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The Danzig crisis was an important prelude to World War II.The crisis lasted from March 1939 until the outbreak of war on 1 September 1939. The crisis began when tensions escalated between Nazi Germany and the Second Polish Republic Poland over the Free City of Danzig (modern-day Gdańsk, Poland).
Danzig was left as ruins. [6] The bombardments, constant combat and continuous fires resulted in most of the city's landmarks being destroyed. On 30 March, the newly renamed Gdańsk was subject to the provisional government, which created the Gdańsk Voivodeship. [6]
After World War I the Free City of Danzig was created, a city-state under the supervision of the League of Nations. The German attack on the Polish military depot at Westerplatte marks the start of World War II and the city was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1939.
At the end of World War II, Poland underwent major changes to the location of its international border. In 1945, after the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Oder–Neisse line became its western border, [1] resulting in gaining the Recovered Territories from Germany.
At the 1945 Potsdam Conference following the German defeat in World War II, Poland's borders were reorganized at the insistence of the Soviet Union, which occupied the entire area. Territories east of the Oder-Neisse line , including Danzig, were put under Polish administration.
The Polish population increased disproportionately in the 1920s and 1930s and was estimated at 20% shortly before the start of World War II in 1939. [37] The Catholic priest Franciszek Rogaczewski estimated that Poles made up about 20% of the population of the Free City of Danzig in 1936. [10]
The Polish Corridor and Danzig 1923–1939. The 1939 German ultimatum to Poland refers to a list of 16 demands by Nazi Germany to Poland, largely regarding the Polish Corridor and status of the Free City of Danzig attached to German demands to negotiate on August 29, 1939. It was announced on German radio that these points had been rejected on ...
The Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig was one of the first acts of World War II in Europe, as part of the September Campaign. [1] [3]: 39, 42 On 1 September 1939 the Invasion of Poland was initiated by Germany when the battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish-controlled harbor of Danzig, around 04:45–48 hours.