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Foreign telegrams sent by the Polish Diplomatic Representative in Gdansk 1931-1932 :
by Hans Vogels.
On 1 October 1921 the Polish post installed in the building of the Komisarz Generalny at Neugarten 27 a telegraph station. Until that moment the Polish post in the Free City didn’t have its own telegraph connection with Poland and all telegrams had to be sent through the Free City telegraph. This made of course control by the Free City post and Free City authorities very easy. Through the new telegram station, that was called Polska Stacja Hughesa after the brand name of the telegraph, Polish authorities could send their official correspondence without any problem.
On 5 January 1925 the Polish post office at the Heveliusplatz was opened for the public. In the beginning only official telegrams could be sent to Poland, but very soon private telegrams were allowed as well. In later years in this office were two telegraphs: a Morse telegraph connected with Bydgoszcz, and a Hughes telegraph connected with Warszawa.
According to the agreements, the Polish post in the Free City of Gdańsk could handle only Polish mailbags going to overseas destinations and mailbags arriving from overseas countries for Poland. Next to this, after 5 Januari 1925, at the Polish post office at the Heveliusplatz the handling of only correspondence going to or coming from Poland was allowed. It was not possible to send mail and telegrams abroad, this could be done only through the Free City post. To avoid any control by the Free City, sometimes foreign mail from Polish offices in the Free City was sent by courier to Poland, from where the mail was sent abroad. This short article shows the way foreign telegrams were handled and the discussion with the Free City authorities that was the result of this.
In 1931, the exact date is not known, the Senate of the Free City of Danzig sent a complaint to the Polish government, saying that the Komisarz Generalny in Danzig was not sending his foreign telegrams through the Free City post but, against the agreements, through Poland. In reply to this complaint, the Polish government asked the Free City for documents that would prove this.
On 20 October 1931 the Free City postal administration sent a telegram to the Oberpostdirektion Berlin-Charlottenburg 5 asking for a copy of a Telegramausfertigung for a telegram sent from Bydgoszcz to Hamburg. Probably the information needed was sent, together with information on some other telegrams.
On 21 January 1932 the Polish ministry for post and telegraphy sent a letter to the German post ministry in Berlin. It had become clear that the German post had given information on telegrams, that were sent from Poland to Germany, to another postal administration, that of the Free City. It concerned several official telegrams, signed Polkogen (Polski Komisarz Generalny-HV) Gdańsk, that were sent from Bydgoszcz on 27 May 1931 to the Polish consulate in Essen, on 28 May and 11 June to the Polish consulate in Stettin and on 2 April 1931 to the Polish consulate in Hamburg. From this last telegram, before it was delivered to the addressee, a photograph was made, which was together with the proof of receipt handed over to the Free City postal administration. The Free City post sent it as evidence to the Polish post ministry. The contents of this telegram:
2191 Bydgoszcz 1/5 17/2/4 1120
RP 2.20 – Polconsul Hamburg
L 431 1208
Czy niema przeszkód wjazd Polski obywatelka niemiecka Jadwiga Heiser zamieszka hamburg (Is there any objection against the entry into Poland of German citizen Jadwiga Heiser from Hamburg-HV)
polkogen gdańsk 2731
2.20 2731
The Polish post ministry informed that they considered giving this information as a violation of article 2 of the International Telegraph Convention, which guarantees the secrecy of telegraphic communication. They also wanted to know why, and on whose request information on telegrams sent from Poland to Germany was given to the Free City post administration.
On 7 March the German post ministry answered that the postal regions (dyrekcji okręgowe), that gave the Free City information on the way telegrams were sent by Polkogen Gdańsk to Germany, had done this because they believed that the Polish post ministry had agreed with giving information to the Free City post. Only from the letter from 21 January they understood that the Polish post hadn’t agreed with this. Now the dyrekcji okręgów had been ordered not to give any more information.
Probably the Senate of the Free City sent a letter of complaint on 12 April to the Komisarz Generalny concerning telegrams sent abroad through the Polish post in the Danzig harbour. Lalicki answered on 21 April that he would prepare an answer for the Senate. However, there would be some delay because the Polish post ministry wanted to contact the German post ministry to ask who was responsible for a violation of article 2 of the International Telegraph Convention, concerning the secrecy of correspondence.
In the meantime the Senate was very concerned. According to them the letter of 7 March that was sent by the German post to the Polish post ministry answered some questions on the Free City request for information in a way that is very „unerwünscht” for the Free City. Therefor, the German post ministry had to be contacted and informed that, when it concerns matters of the Danzig post, information to the Polish post could be given only after discussing it with the Free City post.
On 15 September the Post of the Free City informed the Senate that the relation with the German post was very good and they didn’t have any reason to complain to them. The German post probably decided to act in that particular way because they didn’t want to have problems with Poland on the international telegraph agreement. They also informed that recently the Polish passport office had again delivered several telegrams to Germany at the Polish post in the Gdańsk harbour.
1) telegram with reply on 6.8. to the Polish consulate in München
2) telegram with reply on 8.8 to the Polish consulate in München
3) telegram with reply on 9.8. to the Polish consulate in Frankfurt/Main
4) telegram with reply on 10.8. to the Polish consulate in Essen.
In the telegraph office Danzig the replies on the telegrams to München and Frankfurt/Main had been received, which showed that the information was correct. To discuss this, Poland should be contacted again. The Post also proposed that, when a new agreement between Danzig and Poland would be made, it should be arranged that a good control from the side of the Free City should be established at the Polish post in Danzig, to avoid damage to the Free City post and a violation of the agreements from the Polish side. The Senate replied that they would take care of this.
On 26 September the Senate (Dr. Wiercinski – Keiser) sent a letter to the Komisarz Generalny, asking for an answer on the letter from 30 January. He also informed that again several telegrams to Germany were delivered at the Polish post office in Gdańsk by a Polish governmental office.
On 27 Oktober Lalicki informed the Senate that on the matter of „Angeblich” (presumably) through the Polish post office in Danzig delivered foreign telegrams, the Polish post ministry had sent a letter to the Post of the Free City.
Indeed, two days earlier, on 25 Oktober 1932 the Polish post ministry had send its answer to the Free City post management. According to the ministry, delivering in Bydgoszcz telegrams from the Komisarz Generalny for sending them abroad is not against the Warsaw Agreement of 24 October 1921. This Agreement doesn’t forbid an office or private person living in the Free City to give telegrams to a courier to send them in Poland or to send the contents of the telegram through mail, telegraph or telephone (Fernsprecher) to an office or private person living in Poland who will send the telegrams. An example are a lot of producing and trading companies from Gdynia that for phone calls to Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden do not use the Gdynia telephone office but the Free City telephone office when they are in Gdańsk. The Polish post ministry cannot complain about this to the Free City post, because every civilian has the right to choose the way that is most comfortable for him.
Concerning telegrams from abroad to the Free City, the post ministry had ordered that all foreign telegrams that go to the Free City and concern (transitieren) Polish offices (Anstalten), will be lead to the Free City post.
It will be very clear that this answer didn’t satisfy the Free City post. In their letter from 6 January 1933 to the Polish post ministry in Warszawa they agreed that there is no obligation to deliver a telegram in the place where the sender lives. However, a Polish office in Gdansk sending an urgent message to a place in Germany by courier to Bydgoszcz is a completely different case. This goes also for passing the contents of a telegram by telephone to someone living in Poland.
According to the Danzig regulations (przepisy) „delivering (aufgeben)” of a telegram can be done through delivering the telegram at the telegraph office at the counter, through telephone, telegraph, through mailboxes or giving the telegram to a telegram- or “landzusteller”. The Polish order of the post ministry from 2 March 1931 paragraph 96 Dz.U.R.P. no 36 from 22 April 1931 pos. 275 s 559) says the same.
When an office, and in this case this could only be the polish post office at the Heveliuplatz, sends a telegram by telephone to Poland for sending it further on, this is considered as „Auflieferung”. Because of this, it is not possible to deliver at the polish post office at the Heveliusplatz a telegram with the goal to deliver it at the telegraph office in Bydgoszcz, because delivering telegrams to Germany at the Polish post in the Gdansk harbour is according the agreements not possible. Although as place of sending on the telegram is Bydgoszcz, this is only covering the real place of sending.
According to the Free City Post, the example of Gdynia was not appropriate here, because everybody can send a telegram from the place where he is at that moment. Next to this, delivering a telegram by sending it from Gdynia by telephone to a Free City telegraph office is not possible.
Although the letter shows a lot of objections, they ended by saying that they considered the case as closed, unless new cases would appear.
With this, the documentation on the foreign telegrams from the Komisarz Generalny in 1931 and 1932 ends. For sure this was not the first time that telegrams were sent abroad. The picture shows a proof of delivery for a telegram sent to Hamburg in October 1928, so three years earlier. Sender: the Biuro paszportowe from the Komisarz Generalny! The receipt has been cancelled with an official stamp of the Komisarz Generalny. The reason for using this official stamp is not clear: at that moment in the office the circular date stamp Gdańsk 1h was being used. How the telegram was sent to Hamburg is not clear: the office in the building of the Komisarz Generalny didn’t have a direct telegraph connection with foreign countries, so probably it was first sent to a telegraph station in Poland and from there to Germany. About this, the Free City post didn’t find out.
Archives Material
Archiwum Państwowe w Gdańsku:
Akty Senat der Freien Stadt Danzig 1919-1939: 260/2564 s. 123-155.
by Hans Vogels.
On 1 October 1921 the Polish post installed in the building of the Komisarz Generalny at Neugarten 27 a telegraph station. Until that moment the Polish post in the Free City didn’t have its own telegraph connection with Poland and all telegrams had to be sent through the Free City telegraph. This made of course control by the Free City post and Free City authorities very easy. Through the new telegram station, that was called Polska Stacja Hughesa after the brand name of the telegraph, Polish authorities could send their official correspondence without any problem.
On 5 January 1925 the Polish post office at the Heveliusplatz was opened for the public. In the beginning only official telegrams could be sent to Poland, but very soon private telegrams were allowed as well. In later years in this office were two telegraphs: a Morse telegraph connected with Bydgoszcz, and a Hughes telegraph connected with Warszawa.
According to the agreements, the Polish post in the Free City of Gdańsk could handle only Polish mailbags going to overseas destinations and mailbags arriving from overseas countries for Poland. Next to this, after 5 Januari 1925, at the Polish post office at the Heveliusplatz the handling of only correspondence going to or coming from Poland was allowed. It was not possible to send mail and telegrams abroad, this could be done only through the Free City post. To avoid any control by the Free City, sometimes foreign mail from Polish offices in the Free City was sent by courier to Poland, from where the mail was sent abroad. This short article shows the way foreign telegrams were handled and the discussion with the Free City authorities that was the result of this.
In 1931, the exact date is not known, the Senate of the Free City of Danzig sent a complaint to the Polish government, saying that the Komisarz Generalny in Danzig was not sending his foreign telegrams through the Free City post but, against the agreements, through Poland. In reply to this complaint, the Polish government asked the Free City for documents that would prove this.
On 20 October 1931 the Free City postal administration sent a telegram to the Oberpostdirektion Berlin-Charlottenburg 5 asking for a copy of a Telegramausfertigung for a telegram sent from Bydgoszcz to Hamburg. Probably the information needed was sent, together with information on some other telegrams.
On 21 January 1932 the Polish ministry for post and telegraphy sent a letter to the German post ministry in Berlin. It had become clear that the German post had given information on telegrams, that were sent from Poland to Germany, to another postal administration, that of the Free City. It concerned several official telegrams, signed Polkogen (Polski Komisarz Generalny-HV) Gdańsk, that were sent from Bydgoszcz on 27 May 1931 to the Polish consulate in Essen, on 28 May and 11 June to the Polish consulate in Stettin and on 2 April 1931 to the Polish consulate in Hamburg. From this last telegram, before it was delivered to the addressee, a photograph was made, which was together with the proof of receipt handed over to the Free City postal administration. The Free City post sent it as evidence to the Polish post ministry. The contents of this telegram:
2191 Bydgoszcz 1/5 17/2/4 1120
RP 2.20 – Polconsul Hamburg
L 431 1208
Czy niema przeszkód wjazd Polski obywatelka niemiecka Jadwiga Heiser zamieszka hamburg (Is there any objection against the entry into Poland of German citizen Jadwiga Heiser from Hamburg-HV)
polkogen gdańsk 2731
2.20 2731
The Polish post ministry informed that they considered giving this information as a violation of article 2 of the International Telegraph Convention, which guarantees the secrecy of telegraphic communication. They also wanted to know why, and on whose request information on telegrams sent from Poland to Germany was given to the Free City post administration.
On 7 March the German post ministry answered that the postal regions (dyrekcji okręgowe), that gave the Free City information on the way telegrams were sent by Polkogen Gdańsk to Germany, had done this because they believed that the Polish post ministry had agreed with giving information to the Free City post. Only from the letter from 21 January they understood that the Polish post hadn’t agreed with this. Now the dyrekcji okręgów had been ordered not to give any more information.
Probably the Senate of the Free City sent a letter of complaint on 12 April to the Komisarz Generalny concerning telegrams sent abroad through the Polish post in the Danzig harbour. Lalicki answered on 21 April that he would prepare an answer for the Senate. However, there would be some delay because the Polish post ministry wanted to contact the German post ministry to ask who was responsible for a violation of article 2 of the International Telegraph Convention, concerning the secrecy of correspondence.
In the meantime the Senate was very concerned. According to them the letter of 7 March that was sent by the German post to the Polish post ministry answered some questions on the Free City request for information in a way that is very „unerwünscht” for the Free City. Therefor, the German post ministry had to be contacted and informed that, when it concerns matters of the Danzig post, information to the Polish post could be given only after discussing it with the Free City post.
On 15 September the Post of the Free City informed the Senate that the relation with the German post was very good and they didn’t have any reason to complain to them. The German post probably decided to act in that particular way because they didn’t want to have problems with Poland on the international telegraph agreement. They also informed that recently the Polish passport office had again delivered several telegrams to Germany at the Polish post in the Gdańsk harbour.
1) telegram with reply on 6.8. to the Polish consulate in München
2) telegram with reply on 8.8 to the Polish consulate in München
3) telegram with reply on 9.8. to the Polish consulate in Frankfurt/Main
4) telegram with reply on 10.8. to the Polish consulate in Essen.
In the telegraph office Danzig the replies on the telegrams to München and Frankfurt/Main had been received, which showed that the information was correct. To discuss this, Poland should be contacted again. The Post also proposed that, when a new agreement between Danzig and Poland would be made, it should be arranged that a good control from the side of the Free City should be established at the Polish post in Danzig, to avoid damage to the Free City post and a violation of the agreements from the Polish side. The Senate replied that they would take care of this.
On 26 September the Senate (Dr. Wiercinski – Keiser) sent a letter to the Komisarz Generalny, asking for an answer on the letter from 30 January. He also informed that again several telegrams to Germany were delivered at the Polish post office in Gdańsk by a Polish governmental office.
On 27 Oktober Lalicki informed the Senate that on the matter of „Angeblich” (presumably) through the Polish post office in Danzig delivered foreign telegrams, the Polish post ministry had sent a letter to the Post of the Free City.
Indeed, two days earlier, on 25 Oktober 1932 the Polish post ministry had send its answer to the Free City post management. According to the ministry, delivering in Bydgoszcz telegrams from the Komisarz Generalny for sending them abroad is not against the Warsaw Agreement of 24 October 1921. This Agreement doesn’t forbid an office or private person living in the Free City to give telegrams to a courier to send them in Poland or to send the contents of the telegram through mail, telegraph or telephone (Fernsprecher) to an office or private person living in Poland who will send the telegrams. An example are a lot of producing and trading companies from Gdynia that for phone calls to Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden do not use the Gdynia telephone office but the Free City telephone office when they are in Gdańsk. The Polish post ministry cannot complain about this to the Free City post, because every civilian has the right to choose the way that is most comfortable for him.
Concerning telegrams from abroad to the Free City, the post ministry had ordered that all foreign telegrams that go to the Free City and concern (transitieren) Polish offices (Anstalten), will be lead to the Free City post.
It will be very clear that this answer didn’t satisfy the Free City post. In their letter from 6 January 1933 to the Polish post ministry in Warszawa they agreed that there is no obligation to deliver a telegram in the place where the sender lives. However, a Polish office in Gdansk sending an urgent message to a place in Germany by courier to Bydgoszcz is a completely different case. This goes also for passing the contents of a telegram by telephone to someone living in Poland.
According to the Danzig regulations (przepisy) „delivering (aufgeben)” of a telegram can be done through delivering the telegram at the telegraph office at the counter, through telephone, telegraph, through mailboxes or giving the telegram to a telegram- or “landzusteller”. The Polish order of the post ministry from 2 March 1931 paragraph 96 Dz.U.R.P. no 36 from 22 April 1931 pos. 275 s 559) says the same.
When an office, and in this case this could only be the polish post office at the Heveliuplatz, sends a telegram by telephone to Poland for sending it further on, this is considered as „Auflieferung”. Because of this, it is not possible to deliver at the polish post office at the Heveliusplatz a telegram with the goal to deliver it at the telegraph office in Bydgoszcz, because delivering telegrams to Germany at the Polish post in the Gdansk harbour is according the agreements not possible. Although as place of sending on the telegram is Bydgoszcz, this is only covering the real place of sending.
According to the Free City Post, the example of Gdynia was not appropriate here, because everybody can send a telegram from the place where he is at that moment. Next to this, delivering a telegram by sending it from Gdynia by telephone to a Free City telegraph office is not possible.
Although the letter shows a lot of objections, they ended by saying that they considered the case as closed, unless new cases would appear.
With this, the documentation on the foreign telegrams from the Komisarz Generalny in 1931 and 1932 ends. For sure this was not the first time that telegrams were sent abroad. The picture shows a proof of delivery for a telegram sent to Hamburg in October 1928, so three years earlier. Sender: the Biuro paszportowe from the Komisarz Generalny! The receipt has been cancelled with an official stamp of the Komisarz Generalny. The reason for using this official stamp is not clear: at that moment in the office the circular date stamp Gdańsk 1h was being used. How the telegram was sent to Hamburg is not clear: the office in the building of the Komisarz Generalny didn’t have a direct telegraph connection with foreign countries, so probably it was first sent to a telegraph station in Poland and from there to Germany. About this, the Free City post didn’t find out.
Archives Material
Archiwum Państwowe w Gdańsku:
Akty Senat der Freien Stadt Danzig 1919-1939: 260/2564 s. 123-155.
