Polish Corridor

views updated May 23 2018

Polish Corridor Strip of land along the River Vistula, dividing East Prussia from the rest of Germany, and providing Poland with access (1919–39) to the Baltic Sea. It was created by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, when Poland became independent. The city of Gdańsk, near the mouth of the Vistula, was made a free city but, dominated by Germans, excluded Polish enterprise. The arrangement caused disputes between Germany and Poland, exploited by Hitler to justify his invasion of Poland in 1939.