Plan for Poland
Headline: Germany has just announced a 16-point plan for a settlement with Poland - one of the proposals is to make Danzig part of the Reich.
Within the last hour a 16-point plan for a settlement between Germany and Poland has been broadcast over German radio. The radio broadcast also outlined the details of the diplomatic correspondence that has been taking place during the last week.
'... Germany has told the world her version of the events.'
The German announcement has come as a complete surprise to everyone involved in the international negotiations of the last few days. All that the outside world has known until recently was that Britain and Germany have been exchanging notes. But now Germany has told the world her version of the events.
Apparently the reply Herr Hitler sent to the British Government two days ago contained a demand that Poland should send an envoy to Berlin within 24 hours to discuss a settlement between the two countries. The envoy never arrived, instead the German Government drew up it's own settlement, which Sir Neville Henderson, our Ambassador in Berlin, was told about very briefly yesterday evening.
This settlement consists of a series of demands made by Germany, namely: the immediate return of Danzig to the German Reich; a plebiscite, which will be held in a year's time to decide the future of the Polish corridor; though meanwhile the area should be evacuated by the Polish authorities, except for the port of Gdynia, which would remain Polish. Then, once agreement had been reached between the two countries, they would both demobilise their armies.
As far as we know, Poland has not yet received any official details of this plan from Germany. However, the German Government is now saying that, as no Polish envoy ever arrived in Berlin, Poland has therefore rejected these proposals.
[For audio clips of the reports of Germany's 16-Point Plan, see the last page of this article.]
[*Reports taken from BBC news bulletins, and a range of daily newspapers]
Published: 2001-09-01
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