Editing Arthur Greiser (section)

==Joining the Nazi Party==
According to Richard Evans, Greiser was fanatically anti-Christian,{{sfn|Evans|2009|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WjoiVWGQ9HYC&q=Greiser&pg=PT482 482ff]}} and an early member of the [[Nazi Party]] (NSDAP number 166,635). After many years with the nationalist [[German Social Party (Weimar Republic)|Deutschsoziale Partei]] (DtSP) founded by [[Richard Kunze]] and membership in ''[[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten|Der Stahlhelm]]'' in the mid-1920s, he joined the NSDAP and [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] on 1 December 1929,{{sfn|Epstein|2012|p=45}} and the [[SS]] on 29 September 1931.{{sfn|Epstein|2012|p=52}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S19543, Arthur Greiser mit Gattin.jpg|thumb|Greiser as Senate President in 1936 with his second wife, Maria Greiser-Koerfer]]
He was the Deputy President of the [[Free City of Danzig]] from 1933 to 1934 in the [[Rauschning Senate]], and was made Senate President (Senatspräsident) in 1935–1939. As Senate President of Danzig, he was a 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 with the Nazi Party Mandarins [[Rudolf Hess]] and later [[Martin Bormann]]. On 23 August 1939 Forster replaced Greiser as Danzig's head of state. At that time, the media saw Forster as a radical and Greiser as a moderate.<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/image/506177295/?terms=poland  Nazi Leader Made Danzig Head, Victoria Daily Times, 24 August 1939, p.2</ref>

Greiser was accused by Poland as being directly responsible for escalating tensions between the Free City and the Republic of Poland in 1939. When the Polish Foreign Affairs Minister [[Józef Beck]] announced 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.