1939 GERMAN PROPAGANDA FILM LIBERATION OF FREE CITY OF DANZIG INVASION OF POLAND WWII XD13414

The film begins with images of the Free City of Danzig (1; 08) and a title card that explains that German Danzig had been cut off from the motherland and made a free state by the dictate of the Treaty of Versailles. At 1:37 a card indicates that under the protection of the English, Poland s threats became increasingly intolerable. It is followed by images of German soldiers putting up barbed wire and fortifying the border. At 2:25, a title card discusses the ambush of a family man, police officer and member of the S. A. Joseph Wessel, and his funeral is shown on 28 August 1939. At 3:09 defenseless German civilians are seen evacuating from Danzig as refugees. At 4:06 their houses are burned and livestock killed. The next card at 4:53 indicates that even German territory was not spared. Scenes in the city of Beuthen (now Bytom, Poland) at 5:08 show bomb damage. At 5:27 a sign indicates the presence of an unexploded shell. At 5:56 a civilian shows off his shattered house. At 6:24 a title card mention