LEAGUE rF NATIONS 0.197.1935.VII. Communicated to the Council. m e va, May 16th, 19 35, REE CITY OF LMMIG Situation nt Deni <?. The Secretary-General has the honour to communi­ cate to the Council a letter dated May 9th. 1935 from the High Commissioner of the Lea-ve of tiens at Ecnzi.fr, transmitting a petition from fc s : . re Party dated Lecember 17th, 1934, with an rum dated April 18th, 1935, together with the Senate’s observations dated May 7th, 1935. Danzig, May 9th, 1935, Sir. I have the honour to enclose herewith a petition free the Centre party, dated December 17th, 1934, regarding alleged infringements by the Government of the Constitution, to .-ether with an Addendum dated April 16th, and a copy of the observa­ tions rf the Senate which was received by me to-day. This petition was mentioned a t the session r-f the Council of the League of Nations held in January, when reference was ma.de to a proposal by the Senate that the matter should be discussed between the Centre party and. the Govern­ ment with a view to settlement. It a p p ears that agreement jiiSs not been found and I shall be glad if you will be good I enough to request the Council o f the League to consicer the "”3stion at its next session. Any observations by th<■'e Sen i t regarding the Addendum will, of course, be forwarder I may add that I received on May 3rd a petition from 3 Social Democratic Party which also raises a number of the "siions dealt with in the Centre Party’s petition as well 6s other matters. This petition has been forwarded to the Senate for observations but there has not yet been time to receive a reply. In this connection I may refer to the letter '-noved by the Council on June 10th, 1925 and subsequently .;;afssed to the H igh Commissioner regarding the procedure to I on the subject of petitions which relate to the C!r‘:er °f infringement of the Const! tut ion of Danzi guaranteed “--Q League of Nations. I have the honour to be, Sir, Yours faithfully, (Signed) Sean LESTER, High Commissioner. - 1 - 2B/15638/4140 II. Gentre Party of the Free City nf Danzig. " ' ' ‘ DANZIG, December 17th, 1934. To the High Commissioner of the League of Nations at Danzig. Sir, I have the honour to transmit appended hereto a petition from the Centre Party of the Free City of Danzig, in which exception is taken to a series of legislative and edninistr tive measures of the Senate of the Free -City of Danzig, and to various incidents connected vith the 1 st election. With a view to rectifying the conditions v.hich, in the matters dealt with in the petition, are, in its opinion, contrary to the Danzig Constitution, the Centre Party brought forward a nuaber of legislative proposals which, however, were rejected, at the instance of the Senate of the Free City of Danzig by the National-Socialist majority in the Danzig Popular Assembly. I should be grateful if you would take cognisance of the pressnt petition, and in the name of the Centre- Party of the Free City of Danzig, I appeal to your good offices, while at the same time requesting you, should the Danzig Government not be disposed to abandon its pre­ sent attitude, to lay the petition before the Council of the League of Nations for the decision of the questions therein raised . I have the honour etc., (Sgd.) Dr. P. Stachnik, Chairman of the Centre Party of the Free City of Danzig. vOPY. Danzig, December 17th, 1934 . "o the High Commissioner of the League of Nations, Danzig The elections to the District and Communal Councils, held in November last, in the two rural districts of Gross herder and Danziger Niederung, have resulted in a situation, the foundations of which were In the belief of the Centre Party of the Free City of Danzig laid in the main by the Danzig Senate in a series of legi lative and administrative Measures, the application of w: ich was contrary to the in­ dention, purport and terms of the Danzig Constitution. The Constitution of the Free City of Danzig is guaranteed by the League of Nations, and in Article 87 of that Constitution it; is stated explicitly that it is the duty of every Danzig Qitizen to protect it. - 2 - It would appear as if various legislative and admim trative measures of the Government of the Free City of s Danzig were designed to place the National-Socialist Party and its supporters both de jure and de facto in a priviiepS(j position as compared with all""other peTrties and organisation a position which it is impossible to reconcile v/ith the democratic constitution of the Free City. Almost all sections of the population are compelled, through one ad­ ministrative measure or another, to belong to an organisa­ tion in which, regardless cf whether it is a purely party organisation or some other organisation or a corporation" in public law, propaganda is nevertheless conducted on behalf of the National Socialist Party and national social­ ist ideals, as a result of the supervision exercised by the leaders of the National Socialist Party or the Govern­ ment . The activities of all other parties, cn the other hand, are slandered almost daily in the basest possible manner, and are even described as treasonable, whenever any attempt is made to safeguard the position established by law. The supporters of the other parties are described as standing outside the national community and through threats of moral and economic injury are subjected to a pressure which in the long run cannot be resisted without all kinds of sacrifices. As a result of this all-pervad­ ing intimidation, it is often impossible, among large sections of the people, to confess openly to support other parties. The experiences of the recent electoral cam­ paign have shown that as the result of moral and economic pressure, numerous supporters of the Centre Party dare not work on its behalf or attend its election meetings, through fear of material or moral injury. Being convinced that if the present position is maintained, it will be impossible in the future as well to obtain through the elections an undistorted view cf popular opinion and being anxious to perform the duty incumbent upon every Danzig citizen to protect and uphold the Danzig Constitution, the Centre Party of the Free City of Danzig appeals to the High Commissioner of the League of Nations for his good offices in the questions dealt with below, with the further request that should the Danzig Senate not be disposed to depart from its present attitude, the petition may be submitted to the Council of the League of Nations for decision. I. Annex Under the Ordinance of October 10th, 1933, for No. 1 . the protection of the good name of national associa­ tions - reproduced textually in the annex - the asso­ ciations supporting the Government receive a measure of protection which .mounts to a privilege. Not only are their uniforms and the possession and sale of such uni­ forms placed under spécifié protection, but paragraph 4 also embodies special rules for the protection of the good name of the associations in question. In the regulations for the execution of this Ordinance, for which provision is made in para. 5, the Senate of thc- Frce City has laid it down that with the exception of a few specified associations, which arc under N a tio n a l- Socialist control, only the National-Socialist German Workers Party together v/ith its various subordinate organisations and the associations affiliated to it - 3 - are to be recognised as associations supporting the Govern ment. None of the other existing Danzig parties enjoys any such protection for its good name as thet afforded to the National-Socialist Party, through the aforementioned Ordinance. Under the Danzig Criminal Gode, it is indeed, to all intents and purposes, impossible to prosecute for libels or slanders uttered against the other parties, with a few exceptions immaterial to the present issue since the- law only protects the honour of indivi­ duals. Knowing the inequalities of the law, leading members of the National-Socialist Party did net shrink during the past election campaign, as well as at other times, from repeatedly traducing the other parties and, in particular, the Centre Party in the most outrageous manner. Scarcely a day passed without the opposition parties, including the Centre Party, being accused of treason either in the press or at the meetings of the National-Socialist Party. As an example, we may men­ tion a speech by the most highly placed National-Socialist leader in Danzig, Prussian State Councillor Forster, Natio nal Socialist "Gau" Leader for the Gau of Danzig, who, at a c:eeting called for public officials and State employees publicly spoke of the treason of the Centre Party, as is Annex proved by the annex attached hereto. The Chief of No.2. the Danzig Branch cf the semi-official German Informa­ tion Bureau, sums up the repeated vilifications of other parties, which go unpunished by the law, in a particularly tense formula, which, however, describes the intolerable position in Danzig extremely well. By way of conclusion to his remarks, as published in the Danziger Vorposten and Danziger Neuesten Nachrichten, he wrote : "The question next Sunday (Election day) will be: Are you a separatist or a German, a traitor to your country or a National-Socialist voter?" Of these cr similar utterances countless examples can be found at any time.