862.00 P. R./137

The Chargé in Germany (Gordon) to the Acting Secretary of State

[Extract]
No. 2447

Sir:

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3. The Danzig Election. In the general election in the Free State of Danzig last Sunday, the Nazis were the chief gainers, having polled slightly more than 50 per cent of all the votes cast. With 38 seats out of a total of 72, they will have a clear majority in the new Diet. The voting was unusually heavy, 92.3 per cent of the electorate participating.

The Nazis conducted the campaign in impressive style. On the eve of the election, Hitler himself made a final appeal to the Danzig electorate in a speech from the Brown House in Munich broadcast through the Königsberg radio station.

With the notable exception of the Center Party, all the other parties suffered appreciable losses. The heaviest losses were suffered by the Hugenberg Nationalists, whose followers dwindled by almost 50 per cent. The Communists lost over 25 per cent, the Social-Democrats slightly less than 25 per cent. The parties of the moderate Right, which supported the former Danzig Government, did not put up candidates of their own, recommending to their followers to vote the Nazi ticket. Out of 215,000 votes cast in the Danzig election, the Poles obtained only about 6,700. The German press has not failed to exploit this as proof that “Danzig is German.”

The parties of the Left played a relatively unimportant part in the election campaign. The campaign activities of the Social-Democrats and Communists clearly showed that the present political impotence of these parties in the Reich had a depressing effect and had undermined their morale. The campaign centered chiefly on the bitter contest between the Nazis and the Hugenberg Nationalists. The latter, who were the main object of the Nazi attacks, retaliated by accusing the Nazis of lack of patriotism because of their official attitude toward international treaties and especially their conciliatory attitude towards Poland (a situation which certainly gives food for thought).

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Through this first Nazi election victory outside the confines of the Reich, a Gleichschaltung of the Free State of Danzig with the Reich has been made possible. In future, the policy of the Danzig Senate will be largely, if not wholly, influenced by the Reich Government and the political independence of Danzig will be more theoretical than real. The fact that Dr. Rauschning, the Nazi leader who is expected to become President of the new Danzig Senate, proceeded to Berlin immediately after the election, leaves little doubt that in practice the head of the Danzig Senate will occupy a position somewhat similar to that of the Nazi Statthalter governing the various States of the Reich.

To obtain the required two-thirds majority in the Danzig Senate for an Empowering Law similar to the law which Hitler obtained from the Reichstag, the Danzig Nazis need the support of the Center Party. This support cannot be obtained in Danzig by intimidation or a threat to resort to a dictatorial regime in violation of the existing Constitution. As Danzig has been put under a High Commissioner appointed by the League of Nations, all constitutional changes require the sanction of the League. It will thus be seen that even with an empowering Law a Nazi regime in Danzig must necessarily meet with restraints, with which the Hitler regime did not have to contend.

This explains the striking policy of moderation which the Nazis intend to pursue in Danzig, in marked contrast to their aggressive policy in the Reich, as announced by Dr. Rauschning at the press conference in Berlin. He expressed the desire for cooperation not only with the Center but also with the Nationalists, their chief political opponents in Danzig. He said that the new Government would adhere strictly to the Danzig Constitution and that in consequence the various legal discriminatory measures against Jews and political opponents enacted in the Reich could not be considered for Danzig. With respect to Poland, the new regime in Danzig would pursue a conciliatory policy.

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Respectfully yours,

George A. Gordon