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Polish Pomerania (Pomorze)

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Polish Pomerania (Pomorze) POLISH LIBRARY OF FACTS N• IV POLISH POMERANIA (POMORZE) Price 10 Cenll Publiahed by POLISH INFORMATION SERVICE 385 Madison Avenue NEw YORK CITY 1933 C O' N TEN TS Page I-Geographic Position. .................... .. 5 II-History 5 III-Population 8 IV-The Economic Importance of Pomorze 15 V-East Prussia and Its Economic Situation. .. .. 16 VI-The Security of East Prussia. ............ .. 20 VII-Communication Facilities 21 VIII-Conclusions 25 IX-Bibliography ........................... .. 29 8 POLISH POMERANIA I. Geographic Position Polish Pomerania often referred to in Germany as the "Corridor" is the maritime province of Poland. It is situ­ ated along both banks of the lower Vistula and includes the Polish coast-line on the Baltic. It lies between 52° 50' and 54° 50'latitude and 17° 10'-20° 25' longitude, Green­ wich meridian. Pomerania forms one of the sixteen administrative dis­ tricts (voyevodships) of the Republic of Poland, namely, the voyevodship of Pomorze. Its area is 6,327 sq. miles and its population-according to the census of 1931­ 1,086,144. Pomorze is the region which affords Poland and its 32,000,000 inhabitants the only outlef-to the sea, and the only means of direct communication with the countries of Western Europe and America. The total length of the Polish coast-line is 87 miles or 2.5% of an Poland's boundaries. In other words, one mile of coast line serves 1,723 square miles of Poland's territory and 368,000 of her population. The significance of these figures can be seen by com­ parison with other countries. Germany, for instance, has a coast line of 1,077 miles, i. e. one mile for each 169 square miles of territory and for each 60,000 inhabitants. II. History The present district of Pomorze comprises but a part of historic Pomerania the annals of which show from the very beginning a close connection with the history of Poland. In prehistoric times Pomorze as wen as the eastern prov­ inces of present Germany, as far West as the River Elbe, were inhabited by Slavonic peoples. Reproduction of a German map showing Pomorze as it existed until the first Partition of Poland in 1772. Putl1ger's Histor;sehe.. Senulatlas (page 91) 6 Pomorze became part of Poland in 968 when Mieczyslaw I, who was the first king of Poland, incorporated it into his kingdom. Poland subsequently introduced Christianity in Pomorze. The final incorporation of Pomorze and Danzig into Poland was accomplished by the Treaty of Torun in 1466. Since then, until the first Partition of Poland in 1772, i. e. for a total of 306 years the territory formed an integral part of the Polish Kingdom. During that period of over three centuries, the Polish­ German frontier, with Pomorze separating East Prussia from Germany just as it does today, was the most stable frontier in Europe. Not once throughout the three centuries were Polish-German relations disturbed by war. The pos­ session by Poland of her legitimate outlet to the sea formed the best guarantee of peace in that part of Europe. As long as it lasted i. e. until the Partition pe,ace was main­ tained between the two nations. In order to realize the underlying motives for the Par­ tition which followed the 306 years of peace, it is best to refer to the testimony of its chief promoter, Frederick the Great. In the history of his reign he wrote: "One must have been either without address or buried in stupidity not to have profited by an opportunity so ad­ vantageous. I seized this unexpected opportunity by the forelock. By dint of negotIating and intriguing, I succeeded in indemnifying our monarchy for its past losses by incor­ porating Polish Prussia with myoid provinces."* And-trying to justify the Partition to his friend Vol­ taire-he admits: "I know that Europe in general regards the partition of Poland as the result of political intrigues which are at­ tributed to me:'* The partitions of Poland have been condemned as the ·Victor Thadde\ls-"Frederick the Great", Brentano's, New York, 1930. p. 286. 7 greatest political crime in modern history. Public opinion throughout the world denounced them. At least one power, Turkey, never recognized the validity of the Partition Treaties. Even before the conclusion of the World War these treaties were legally rescinded by the Partitioning Powers -on November 5, 1916 by the Emperors of Germany and Austria, and on March 17, 1917 by the Provisional Govern­ ment of Russia. In view of such moral and legal considerations there was only one course open to the makers of the Versailles Treaty -to restitute to Poland those territories which she held Wlinterruptedly prior to the partitions. Pomorze was one of these territories and its return to Poland must, therefore, be regarded as a mere act of fundamental justice. III. Population The population of the province has been predominantly Slavonic even in the earliest. days of history. Standard German textbooks and historical maps testify to this fact. (Cf. <tPutzger's Historischer Schulatlas," Velhagen and Klasing, Leipzig, 1929). The same is true of later periods. The last pre-war census was taken in Germany in 1910. The figures for the territory of what is today the voyevod­ ship of Pomorze, as compiled from the official Prussian <tGemeinde Le:cikon," show the following proportion of Poles to Germans: Total Percentage of Population Germans Slavs Slavs 990,145 437,412 552,733 56% While under German rule, in the 15 elections to the Imperial Reichstag which took place between 1871 and 1918, the province, consisting of six electoral districts, 8 Deutsch slawisch wlgar. Grenzlancle wn 1000 ~ Deutsche 0 SIawen run Litauer ~ RomaJ.lcn ~ Magyaren .....·Madttgebiet des Boleslaw Chrobry (992-1025) Putzgel"s Historischer Schulatla.r (Page 59) Reproduction of a German Ethnographic map showing that Pomorze was always inhabited by a Polish population. 9 returned only Polish deputies. Not once was a German elected. The first post-war census taken in Poland in 1921 gave the following figures: Total Germans Poles Percentage 939,254 196,029 743,225 79.1% According to the census of 1931 the distribution of na­ tionalities in Pomorze is now as follows: Total Germans Poles Percentage 1,086,141 109,645 976,499 89.9% It is sometimes charged that the decrease in the number of Germans was caused by harsh treatment or discrimina­ tion on the part of the Polish authorities. Such statements have no foundation in fact. The total number of emigrants from Pomorze during the period 1920-1930 was 130,000. 85,000 of these emigrated during the two years (1920-1922) in which, according to the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, inhabitants of former German provinces could exercise a right of option for German or Polish citizenship respectively. Most of those electing German citizenship returned to the father­ land. About 6,000 of them were permitted by the Polish Government to remain in Pomorze. The German population in Pomerania was mostly com­ posed of Government officials, employees (police, railway and other services) of military and of business men who were either recalled to Germany or left the province of their own volition. This German exodus from Pomorze is one of the most striking proofs of the fundamentally Polish character of the province. Only 1,000 German settlers from Pomorze were repa­ triated to Germany by the Polish Government in accordance with Treaty provisions. These were colonists established 10 BALTIC 8 E A EAST ·c­r• Polish Speaking , , ~OYe" 90% Population· I of Pomorze J ImID 80 to 90% Miles ~Under 80% 10 20 4Q Census o, , I- 30 " . of 1931 The whole province89'9% 11 there by the Prussian Colonization Commission (Ansiede­ lungskomission) for the purpose of Germanizing the coun­ try. They could only exist so long as they received finan­ cial support from the Commission. There is no doubt in the minds of foreign observers that the population of Pomorze is, as it always was, essen­ tially Polish. Charles H. Haskins and Robert H. Lord, territorial ex­ perts of the American Delegation to the Versailles Con­ ference, state in their book entitled "Some Problems of the Peace Conference" (Cambridge, Mass., 1920, page 153 et seq.): "Poland needs an access to the sea, but it was not solely because she· needed it that she obtained it. The Peace Conference probably would not have satisfied this desire if ethnical reasons had not authorized it to do so. The Conference did not invent the 'Corridor'; it existed already, and it is clearly inscribed on all honestly compiled linguistical maps." Herr Loebe, until recently President of the Reichstag, declared on January 26, 1927: "In Germany we protest against the 'Corridor', yet everyone agrees that its popula­ tion is Polish," George Bernhardt, famous German publicist and form­ erly political director of the "17ossiche Zeitung" stated in an interview on November 1, 1927: "I admit that in the famous '·Corridor' there are more Poles than Germans," Hugh Dalton, former British Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs state in "Towards the Peace of Nations" (London 1928): "The so-called Corridor is inhabited by an indisputably Polish population.••. On grounds of nationality, the case for Poland retaining the Corridor is very strong already, and will grow with every year that passes." In "Ten Years of War and Peace" (Cambridge, 1927) the late Archibald Cary Coolidge, an eminent American historian, refers to Pomorze in the following terms:­ "The guiding principle should be that of self-determina- 12 POMORZEAND WESTERN PRUSSJA __ II Polish l"epr'esentaUon, .atthe Reic~stagbefore the Will'. ~ At all Elections ~ At.
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