Gallery

 

During the negotiations in Geneva, other things happened in Danzig. On 4 April, the Polish Ministry of Post wrote a letter to the Polish postal administration in Danzig. They made suggestions for a possible opening of the post office Poiski Urzad Pocztotuy No.2 w Gdcinsku (Polish Post Office No.2 in Gdansk).’ The post office’s tasks would consist of:
Exchange, reception and handling of mail,
Exchange of mail between the post trains and the Polish post offices in Danzig, and
Exchange of mail with Great Britain.

On 14 April, the Polish postal administration in Danzig wrote to the Komisarz Generalny that the post office in the Ubernachtungsgeb9ude would be opened on 17 April, in accorda nce with the Ministry’s order of 4 April. On 16 April, the postal administration of the Free City was informed of this intention, also. In this letter, however, was not mentioned that the post office would be responsible for the exchange of mail with Great Britain. Probably this was purposely omitted, since the exchange of mail between Poland and overseas countries could be done only by the expedition post office in the harbor. On 17 April 1923, Potski Urzad Pocztowy nr2 w Gdansku was opened. [Figure 5]

It is unlikely that the Polish intention to open the post office had any influence on the negotiations in Geneva. The archives material doesn’t show that the representatives of the Free City had any knowledge of the Polish plans at the moment the agreement was signed. It is surprising to see that, in the letters of the Polish post to the Free City post and to the Senate of 16 April and 2 June (!), to inform them of the opening of the post office, neither the negotiations in Geneva nor the agreement of 18 April were mentioned, but only the Post Ministry’s order of 4 April.14

On 5 January 1925, the Polish post office at the Heveliusplatz was opened for the public and the first stamps for the Polish post in Danzig were issued. What the Senate was so afraid of already in 1922 didn’t happen. The Polish post didn’t open the post office at the railway station for the public officially. In 1928 and 1929, the Free City complained to the Komisarz Generalny because some private persons delivered mail at the post office. The president of

 

Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 92 - July - August - September - 1996,  Page 10.