Why Die for Danzig?

When and where did the Second World War start? Exactly here, in the courtyard portrayed in the picture.

Well, this is a bit simplistic: the path to the start of the conflict between Germany and the alliance of France and UK, that quickly escalated to involve the whole World, is long and made of many stages. But as, for definition, historical events need to have a date and a place, the common agreement is that WWII started officially on September 1st, 1939, with an attack carried by Germany to the Post office of Gdansk.

Why is a post office so important? And why 70 to 85 million people had “To die for Gdansk”?

Let’s take a step backwards. One year before, September 1938. Hitler already started his plan of expansion by quickly annexing his own home country, Austria, without a single shot and without resistance. Then he went to do the same with Czechoslovakia.

The excuse was Sudetenland, a part of the Czech state populated by a German majority. As Czech were way less inclined than Austrians to be annexed by the Nazi party, a conflict erupted.

World War II could have started there, but a conference quickly called in Munich avoided a major conflict. UK, France and Italy agreed on Hitler’s proposal: they would not interfere in the Czech conflict, provided this would be the last action of expansion by Germany.

Peace was then achieved by sacrificing Czechoslovakia which was left alone to fight the Nazi army and capitulated very quickly.

Most people in western Europe felt relieved, and agreed with the politic of “appeasement” (allowing diplomatic concessions to an aggressive power in order to avoid an open conflict). The British Premier, Neville Chamberlain, was welcomed back in London as a hero, a man who saved the continent through his diplomatic effort.

Right after landing, Chamberlain gave a speech that went to history as “Peace in our time”. Would have he been right, he would today be remembered as a hero. Instead today, Chamberlain became almost an epitome of naivety.

We still didn’t talk about Gdansk. It is a city on the Baltic Sea, in today’s northern Poland. But between the two wars, Gdansk (or Danzig) was a free city. A territory with his own status, like in ancient Greece or Italian Middle-age. Or today’s Gibraltar. A fortress on the Baltic, controlled but not owned by Poland. And with what at the time was a problem: a city with a large German population, bordering Germany, but not part of Germany.

As soon as the Czech dismembering was completed, Hitler increased the diplomatic pressure on Gdansk, suggesting that the city should be conceded to Germany without the need of a war. Poland refused, knowing this was just a pretext for the annihilation of the country, as Sudetenland was for the Czechs.

Again in UK and France, a debate arose between those who reckoned that Enough is Enough, and those who wanted to carry on with the appeasement, thinking that Hitler would have never started a war with the western powers as long as he would be free to expand to the east.

An article by a French writer, Marcel Deat, titled “Why die for Danzig?” (“Mourir pour Dantzig?”) became the motto of the appeasement party. There was no reason why the whole of Europe should be brought into a war because of a small city on the Baltic.

But this time UK and France did not appease Hitler’s demand. Few months went on with increasing tension until Hitler found an agreement with the Soviet Union for the partition of Poland. He then felt free to attack.

On September 1st, 1939, at 4:48 in the morning, the first shot of the Second World War, and the first victims, happened in two distinct points of Gdansk: the polish military outpost of Westerplatte, 6km north of the centre, on the sea. And the post Office in the city centre.

The post office was an important outpost as it was the only part of the city centre to be officially considered Polish territory in Gdansk. With the increasing tension, a military contingent was sent to guard the building in case of a German attack.

After a full day of battle, the Nazi conquered the building. The Polish sent out two people carrying a white flag in order to treat the surrender, but they were shot dead as soon as they step out of the door. A symbol of the ruthless method Hitler planned to use towards all Poland.

The details of the battle can be found here. Of the 56 Polish inside the building, only 6 managed to escape (two were killed later). Six people died in the battle and all the others were captured and executed one month later in the courtyard of the building. The memorial in the picture remembers the massacre in the very place where it happened.