Free City of Danzig
The Free City of Gdansk (German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was a semi-imdependent state established in 1919, a territory that included the city then called Danzig and the surrounding Danziger Land, which was previously (from 1870) a part of the German Empire. With the Treaty of Versailles it was separated from Germany, created as a separate state under protection of the League of Nations with special rights reserved to Poland. The Free City was in foreign policy and customs union with Poland, railway network and Westerplatte, the city's harbor, was given to Poland. There were also two post-offices, a German-Stadt Danzig and a Polish, because custom and post-office were given to Poland as well.
The Free City of Gdansk had an ethnic German majority of some 90% and Polish minority of some 10%, although both ethnic groups had a strong native conciousness of being primarily citizens of Danzig. Both names Danzig (German) and Gdansk (Polish) were in use.
Since the Potsdam Conference ([[1945]) the territory of the Free City of Gdansk was awarded to Poland.
