Polish Corridor

The Treaty of Versailles gave reborn Poland most of former West Prussia, where Poles and Kashubians made up much of the population. Poland thus gained access to the sea, while East Prussia was cut off from the rest of Germany; sealed transit trains kept the two parts connected. The word 'corridor' was popularised in the 1920s by German propaganda to stress the artificiality of the border; in Poland people spoke simply of Pomerania, and Foreign Minister Józef Beck objected to the name in his Sejm speech of 5 May 1939.

In Germany, Danzig and the Corridor were seen as the most painful provisions of Versailles. From October 1938 Hitler demanded an extraterritorial motorway and railway across Pomerania, and Poland's refusal served him as a pretext for war. In the first days of September 1939 the Wehrmacht cut through the Corridor and linked up with the forces from East Prussia.