page_title: Free City of Danzig Police
section_title: Nazism, political repression, and conflict with Poland
hierarchical_section_title: Free City of Danzig Police / History / Nazism, political repression, and conflict with Poland
caption_attribution_description: English: Danzig Schutzpolizei.
context_page_description: The Free City of Danzig Police or Schutzpolizei, as it was known locally, was a state constabulary and the official law enforcement agency within the Free City of Danzig, primarily from 1921 to 1939.
context_section_description: After the Nazi takeover of the Senate in 1933, the police were increasingly used to suppress free speech and political dissent. The constabulary itself was also directly affected. On 31 October 1933, in a speech made to the Police Administration Professional Union, according to the newspaper Danziger Neueste Nachrichten,  the vice-president of the Danzig Senate said,
  A police official who did not definitely accept the National-Socialist State would never hold a position under him. If the totalitarianism claimed by the National-Socialist Party were not achieved, he, too, would be unable to achieve his object. Firm action would have to be taken to make the new regime a reality There could no longer be any room in Danzig for parties or for members of the Socialist, Centre or German-National groups. He could promise that all parties would disappear. He would keep a firm grip on the police and make it an instrument of the National-Socialist State. On the other hand, the police were bound to take up their stand against all enemies of the National-Socialist State. Supporters of the Centre Party were no longer wanted in the Civil Service, since they were enemies of the State. The police corps had such a National-Socialist training and was so imbued with
  National-Socialist convictions that it provided a guarantee for the National-Socialist State. Accordingly political professional organisations would, in future, find no place in the uniformed police. The humblest police official must realize that National Socialism was the only idea of the State which could subsist in future. Hence, the leaders of political factions had had their day... He was ready to agree, however, that purely economic organisations should be allowed to remain in existence.
  — Arthur Greiser, Vice-President of the Senate, 
  This was in conjunction with a subsequent dissolution and ban on professional unions within the state constabulary. The speech and the ban were the subject of much criticism in the 2 November editions of the oppositional newspapers Danziger Landeszeitung and Danziger Volksstimme, which accused the Senate of violating public officials' constitutional rights. The following day Police President Froböss, citing Article II, section 5, of the Legal Ordinance concerning Measures for ensuring Public Safety and Order of June 30th, 1933, ordered them to suspend publications for 8 days and 2 months respectively. The papers' editors appealed to the League of Nations High Commissioner of Danzig, Helmer Rosting, to step in. The Volksstimme also petitioned the Senate to withdraw the ban, who rejected it. On 5 November, Froböss, citing a possible danger to the state, took the editor-in-chief of the Landeszeitung and an editor from the Volksstimme into "protective custody," predicting their papers would continue to criticize the decisions of the government. After investigating the matter himself, Commissioner Rosting forwarded the appeals to the Secretary General of the League of Nations, where they were ultimately dismissed.
  In 1935, the police begin wearing caps with Totenkopf.
  On 20 June 1938, an awards system for length of service in the force is established. Silver medals, silver crosses, and gold crosses are awarded for 8, 18, and 25 years of service respectively.
  On 20 July 1939, a customs officer shot and killed a Polish soldier along the border. Danzig authorities maintained that the officer had fired in self-defense, while Polish officials asserted that the soldier had been in Polish territory at the time. The shooting coincided with the sentencing of a Polish public official to 14 months in prison in Danzig and the arrest of a Polish army officer in the city, further straining relations.
caption: Danzig Schutzpolizei.
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