Entries in blue are events outside the Free City of Danzig.
1918
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8 January: US President Woodrow Wilson formally announced his "Fourteen Points" in a speech to Congress. Point Thirteen states: "An independent Polish State should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant."
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1919
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Treaty of Versailles (Article 100) calls for Danzig to be made into a free city permanently separate from Germany.
March and April: Danzig citizens hold mass protests against the Versailles proposals.
28 June: Treaty of Versailles signed.
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1920
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10 January: Ratification of the Treaty of Versailles.
16 May: Elections to the Constituent Assembly to draft the Danzig Constitution held.
26 May: Representatives of Poland and Danzig meet to discuss an agreement between the two governments.
10 June: Constituent Assembly meets to consider the Danzig Constitution.
22 July: Munitions strike in Danzig prevents materials being shipped to Poland, then at war with Soviet Russia.
11 August: Draft Constitution adopted by majority vote. The Constitution is forwarded to the League of Nations for approval.
9 November: Convention of Paris, setting out the rights of the Polish state in Danzig and the rights of Polish citizens living in Danzig, is signed. Formal occupation of Danzig by the Allies ceases. League of Nations High Commissioner: Sir Reginald Tower (Great Britain).
15 November: Convention of Paris enters into force.
17 November: Council of the League of Nations provisionally accepts the Danzig Constitution with some amendments.
November: Tower leaves his post as High Commissioner; is provisionally replaced by Lieut. Col. Edward Strutt (Great Britain).
December: Bernardo Attolico (Italy) becomes League of Nations High Commissioner.
6 December: Constituent Assembly becomes the first Danzig Volkstag. Danzig Burgomaster Heinrich Sahm named President of the Senate.
17 December: Sir Richard Haking (Great Britain) appointed League of Nations High Commissioner.
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1921
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20 January: Sir Richard Haking takes up the office of League of Nations High Commissioner.
26 February: Colonel de Reynier appointed President of the Danzig Port and Waterways Board.
1 June: Danzig Port and Waterways Board commences its activities.
24 October: Convention of Warsaw further refines the rights and duties of Danzig and Poland as set out in the Convention of Paris.
26 November: Polish Community (Gmina Polska) established as an organization for all Poles in Danzig.
6 December: High Commissioner rules on Poland’s legal status within the territory of the Free City. Poland and Danzig appeal the decision to the Council of the League of Nations.
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1922
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Polish Grammar School opens.
May: Amendments to the Danzig Constitution agreed upon between the League of Nations and Danzig. The Constitution then entered into force.
17 August: Danzig and Poland agree to a procedure for the expulsion of Polish nationals from the territory of the Free City.
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1923
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20 January: Sir Richard Haking's term of office ends.
February: Mervyn Sorles MacDonnell (Great Britain) becomes League of Nations High Commissioner.
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1924
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Construction of the city and port of Gdynia commences.
Jewish population of Danzig at 9,239.
1 January: Danzig introduces its own currency, the gulden.
February: Bank of Danzig established.
14 March: Council of the League of Nations grants Poland use of the Westerplatte for the storage and transfer of war material.
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1925
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5 January: Post-boxes for the delivery of mail from Danzig to Poland set up throughout the city.
6 January: The Polish post-boxes found vandalized, painted in the colors of the former German Empire.
2 February: The High Commissioner rules that the Polish Post Office may only operate out of its building on the Heveliusplatz.
21 October: First meeting of the Danzig branch of the NSDAP held.
22 October: The president of the Port and Waterways Board grants the use of Westerplatte to the Polish government for an unlimited time at no charge.
31 October: Westerplatte ceded to Poland as the site of its munitions depot.
November: Danzig NSDAP membership at about 130.
9 December: Council of the League of Nations agrees to let Poland keep a detachment of 88 officers and men at the munitions depot on Westerplatte.
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1926
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Danzig bishopric established; first Bishop is Count Eduard O’Rourke.
18 January: First detachment of Polish guards arrives in Westerplatte.
February: Jost Adriaan van Hammel (Netherlands) appointed League of Nations High Commissioner.
11 March: NSDAP Gau Danzig established.
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1927
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24 May: Polish naval transport vessel Wilia brings the first shipment of war material to Westerplatte.
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1929
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Jewish population of Danzig at 10,488.
June: Count Manfredo Gravina (Italy) appointed League of Nations High Commissioner.
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1930
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June: Danzig NSDAP membership reaches 800.
27 June: Reorganization of Danzig political system initiated by the Volkstag, allowing the President of the Senate and Senators to be elected for an indefinite period.
1 September: Under orders from Berlin, the NSDAP Gau Danzig dissolved pending its reorganization.
9 September: Council of the League of Nations approves the Danzig political system restructuring.
3 October: Hermann Goering revokes the dissolution of the NSDAP Gau Danzig and installs provisional leadership.
15 October: Albert Forster given plenary power over NSDAP Danzig.
24 October: Albert Forster arrives in Danzig.
16 November: Danzig Volkstag elections held. Volkstag seats were apportioned as follows:
December: 25,000 people in Danzig unemployed.
December: Danzig NSDAP membership reaches 1,310.
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1931
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9 January: Ernst Ziehm becomes President of the Senate.
5 February: The [Danziger] Vorposten newspaper launched.
April: Dr. Henryk Strasburger, Polish Commissioner in Danzig, resigns.
June: Danzig NSDAP membership reaches 3,897.
26 October: League of Nations High Commissioner rules that Poland is “obliged to make full use of the port of Danzig” notwithstanding her creation of any other ports on the Baltic.
December: Danzig NSDAP membership reaches 5,623.
11 December: Permanent Court of International Justice issues an Advisory Opinion holding that Poland does not have the right to a port d’attache in the Port of Danzig.
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1932
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9 April: Hitler visits briefly the Danzig-Langfuhr airport on his way to East Prussia.
June: Polish destroyer enters Danzig despite protests from the Senate.
June: Danzig NSDAP membership reaches 8,879.
19 September: League of Nations High Commissioner Count Gravina unexpectedly dies.
October: Helmar Rosting (Denmark) appointed League of Nations High Commissioner.
December: Danzig NSDAP membership reaches 9,519.
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1933
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For the first time, the Port of Gdynia handles more shipping tonnage than the Port of Danzig.
6 March: 120 additional Polish troops arrive at Westerplatte as a protest against the Senate’s decision replacing the Danzig port police with Danzig city police.
16 March: 120 Polish troops withdrawn from Westerplatte.
13 April: Volkstag dissolves itself in anticipation of new elections.
12 May: Danzig Social Democratic Free Trade Unions taken over by NSDAP.
28 May: The Danzig NSDAP assumes control of the Volkstag. Dr. Hermann Rauschning becomes President of the Senate. Volkstag seats were distributed as follows.
24 June: Enabling act "for the relief of the distress of people and state" adopted by the Volkstag; permitted the Senate to issue decrees without Volkstag consent.
30 June: Senate decree issued legalizing detention in "protective custody" for indefinite length.
July: All non-NSDAP labor services banned.
3 July: Rauschning and Greiser make a state visit to Poland.
23 August: SPD Volkstag deputy Arthur Brill placed in "protective custody". Later released following pressure from the League of Nations High Commissioner.
31 August: Polish Commissioner-General Kazimierz Papée presents a memorandum to the Danzig Senate regarding the treatment of Poles in the Free City.
18 September: Agreement between Poland and the Free City on the rights and protection of the Polish minority in Danzig enters into force.
10 October: Senate decree "for the protection of the good name of national associations" issued.
11-12 December: Senate President Rauschning visits Warsaw.
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1934
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26 January: German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact announced.
26 May: Activities of the Danzig Communist Party (KPD) banned.
June: Danzig NSDAP membership reaches 21,861.
3 June: Treaty between Danzig and Poland creates a special police force for the port and waterways.
6 August: German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact agreements signed.
8 August: Danzig Senate agrees to observe Polish Customs regulations.
October: Sean Lester (Ireland) appointed League of Nations High Commissioner.
23 November: Rauschning resigns as President of the Senate.
28 November: Arthur Greiser is elected the new President of the Senate. He promises that the Danzig gulden will not be devalued.
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1935
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12 February: NSDAP parliamentary group submits a petition to dissolve the Volkstag. New elections slated for 7 April.
16 March: German rearmament officially announced.
April: Bank of Danzig reserves fall to 13.5 million.
7 April: Volkstag elections held. Seats distributed as follows.
May: DNVP, SPD, Center party and KPD file suits in the Danzig Supreme Court to declare election results void, owing to fraud and threats from the NSDAP.
2 May: Danzig gulden devalued to 42% of its previous value.
Mid-June: Bank of Danzig reserves at 5 million devalued gulden.
21 July: Danzig Customs Office told by Warsaw told to quit collecting duties on goods being shipped to Poland; duties only to be paid in Gdynia.
1 August: Senate decrees that eight categories of goods would be allowed into Danzig duty-free (as a result of the Polish decision on duty collection). These goods were:
9 August: Poland and Danzig agree to drop the measures against one another.
26 August: NSDAP rejects request from the Center party, DNVP and SPD to dissolve the Volkstag.
14 November: Danzig Supreme Court rules that the April election in 18 rural districts was invalid. Despite a finding of widespread fraud, the Court declined to invalidate the entire election.
26 November: DNVP, SPD and Center party leaders request, via the High Commissioner, a rehearing by the League Council to overrule the Danzig Supreme Court and declare the April elections invalid.
27 November: Greiser denounces the opposition for seeking assistance from Geneva.
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1936
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7 January: Communist newspaper Roter Wähler suppressed for one year.
27 May: Social Democrat newspaper Freies Volk suppressed for 6 months
30 May: House-property owners’ newspaper Die Neue Zeit suppressed for 8 months (reduced to 6 months).
12 June: SA members attack a meeting of the DNVP.
25 June: Commander of the visiting German warship Leipzig fails to pay a courtesy visit to the High Commissioner, Sean Lester.
4 July: “Committee of Three” appointed by the League of Nations Council to monitor and report on developments in Danzig. The committee consisted of representatives from Britain, France and Portugal.
8 July: German National newspaper Danziger Nationale Zeitung suppressed for 5 months.
16 July: Series of Senate decrees brings Danzig laws more in line with those of Germany.
18 July: Jewish newspaper Danziger Echo suppressed for 10 months.
5 August: Centre Party (Catholic) newspaper Volkszeitung suppressed for 6 months.
8 August: League of Nations High Commissioner Sean Lester notes that a Danzig policeman has been stationed outside his office door and interrogates all visitors.
14 October: Social Democratic (SPD) party banned.
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1937
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18 February: Carl Jacob Burckhardt (Switzerland) appointed League of Nations High Commissioner.
14 May: German National Party (DNVP) announces its dissolution.
3 May: Polish Community–Union of Poles formed.
5 May: 24 June 1933 enabling act extended.
August: Senate President Greiser orders all eligible public servants to "volunteer" for two years of service in the German army before 1 January 1938.
20 September: League of Nations High Commissioner Burckhardt meets with Hitler.
21 October: Center (Catholic) party banned.
23 October: Mob attack on approximately 300 Jewish businesses and homes.
November: Creation of new political parties prohibited.
December: Danzig NSDAP membership at 36,465.
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1938
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Jewish population of Danzig at about 6,000.
June: Danzig Bishop O'Rourke resigns.
Charles Maria Splett becomes Bishop of Danzig.
5 June: SS Heimwehr (paramilitary) Danzig formed.
24 October: German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop suggests that Danzig be returned to Germany and an extraterritorial railway and highway be created over the Polish Corridor.
12-15 November: NSDAP attacks on synagogues, Jewish businesses and homes.
23 November: Nuremberg laws partially enacted in Danzig.
17 December: Jewish community of Danzig meets in the Great Synagogue to discuss emigration.
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1939
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5 January: Polish Prime Minister Beck visits the German Chancellor at Berchtesgaden.
3 March: First transport of almost 500 Danzig Jews leaves for Palestine via Romania.
March 15: German occupation of Prague.
March 20: Germany issues an ultimatum to Lithuania demanding the return of the Memel (Klaipeda) territory.
22 March: Senate announces that it will forgo the required spring elections because, as currently constituted, the Volkstag expressed the will of the people of Danzig.
April 28: In a speech to the Reichstag, Hitler announces his proposals to the Polish government, including cessation of Danzig.
May: Fortification of the Free City begins. Military personnel from Germany start entering the city.
May 5: Polish Foreign Minister Beck addresses the Polish Parliament rejecting German demands.
21 May: German butcher shot and killed by a Polish chauffeur in the village of Kalthof, in Free City territory.
20 July: Polish soldier shot and killed by Danzig customs officers; dispute as to whether the soldier was on Polish or Free City territory when shot.
August 11: High Commissioner Burckhardt meets with Hitler at Berchtesgaden.
23 August: Date for the attack on Poland set for 26 August at 4:30 am.
23 August: Gauleiter Albert Forster named the Danzig Head of State.
August 23: Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact announced.
25 August: Germany Navy artillery training ship Schleswig-Holstein arrives at Danzig. Plan for the start of the attack on Poland cancelled that evening.
August 25: Anglo-Polish Accord of Mutual Assistance formally signed.
31 August: Plan for the attack on Poland re-set for 1 September at 4:45 am.
1 September: The Schleswig-Holstein begins artillery bombardment of Westerplatte. Poland invaded by Germany and Danzig annexed to the Reich as Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia.
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