The rise of the Nazi Party in the Free City of Danzig

After the First World War, Danzig was split off from the German Reich and independent “free city” was created under a mandate from the League of Nations. This was against the wishes of the majority of the population and massive protests occurred to stop it. On 23 March 1919, 70,000 people from Danzig demonstrated and on 25 April 1919 there were 100,000 people on the streets. At the time, the territory of the Free City of Danzig had 360,000 inhabitants.
However Germany had lost the war and with the Polish army nearby, it may have seemed to many that it was either that or be occupied by Poland. The objective of the Free City was to give Poland access to the sea via a port, indeed for hundreds of years before the Prussian occupation, Danzig was a free city state under the overall suzerainity of the rulers of Poland.
Danzig was a parliamentary democracy, the former parliamentary building, the Volkstag was destroyed during WW2, this is the location of where it once was. In this video, I shall discuss the rise of the National Socialist party in the Free City as well as showing you what the locations mentioned here look like today.
Hans Albert Hohnfeldt was born on 22 May 1897 in Danzig-Neufahrwasser, today Gdańsk Wrzeszcz. He fought in WW1, after which he studied law and economics at the University of Berlin. Later he worked as a tax and administrative official. In 1922 he entered the civil service of the Free City of Danzig.
In 1923 he was elected to the Volkstag for the German Social Party, of which he was the first chairman. This party was nationalist, volkish and anti Semitic. It had little to offer except slogans and it had very little support, and what support it had was on the eastern borders of Germany. Most of its members defected to the Nazi Party. On 8 October 1925 Hohnfeld did the same. He joined the NSDAP (membership number 20,215) and founded the Danzig local group. Thus the Nazis now had one seat in the Volkstag of the Free City of Danzig.
Parliamentary elections were held in the Free City in 1927 and the Nazi party ran for the first time. Forming a coalition with the Reich Party for People's Rights and Revaluation, it received 1,483 votes (0.81%) and one seat in parliament which stayed with Hohnfeldt.
Organizationally, the NSDAP was weak in Danzig. In 1928 there were only two local groups. On 20 June 1928, Hohnfeldt resigned his Gauleiter position due to illness. In order to strengthen the party, the new leader Maass suggested that it be merged with the East Prussian organisation. The party leadership followed the suggestion and commissioned the East Prussian Gauleiter Erich Koch to reorganize the NSDAP in Danzig. Maass became deputy Gauleiter.
This did not help much. Koch was rarely in Danzig, organizational changes were few. Until September 1929, the number of members in Danzig remained at around 220, only after the electoral successes of the NSDAP in elections in Germany did it rise to around 350 at the end of 1929.
From April 1930 there were conflicts within the party, which ended in Danzig splitting off from the East Prussian Gau. It had received no benefit from being part of the East Prussian organisation. Without Koch being involved, Maass appointed Bruno Fricke as full-time district manager. From April 1, 1930, Fricke published a "Newspaper Gau Danzig" that was to be distributed monthly. At the same time he reorganized the top leadership of the Danzig NSDAP. The NSDAP Danzig had meanwhile grown to 800 members but it fought with the organisation in Germany. Fricke was relieved of all party functions and expelled from the party, but the majority of Danzig National Socialists stood behind him. A general meeting in Danzig elected a new Gau leadership, consisting of followers of Fricke. At the end of September 1930, Hitler agreed with a local branch in the Free City, the Gau Danzig would be created but he wanted Arthur Greiser to run it. Fricke possibly had had enough of the bickering and did something a lot of Nazis were to do later. He emigrated to Paraguay – thus starting a trend.
In the summer of 1930, Hermann Göring visited the city to support the still insignificant NSDAP in Danzig . Göring recommended that Adolf Hitler send Reichstag deputy Albert Forster to Danzig on a permanent basis. Forster arrived in Danzig on 24 October 1930 and began his work as NSDAP Gauleiter. As a German, Forster could live in the Free City of Danzig according to the Danzig Constitution and thanks to the Citizenship Act, one could acquire citizenship of the Free City by accepting public office. Thus Forster, the Bavarian who had never been to Danzig in his life beforehand, was able to lead an electoral list in the Volkstag elections. He was also able to end the squabbling of the local party.

[teeguy]

Amazing chapter Alan! I learned a lot. I never really understood Danzig until now. The fact that Poland built a competitor port for sea access is mind-blowing. Thanks again!

[Hongaars]

I must to remember to check my alerts. Sorry to have missed the live broadcast. Thanks for this presentation. Thank you for the beautiful film footage. A place I’ve always wanted to visit. Thank for the archival footage as well. Cheers from Dubrovnik.

[mohammedsaysrashid]

It was an informative and wonderful introduction video of Danzig City under Nazism regime rule during WW2... Thank you for sharing, Sir

[elrjames]

Well done (in anticipation) Allan. By the way (as is may perhaps obviously be interested) what is membership?

[philbachmann]

Looking forward to the next episode.
Copius footage of prewar Danzig out there and I find the subject very interesting. 🙏🇦🇺

[nevadastronghold]

“Everybody knows the good guys lost” Leonard cohen