Cultural Identity of Citizens of Gdańsk from an Ethnolinguistic Perspective on the Basis of Chosen Texts of the Free City of Danzig1

A a consequence of the First World War and in the wake of the Treaty of Versailles the Free City of Danzig was established2: “On the coming into force of the present Treaty German nationals ordinarily resident in the territory will ipso facto lose their German nationality in order to become nationals of the Free City of Danzig.”3 Moreover, the treaty decisions provided “against any discrimination within the Free City of Danzig to the detriment of citizens of Poland and other persons of Polish origin or speech“4. As Kosiński claims justly, this area in fact had been the place of Polish and German influences and “both the communities competed with each other in many fields of human activity: in household, politics, religion, and also in culture” (Kosiński 2002: 5). It is true that:


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compromises.Apart from introducing the flag […] also the currency, which since the year 1923 was Danzig gulden, was established […].Motifs placed on banknotes referred to the history of the city.Post stamps were issued in the years 1921-1939 […].The next symbol of the state of Danzig was its anthem (Loew 2012: 244 -45).
Załęcki describes Gdańsk as "a city on the border of different cultures" and claims that "there were periods in its history when it was considered a space of harmonious cooperation.It took place when Gdańsk was a multicultural city" (2008: 58, 62).Yet, he does not precise which periods over the centuries are meant.Within the time perspective it seems right that in reality " […] it is a typical seaside city, an old port experiencing changing economic situation [where] as in the port city, groups of different nationalities, religions and cultures meet" (Chodubski 2000: 7).The image of Danzig identity was created, first of all, by the following ethnic groups: German, Polish and Jewish 6 .Obviously, there were also citizens of other nationalities: Russians, Finns, Scots, yet those were small groups and, because of this fact, they did not influence much the identity image of the city.German population was the biggest ethnic group of the Free City of Danzig (about 90% of citizens), Poles (about 9%) and the Jews remained in minority: The biggest ethnic group in Danzig and in the whole of the Free City were Germans.Most of them were the people inhabiting the areas which had been incorporated into the Free City of Danzig for a long time.The other group of Danzig Germans were the immigrants: they were mainly clerks, former military men and political activists connected with Reich and depending on it.In general […] there lived 348 493 people of German nationality […] the Polish were the second biggest ethnic group in the Tree City of Danzig […] after the First World War the number of Jewish citizens increased.This community was made up, apart from the Jewish citizens of Danzig, mainly of refugees of the former Russian Empire and the Jews -the citizens of Poland (Cieślak 1999: 30-32).
Was the Free City of Danzig multicultultural7 like the city of Łódź8 at the turn of the 20 th century or was it German with Polish and Jewish minorities?6 Danzig Jews (so called 'deutsche Juden': in the area of the Free City of Danzig there were also Jews, the citizens of Poland w, who came from the east (cf.Andrzejewski 1979b: 69) declared their German nationality/affiliation: "The people/citizens of Danzig has three times protested against the city being separated from Germany [...].For the Jewish citizens who declared German affiliation it was obvious that it is necessary to absolutely agree with such a declaration" (Echt 2012: 186).

CULTURAL IDENTITY OF CITIZENS OF GDAŃSK FROM AN ETHNOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE
Did those nationalities live beside each other, did they together, as citizens of Danzig, create a common reality?Is it possible to talk about a uniform culture/identity of Danzig?Should Danzig identity be defined within common identity understood according to Sztompka (2010: 185) as thinking in terms of 'fellow citizens' and 'strangers', or rather as "a community within a social category characterized by developing a common bond i.e. when a common life situation, a common social situation of a given community are accompanied by a developed sense of identity" (Sztompka 2010: 185)?
The aim of this article is an analysis of linguistic image of the world of the citizens of the Free City of Danzig which has been carried out on the basis of characteristics of the image of relations and cultural differences in the interpretation of Polish community.Yet, the whole image of identity consists of a mosaic of smaller interpretations which, only after being reduced to the lowest common denominator, may give the holistic image of Danzig identity as an image of a common multiple subjectivity9 .Mutual perception of nationalities inhabiting the area of the Free City of Danzig is the starting point for the discussion on their identity and an attempt to answer the question: did the citizens of Danzig see themselves as one community -exactly the one of Danzig?
The analysed research material consists of chosen texts of the local press (in Polish and occasionally in German) concerning socio-cultural and political and informative issues.The Polish Gazeta Gdańska had been published since 1891 as the first Polish Danzig newspaper in Polish.Its first aim was to integrate Polish circles and to defend the rights of the Polish.Danziger Neueste Nachrichten published since 1894 was the biggest Danzig conservative newspaper in German, which influenced public opinion 10 .German was the official language of the Free City of Danzig.Press of both these communities: Polish and German press was published in both of these languages (apart from a few exceptions like some Polish newspapers, which were printed in German): Danziger Zeitung am Montag früh, Baltische Presse or Deutsche Morgenausgabe der Gazeta Gdańska 11 (cf.Andrzejewski Izabela Olszewska 1999: 103).The Poles seemed to be obliged to use the German language but Germans were also capable of using Polish, which can be proved by some ironical commentaries in Gazeta Gdańska: "[…] we can disclose that it has become fashionable among Germans to learn Polish and they are able to understand Gazeta Gdańska" (GG 1919.04.05/79).

Linguistic image of the world as an indicator of identity
According to the presumption of ethnolinguistics that human identity is strictly connected with a language, application of methodology of linguistic image of the world is justified in this research; the image of the world is "a popular interpretation of reality from the point of view of an average language user, reflects their mentality, their point of view and their needs" (Bartmiński 2007a: 157).In case of a research concerning nationally, also stereotypes play an important part because "The way the members of different ethnical groups are perceived is determined by the all-culture oppositionof 'one of us versus a stranger' and it is also connected with current relationships and conflicts between those groups" (Bartmiński 2007a: 98).Hence I define the linguistic image of the world according to Barmiński: "i.e. as an interpretation of reality existing in language, differently verbalized, which can be captured as a complex of views on the world.Those may be the views' fixed in language, hence based on language itself, so on grammar, vocabulary, clichés (e.g. in proverbs).Yet those may be also presupposed judgements, i.e. implied by linguistic forms, fixed at the level of social knowledge, beliefs, myths and rituals" (Bartmiński 2007b: 12).According to Bartmiński (2007b: 14): "The full reconstruction of linguistic view of the world […] should not stray from data […] connected with language which consist of consolidated knowledge of the world, common to the addresser and addressee and views and beliefs accompanying them".Besides, it is important in our discussion that "the image of the world is the product of the past, the result of specified human experience, common history and culture, and more broadly speaking-the one of a community" (Bartmiński 2007b: 14).
In the analysis of the linguistic image of Danzig identities I will consider first of all the following scientific issues after Bartmiński (2007b: 20): a) the way of defining common identity i.e. 'who we are' -autostereotypes b) the ways of linguistic perception and definition of the others i.e. 'who they are' -heterostereotypes c) the ways of conceptualization of space and 'our place in the world' and the common time in which we live.

CULTURAL IDENTITY OF CITIZENS OF GDAŃSK FROM AN ETHNOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE
As Prochorowa claims (1998: 239) "the opposition of 'one of us' versus 'a stranger' is important for stereotypes and the positive stereotype is connected with the 'one of us', whereas 'a stranger' is connected with the negative one".Ethnic stereotypes play an important role in the perception of other nationalities: Bartmiński claims: "how members of different ethnic groups are perceived, is determined by a generally accepted (within a given culture) opposition of 'one of us' versus 'a stranger' and also the current relationships and conflicts between these groups" (Bartmiński 2007a: 86, 99).Berting and Villain-Gandossi (1995: 23) offer a definition of ethnic stereotypes from the perspective of a national identity: "National sterotypes (stereotypical images of other people and countries) are always a part of our feeling of a national identity […].Usually the neighbouring countries have a few different images of one another and those are used for different aims".An important role in transforming culturally conditioned stereotypes is played by language, which is also responsible for the expression of stereotypical identities: "Depending on the kind of relationship within the group and the power of ethnolinguistic identity, people show a tendency of changing their patterns of ways of speaking towards the way of speaking of an interlocutor and vice versa" (Maass & Arcuri 1999: 185).According to Bartmiński (2007a: 94) linguistic indicators of creating stereotypes play a more significant role in identification of stereotypes than the clichéd texts recorded in a certain way and copied in communications, since "what was recorded in language, has been also recorded in social consciousness, in its specific historical period" (cf.Olszewska 2012: 275-277).

Cultural identity of citizens of Danzig
The starting point concerning the issue of Danzig identities is the statement of Peter Olivier Loew, a historian and cultural scientist who did a research on the history of Danzig, considering, among the other things, Polish -German relations: At least in the first years of existence of the Free City of Danzig -in spite of all differently sounding declarations made by political groups, which officially expressed their strong opinions against the new city organism -the feeling of a certain pride of just received independence could be noticed.This pride, which resulted from legal state exceptionality, is not going to disappear from title pages of international press during the whole of the Interwar period.It was not transformed into "Danzig national consciousness" but into consciousness of the specific role which the Free City of Danzig was to play on the stage of international politics.So it was transformed into Danzig consciousness of otherness equipped with at least theoretical possibility of generating new local (or regional) variety of identity.(Loew 2012: 235/236)

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This seems to be in opposition to the opinion of another historian: "Political situation after establishing of the Free City of Danzig influenced the press of Danzig Germans which was not prone to support a separate Danzig patriotism" (Andrzejewski 1999: 87).
I suggest that we should divide the period of developing the Free City of Danzig 12 as a republic 13 into two periods: 1918-1919 i.e. the initial period of creating a common Danzig identity and the years of 1920-1933 i.e. the proper period.The years after 1933 was the time of a strong influence of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (abbreviated NSDAP) upon life and image of Danzig 14 .It started a chauvinist policy towards different nationalities of Danzig, especially towards Polish and Jewish people (cf.Załęcki 2008: 64).

The stereotype of a German in the first period of emerging of the Free City of Danzig developing of a common identity
The years of 1918-1919 are defined by Loew (2012: 222) as follows: "On the way to the Free City" i.e. the time when both the communities, Polish and German underlined the national status of Danzig as Polish, in the case of Polish or German, in the case of Gremans.They were also fighting for the influence of each country in the teritory of Danzig.In this period it was characteristic for the press to put the statements like "Danzigs Deutschtum" [German character of Danzig], "Deutsches Land soll deutsch bleiben" [The German land should remain German] (DNN 15.01.1919) or "we are getting ready for the approaching unification with one independent Poland.And this Poland does have to be Polish (GG 1919.01.09/6), "During the meeting of the Folk Society a bunch of soldiers rushed into and started to make noise.They were shouting "Danzig ist dűtsch und hier muss dűtsch gesprochen werden" (GG 1919.04.04/78).In this period there are distinct negative characteristics of nationality: 12 The division is based on Loew (2012: 222-290). 13"According to the Treaty of Versailles the Free City of Danzig was to be a republic and ist constitution was to be prepared by the elected representatives in an agreement with the Secretary General of the League of Nations" (Cieślak 1999: 39). 14"The year 1933 was undoubtedly one of the most important dividing lines in the history of Danzig press , when after the elections to Volkstag of 28th of May, the power in the Free City of Danzig was taken over by NSDAP.At the same time the image of Danzig press centre started to change.It lost it previous dynamics and the number of titles published in Danzig started to decrease.The reason for this was state of affairs was 'uniformity' (Gleichschaltung) of political, social, cultural and scientific life, enforced by the Nazi authority which followed the pattern of the Third Reich.Yet freedom of press in Danzig was being restricted gradually and it was a slower process than in the Nazi Germany" (Andrzejewski 1999: 98).

The German -a member of Hakata -German Eastern Merchant Society
(1) "We demand from the Bishop to definitely forbid germanizing priests their indecent activity" (GG 1919.01.05/4).
(2) "Germanizing priests were usually the leaders.Using violence they forced our children to learn German and they distorted the soul of Polish children which was distorted by the Prussian school anyway.It was them who refused Polish minorities Polish sermons, teaching, songs and at the same time they forced the Polish to participate in German services" (GG 1919.01.10/7).
(3) "We demand German priests to be more carefully examined in the Polish language and only those, who are able to speak and teach in correct Polish should be allowed" (GG 1919.01.05/4).
(4) "We [the Cashubians] are protesting against the fact that these members of Hakata want to turn us into Germans.We have always been Polish and we want to remain Polish" (GG 1919.04.03/77).
(5) "This fierce hostility and unkindness towards the Germansmembers of Hakata can be seen even in this little town of Puck, situated on the outskirts of Poland" (GG 1919.01.05/4).
(7) "It can be said that in many respects centrists have been more harmful to us than the protestant members of Hakata" (GG 1919.01.10/7).
(8) "Danzig Press of Hakata has recently clung stubbornly to the perverse statement of a certain important municipal official of the city of Danzig and started to announce all over the world that apparently Cashubians are not Polish" (GG 1919.04.03/77).
The German -the enemy (9) "We have an enemy, who at a closer look, seems to be helpless now but in intrigues and chicanery against us he is unrivalled.The Germans invoke their statistics, maps, works and atlases" (GG 1919.01.09/6).
The German -the liar (10) "German chicanery-Prussian terror.The German government is trying to persuade the World that it abandoned the old system of the former governing Poland.There are some evidences that the new government and its supporters oppress us-the Polish no less than the old Prussian system" (GG 1919.04.04/78) (11) "General Haller said about Danzig in an interview '[…] In Paris they are conscious of the fact that Germans are lying, trying to present Pomerania and Gdańsk as the thoroughly German lands" (GG 1919.01.12/8).

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(12) "We, the Cashubians gathered at the rally in Miszewo, declare that we are not Germans but we have always felt Polish.We feel offended by the lies of the Hakata press that we are Germans and we strongly protest against it!"(GG 1919.04.05/79).

German -the aggressor
(13) "As it can be seen in the press of Hakata and in tabloids, our oppressors are desperately trying to prevent integrating Gdańsk and Pomerania into Poland" (GG 1919.04.03/77) ( 14) "Hardly did the speaker manage to utter a few sentences, when a bunch of Germans rushed into the hall.Brun, their leader shouted: 'was ist hier los, hier wird deutsch' and not having finished the sentence, he threw a chair towards the speaker.[…] Another one was shouting: 'Sonntags habt ihr geschworen, dass ihr dytsch seid und heute seid ihr Polacken, ihr verfluchten Hunde' and he was hitting the participants of the rally" (GG 1919.04.03/77).
(15) "This modern German defendant or warden, encouraged the further violence, calling himself Spartacus, he shouted that they were going to smash everything before they give it to Poland" (GG 1919.04.03/77).( 16) "It may be concluded that under the cover of defence of the supposedly oppressed German language, a certain German fraction is going to arm and at the same time they are going to pose a threat for the Polish inhabiting Gdańsk" (GG 1919.01.12/8).
(17) "We ask for an explanation what makes them arm, since no assaults on Germans from the Polish side have taken place so far.On the other hand, the Polish have experienced such assaults from enraged Germans" (GG 1919.01.12/8).
(18) "A massacre of the Polish in Gdańsk again" (GG 1919.04.03/77).( 19) "Germans have been driven into frenzy is the moment is approaching when they will have to give back someone else's property and return Gdańsk and Western Prussia to free Poland" (GG 1919.04.03/77) (20) "The incident in Brętowo -not an isolated one -that Gdańsk Germans are getting to terrorizing Polish people.They assault Poles and then they are surprised that the latter ones resort to self-defence" (GG 1919.04.04/78).
(21) "Bombing of a Pole's house by the Germans of Free Gdańsk" (GG 1920.01.04/3) ( 22) "Once a year, around Christmas, the Germans of Gdańsk must demonstrate their pan-German hatred.Otherwise they would die" (GG 1920.01.04/3).( 23) "A year ago Germans were responsible for massacre of Poles at Christmas time.After that, they were assaulting people gathered at Polish CULTURAL IDENTITY OF CITIZENS OF GDAŃSK FROM AN ETHNOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE meetings.[…] It resulted from zeal to protect German greatness" (GG 1920.01.04/3).( 24) "So we are having an all-German and socialist terror" (GG 1920.01.04/3).
The German -the agitator (25) "On Sunday they staged a demonstration on Sienny Market.There all the German parties […] following the example of Förster, a local official, bad mouthed Poles and Poland.It was obviously that the mayor Sahm who came from Westphalia could not be missing and together with his fellow citizens he called for anty-Polish row" (GG 1919.04.03/77).( 26) "Assurance of safety to all the citizens is the duty of the authorities led by mayor Sahm.Calling for demonstration was a declaration of war against the Poles.Apparently the authorities want to make the future good relationships of Germans and Polish people impossible, otherwise it would try to calm down the aggressive German minds" (GG 1919.04.03/77).( 27) "A new anti-Polish policy in Puck […] P. Miotek has been called for a long time der Pole, der kriegt noch seins, der wird erschossen, he was called names and abused by the crowd with the words: Runter mit den Polen!Weg mit den Kaschuben!"(GG 1919.01.05/4).
(28) "It is high time western countries took care of Polish districts in the east of Germany and stand up for Poles, who because of hatred caused by the ubiquitous German publicity, do not feel secure of their lives and property" (GG 1919.01.09/ 6).
(30) "The greedy Hakata members got even more hungry and they swallow Cashubians -alive as they are.It claims that they are not Polish but some Wends and God knows what more.To support those opinions Hakata is ready to prove that they come from the moon.This should only match some German origin.No scientific works will help.German newsboys and armchair politicians sentenced so and made such a racket as if they wanted to deafen the whole world with it" (GG1919.04.05/79).
(31) "German press and speakers claim that Cashubians are not Polish but some Wends or Serbs, but we solemnly protest against such a false statement and claim that we have belonged to the Lechitic tribe and we will remain Polish forever" (GG1919.04.05/79).
(32) "In order to protect German character of the torn from 'faterland' Gdańsk, the aim, the task is to play some joke on Poland and first of all -to play some joke on the English hated by pan-Germans" (GG 1920.01.16/12).

2 A stereotype of the Pole in the first period of emerging of the Free City of Danzig developing of a common identity
An image of a Pole, a bit of an ideal, described with positive characteristics can be found in Gazeta Gdańska: (33) "In every Polish home there should be found a white Polish eagle […].At the very first sight, either a guest or a stranger, while entering a Polish home, should be able to see that he is entering a home of a Pole" (GG 1919.01.03/2).
(34) "Polish Mothers!Teach your children to read and write in Polish!" (GG 1919.01.04/3) (35) "Poles do not take part in elections to German National Constituent Assembly.[…] Let each Polish man and woman treat it as an order of national obedience.Nobody should get a Polish vote!" (GG 1919.01.05/4).
(36) "Polnische Gefahr!In Gdańsk there was established German people's council -Volksrat -which on New Year's Day called a meeting in Sporthalle where 'Polish security' was to be discussed' as posters informed" (GG 1919.01.04/3).
(37) "Dr.Kauffmann started to talk about Polish insecurity/threat.He complained about the alleged Polish greed, he accused the Polish, who were freed by Germans from Russian yoke, that they are ungrateful" (GG 1919.01.04/3).
(38) "Germans are trying to prove that we cannot rule, that there is only a handful of us, that only a few fanatic priests would like to have Poland, that Poland persecutes Jews and strangers" (GG 1919.01.09/ 6).
(39) "In our place 'Westpreusserka' is the equal of Hakata press and it is even trying to surpass it.Lately it has placed two articles with the headlines asserting that we promote anti-German policies and are given to chauvinism; it also accuses us of anti-church intentions" (GG 1919.01.10/7).
The characteristics of a Pole from that period, which we find in the daily Danziger Neueste Nachrichten, are in fact, similar14, to the stereotype of a German in the Polish press: (40) "A Polish propaganda office with the seat in Switzerland spreads the rumour that a group of Danzig merchants has decided, because of economical reasons, to agitate for incorporate Gdańsk into Poland.It is a downright lie for us and no German could believe it" (DNN 15.01.1919/12).

CULTURAL IDENTITY OF CITIZENS OF GDAŃSK FROM AN ETHNOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE
In the conlusion of analysis of the Polish press from the period of shaping of Danzig identity, it should be stated that division into two separate identities: Polish and German is significant.In this period predominates the image of a German as an enemy, with distinct negative features e.g. a germanizer -a member of hakata i.e. the reference to the organization Ostmarkenverein (hakata is a popular name), which was aiming at germanization of the land and Polish people under the Prussian rule and anty-Polish publicity (cf.Examples 1-8).Other negative characteristics referring to the Germans were: an enemy (9), liar (10-12), aggressor (13-24), agitator (25-32).In Polish texts we find, on one hand, description of Polish-German relations from German press e.g.pejorative Polaken (cf.14) and also features of an ideal Pole: a patriot (cf.33), a catholic (33) and a model of Polish Mother taking care of their children learning Polish (34).
This period ends after signing the peace treaty by the Germans, the appeal to mayor Sahm to common creating of Danzig reality: With the old Gdańsk bravery and firmness we have to reflect on construction a new state organism […].In my opinion that time came for the societies [Polish and German ones with a nationalistic attitude] to stop] their aggressiveness and to show a concern for the national spirit instead o fit.And in the case of Gdańsk/ Danzig they should express the concern for our native history, this history with is bitter beauty, which opens perspectives for the new development of our city.(Quoted after Loew 2012: 234)

The second stage (the proper one) in the development of Danzig identity instead of the Polish and German ones
The years (1920)(1921)(1922)(1923)(1924)(1925)(1926)(1927)(1928)(1929)(1930)(1931)(1932)(1933) of democracy of the Free City of Danzig may be recognized as the period of shaping proper identity of the citizens of Danzig, which consisted in coexistence and, at the same time, in isolation within this coexistence, different from the others, who were not the citizens of the free City of Danzig.This identity is also confirmed by Loew (2012: 235-236): At least in the first years of existence of the Free City of Danzig -in spite of all differently sounding declarations made by political groups, which officially expressed their strong opinions against the new city organism -the feeling of a certain pride of just received independence could be noticed.This pride which resulted from legal state exceptionality is not going to disappear from title pages of international press during the whole of the Interwar period.It was not transformed into "Danzig national consciousness" but into consciousness of the specific role which the Free City of Danzig was to play on the stage of international politics.So it was transformed into Danzig consciousness of otherness equipped with at least theoretical possibility of generating new local (or regional) variety of identity.

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As Gogula and Węcławowicz (1997: 28) claim: "The main indicator of cultural identity of a region is the feeling of otherness in the consciousness of inhabitants.In other words it is consciousness of a difference of one's own culture, which is a result of confrontations with other cultures.Cultural identity is defined by examining 'a different one', 'a stranger', i.e. by the finding indicators on the basis of which a given (cultural) group defines the otherness of other groups, rather than by cultural characteristics which actually distinguish that group (culture)" (Quoted after: Wysoczyński 2002: 43).

Stereotypes in the second period of establishing the Free City of Danzig / of shaping a common identity
In this period some change is noticeable.A German becomes a co-citizen, a co-ordinator of a new reality (cf.43, 44, 48) and Danzig a common space (45) in which so far discriminated Poles, as the Germans equals, become their creators (51, 52).

Citizens of Danzig
(43) "So Gdańsk is united with Poland after all.At this moment we have been separated -together with the whole area around Gdańsk, which is to be integrated with the Free City of Danzig -from Geramny.We have become the citizens of Danzig.Both nationalities: Poles and Germans" (GG 1920.01.14/10).
(44) "After the remark in the last but one passage concerning national status received by all former subjects of German Reich, "Danzigerka" writes as follows: a new epoch has started in the history of Gdansk, which is loosely, yet connected with Poland.And the task of all the citizens of Gdańsk, of either Polish or German nationality, will be to work on the development of their new motherland, the new state of Danzig" (GG 1920.01.14/10).
(45) "From the above mentioned we can first of all state one thing: the open acknowledgement that Gdańsk is united with Poland.It may be seen how deeply the ratification has influenced the way of thinking of German inhabitants of Gdańsk.They have even remembered the citizens of Gdańsk of Polish nationality.They openly appeal to them for UNITY at work" (GG 1920.01.14/10).
(46) "We only do not know yet, how the Germans imagine this cooperation with Poles.If the former rule, according to which Germans were to give orders and the Polish were to obey them, is going to be imposed -the agreement and ‚unity' of such cooperation will certainly be doubtful" (GG 1920.01.14/10).( 47) "Yet there is one thing which makes us particularly happy.It is the open admittance from the German side that Gdańsk is after all united CULTURAL IDENTITY OF CITIZENS OF GDAŃSK FROM AN ETHNOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE with Poland.If German citizens of Gdańsk always remember about it, they will live to the happy time and the such enormous wealth like the one their ancestors gained after they were freed from the yoke of the Teutonic Knights, when they entered the period of freedom and prosperity under the Polish rule for almost four and a half centuries" (GG 1920.01.14/10).
(48) "No Pole will avoid this cooperation, if Germans treat Poles as equal citizens and do not disturb in completely free development of the area of Gdańsk" (GG 1920.01.14/10).
(49) "On May 16th we are going to take part in elections in order to decide which of our compatriots are to represent our interests in the future constituent assembly of the Free City of Danzig" (GG 1920.05.06/104).
(50) "The whole Poland and the whole world are looking at us.Let us do our best to pass the exam in our political maturity and our national consciousness!" (GG 1920.05.06/104).
[…] The new organization is going to come into force and start is activity immediately after all the formalities have been completed.This is the first step, our first important victory in the direction of granting equal rights of Polish and German in this area" (GG 1920.05.06/104).
(52) "After a century of slumber!Gdańsk has already been dozing for more than a century.It was separated from Poland by the second partition, fell into slumber and has been waiting for the proper moment to come.It has been waiting for it for a long time -even for a very long time.And finally the spring of 1920 came -this year which allowed us to welcome the free and freed Poland, just on the border of the Free City" (GG 1920.05.06/104).

Conclusion
This text comprises only a certain segment of the linguistic image of identity of citizens of Gdańsk and it requires a further research analysis expanded by e.g.analogical stereotypes on the basis of Jewish and German press of the Free City of Danzig.In the history of the stereotype of the German some points of view became established in Polish culture, e.g.a) the point of view of a simple man for whom a German is an equivalent of a popular model of a ‚stranger' b) the one formed in the Sarmatian culture of noblemen -a German as a 'dandy' c) according to the Polish patriot defending threatened national independence -the German was an invader/partitioner and an enemy and the later historical models: Izabela Olszewska d) victims of military violence perceived the German as Nazi, criminals or much later e) according to young members of intelligentsia -the German as a hardworking, rich, educated European (cf.Bartmiński 2007a: 260).
On the basis of the analysed material it may be said that in the proper period (i.e.common) of the shaping of Danzig identity, is divided into two periods, from which in the first one, two separate identities (Polish and German ones) can be noticed.The picture of a Polish patriot defending the threatened Polish identity is distinct and the model of a German is an image characteristic for a partitioner and an enemy and is characterised by dominant negative features e.g. a germanizer, an enemy, a liar, an agitator.However, in the second period, the proper one (i.e. the common one) of shaping Danzig identity, the distinctive point of view is the one of the patriot, the citizen of the Free City of Danzig -on one hand happy about "resurrected Motherland" (GG 1920.01.14/10), yet on the other, being conscious of the fact that creating one motherland together with the Germans will be very difficult: In Gdańsk we have had enough experience, obviously very unfavourable one for Poles and Poland.We have had enough of it.We have had so much of it that we are not able to believe immediately in the sincerity of German words.And as the ones who have been harmed, later make doubly sure, we prefer not to believe their words and wait for their actions, and the actions which will prove from the German side that a different time has come, the time aiming at reaching agreement with the Polish and with Poland.(GG 1920.01.14/10)Nevertheless, it may be stated on the basis of the analysed material, that a significant change of forming Danzig identity of the first period built according to the rule the German-a stranger in the Polish press or the Pole-a stranger in the German press and this of the second period, i.e. common creation of Danzig: "our common Danzig" or "we the citizens of Danzig".According to Załęcki (2008: 66): "the notion of multiculturalism may have two meanings.The first one is the fact of either peaceful or conflictual existence next to one another or an integrating coexistence of many cultures within one community.The second one refers to the idea of a society characterized by multiculturalism, it refers to some spiritual conception, to the model and ideological structure".If Polish and German existence of cultures of the Free City of Danzig in the periods of its emerging, development and shaping is to be paraphrased in the reference to the above definitions, as initially conflictual, then -rather a peaceful coexistence of Polish and German cultures within one Danzig society, one spiritual

Cultural Identity of Citizens of Gdańsk from an Ethnolinguistic Perspective on the Basis of Chosen Texts of the Free City of Danzig
As a consequence of the First World War and in the wake of the Treaty of Versailles the Free City of Danzig was established.The image of Danzig identity was created, first of all, by the following ethnic groups: German, Polish and Jewish.Was the Free City of Danzig multicultural or was it German with Polish and Jewish minorities?Did those nationalities live beside each other, did they together, as citizens of Danzig, create a common reality?Is it possible to talk about a uniform culture/identity of Danzig?The aim of this article is an analysis of linguistic image of the world of the citizens of the Free City of Danzig, which has been carried out on the basis of characteristics of the image of relations and cultural differences in the interpretation of Polish community.Yet, the whole image of identity consists of a mosaic of smaller interpretations which, only after being reduced to the lowest common denominator, may give the holistic image of Danzig identity as an image of a common multiple subjectivity.Mutual perception of nationalities inhabiting the area of the Free City of Danzig is the starting point for the discussion on their identity and an attempt to answer the question: did the citizens of Danzig see themselves as one community -exactly the one of Danzig?The analysed research material consists of chosen texts of the local press (in Polish and occasionally in German) concerning socio-cultural and political and informative issues.The Polish Gazeta Gdańska had been published since 1891 as the first Polish Danzig newspaper in Polish.Its first aim was to integrate Polish circles and to defend the rights of the Polish.Danziger Neuesten Nachrichten, published since 1894, was the biggest Danzig conservative newspaper in German which influenced public opinion.In the analysis of the linguistic image of Danzig identities I will consider first of all the following scientific issues after Bartmiński (2007: 20): a) the way of defining common identity i.e. "who we are" -autostereotypes; b) the ways of linguistic percep- ) "Prosimy o wyjaśnienie, co go do tego rodzaju zbrojeń zniewala, skoro ze strony polskiej dotychczas żadnych napaści na współobywateli niemieckich w Gdańsku nie urządzano, jak to Polacy na własnej skórze zupełnie niewinnie odczuli [...] od zacietrzewionej gawiedzi niemieckiej" (GG 1919.01.12/8).(18) "Znowu pogrom Polaków w Gdańsku" (GG 1919.04.03/77).(19) "Istny szał ogarnął Niemców, gdy zaczęła się zbliżać chwila, iż będą musieli oddać cudzą własność i zwrócić Gdańsk i Prusy Zachodnie wolnej Polsce" (GG 1919.04.03/77).(20) "Zajście w Brentowie -nie odosobnione -dowodzi, że Niemcy Izabela Olszewska wirtschaftlichen sich entschlossen hätten, mit aller Macht für Einverleibung Danzigs durch Polen zu arbeiten.Für uns ist diese Lüge zu offensichtlich, als daß sie durch nur von einem einzigen Deutschen geglaubt werden könnte" (DNN 15.01.1919/12).(41) "Polnische Unwahrheit" (DNN 07.01.1919/5).(42) "Ganz unwahr sind die Behauptungen űber den angeblichen Polen -Pogrom in Danzig" (DNN 07.01.1919/5).Stereotypes in the second period of establishing the Free City of Danzig/ of shaping a common identity Citizens of Danzig/Gdańsk (43) "A więc Gdańsk jednak połaczony z Polską.Z tą chwilą prawnie odłaczeni zostaliśmy razem z całym obszarem dokoła Gdańska przypaść mającemu Wolnemu Miastu -od państwa niemieckiego.Staliśmy się Gdańszczanami.Tak Polacy, jak Niemcy" (GG 1920.01.14/10).