Question

How did the creation of the Polish Corridor impact the German port city of Danzig, which before the Treaty of Versailles served as a part of the German economy?

Answer 1

The Polish Corridor was a piece of land that gave access to the Baltic Sea to Poland. Created after the end of World War I and after the reconstitution of Poland, this corridor became a real problem generator as Germany resented the removal of this land which had been previously been in their possesion. This corridor was created from land that lay near the Vistula River, from what used to be West Prussia and the province of Posen, which before the Treaty of Versailles belonged to Germany. The main conflict with this corridor lay in the fact that basically it cut through German territory, cutting off East Prussia from the German Reich.

Danzig was a small town inhabited mostly by German citizens and before World War I it became central to German economy as it was the access the Reich had to the Baltic Sea. With the establishment of the corridor, not only did Danzig stop being a central city for its connection to the sea, but it was cut off from its motherland, Germany, as after the War it was established as a sovereign city under the control of the League of Nations. Later on, Poland developed a new port city, called Gdynia, as an alternative to Danzig. Before World War II, in fact, Hitler demanded that Danzig be returned to the Third Reich and this city became one of the battle horses Hitler used to justify the initation of hostilities in Europe.