1939 German ultimatum to Poland

The 1939 German ultimatum to Poland refers to a list of 16 proposals by Nazi Germany to resolve the Danzig crisis, including a demand for the return of the Free City of Danzig to Germany and for a plebiscite to be held on the status of the Polish Corridor.

On August 29, Adolf Hitler asked the United Kingdom to instruct Poland to send a plenipotentiary to Berlin within 24 hours to negotiate a settlement of the Danzig crisis. The United Kingdom considered this an ultimatum with an unrealistic deadline and refused. Germany did not give Poland or the United Kingdom a copy of the 16 points until the deadline had expired. At 9 pm on August 31, German radio announced that Poland had rejected the German proposals, even though they were never officially presented to the Polish government. Like the false flag raid on the Gleiwitz radio station on the same day, Polish "rejection" of the ultimatum served as a pretext for the German invasion of Poland on September 1, which initiated the Second World War.

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