SUPER COLLECTION of XXX-RARE HUGE WW2 NAZI DANZIG BONDS 5 COLORS MINT CV $500
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SUPER COLLECTION of XXX-RARE HUGE WW2 NAZI DANZIG BONDS 5 COLORS MINT CV $500:
$49.95
Last Chance to Buy These....
DANZIG DIETIES
at 10% of Collector Value!!!
COLLECTOR VALUE $500+
CLOSED AT OVER $100 BEFORE
BUT STARTING PRICEIS JUST$49.95!!
$9.99 PER ULTRA RARE BOND!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We call these five Gems \"Dieties\" for there is much to worship about them from the collectible standpoint:
- Theyare 100% original, genuine and authentic Financial Bonds printed by the State Bank/Central Treasury of the Nazi German Gau (Province or Territory) of DANZIG in 1941 at the height of the Nazi Blitzkrieg, which enabled Germany to gain control of almost all of Europe. Danzig, which fell to Germany in the first battle of WW2 in September 1939 during the invasion of Poland, was firmly under German Occupation and Administration by this time. It was the Capital ofEast Prussia, as indicated on the bonds! The text makes reference to theThird Reich ImperialOccupation/Annexation Laws of 1940!!
- At approx. 8\" x 12\", they are exquisitely engraved frameable masterpieces on watermarked paper that you will never grow tired of. Their ornate multi-color designs, underlying bold German Gothic text, are intricatelyornate and beautiful. \"Danzig\" appears six times in various sizes on the front and numerous times on the text-filled reverse.
- There are 5 denominations, including 100 Reichsmark (mainly glowing pink,red and magenta), 200 Reichsmark (mainly lavender, fuchsia and light green), 500 Reichsmark (mainly green), 1000 Reichsmark (mainly gold), and 5000 Reichsmark (mainly blue). The bonds are all extemely rare while the higher denominations are excessively rare (the $5000 denomination alone is worth $150+!!). The text is carriedover on the back of the bond. There are multiple in diamond-shaped watermarks with the large initials \"dHb\" across the entire surface!!
- Each bond features a breathtaking, detailed vignette (steel-etched illustration) of Danzig\'s renowned medieval \"Krantor\" (its waterfont crane tower or gate, designed to lift ships out ot the water!) at the top. These are the only bonds in the world to feature both this legendary vignette and a WW2 date!!!!!
- They remain in miraculously mint, flawless condition but for a tiny hole punch in the embossed seal. You simply never see Danzig bonds, let alone Danzig Nazi bonds at this quality level, let alone at this price. Don\'t lose this amazing opportunity before it\'s a thing of the past, like so many of our offerings before that in many cases have skyrocketed as much as twenty fold in value!!!!
This collection represents a heady combination of vitally important WW2history, art, Danzig nostalgia, rarity and condition. The mere fact that it exists and is available at any price should be cause for joy among collectors. The only greater joy will be when you unwrap the custom archival display holder they will be shipped in by Collect-a-thon!
Collector Value: $500 to PRICELESS!!Starting at a mere $49.95!! SAVE 90%!!!! Closed at over $100 at sale.
Foreign shipping can be reduced to $5.95 if buyer accepts risk of mail loss.
THIS LOT HAS FIVE BONDS -
1) RED-PINK 100 MARKS
2) LAVENDER-FUSCHIA 200 MARKS
3)GREEN 500 MARKS
4) BROWN-BEIGE 1000 MARKS (Equal to Highest Denomination Regular Issue Nazi Currency Note!)
5) BLUE 5000 MARKS (FIVE Times Higher than Highest Denomination Regular Issue Nazi Currency Note, and excessively RARE!!!)
DANZIG HISTORY
BEFORE 1309
St. Catherine\'s, one of Danzig\'s parish churches, was established around 1150. In 1178 OLIVA monastery was founded; a market settlement existed at Gdansk. Around 1190, St. Nicolai was established. Around 1224 Gdansk (Danzig) was given the MAGDEBURG CITY LAW. The Dominicans established themselves in Danzig in 1227; St. Mary\'s was founded around 1240.
Gdansk is located in POMMERELLEN, and formed part of the territory of the Dukes of Pommerellen (Sambor, Swantopolk, Mestwin). The Dukes owned a castle in Danzig.
Historically, much focuses on the question of nationality of Danzig\'s inhabitants and administration. Pommerellen was a Slavic land, the KASCHUBIANS claim to descend from those who inhabited the region in the 11th century. The equally Slavic Dukes, in the course of the 12th and early 13th century, seem to have invited German monks (Oliva) and burghers (Danzig) who brought in know how the Slavic inhabitants lacked. The few sources we have on the history of Danzig in the 13th century indicate that burghers of German identity (the expression \"nationality\" is unfit for this period) dominated city life.
The castle at Danzig, on the other hand, was held by Slavic knights, for the Slavic duke. German history emphasizes the German character of medieval Danzig to a point that any Slavic element in its population is ignored. Yet, it is rather probable that the city of Danzig, formally founded around 1224 (by granting city right) included the earlier existing market settlement with the two parishes St. Catherine\'s and St. Nicolai\'s, the population of which, at least to a considerable extent, may be assumed to have been Slavic. Yet it was the German merchant families (patricians) who managed to establish an exclusive hold on the seats in the city council, and the guilds of craftsmen who excluded non-German speakers, thus giving the economic life in Danzig a German character.
In the 13th century, national identity was not a major issue; the Dukes of Pommerellen had invited the monks and burghers into the country to help develop it, and to increaseits revenue (the city paid taxes). Dynastic troubles lead to the Duchy of Pommerellen being contested between Duke Wladyslaw, whose men held the castle of Gdansk, and the Duke of Brandenburg. Both sides asked the Teutonic Order to mediate; in 1308 the garrison of Gdansk left, the castle (and the Duchy of Pommerellen) were entrusted (temporarily) to the Teutonic Order. The Order held on to castle, city and duchy.
Under the Teutonic Order, 1309-1454
In 1308, the territory of POMMERELLEN including the city and castle of Gdansk (Danzig) were contested between Duke Wladyslaw and the Duke of Brandenburg. The TEUTONIC ORDER was asked to mediate, and for the time of mediation, the castle of Gdansk (Danzig) was handed over to the Teutonic Knights. They held on to Danzig and Pommerellen (Referred to as West Prussia from then onward). A Teutonic Order administration as formally established in 1309.Danzig had enjoyed the status of a city since c.1224; under the rule of the Teutonic Order the city prospered and her population grew; the sources of the 14th century show Danzig\'s city council to be in the hands of German merchant families. The city applied the Magdeburg city law, in 1377 replaced it by the Luebeck city law; the city\'s merchants participated in the HANSEATIC LEAGUE, and when it reorganized itself into the City Hanse in the course of the 14th century, Danzig formed a prominent member. Danzig was among the leading cities of the Hanseatic PRUSSIAN QUARTER.
Around 1340, the Teutonic Order constructed a castle at Danzig; other than many Hanseatic cities of the west, Danzig did not enjoy an almost unlimited political autonomy, but had to act in communication and cooperation with the Teutonic Order\'s High Master.
Her location on the Vistula estuary favoured the development of Danzig\'s commerce; the city developed into Prussia\'s leading port - from here the expeditions conducted by the Teutonic Order against Gotland in 1398 and 1403 departed - and gained a large share in the Poland trade, for the Vistula was Poland\'s economic main artery.
In 1409 the Teutonic Order lost the BATTLE OF GRUNWALD (in German books allocated to Tannenberg) to a Polish-Lithuanian force. Poland- Lithuania, combined in a personal union, now replaced the Teutonic Order as the leading military power in the region. The Teutonic Order began a period of steep decline. For the city of Danzig, the financial burdens laid upon her by the order proved an increasing problem.
In June/July 1416 the craftsmen rebelled against patrician rule; the rebellion was suppressed. A new craftsmen\'s ordinnance was passed, requiring the craftsmen to hand in their arms; craftsmen\'s assemblies were abolished.
The winter of 1423 was extraordinarily cold, the Baltic Sea largely froze over.
In 1433 a Hussite army appeared outside Danzig, ravaging the countryside of West Prussia, but failing to force entrance into the city. In 1435 the city council, for the first time, admitted representatives of the city\'s guilds. In 1436, councilman Hildebrand Tannenberg was dismissed for his pro-Order stance.
In 1440 Danzig joined the PRUSSIAN FEDERATION, an organization intended to unite the forces resisting excessive demands by the Teutonic Order\'s High Master. After numerous attempts to achieve relief by the means of negotiations failed, open conflict erupted in 1453 (Prussian Civil War, 1453-1466). Some members of the Prussian Federation recognized the sovereignty of King Casimir of Poland in 1454; Danzig followed in 1457.
Under Polish Protection, 1454-1522
In 1453 Danzig, together with the Prussian Federation, broke with the Teutonic Order; in 1454 Danzig recognized King Casimir of Poland - against recognition of extensive privileges (1457) - as her sovereign. These privileges were so far reaching, that the city was virtually anonymous. The formal submission under Poland had great economic advantages, as Poland\'s corn trade now predominantly was directed through the city of Danzig. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 closed the Bosphorus as outlet for Poland\'s rich grain production and thus furthered Danzig\'s importance. Another lucrative export product was timber. Increased wealth permitted the city to acquire a number of adjacent villages, thus to extend her territory. Other areas were temporarily acquired, as pawns.In 1457 Danzig fought a naval war with Denmark-Livonia; the Danzig fleet gained a victory over a combined Danish-Livonian fleet Aug. 14th/15th near Bornholm; Danzig and Denmark concluded truce in 1458, peace in 1459. In 1462 the Poles defeated the Teutonic Knights near Sarnowitz; in 1463 a conspiracy to regain Danzig for the Teutonic Order was uncovered, the conspirators executed. In the PEACE OF THORN (Torun) in 1466 the Teutonic Order recognized the affiliation of ROYAL PRUSSIA, including Danzig, to Poland.
In the Hanseatic war against England in 1469-1473, Danzig was a driving force, sending her freebooters into the North Sea and seeing that the import of English cloth into Prussia was stopped. Danzig\'s trade expanded rapidly, in 1492 the city exported over 25,000 tons of rye. This period of fast growth slowed down in the early 16th century, and accumulated debt caused a political crisis.
When Riga rebelled against the Livonian Order in 1490, Danzig sent troops in her support.
In 1498 the Bishop of Leslau planned to replace the traditional German liturgy by a Polish one; the city council succeeded in acquiring a papal bull confirming the traditional liturgy.
In 1499, Martin Tretter opened the first printing shop in Danzig. In 1520, Hans Weinrich printed Luther\'s writings in Danzig. From Nov. 6th to 10th 1520, Danzig was besieged by the Teutonic Knights.
Reformation, 1522-1557
After a period of strong growth, early in the 16th century the city council of Danzig experienced financial problems, a debt crisis. The populace, especially the guilds, hitherto excluded from participation in the city administration, attempted to use the opportunity to force access to it. Then, in 1522, the Hanseatic cities fought a war against Denmark; Danzig, too, equipped a fleet. The purpose was to get the old Hanseatic privileges in Denmark confirmed; yet the expedition failed, and the expenses for the equipment of the fleet added to the city\'s financial burden.Burgomaster Ferber, held responsible for the fiasco, fled the city, without resigning from office. A disunited, split municipal administration faced the arrival of reformatoric ideas and agitators.
Radical preacher JAKOB HEGGE found a large and growing audience for his reformatoric sermons held outside the city walls (summer 1522); reacting on political pressure, and against explicit orders by the King of Poland and the Bishop of Leslau, the city council reluctantly permitted him to preach in St. Mary\'s (Sept. 1523); an iconoclastic mob went from church to church, destroying numerous images and sculptures. Hegge was persuaded to leave the city; the city council decided to no longer oppose the reformation. They invited Dr. ALEXANDER SVENICHEN, a moderate with sympathies for Lutheranism, who had studied in Wittenberg, to preach in Danzig\'s main church. The people of Danzig met in August 1524 on St. Elizabeth\'s churchyard and elected a captain and twelve treasurers - representatives which were to supervise the activities of the city council. They also appointed protestant preachers for the city\'s other churches, St. Catherine\'s, St. John\'s, St. Bartholomew\'s, St. Barbara\'s and St. Peter\'s. On Jan. 25th the city council attempted to disempower the captain and his treasurers; the result was a riot, and the next day the city council had to give in, had to accept the demands of the people, formulated in a \'letter of articles\', which included administrative reforms as well as the stipulation, that the reformation was to be introduced unconditionally.
In April 1526 King SIGISMUND of Poland visited Danzig, at the head of 8,000 troops. All churches were again handed over to Catholic priests; the King published a constitution for the city which reestablished Catholicism as the official confession (STATUTA SIGISMUNDI). Lutheran publications were confiscated and burnt, the spread of such publications prohibited; Lutherans had to leave town within two weeks.
The royal visit had an unintended consequence; the opposing parties within Danzig recognized that their struggle permitted an outsider, the king, to interfere in the city\'s affairs, and it was the city with all her population which was at risk to lose privileges or money. The city council regained control of affairs; Catholicism remained the official confession for the following years.
In 1529 the \"English Sweat\", an epidemic disease, killed c. 3,000 within 3 days. The Diet of West Prussia 1530 forbade the settlement of Jews; Danzig in 1530 forbade Jews to reside in the city.
In 1548 the Polish Sejm had elected a new king, SIGISMUND AUGUST. Danzig\'s city council and the king soon were on a confrontation course; Sigismund August appointed his chancellor STANISLAS HOSIUS (who was to be a leading participant in the COUNCIL OF TRENT) Bishop of Warmia (1550), in violation of the right of the Warmia cathedral chapter; the city council of Danzig protested. When the King visited Danzig in summer 1552, he was asked to permit the introduction of the reformation in the city, which he rejected, as well as political amendmends to the Danzig constitution. Since 1529 PANKRATIUS KLEMME preached the Lutheran way at St. Mary\'s, as successor to the late Dr. Svenichen; his services were well-frequented, while the Catholic masses saw diminishing audiences. P. Klemme is regarded the reformer of Danzig. In 1539 the city council closed down irregular schools and established PARISH (elemetary) SCHOOLS (a Lutheran policy); in 1558, in the facilities of the Franciscan monastery, a GYMNASIUM (high school) was founded.
In Poland itself King Sigismund August experienced stiffening opposition among the Polish nobility; he finally permitted Danzig to introduce the reformation (July 5th 1557), which was formally done on October 31st 1557. Danzig\'s hinterland, however, remained Catholic.
Danzig, 1557-1660
While the Hanseatic League experienced a decline, while the Livonian Order disintegrated, the territory of the Teutonic Order, transferred into the Duchy in Prussia, was reduced to insignificance, the Hanseatic city of Danzig continued to flourish, based on her control of the Polish grain export trade; Danzig\'s Baltic Sea shipping was (a distant) second only to Dutch shipping.
Danzig\'s autonomy was the result of a long historical development and not without critics at the Polish court. In 1565, Poland entered on the path of COUNTERREFORMATION; the Jesuits established themselves in Braunsberg in Warmia. The King ordered a commission to revise the constitutions of the (protestant) cities of Danzig and Elbing; in 1570 the King (acting in Warsaw) cancelled her old statutes and declared in force the STATUTA KARNKOWIANA (named after the Bishop of Leslau), which considerably limited the authority of the city council. These statutes were widely rejected in the city. In 1572 King Sigismund died; he was succeeded by Stephen Bathory. Danzig\'s city council announced to declare homage only after her privileges (i.e. the old statutes) would have been confirmed; the king refused. When Danzig\'s city council failed to pay homage, the king declared the BAN over her (Sept. 24th 1576). Negotiations failed, and in 1577 a Polish army laid siege to the city. The latter held out, and a settlement was negotiated; the city paid 200,000 Gulden; the King recognized her old privileges and confirmed the city\'s Lutheran confession; the ban on Danzig was lifted. Danzig had successfully defended her autonomy against the Polish monarchy.
In 1585 the Jesuits were granted permission to establish themselves in Danzig and preach in the former Dominican convent, later in the former convent of St. Bridget, where they established a chapel. They served a small Catholic community.
As a political factor, the HANSEATIC LEAGUE disintegrated in the 16th century; the last Prussian-Livonian HANSETAG (Hanseatic diet) was held in 1604. The troubles in the Netherlands diminished the function of Brughes-Antwerp as the center of European trade, and direct trade communications between Italy and Danzig were established. Danzig\'s population for 1577 is estimated at 40,000, for 1600 at around 50,000; the city grew, and new fortifications were constructed. In 1602-1603, c.15,000 citizens fell victim to the plague.
In 1558, in the facilities of the former Franciscan monastery, the DANZIG GYMNASIUM (high school) was opened. It attracted students from Silesia, Courland, Poland and Livonia. In 1582 the GREGORIAN CALENDAR was introduced.
In 1591-1593 the Papal State suffered a famine; Danzig sent a shipment of grain. Pope Clement VIII. in 1593 granted a privilege to the city. Since 1595, many Danzigers studied in Padua.
Emperor Rudolf invited Danzig to attend the Imperial Diet in 1594, 1597, 1602, 1606, 1607, in an attempt to get the city contribute to Imperial expenses; Emperor Matthias invited Danzig 1612, 1615; Danzig did not attend.
Danzig had c. 49,000 inhabitants in 1601; the Black Death in 1602 caused 18,700 fatalities, in 1620 11,900 dead, in 1624 10,500 dead. In August 1604 the Swedish fleet blocked Danzig harbour for several days.
The conflict between Sweden (since 1611 King Gustavus II. Adolphus, of the Wasa Dynasty) and Poland (since 1587 King Sigismund III., a Vasa who had converted to Catholicism) was to have grave consequences for the city of Danzig. Swedish forces invaded (Polish) Livonia in 1621, the Duchy in Prussia in 1626; a Swedish fleet blocked Danzig\'s port. A combined Danzig-Polish fleet defeated the Swedish fleet off Glettkau on Nov. 28th 1627. In 1629 a peace settlement was concluded, which permitted Danzig\'s trade to revive. The city, however, had to accept the continued collection of Swedish tolls from ships who visited Danzig\'s port. On Feb. 28th 1630, Danzig and Sweden concluded an agreement concerning the city\'s neutrality. Sweden claimed 3,5 % of the customs tariff raised in Danzig; the Swedish share in 1634 making up half of Sweden\'s total state revenue. In 1635, in the Treaty of Stuhmsdorf, Sweden gave up her share in the Danzig customs; the war had cost Danzif 10 million guilders.
In 1640 the first weekly magazine was published in Danzig. In 1650-1655, the city\'s fortifications were modernized. In 1653, the Black Death again claimed 11,600 victims. In 1656, the first Polish language newspaper in Danzig was published. In 1650 the population of Danzig numbered 77,000.
In 1654, Swedish King Charles X. invaded Poland; in 1655 he appeared outside the Danzig city walls, but refrained from laying siege. A Dutch fleet arrived (1656), reopening the vital trade with the Netherlands.
Economically, the 17th century, the era of the Swedish wars, were a period of decline, as the trade suffered from costly interruptions, considerable sums had to be spent on fortifications and troops, and loans granted to the Polish kings proved irretrievable.
DANZIG, 1660-1793
Poland\'s wars, as well as the territorial losses to Russia (Peace of Andrussovo, 1667) resulted in diminished grain exports through the port of Danzig, down from 55,000 last (weight units) in 1651 to 28,000 last on average in the 1660es. Reduced Polish exports also meant a reduced purchasing power. Poland\'s kings, in order to make up for reduced income, repeatedly raised the tolls collected on goods from Danzig, which again was detrimental to Danzig\'s trade. To make matters worse, the Vistula mouth began to silt up, causing problems for shipping; a new sandbank, the WESTERPLATTE, emerged. A new shipping route was excavated and kept open (Neufahrwasser). In order to face the economic problems, the city council promoted the growth of a textile industry in Danzig.
The populace suffered from heavy taxation. The various religious communities - majority Lutherans, minority Calvinists, Catholics, Mennonites - became increasingly antagonistic. The Jesuits, in Danzig since 1585, demanded that a parish church would be transferred to them, and attempted to use the Polish king to achieve their goal; King Jan Sobieski visited Danzig in 1677, without interfering on behalf of the Jesuits.
In 1668, a woman was executed for witchcraft in Zoppot outside Danzig. In 1670, c. 40,000 Mennonites lived in Royal Prussia, 28,000 of them in and around Danzig. In 1677 the municipal constitution was revised; codified in 1678 (Decretum Johannis III.).
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736), the inventor of the thermometer, was born in Danzig. In 1743 the NATURFORSCHENDE GESELLSCHAFT IN DANZIG (Society for Natural Science in D.) was founded. A SOCIETAS LITERARIA had been established in 1720.
In 1700 the GREAT NORTHERN WAR began; again Swedish armies invaded Poland. Swedish troops appeared in front of Danzig (1703, 1704), and the city was forced to make huge payments and (1704) to join the Warsaw Confederation, i.e. to recognize Stanislas Leszczynski, the king enthroned by Swedish king Charles XII. (and in consequence to defy reigning king Augustus II. who had fled the country). In 1709 the Swedes lost the Battle of Poltava, and Danzig was relieved from the Swedish menace; yet the plague returned to the city and claimed thousands of victims. In 1710 the Black Death claimed 1,784 victims. The Russians, who claimed to have come as liberators, in the same manner as before the Swedes, demanded payments; peace was only negotiated in 1719-1721. In 1716, Czar Peter visited Danzig.
In 1723, the Jews were expelled from the city and from the suburbs of Petershagen and Ohra.
In 1733 the WAR OF POLISH SUCCESSION (1733-1735) broke out. Following the deauth of Augustus II., Stanislas Leszczynski, supported by France, reclaimed the throne; Russia and Austria supported Augustus III., son of the late Augustus II. The decisive struggle in the Polish theatre of war took place at Danzig, to where Stanislas Leszczynski had taken refuge after failing to rally support in Poland. Danzig proclaimed her allegiance to Leszczynski; in February 1734 a Russian army laid siege to the city. Danzig surrendered in June 1734; the city again had to pay heavy contributions; the city had suffered heavy damage during the siege.
In the 18th century, Danzig experienced increased competition (among others, the first American wheat exports) and also suffered from mercantilist policies introduced elsewhere. The city\'s economy was based on privileges which seemed the more outdated the more time progressed. Danzig\'s shipping declined, even in times of peace. The population declined from 77,000 in 1650 to 48,000 in 1730, 46,000 in 1750.
In 1772 Prussia, Austria and Russia agreed on the FIRST POLISH PARTITION. While the city of Danzig herself was unaffected, her hinterland (now officially referred to as WEST PRUSSIA) was annexed by Prussia; the city of Danzig only had been spared the same fate because Prussia\'s desire to annex the city had been vetoed by Czarina Catherine the Great. Prussia\'s riggedly planned economic policy was to harm Danzig\'s trade by collecting tolls, redirecting trade to Prussian ports, promoting a new municipal community created out of Danzig\'s suburbs on Prussian soil (Stolzenberg). In the SECOND POLISH PARTITION of 1793, Prussia annexed, among others, the city of Danzig herself; a tradition of municipal autonomy, lasting for over 300 years, was terminated.
When Danzig was annexed by Prussia in 1793, the sentiment in the city was not very positive. Most burghers regretted the loss of the city\'s century-old \"Freiheit\" (liberty), as her status and degree of political autonomy was called. Prussia, over the last decades, had been the cause for much economic hardship. And the Danzig militia feared the rigid Prussian discipline. When Prussian troops approached the gates of Danzig to formally take over the city, Danzig militiamen disobeyed their superiors and opened fire, in an attempt to avoid the takeover. The mutineers were overwhelmed by burghers and volunteers, and the Prussian troops entered the city.
Danzig\'s constitution was adapted according to Prussian municipal law. A modern court was established (hitherto, the city council had been responsible for jurisdiction). A police force was introduced. Traditional law remained valid, the Prussian ALLGEMEINES LANDRECHT (general country law) only introduced as an additional codex. The citizens of Danzig were exempted from mandatory military service - a rare privilege granted to the city. Some of the stipulations of Danzig\'s traditional law, such as the prohibition for foreigners, especially for Jews, to settle in the city, were scrapped.
The Prussian administration now undertook steps to improve the city\'s economy. The obstacles erected in the previous decades to harm the city\'s trade were removed. Prussian offices, hitherto located in Stolzenberg and Langfuhr (suburbs outside Danzig territory) were moved to Danzig. The fact that provinces of western-central Poland came under Prussian rule in the partitions of 1793 and 1795 united Danzig and far stretches of her economic hinterland. Exports, especially of grain, increased again, from c. 38,000 Last annually in the late 1790es to c. 63,000 Last in the early years of the 19th century\'s first decade. Trade in the port of Danzig became more vivid. The city\'s population rose from 38,738 in 1794 to 44,511 in 1806, military personnel and their families not included (2 regiments were stationed in the city). The Prussian government took over the lion\'s share of the city\'s pre-annexation debt.
The anti-Prussian sentiment in Danzig, manifest in 1793, quickly faded away. A visitor observed many who sympathized with the institutions of the French Revolution, but did not doubt in the loyalty of the Danzigers toward the Prussian crown.
UNDER FRENCH ADMINISTRATION, 1807-1813
In 1806 Prussia entered the FOURTH COALITION against Napoleon, together with Britain and Russia. Napoleon defeated the Prussian forces at Jena and Auerstaedt (Oct. 14th 1806), the Russians at Eylau (Feb. 8th 1807). In March, Napoleon\'s troops (among whom many from the Confederation of the Rhine) laid siege to the city of Danzig, which, after staunch resistance, surrendered on May 24th. Napoleon gave the title \"Duke of Danzig\" to General Lefevre, the commander over the siege troops. The entering French troops confiscated food and equipment; the city had to pay a contribution of 20 million Franc.
In the PEACE OF TILSIT (July 9th), Prussia had to cede most of the territory gained in the Polish Partitions; it kept most of West Prussia, but Danzig was proclaimed a FREE CITY. However, the territory of the free city was to stretch only two French miles beyond city walls, thus significantly smaller than the territory the city used to administrate until its annexation by Prussia in 1793.
In fact, the city was administrated by the French; the city had to pay more contributions; the city\'s art treasures were confiscated. French soldiers, all in all 10,000 men, were billeted in burghers\' houses, to be lodged and fed at their expense. The population of Danzig suffered under an increasing tax burden. As the tax revenue collected was insufficient to cover the French demands, the city had to issue paper money (assignats); inflation set in. The city\'s port stood still; Danzig Bay was blocked by British warships. To make matters worse, French customs officers entered the city in order to inforce the continental blockade. Cloth of English origin was confiscated and publicly burnt.
In 1810 the city\'s population had dwindled to 37,131. Danzig became one of the starting points of the Russian invasion; at one time, the number of troops stationed here reached 23,000. Napoleon himself visited Danzig June 7th to 11th 1812, in order to inspect his troops.
After the annihilation of the Grande Armee, Russian troops reached Danzig in January 1813; during the siege the population starved, prices went through the sky, infectious diseases claimed scores of victims. The French garrison only withdrew on January 2nd 1814. Russian and Prussian troops entered the city.
UNDER PRUSSIAN ADMINISTRATION, 1813-1870
A few months after the liberation (Jan. 2nd 1814) the Russian troops withdrew. The VIENNA CONGRESS allocated Danzig to Prussia; the return of Prussian rule was widely welcomed in the city, for the experience of the preceding century had shown that independence was very costly; Danzig\'s economic interests required effective protection of the kind Prussia was able to provide, And Prussian rule 1793-1807 had been benevolent.
The return of Prussian rule meant the implementation of a number of reforms introduced in Prussia in the preceding years, most notably FREEDOM OF TRADE (thus the elimination of the guilds which had determined the city\'s economic life for the previous centuries), MANDATORY MILITARY DUTY (Danzigers no longer exempted) and COMMUNAL SELF-ADMINISTRATION, the latter a matter Danzig could easily adjust to, as she had done so for centuries.
Already in 1814 a number of suburbs were incorporated into Danzig. The city was chosen as seat for the new Prussian PROVINCE WEST PRUSSIA (1815-1824; then the provinzes of West and East Prussia were united, with seat in Koenigsberg). In 1831 OLIVA monastery was closed down. Formally, West Prussia with Danzig was Prussian, but not part of the German Confederation. During the revolution of 1848, the city council applied for the city, with all of West Prussia, to be accepted into the latter. Yet few signs of revolutionary sentiment in the city were suppressed; law and order were, at no stage of the German Revolution, in jeopardy. In 1852, Danzig was connected to the railway network. In 1857, the Danish SOUND LEVY was abolished, an event of eminent importance to Danzig trade; England had applied Free Trade policy since 1846, a relief for Danzig trade as the high protective tariffs on grain (Corn Laws) thereby were scrapped.
The city of Danzig grew in size and population : 1850 60,000, 1860 83,000, 1870 89,000 inhabitants - although not as rapidly as the centers of industrialization or as seaports profiting from the industrialization.
In the grain trade, traditionally dominated by Danzig, the city found increasing competition from the new Russian port of ODESSA, which attracted the grain production of much of the hinterland which hitherto exported through Danzig, and from increasing exports from the USA. During the GERMAN- DANISH WAR of 1864, Danzig\'s port briefly was blocked by the Danish fleet.
The connection to the railway network in 1852 did not bring the economic upsurge hoped for; the railway lines had provided part of Danzig\'s traditional hinterland with easy access to the ports of Stettin and Hamburg, and thus syphoned away potential Danzig trade. The BROMBERG CANAL, completed 1774, likewise was beneficial for Danzig\'s competitors Stettin and Hamburg, as it connected the Vistula and Oder river basins.
The city\'s most famous son was philosopher ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788-1860), a pessimist and skeptic who did not share the romantic patriotism of many of his contemporary countrymen.
PART OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE, 1871-1919
In 1871 Danzig, as part of Prussia, became part of the German Empire. In the last decades of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century, Danzig experienced an economic growth which again caused a rise of the population and an expansion of the settlement. While the traditional grain trade decreased, export trade in other products, such as BEET SUGAR, increased. Of great importance was the import of English coal, of American and Russian petrol, of Swedish iron. Danzig became seat of sugar refineries, the Danzig shipyards converted from the construction of sailboats to that of iron steamers.
Danzig\'s population, 82,765 in 1861, rose to 108,551 in 1880, 120,338 in 1890, 140,563 in 1900, 170,337 in 1910. The city\'s revenues also increased considerably. The establishment of municipal waterworks began in 1869. Great effort was undertaken to remodel and extend the port. In 1895-1897, the remainders of the city wall were razed in order to provide space for increasing traffic. A Polytechnic was opened in 1904.
The strong population increase was, to the larger part, the result of immigration. Still, the city retained a predominantly German (Lutheran) character, although sizeable communities of Polish respectively Kaschubian speakers, of Roman Catholics and Jews emerged.
FREE CITY OF DANZIG, 1920-1939
Since 1871, Danzig had belonged to Germany. The city, with a predominantly German-speaking population and a hinterland which was inhabited by a partially Kashubian, partially Polish and to a smaller extent German-speaking population, had benefitted from the economic upturn of the later 19th and early 20th century, had grown in size and economic importance.
During these decades, the hinterland aforementioned, although mostly non-German in character (West Prussia, Posen) had also formed part of Germany. During World War I, the reestablishment of a Polish state was discussed; President Wilson included the demand for such an independent Polish state in his 14 POINTS.
The areas which were of unquestionably Polish character were located inland, on the banks of the Vistula and Warthe Rivers. The city of Danzig controlled the mouth of the Vistula, the main economic artery of the future Polish state. As the establishment of an independent Polish state could only occur in conflict with German interests, German control over Danzig would probably result in great difficulties for the young Polish state. This problem was seen even before the new Polish state was created, and the demand for Polish access to the (Baltic) sea included in President Wilson\'s 14 points.
At the Versailles Conference, Germany had to accept the cession of most of the provinces of Posen and West Prussia to Poland; Danzig was declared a FREE CITY (formally declared on January 10th 1920) under the protection of the LEAGUE OF NATIONS, which was represented in Danzig by a commissioner. As through much of its history, Danzig was a political unit of its own, distinct of and separated from its hinterland; the city had an overwhelming German-speaking population; many Danzigers resented the free city status and were German patriots. Economically, good relations with Poland, seemingly imposed on the city, could only be beneficial to both Poland and Danzig, while the policy of economic confrontation imposed by post-war Germany on Poland, if applied by Danzig, could only prove disastrous.
On January 1st 1919 the Deutscher Volksrat (German People\'s Council) was established; on March 23rd, 70,000 Danzigers protested the Treaty of Versailles provision concerning the cession of an access to the Baltic (Danzig) to Poland. On April 25th, news arrived in Danzig that the Allies, on a suggestion by David Lloyd George, had decided to grant Danzig the status of a free city under the League of Nations. On June 29th 1919, Danzig formally was separated from Germany; the Free City created Jan. 10th 1920. On June 14th, the constitutional assembly was convened, on August 13th the constitution accepted. On Nov. 9th Danzig and Poland signed the Treaty of Paris; the Free City was formally proclaimed Nov. 15th, the Deutscher Volkstag (German People\'s Assembly, Danzig diet) constituted Dec. 6th 1920.
The Warsaw Agreement of Oct. 24th 1921 regulated Poland\'s rights in Danzig. On April 1st 1922, Danzig and Poland entered into a customs union. On April 29th 1923, Poland began with the construction of the port of Gdynia, on Polish territory, just west of Danzig, which was connected with the Vistula basin by railway; Gdynia\'s raison d\'etre thus was to circumvent Danzig. It only partially fulfilled that function. On Danzig territory, the Polish state was represented by the POLISH POST OFFICE, and by a Polish garrison on the WESTERPLATTE. The city enjoyed political autonomy in domestic affairs, and after a period of transition, acquired a number of attributes of statehood, such as her own currency, the GULDEN, her own banknotes and postage stamps.
In the early 1920es, Danzig, as Poland and Germany, went through a period of hyperinflation, which was ended with the currency reform, the introduction of the Gulden (exchange rate 25 Gulden = 1 Pound Sterling).
On August 8th 1923, 1 kg of bread cost 40,000 Mk, 1 l milk 28,000 Mk, 1 pound of butter 300,000 Mk paper.
On August 13th 1923, q kg bread cost 150,000 Mk, 1 l milk 42,000 Mk,1 pound of butter 480,000 Mk.
On Sept. 7th 1923, 1 pound of potatoes cost 100,000 Mk.,1 pound of meat 2,700,000 Mk.
According to the census taken 1934 August 31st, Danzig had 383,955 inhabitants, 96 % Germans, 3 % Poles, Kashubians; 60 % Lutherans, 35 % Catholics. A Catholic diocesis of Danzig was established Dec. 30th 1925. On June 1st 1926, Danzig Radio Station began broadcasting.
In the Nov. 16th 1930 elections to the Danzig Diet, the NSDAP increased her seats from 1 to 12 (18.3 % of the votes; second strongest party after the SPF with 19 seats, out of 70). On June 23rd 1931, the Volkstag passes the Empowerment Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz), because of the desolate financial situation. In the same year the Polish press discusses the option of a Polish occupation of Danzig; the Polish government issues demands against Danzig administration (Polish veto on Danzig decisions, ban on military organizations, indigenate in Danzig). On July 14th 1931 Danzig banks closed down; on August 1st state officials were paid only half their salary; on August 6th the cash flow resumed, state officials were paid the second half of their salary Aig. 10th. September 31st, the Danzig currency went off the gold standard.
On Jan. 31st, 40,726 Danzigers were out of a job. The May 1933 elections returned the NSDAP as the strongest party in the Volkstag. In February 1934 a Jewish school was established; Poland declared a boycott against Danzig. In August 1934 Poland and Danzig signed an economic agreement and the boycott was lifted. On August 17th 1934 the emigration of the Danzig Jews began. That year, the NS administration banned most newspapers; the association of employers was dissolved; capital flight set in.
On April 1st 1935, the Polish-language newspaper Gazeta Gdanska was banned; April 7th elections to the Volkstag returned NSDAP 44 seats, SPD 12 seats, Zentrum 3 seats, Communists, Poles 2 seats each. On May 2nd the Danzig currency was devaluated. On August 1st, Senate President Greiser declared economic state of emergency.
On July 24th 1937, the first tv program was broadcast in Danzig. On October 21st 1937, the Zentrum Party was the last democratic party to be dissolved. In 1937-1938, about half of the Jewish community (which used to number 10,448) emigrated. On 1938 Nov. 21, Danzig introduced the Nuremberg Race Laws.
Literature Nobel Prize laureate GÜNTER GRASS, who grew up in this athmosphere, describes it in his DANZIG TRILOGY. Another author describing Danzig in the late 1930es is CARL JACOB BURCKHARDT (\"Meine Danziger Mission\"), last League of Nations commissioner.
In summer 1939, Hitler demanded Poland to grant the so-called KORRIDOR (a road connecting the isolated German province of East Prussia with the remainder of Germany, to be placed under German sovereignty); Poland rejected. On August 23rd, Danzig Gauleiter Albert Forster staged a coup d\'etat (the day of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact).
On September 1st 1939, a German battleship, the Schleswig-Holstein, on visit in Danzig, opened fire on the Westerplatte (held by a Polish garrison), thus opening WW II; the same day, Danzig was formally annexed by Germany.
DANZIG, 1939-1946
On September 1st 1939, World War II - i.e. the German campaign against Poland - began in Danzig, where the German battleship took the Polish garrison on the Westerplatte under fire; another target of German aggression was the Polish Post Office in Danzig. The Poles were soon overwhelmed, the damage inflicted on the city\'s architecture limited.
Danzig was reannexed into Germany, as was much of the hinterland. The Polish and the Jewish population of Danzig suffered persecution; the STUTTHOF concentration camp was established near the city. For much of the war, Danzig was out of the range of allied bombers, and thus the damage to its buildings was limited. During the war, most of the men were drawn into military service; on the other hand the city came to lodge an ever-increasing refugee population, bombed-out elsewhere. In late 1944 and 1945, Danzig herself became target of air raids; with the Red Army approaching, the number of (German) refugees fleeing the advance of the Russian troops was ever-increasing. The city was conquered by the Red Army early in 1945; the old city was destroyed by 95 %. The Soviets soon handed the city administration over to the Poles.
The USSR had kept the Polish provinces she had occupied in September 1939; to compensate Poland, the Soviets handed German territory occupied by the Red Army over to Poland. The large majority of the ethnically German population of Danzig was forced to leave their home city; tenthousands of Poles moved in (70,000 by the end of 1945, others later). The remaining Germans were forofferden to speak German; the city was rechristened Gdansk. It is difficult to give an exact figure of the number of German Danzigers who had to find a new home, as the conditions in 1944-1945 were chaotic; the exact number of residents is unknown. Yet they clearly were the majority of the non-refugee population.
In March 1945 the city rejected the Soviet demand to surrender, and suffered severe destruction. The number of casualties is estimated between 100,000 and 300,000. On June 15th 1945, the Polish administration\'s regulations regarding the expulsion of the ethnic German population entered in force.
GDANSK SINCE 1946
Since 1946, Gdansk, the former Danzig, had a distinct Polish character. As Poland was integrated into the Warsaw pact, Gdansk again became the seat of a strong shipyard industry, producing mostly for the Soviet Navy. The Polish city administration took upon herself to rebuild Gdansk (Danzig) in the style it had been before the war. To her credit it has to be said, that Gdansk has preserved much more of her prewar cityscape than many cities in western or Eastern Germany, even if these have suffered considerably less wartime destruction; what had been saved by fate during the war years, often fell victim to the neglect of officials and to bulldozers of those who wanted to build modern skyscrapers.
In 1979/1980 Gdansk gained world fame, as the city\'s LENIN SHIPYARD became the birthplace of the SOLIDARNOSZ movement, which openly challenged the communist authorities; Gdansk shipyard worker and Solidarnosz leader LECH WALESA was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1985. In 1989-1990 the communist authorities fell, and a democratic Poland arose.
For Gdansk, Poland\'s relations to both Germanies always were of special importance. For a long time, the small community of Germans who lived in the city had been forofferden to use their language in public; German was not taught in schools. On the other hand, the Federal Republic of Germany claimed Germany\'s territory in the borders of 1937, and only recognized the Oder-Neisse border in 1990, just prior to German unification. Since, relations have much improved; at the Goethe-Institut in Gdansk, lessons in German are given, the small community of Danzig Germans has organized herself and operates freely; many German tourists, many with family ties to the city, visit her.
The Lenin Shipyard went bankrupt, and the city experiences economic hardship.
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