on 4 Mar 1945, pushing German forces back toward Danzig. The city was surrounded by Soviet forces by 22 Mar, and it was captured 6 days later. A great portion of the city was destroyed in the Mar 1945 battle with many thousands of residents, along equal numbers of refugees stranded in the city, losing their lives.

ww2dbaseAfter the war, in accordance to the Potsdam Conference agreement, the Free State of Danzig was dissolved and its territory incorporated into Poland. Ethnic Germans were expelled en masse; by 1947, 126,472 ethnic Germans were expelled from the former Danzig territory, and 128,502 Polish settled into the homes vacated by the ethnic Germans.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia

Last Major Update: Nov 2012

People
Forster, AlbertGreiser, Arthur


Events Taken Place in Danzig
The Danzig Crisis24 Oct 1938 - 29 Aug 1939
Invasion of Poland1 Sep 1939 - 6 Oct 1939
East Pomeranian Offensive24 Feb 1945 - 4 Apr 1945


Facilities
Danziger Werft AGShipyard
F. Schichau DanzigShipyard

Photographs

A warship near completion in the horizontal slip at F. Schichau Danzig shipyard, Danzig, 1874; the shipyard stopped using this slip sometime after WW1Launching of passenger ship Columbus from Slip VI of F. Schichau Danzig shipyard, Danzig, 17 Dec 1913Launching of Russian cruiser Muravyov-Amursky (later, German cruiser Pillau) at F. Schichau Danzig, Germany, 14 Apr 1914Launching of SMS Baden from Slip IV of F. Schichau Danzig shipyard, Danzig, 30 Oct 1915
See all 19 photographs of Danzig in World War II

Maps

Map of Danzig, 1895Plan of Kaiserliche Werft Danzig, Germany, circa 1900Map of Danzig, 1935Shipyard plan of F. Schichau Danzig, 1939
See all 5 maps of Danzig in World War II


Danzig in World War II Interactive Map




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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Anonymous says:
22 Dec 2012 04:36:12 AM

What do you know about people who's paenrts were Polish but lived only in Volyn (or Volhynia). This part of Poland is now part of Ukraine , and my family lived there for years until they immigrated to Israel shortly before Hitler invaded. Is it all the same for them? Is it easy to find documents in the archives of Volyn? Daniela
2. Patricia says:
25 Jul 2018 08:11:23 AM

I am doing some reaserch about the events that took place in the city of Danzig, during the WW2 , if someone can tell me about bibliography on this subject, I will appreciate it.

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Danzig in World War II Photo Gallery
A warship near completion in the horizontal slip at F. Schichau Danzig shipyard, Danzig, 1874; the shipyard stopped using this slip sometime after WW1
See all 19 photographs of Danzig in World War II


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