Discours du Führer-Chancelier Adolf Hitler prononcé sur la place du „Langer Markt” à Dantzig le mardi 19 septembre 1939 – Speech of the Führer-Chancellor Adolf Hitler at Langer Square in Danzig on Tuesday, September 19, 1939.” A full French transcript of Adolf Hitler’s “Danzig Speech” delivered shortly after the invasion of Poland. Rare.
The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state under the protection of the League of Nations from 1920 to 1939, situated between the two World Wars. Known as Gdańsk in Polish and Danzig in German, the city became a focal point of conflict between Nazi Germany and Poland, serving as a pretext for Germany’s invasion of Poland. Following the annexation of Austria into the Reich and the Munich Agreement, which granted Germany control of the Sudetenland, Hitler began making territorial demands in Poland, with Danzig as a primary target. Hitler’s goal to create new “Lebensraum” (living space) for Germany and restore the former glory of the German Reich was realized with Germany’s invasion of Poland. Hitler claimed that the significant ethnic German population in the port city of Danzig needed protection and that the city should be under German control.
On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and by September 19, Hitler hurried to Danzig to deliver the speech in which he officially announced the annexation of Danzig into the German Reich. Hitler, ecstatic over his swift conquests, declared: “Not only are you experiencing this moment with the deepest emotion; no, the entire German nation is sharing this with you, and I am aware of the greatness of the moment as I, for the first time, step on the soil that German settlers conquered five hundred years ago and which has been German for five hundred years…” He referred to the “Disaster of Versailles” in his speech, stating: “By the Treaty of Versailles, the most terrible injustice was done to Germany…” and clearly proclaimed the annexation of Poland’s territories: “There is one thing I would like to say here: all of these territories that were integrated into Poland must be developed solely by German energy, German labor, and German creative effort.” He further asserted that Germany’s invasion of Poland was essentially a reclamation of territories that were originally “German, ” with his famous declaration: “Danzig was German, Danzig remains German, and Danzig will stay German as long as there is a German people and a German Reich.”
The city was recaptured by Polish forces on March 30, 1945. During the Potsdam Conference, it was decided to hand over the city to Poland, and its German residents were expelled.
The French translation of Hitler’s speech, published at that time, is rare. Only two copies are recorded in the global library catalog, WorldCat.
16 pages. Light stains. Condition: good.
