Beginning Career in The Nazi Party
Greiser was an early member of the Nazi Party (number 166,635). After many years with the nationalist Deutschsoziale Partei (DtSP) founded by von Kunze, and membership of the Stahlhelm in the mid-1920s, he joined the NSDAP and SA on 1 November 1929. He joined the SS on 30 June 1931, and was later awarded the Golden Party Badge.
He was the Senate President (Senatspräsident) of the Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk, Poland) in 1935–1939, and the administrator (Reichsstatthalter und Gauleiter) of Reichsgau Wartheland (1939–1945). As Senate President of Danzig, he was described as a “hothead” and was a serious rival to his nominal superior Albert Forster, Gauleiter of the city since 1930. Greiser was part of the SS empire whilst Forster was closely aligned to the Nazi Party Mandarins Rudolf Hess and later Martin Bormann.
Greiser was directly responsible for escalating tensions between the Free City and the Republic of Poland in 1939. When the Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Józef Beck threatened economic reprisals following the harassment of Polish frontier guards and customs officers, Greiser issued an announcement on 29 July 1939 declaring that the Danzig police no longer recognised their authority or power, and demanded their immediate withdrawal. The notice was so rudely worded that the Polish diplomatic representative to Danzig, Marian Chodacki, refused to forward it to Beck and instead sent a court summary.
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