Authorities and their offices in the Free City of Danzig (1919-1945). A project for a historical and political guide
Authorities and their offices in the Free City of Danzig (1919-1945). A project for a historical and political guide

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents a project of an archival guide of an archival guide based on the analysis of the legal system of the Free City of Danzig, a distinctive organism which came into being as a result of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. It presents a list of authorities and offices operating in the Free City of Danzig from 1919 to the end of World War II, as well as preserved records created by them, currently held in various archives. The applied research method (historical and legal) helps to comprehensively conceptualise the problem of lost records, and determine the locations of ones that survived. The list may contribute to conducting wide-ranging and in-depth research on the Free City of Danzig's unique and specific government and legal system, its beginnings and further developments. By accessing records pertaining to the same issues, but created by various authorities - Polish (mainly the General Commissioner of the Republic of Poland), of Danzig (mainly the Senate), and of international institutions (mainly the Port and Waterways Board in Danzig) - the complicated local and international relations in the Free City may be better understood. The operations of Polish and international authorities were stopped by the outbreak of World War II, while the local Danzig authorities ceased operating when the German Reich surrendered in 1945.

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