2-611-984 - Keystone Archives/Heritage Images

Nazi Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess visiting the free city of Danzig, 1930s. Hess (1894-1987) pictured with local Nazi leaders Albert Forster (1902-1952) and Arthur Greiser (1897-1946). Danzig (modern Gdansk) was given the status of a semi-autonomous city-state separate from Germany and the newly independent Poland by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920. The majority of the population was German and after the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Danzig's government was taken over by the local Nazi Party. Hitler's demand to annex Danzig in 1938 led to an increase in tensions between Poland and Germany, with the latter invading in 1939. Forster and Greiser were both sentenced to death for war crimes in occupied Poland during the Second World War.