740.0011 European War, 1939/144: Telegram

The Chargé in Germany ( Kirk ) to the Secretary of State

977. A proclamation by Hitler has just been issued declaring that the Polish state has rejected a peaceful solution of the problem of neighborly relations with Germany and after enumerating offenses committed by Poland against German rights and territory states that force must be met by force and that the battle will be fought in defense of German territory and honor.1

It is also announced that the Anschluss of Danzig to the Reich has been declared and has been communicated by Forster to Hitler.2

The Embassy has been notified by the Foreign Office that a meeting of the Reichstag will take place at 10 o’clock this morning.

Kirk
  1. See British Cmd. 6106, Misc. No. 9 (1939): Documents Concerning German-Polish Relations and the Outbreak of Hostilities between Great Britain and Germany on September S, 1939, doc. No. 107, p. 166.
  2. For text of proclamation by the Nazi Gauleiter at Danzig, Albert Forster, see ibid., doc. No. 108, p. 166.