Why Die for Danzig ? Why Die for Danzig ? ( , ) is an anti - war French political slogan created on the eve of World War II . Article . The phrase originated in the title of an article ( " Mourir pour Dantzig ? " ) by French socialist writer Marcel Déat , published on May 4 , 1939 in the Parisian newspaper L ' Œuvre . The article concerned one of the Nazi Germany ultimatum s for the Second Polish Republic , regarding the demand to transfer control of the Free City of Danzig ( Gdańsk ) to Germany . In the article , Déat ' s argued in favor of the appeasement policy . He asserted that France had no interest in defending Poland , and that Hitler would be satisfied after receiving the territory he ( rightfully , according to Déat ) demanded . He accused the Poles of warmongering and dragging Europe into a war . Déat argued that Frenchmen should not be called to die paying for irresponsible Polish politicking , and expressed doubts about whether Poland would be able to fight for any significant amount of time . Impact . Opinions on the significance and the impact of the slogan differ . The article and several similar pieces were noticed by diplomats and government officials , French and foreign , and elicited press release s from Prime Minister Édouard Daladier and Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet , who noted that this sentiment did not represent the majority views of either the French public and the French government , and reaffirmed their support for the Polish - French alliance . The slogan has been credited by Henry Kissinger with demoralizing the French in 1940 , but historian David Gordon argues that it was mostly marginalized by that time . Historian Julian T . Jackson agrees , noting that while the slogan was taken up by some extremist groups , such as the British People ' s Party , for the most part at the time of being written it " fell largely on deaf ears " . According to historian Karol Górski , Déat ' s article , and the resulting slogan , gained some popularity in France and abroad , and others list the groups among it resonated , such as the French intelligentsia , far right and isolationists . It was however less popular among the general public ; Thomas Sowell cites a French poll around that time showed that 76 per cent of the public was supportive of going to war over Danzig . This slogan was particularly negatively received in Poland , and entered the Polish language as the phrase " umierać za Gdańsk " , used as a type of an informal fallacy , describing an argument nobody should agree with . It still appears in Polish political discourse and appears as a reference recognized by general public as of 2012 . A number of modern Polish sources cite this slogan arguing it was the dominant view shared by majority of Frenchmen and even the British , claiming that the general mood of those countries was such that their citizens did not want to fight for their Polish ally . However other modern Polish sources debunk this . The phrase has also been occasionally used in modern French and English language political discourse . Back in 1939 , the phrase was readily adopted by Nazi German propaganda , and used in French language broadcasts around the time of the Phoney War . Following French defeat by Germany and the creation of the Vichy regime , Déat became an advocate of fascism and a Nazi collaborator , going so far as to look for support in Nazi Germany for his fascist party , which was more radical than the Vichy regime .