The Nazi Conquest of Danzig

DANZIG has been almost forgotten amid the clamor and turmoil of Hitler’s far-reaching conquests. Yet the present detailed, competent, painstaking record of the gradual crushing out of all anti-Nazi political activity in the predominantly German population of this old Hanseatic city — which was given the status of a Free City, with a resident League of Nations commissioner, after the First World War is well worth reading for two reasons. As Mr. Leonhardt, himself a former active figure in the Danzig opposition, says: “Danzig was a German microcosm. In Danzig, events in the Reich were repeated in slow motion.” And Danzig was also a study in the technique of appeasement. It was an uneven contest: the aggressive dynamism of the Nazis against the helplessness of the League and the extreme desire of Great Britain and other leading powers to avoid trouble on this issue. So the Irish League commissioner, Seán Lester, who displayed some vigor in protesting against violations of the city constitution, was finally replaced by the pliable Swiss, Mr. Burckhardt, who saw nothing, heard nothing, and reported nothing that would offend the Nazis; and Danzig had been thoroughly regimented when Hitler gave the signal for all-out war on September 1, W. H. C.