It can't be denied - lots of off-topic but still, we have a few misconceptions here that really need correcting.
Mr Urban isn't a communist, he (as his father) has been a socialist from the very day he was born. He is as Jewish as Moses himself but his family Polish credentials are beyond reproach.
His father fought for Poland politically under the Czarist regime, then fought for Poland as a volunteer soldier for three years. In the pre-war Poland he owned and ran a popular and influential daily, today an invaluable source of information about those times.
Mr Urban himself, in the fifties was a journalist in a popular weekly which contributed a lot to dismantling of the Stalinist regime in Poland. It was eventually shut down by the communists and he was banned from writing for many years.
Then, in the nineties he owned and ran a popular, although disliked by many weekly which poured a lot of cold water on the naivety about politics and everything else so prevalent after the fall of communism. It did the Poles good.
He is very well known and he is instantaneously recognizable by anybody. He and his father are part of Polish history. Those people mentioned above are not. You can't be the chief if nobody knows you.
And now as a repentance I would like to present this document. It shows that there was no need for any additional corridors, only an ounce of common sense was required.
It shows that Hitler initially didn't care much about the extraterritoriality of his pet project. And it shows that the Polish terms of agreement weren't that bad. He could have had his highway if he really wanted it.
28 November. Letter of the Head of the Western Section to the Ambassador in Berlin on the motorway through Polish Pomerania (with an appendix)
Warsaw, 28 November 1938
Top secret.
To Ambassador Lipski
in Berlin
[...]Among the more important questions that we intend to submit to the Minister is that of whether to plan the road through the territory of the Free City of Danzig, or immediately to the south of this territory. The second option seems far more convenient. As to the national status of the future road and certain other questions, I am sending a note solely for your guidance, about the direction in which we are moving.
I would like to mention that—in December 1937, when Puricelli last raised, through the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Rome, the suggestion of building a motorway through Polish Pomerania - it only concerned a concession for a set period of time granted to the Association about to be established, and not extraterritoriality. [...] Puricelli was supposed to have discussed the project with Chancellor Hitler, who adopted a very favourable attitude to it.
Piero Puricelli was a famous Italian road-builder, in Europe seen as the father of the motorway.
[appendix]
director J. Potocki
Top secret.
The question of the motorway through Polish Pomerania In connection with suggestions about building a motorway through Polish Pomerania to be used by Germany, the following issues arise:
1. Extraterritoriality. The strip of territory that would be designated for the motorway would cease to be subject to Polish jurisdiction and would pass under Germany's jurisdiction if Poland recognised it as extraterritorial. In effect, in this strip German law would be applicable, German courts would be competent (which is not insignificant with regard to automobile accidents), order would be kept by German police, the German customs system would be in force, etc. A criminal who ran away from Poland onto the motorway would have to be turned over to Polish authorities on the basis of the extradition agreement, whereas political and other criminals could be pursued by German police over the entire motorway. In treasury terms, indirect taxes (petrol), régies, etc., would be subject to German regulations. One of the important consequences of extraterritoriality would be Germany's right to transport troops and military supplies, both in time of peace and war, irrespective of Poland's neutrality.
2. Form of operation. Should the formula of extraterritoriality be rejected, the question arises of who would, on Germany's behalf, build and operate the motorway. It seems that this should be a joint-stock company, in which both the Reich and Poland would have an equal share. This company would be granted a concession from the Polish government for a specified number of years to build and operate the motorway. This could be solely a Polish-German company, or one with the participation of international capital. In the latter case, the question arises about what capital this should be so as to preclude the company from being used by a third State as an instrument in Polish-German relations (Swedish perhaps?).[...]
The company would probably have to draw profits from the operation by charging a toll for travelling on the motorway. [...]
3. The course of the motorway. The question of the motorway's course is not only an important question for the army, but also a political problem. If the motorway were to run in the northern section of Polish Pomerania, its further course would cross the territory of Danzig. In such a case, the Danzig section would have to be built and operated on the same conditions as the Polish section on account of Danzig being distinct from the Reich [...]
4. The Paris Convention. [...]
This is connected with the issue of using the motorway in time of war in which Germany would be a belligerent party, and Poland would be neutral. [...] It is in our interest to limit military transit on both the motorway and on other highways (subject to the Paris Convention) until peace is achieved, with the exclusion of a war in which either Germany or Poland is a belligerent party. The question of transport of troops or ammunition via the motorway in time of peace should be regulated in advance in order to avoid a sudden threat to State security in Polish Pomerania.
5. Links with Polish territory. The motorway could be built in such a way as to cross Polish territory without any links thereto, or with three or four exit ramps onto Polish territory along its course. [...]
source: Polish Institute of International Affairs, Polish Documents on Foreign Policy. 24 October 1938 – 30 September 1939
