Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned the world of famine and a hunger “catastrophe,” accusing Russian forces of blocking Ukraine from exporting millions of tons of grain exports from his country.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia reportedly remarked that he was willing to facilitate exports, but only if sanctions against Russia are lifted. Zelenskyy countered that the war will continue until Ukraine regains all its territories seized by Russia.
Do non-military options to end this war exist? Or must we watch as thousands of innocent civilians are killed and millions more forced into flight?
An option does present itself, that of the free zone.
Consider the remarks of Lech Walesa concerning the Free City of Danzig, which for almost 20 years served as example of this experiment in diplomacy and conciliation.
New Hampshire residents and U.S. Congress members early last month discussed the Ukraine situation with Walesa, leader of the Gdansk, Poland, port workers, who in the 1970s and 1980s advocated workers’ rights through nonviolent action — an act that brought Walesa the Nobel Peace Prize, the presidency of Poland and indirectly the collapse of the Soviet empire.
It was not Walesa’s first congressional appearance. In October 1989, he addressed Congress, recounting years prior to World War II when Gdansk was part of the complex known as the Free City of Danzig, created at the end of World War I as a compromise between German ethnic claims and Polish economic needs.
The Paris Peace Conference based its approach to the frontier issue on the 13th of President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points – “An independent Polish State should be erected (1) which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, (2) which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and (3) whose political and economic dependence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant.”
Authors of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles outlined this relationship so that Poland would have access to the Baltic Sea through the Free City of Danzig ( “Poland, Germany, and Danzig,” Bulletin of International News, 1939).
Danzig’s special status was not new. Napoleon made it a free city from 1807 to 1814, only for it to be returned to Prussia where, until 1919, it served as the capital of West Prussia (“The Free City Danzig and German Foreign Policy, 1919-1934”).
For several post-World War I years, this entity at the mouth of the Vistula River presented itself as an example of reconciliation. However, questions arose. Was it a sovereign state, a part of Poland, a League of Nations protectorate?
Danzig, as capital of the free city, had its own parliament and senate. Danzig and Poland administered the harbor through a harbor board, customs revenue providing a significant portion of Danzig’s income. The League of Nations did appoint a high commissioner, but this position was not involved in Danzig’s administration proper.
Turn now to the Port of Odesa, a Ukrainian city situated on the northwestern shores of the Black Sea, an area Russia brought under its control in 1792 under the Treaty of Jassy.
From 1819 to 1859 it was a free port, home to many different nationalities. In 1905, it was the site of a major Russian uprising by crew members of the battleship Potemkin. After World War II, the port grew rapidly. Even though it was part of the Soviet empire, the port maintained its distinctive cosmopolitan culture.
With a million inhabitants, the Port of Odesa became a major city in the Odesa Oblast (a province approximately the size of Belgium), serving as a commercial and fishing port as well as a Ukrainian naval base. When the Soviet empire collapsed in 1991, the port became part of an independent Ukraine.
It is imperative that Russia, Ukraine, the United States and countries around the world engage in productive talks to bring peace to this troubled area, talks that will establish a precedent for the 21st century.
They must “step outside the box,” consider the merits of the free city and contemplate the establishment of free cities in Odesa, Crimea and other port areas especially vital to the world’s breadbaskets. This may require territorial changes, such as that between Finland and the Soviet Union in World War II.
As for the Free City of Danzig, it disappeared with Hitler’s invasion of Poland. Yet, it remains with us, an example of what diplomacy can create.
John Brown Mason wrote in 1946, “The full story of the Free City of Danzig is valuable because the Danzig dilemma is not unique,” but represents a classic problem when one nation seeks access to the sea against the will of another nation or ethnic group. “The experience of Danzig needs to be studied, pondered, and recalled. … If the lessons of Danzig, both positive and negative, are heeded, the Free City will not have been a failure.”
Glen W. Swanson, PhD, of Peterborough, is an author, lecturer, editor and international consultant. He has served as chair of the Monadnock Summer Lyceum Committee and co-chair of the Peterborough [Refugee] Resettlement Committee.