Free City of Danzig

The next stop was the "Free City of Danzig" Museum.

A grassroots style institution, it is housed in what would be a way cool apartment on the main street and limits its study to the period of 1920 to 1939, when Danzig (German name for Gdańsk) was incorporated by the (incredibly punishing) Treaty of Versailles as a free zone -- belonging to neither Germany nor Poland.

The Free City of Danzig was basically a country unto itself, people being citizens of the Free City of Danzig, with passports and travels rights. All citizens were free and equal, and were protected by the treaty. In theory. The population was 90% German heritage, and 10% Polish heritage.

Versailles set out that Poland would have a right to military transport from the port at Danzig -- its only access to the sea. The treaty also stated that Poland would represent the Free City in international matters, and that Poland would have a Post Office in Gdańsk.

These are important points to note in order to understand future posts.