Danzig

Danzig A disputed city between Poland and Germany since the twelfth century. Against the protest of its citizens, 95 per cent of whom were German, it was declared a Free City under the protection of the League of Nations by the Treaty of Versailles, in order to give the newly independent state of Poland, which was virtually land-locked, access to a neutral port. In 1933, the city elected a Nazi majority to its Parliament, and following Germany's invasion of Poland it was reintegrated into German territory in 1939. After the war, the city became an integral part of Poland under the name of Gdansk, and those Germans that had not left the city already were expelled. During the 1980s, the city's dockyards became the home of the protest movement Solidarność. Polish sovereignty over the city was finally recognized by Germany in 1990.