Tension in Danzig The incident which occurred last Sunday at
Kalthoff, on the frontier between Danzig and East Prussia, has very naturally caused considerable alarm. The Polish version and the Danzig version of events inevitably differ ; and Poland has protested'to the Danzig Senate and the Senate to Poland. The incident began with a demonstration outside the Polish Customs House by a crowd which included uniformed men ; the Polish officials were driven out and the Customs house destroyed. Having been refused police protection by the Danzig Senate, the Polish Vice-Commissioner made an inde- pendent investigation at Kalthoff, in the course of which the chauffeur of his car shot a Danzig citizen named Griibner, according to the Poles in self-defence, according to the Danzig Senate without any provocation. The Polish version is the more plausible. Poland has every reason to avoid causing serious incidents in Danzig, the Danzig authorities every reason to provoke them, as they provide a test for Polish authority and for Polish policy. If Poland tolerates them, it will be taken as a sign that a seizure of Danzig by Germany will not be resisted ; if Poland intervenes to restore order and protect her rights, as she is legally authorised to do, Germany will claim that an act of aggression has been committed. The incident at Kalthoff could not have occurred without the connivance of the Nazi authorities, and the demonstration must thus be considered as an act of deliberate provocation to Poland.
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