The Free City of Danzig (German: Freie Stadt Danzig; Polish: Wolne Miasto Gdańsk) was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 towns and villages in the surrounding areas. It was created on 15 November 1920[1][2] in accordance with the terms of Article 100 (Section XI of Part III) of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles after the end of World War I.
The Free City included the city of Danzig and other nearby towns, villages, and settlements that were primarily inhabited by Germans. As the Treaty stated, the region was to remain separated from post-World War I Germany (the Weimar Republic) and from the newly independent nation of the Second Polish Republic ("interwar Poland"), but it was not an independent state.[3] The Free City was under League of Nations protection and put into a binding customs union with Poland.
Poland was given certain rights pertaining to communication, the railways and port facilities in the city.[4] The Free City was created in order to give Poland access to a well-sized seaport. The Free City's population of 410,000 was 98% German, 1% Polish and 1% other.[5][6][7][8] However, in the 1920 Free City of Danzig Constituent Assembly election, the Polish Party received over 6% of the vote, the percentage of votes later declined to about 3 %.
Poland, despite having been awarded generous rights in the Free City nevertheless went ahead and built, in 1921, with French loans, a completely new port some miles round Danzig Bay on territory awarded them in 1919, laying new railway lines to it also, removing the commerce which would normally have moved through Danzig. By 1933, the commerce passing through Gdynia exceeded that of Danzig.[5] Notwithstanding this, Poland refused to relinquish the trading etc. rights awarded to her, further alienating the Danzigers.
By 1936, the city's Senate had a majority of local Nazis.[9] Agitation to rejoin Germany was stepped up.
Due to anti-Semitic persecution and oppression, many Jews fled. After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Nazis abolished the Free City and incorporated the area into the newly formed Reichsgau of Danzig-West Prussia. The Nazis classified the Poles and Jews living in the city as subhumans, subjecting them to discrimination, forced labor, and extermination. Many were sent to their deaths at Nazi concentration camps, including nearby Stutthof (now Sztutowo, Poland).
During the city's conquest by the Soviet Army in the early months of 1945, a substantial number of citizens fled or were killed. After the war, many surviving Germans were expelled to West or East Germany as members of the pre-war Polish ethnic minority started returning and as new Polish settlers began to come. Due to these events, Gdańsk suffered severe underpopulation and did not recover until the late 1950s. In 1945 the city officially became part of Poland as a consequence of the Potsdam Agreement.
Establishment
Periods of independence and autonomy
Danzig had an early history of independence. It was a leading player in the Prussian Confederation directed against the Teutonic Monastic State of Prussia. The Confederation stipulated with the Polish king, Casimir IV Jagiellon, that the Polish Crown would be invested with the role of head of state of western parts of Prussia (Royal Prussia). In contrast, Ducal Prussia remained a Polish fief. Danzig and other cities such as Elbing and Thorn financed most of the warfare and enjoyed a high level of city autonomy. Danzig used the title Royal Polish City of Danzig.
In 1569, when Royal Prussia's estates agreed to incorporate the region into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the city insisted on preserving its special status. It defended itself through the costly Siege of Danzig in 1577 in order to preserve special privileges, and subsequently insisted on negotiating by sending emissaries directly to the Polish king. Danzig's location as a deep-water port where the Vistula river met the Baltic Sea had made it into one of the wealthiest cities in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries as grain from Poland and the Ukraine was shipped up the Vistula on barges to be loaded onto ships in Danzig, where it was shipped on to western Europe.[10] As many of the merchants shipping the grain from Danzig were Dutch, who built Dutch-style houses for themselves, leading to other Danzigers imitating them, the city was thus given a distinctively Dutch appearance.[10] Danzig become known as "the Amsterdam of the East", a wealthy seaport and trading crossroads that linked together the economics of western and eastern Europe, its location at where the Vistula flowed into the Baltic led to various powers competing to rule the city.[10]
Although Danzig became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in the Second Partitition of Poland in 1793, Prussia was conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806, and in September 1807 Napoleon  declared Danzig a semi-independent client state of the French Empire, known as the Free City of Danzig. It lasted seven years, until it was re-incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1814, after Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig (Battle of Nations) by a coalition that included Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The city remained part of Prussia until 1920, becoming part of the Reich in 1871.
Point 14 of U.S. president Woodrow Wilson's 14 points called for Polish independence to be restored and for Poland to have "secure access to the sea", a promise that implied that Danzig which occupied a strategic location where the Vistula river flowed into the Baltic sea, should become part of Poland.[10] At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the Polish delegation led by Roman Dmowski asked for Wilson to honor point 14 of the 14 Points by transferring Danzig to Poland, arguing that Poland would not be economically viable without Danzig and that since the city had been part of Poland until 1793, it was rightfully part of Poland anyway.[11] However, Wilson had promised that national self-determination would be the basis of the Treaty of Versailles. As the 90% of the people in Danzig in this period were German, the Allied leaders at the Paris Peace Conference compromised by creating the Free City of Danzig, a city-state in which Poland had certain special rights.[12] It was felt that including a city that was 90% German into Poland would be a violation of the principle of national self-determination, but at the same time the promise in the 14 Points of allowing Poland "secure access to the sea" gave Poland a claim on Danzig, hence the compromise of the Free City of Danzig.[12]
The Free City of Danzig was largely the work of British diplomacy as both the French Premier Georges Clemenceau and U.S. President Woodrow Wilson supported the Polish claim to Danzig, and it was only objections from the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George that prevented Danzig from going to Poland.[13] Despite creating the Free City, the British did not really believe in the viability of the Free City of Danzig with Lloyd George writing at the time: "France would tomorrow fight for Alsace if her right to it were contested. But would we make war for Danzig?".[13] The Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote in the summer of 1918 that the Germans had such a ferocious contempt for Poles that it was unwise for Germany to lose any territory to Poland even if morally justified as the Germans would never accept losing land to the despised Poles and such a situation was bound to cause a war.[14] During the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the British consistently sought to minimize German territorial losses to Poland under the grounds that the Germans had such an utter contempt for the Poles together with the rest of the Slavic peoples that such losses were bound to deeply wound their feelings and cause a war.[14] For all the bitterness of the French–German enmity, the Germans had a certain grudging respect for the French that did not extend to the Poles at all. During the Paris Peace Conference, a commission of inquiry chaired by a British historian, James Wycliffe Headlam-Morley, investigating where the borders between Germany and Poland should be, started to research Danzig's history.[15] Upon discovering that Danzig had been a Free City in the past, Headlam-Morley came up with what he regarded as a brilliant compromise solution under which Danzig would become a Free City again that would belong to neither Germany nor Poland.[15] As the British were opposed to Danzig becoming part of Poland and the French and the Americans to Danzig remaining part of Germany, Headlam-Morley's compromise of the Free City of Danzing was embraced.[15]
The rural areas around Danzig were overwhelmingly Polish and the representatives of the Polish farmers around Danzig complained about being included in the Free City of Danzig, stating they wanted to join Poland.[11] For their part, the representatives of the German population of Danzig complained about being severed from Germany, and constantly demanded that the Free City of Danzig be reincorporated into the Reich.[16] The Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan wrote that a sense of Danzig national identity never emerged during the Free City's existence, and the German population of Danzig always regarded themselves as Germans who had been unjustly taken out of Germany.[16] The loss of Danzig did indeed deeply hurt German national pride and in the interwar period, German nationalists spoke of the "open wound in the east" that was the Free City of Danzig.[17] However, until the building of Gdynia, almost all of Poland's exports went through Danzig, and Polish public opinion was opposed to Germany having a "choke-hold" on the Polish economy.[18]
Territory

The interwar Free City of Danzig (1920–39) included the city of Danzig (Gdańsk), the towns of Zoppot (Sopot), Oliva (Oliwa), Tiegenhof (Nowy Dwór Gdański), Neuteich (Nowy Staw) and some 252 villages and 63 hamlets, covering a total area of 1,966 square kilometers (759 sq mi). The cities of Danzig (since 1818) and Zoppot (since 1920) formed independent cities (Stadtkreise), whereas all other towns and municipalities were part of one of the three rural districts (Landkreise), Danziger Höhe, Danziger Niederung (both seated in Danzig city) and Großes Werder, seated in Tiegenhof.
In 1929, its territory covered 1,952km² including 58 square kilometers of freshwater surface. The border had a length of 290.5km, of which the coastline accounted for 66.35km.[19]
Polish rights declared by Treaty of Versailles
The Free City was to be represented abroad by Poland and was to be in a customs union with it. The German railway line that connected the Free City with newly created Poland was to be administered by Poland, as were all rail lines in the territory of the Free City. On November 9, 1920, a convention that provided for the Presence of a Polish diplomatic representative in Danzig was signed between the Polish government and the Danzig authorities. In article 6, the Polish government undertook not to conclude any international agreements regarding Danzig without previous consultation with the Free City's government.[20]
A separate Polish post office was established, besides the existing municipal one.
League of Nations High Commissioners

Unlike Mandatory territories, which were entrusted to member countries, the Free City of Danzig (like the Territory of the Saar Basin) remained directly under the authority of the League of Nations. Representatives of various countries took on the role of High Commissioner:[21]

The League of Nations refused to let the city-state use the term of Hanseatic City as part of its official name; this referred to Danzig's long-lasting membership in the Hanseatic League.[22]
State Constabulary

With the creation of the Free City in the aftermath of World War I a security police force was created on 19 August 1919. On 9 April 1920, a military style marching band, the Musikkorps, was formed. Led by composer Ernst Stieberitz, the police band became well known in the city and abroad. In 1921, Danzig's government reformed the entire institution and established the Schutzpolizei, or protection police.[23] Helmut Froböss became President of the Police (i. e. Chief) on 1 April 1921. He served in this capacity until the German annexation of the city.[23]
The police initially operated from 12 precincts and 7 registration points. In 1926 the number of precincts was reduced to 7.[23]
After the Nazi takeover of the Senate, the police were increasingly used to suppress free speech and political dissent.[24] In 1933, Froböss ordered the left-wing newspapers Danziger Volksstimme and Danziger Landeszeitung to suspend publications for 2 months and 8 days respectively.[25]
By 1939, Polish-German relations had worsened and war seemed a likely possibility. The police began making plans to seize Polish installations within the city, in the event of conflict.[26] Ultimately the Danzig police participated in the September Campaign, fighting alongside the local SS and the German Army at the city's Polish post office and at Westerplatte.[26][27]
Even though the Free City was formally annexed by Nazi Germany in October 1939, the police force more or less continued to operate as a law enforcement agency. The Stutthof concentration camp, 35km east of the city, was run by the President of the police as an internment camp from 1939 until November 1941.[28]  Administration was finally dissolved when the city was occupied by the Soviets in 1945.
Population

The Free City's population rose from 357,000 (1919) to 408,000 in 1929; according to the official census, 95% were Germans,[29]:5, 11 with the rest mainly either Kashubians or Poles. According to E. Cieślak, the population registers of the Free City show that in 1929 the Polish population numbered 35,000, or 9.5% of the population.[30]
Henryk Stępniak estimates the 1929 Polish population as around 22,000, or around 6% of the population, increasing to around 13% in the 1930s.[7] Based on the estimated voting patterns (according to Stępniak many Poles voted for the Catholic Zentrumspartei instead of Polish parties), Stępniak estimates the number of Poles in the city to be 25–30% of Catholics living within it or about 30–36 thousand people.[31] Including around 4,000 Polish nationals who were registered in the city, Stępniak estimated the Polish population as 9.4–11% of population.[31] In contrast Stefan Samerski estimates about 10 percent of the 130,000 Catholics were Polish.[32] Andrzej Drzycimski estimates that Polish population at the end of 30s reached 20% (including Poles who arrived after the war)[33]
The Treaty of Versailles required that the newly formed state have its own citizenship, based on residency. German inhabitants lost their German citizenship with the creation of the Free City, but were given the right to re-obtain it within the first two years of the state's existence. Anyone desiring German citizenship had to leave their property and make their residence outside the Free State of Danzig area in the remaining parts of Germany.[4]

Notable people born in the Free City of Danzig

Eddi Arent (1925 in Danzig – 2013 in Munich) was a German actor,[34] cabaret artist and comedian. He appeared in 104 films between 1956 and 2002.
Ike Aronowicz (1923 in Danzig – 2009 Israel) [35] captain of the immigrant ship SS Exodus, which unsuccessfully tried to dock in British-era Palestine with Holocaust survivors on July 11, 1947
Elisabeth Becker (1923 in Danzig – executed 1946 in Biskupia Górka) was a concentration camp guard [36] in World War II.
Ingrid van Bergen (born 1931 in Danzig) is a German film actress.[37] She has appeared in 100 films since 1954. Convicted of manslaughter in 1977
Miltiades Caridis (1923 in Danzig – 1998 in Athens) was a German-Greek conductor, his family moved to Greece in 1938.
Zygmunt Chychła (1926 in Gdańsk - 2009 in Hamburg) was a Polish boxer.[38] He won the Olympic gold medal for Poland at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Anna M. Cienciala (1929 in Danzig – 2014 in Florida) was a Polish-American[39] historian and author
Holger Czukay (1938 in Danzig – 2017 in Weilerswist) was a German musician,[40] co-founder of the krautrock group Can
Horst Ehmke (1927 in Danzig – 2017 in Bonn) was a German lawyer, law professor and SPD politician,[41] served as Federal Minister of Justice (1969)
Jörg-Peter Ewert (born 1938 in Danzig) is a German neurophysiologist [42] and researcher into Neuroethology
Günter Grass (1927 in Danzig – 2015 in Lübeck) was a German novelist,[43] poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Ursula Happe (born 1926 in Danzig) is a German swimmer and Olympic champion.[44] She competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal in 200 m breaststroke
Klaus Kinski (1926 in Zopot – 1991 in Lagunitas, California) was a controversial German actor.[45]
Wanda Klaff (1922 in Danzig – executed 1946 in Biskupia Górka) [36] was a Nazi camp overseer
Heinz-Hermann Koelle (1925 in Danzig - 2011 in Berlin) was an aeronautical engineer,[46] made the preliminary designs for Saturn I
Erhard Krack (1931 in Danzig – 2000 in Berlin) was an East German politician and mayor of East Berlin from 1974 to 1990.
Rutka Laskier (1929 in Danzig – 1943 in the Auschwitz concentration camp) was a Jewish teenager [47] who  chronicled the three months of her life during the Holocaust
Hanna-Renate Laurien (1928 in Danzig – 2010 Berlin) was a German [48] CDU politician
Jack Mandelbaum (born 1927 in Danzig) is a Holocaust survivor  [49]
Rupert Neudeck (1939 in Danzig – 2016) correspondent for Deutschlandfunk and [50] founder of Cap Anamur an humanitarian organisation
Zygmunt Pawłowicz (1927 in Danzig – 2010 in Gdańsk) ordained a Catholic priest in 1952,[51] was the Polish Auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gdańsk from 1985 until 2005
Avi Pazner (born 1937 in Danzig) is a retired Israeli diplomat [52]
Richard J. Pratt (1934 in Danzig – 2009 in Victoria, Australia) was a prominent Australian businessman,[53] chairman of Visy Industries. His family moved to Australia in 1938
Georg Preuß (1920 in Danzig – 1991 Clenze) was a mid-ranking commander in the Waffen-SS, a convicted war criminal.
Henry Rosovsky (born 1927 in Danzig) is an economic historian,[54] specializing in East Asia, born of Russian Jewish parents
Hermann Salomon (born 1938 in Danzig) is a German former javelin thrower [55] who competed in the 1960, 1964 and the 1968 Summer Olympics
Meir Shamgar (born 1925 in Danzig) [56] was President of the Israeli Supreme Court 1983/1995.
Zalman Shoval (born 1930 in Danzig) is an Israeli politician [57] and diplomat
Wolfgang Völz (1930 in Danzig – 2018 in Berlin) was a German actor,[58] known for his roles in theatre plays, TV shows, feature films and taped radio shows
F. K. Waechter (1937 in Danzig – 2005 in Frankfurt) was a German cartoonist, author and playwright
Religion
In 1924, 54.7% of the populace was Protestant (220,731 persons, mostly Lutherans within the united old-Prussian church), 34.5% was Roman Catholic (140,797 persons), and 2.4% Jewish (9,239 persons). Other Protestants included 5,604 Mennonites, 1,934 Calvinists (Reformed), 1,093 Baptists, 410 Free Religionists, as well as 2,129 dissenters, 1,394 faithful of other religions and denominations, and 664 irreligionists.[59][60] The Jewish community grew from 2,717 in 1910 to 7,282 in 1923, and 10,448 in 1929, many of them immigrants from Poland and Russia.[61]
Regional Synodal Federation of the Free City of Danzig

The mostly Lutheran and partially Reformed congregations situated in the territory of the Free City, which previously used to belong to the Ecclesiastical Province of West Prussia of the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union (EKapU), were transformed into the Regional Synodal Federation of the Free City of Danzig after 1920. The executive body of that ecclesiastical province, the consistory (est. 1 November 1886), was seated in Danzig. After 1920 it was restricted in its responsibility to those congregations within the Free City's territory.[62] General Superintendent Paul Kalweit (1920–1933) and Bishop Johannes Beermann (1933–1945) presided over the consistory, one after another.
Unlike the Second Polish Republic, which opposed the cooperation of the United Evangelical Church in Poland with EKapU, Volkstag and Senate of Danzig approved cross-border religious bodies. Danzig's Regional Synodal Federation— just as the regional synodal federation of the autonomous Memelland— retained the status of an ecclesiastical province within EKapU.[63]
After the German annexation of the Free City in 1939, the EKapU merged the Danzig regional synodal federation in 1940 into the Ecclesiastical Region of Danzig-West Prussia. This included the Polish congregations of the United Evangelical Church in Poland in the homonymous Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia and the German congregations in the West Prussia governorate. Danzig's consistory functioned as an executive body for that region. With the flight and expulsion of most ethnically German Protestant parishioners from the area of the Free City of Danzig between 1945 and 1948, the congregations vanished.
In March 1945, the consistory had relocated to Lübeck and opened a refugee centre for Danzigers (Hilfsstelle beim evangelischen Konsistorium Danzig) led by Upper Consistorial Councillor Gerhard M. Gülzow. The Lutheran congregation of St. Mary's Church could relocate its valuable parament collection and the presbytery granted it on loan to St. Annen Museum in Lübeck after the war. Other Lutheran congregations of Danzig could reclaim their church bells, which the Wehrmacht had requisitioned as non-ferrous metal for war purposes since 1940, but which had survived, not yet melted down, in storage (e.g. Glockenfriedhof) in the British zone of occupation. The presbyteries granted them usually to Northwestern German Lutheran congregations which had lost bells due to the war.
Diocese of Danzig of the Roman Catholic Church

The 36 Catholic parishes in the territory of the Free City in 1922 used to belong in equal shares to the Diocese of Culm, which was mostly Polish, and the Diocese of Ermland, which was mostly German. While the Second Polish Republic wanted all the parishes within the Free City to form part of Polish Culm, Volkstag and Senate wanted them all to become subject to German Ermland.[64] In 1922 the Holy See suspended the jurisdictions of both dioceses over their parishes in the Free State and established an exempt apostolic administration for the territory.[64]
The first apostolic administrator was Edward O'Rourke who became Bishop of Danzig on the occasion of the elevation of the administration to an exempt diocese. He was naturalised as Danziger on the same occasion. In 1938 he resigned after quarrels with the Nazi-dominated Senate of Danzig on appointments of parish priests of Polish ethnicity.[65] The senate also instigated the denaturalisation of O'Rourke, who subsequently became a Polish citizen. O'Rourke was succeeded by Bishop Carl Maria Splett, a native from the Free City area.
Splett remained bishop after the German annexation of the Free City. In early 1941, he applied for admitting the Danzig diocese as member in Archbishop Adolf Bertram's Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province and thus at the Fulda Conference of Bishops; however, Bertram, also speaker of the Fulda conference, rejected the request.[66] Any arguments that the Free City of Danzig had been annexed to Nazi Germany did not impress Bertram since Danzig's annexation lacked international recognition. Until the reorganization of the Catholic dioceses in Danzig and the formerly eastern territories of Germany the diocesan territory remained unaltered and the see exempt. However, with the replacement of Danzig's population between 1945 and 1948 by mostly Catholic Poles, the number of Catholic parishes increased and most formerly Protestant churches were taken over for Catholic services.
Jewish Danzigers

Since 1883 most of the Jewish congregations in the later territory of Free State had merged into the Synagogal Community of Danzig. Only the Jews of Tiegenhof ran their own congregation until 1938.
Danzig became a centre of Polish and Russian Jewish emigration to North America. Between 1920 and 1925 60,000 Jews emigrated via Danzig to the US and Canada. At the same time, between 1923 and 1929, Danzig's own Jewish population increased from roughly 7,000 to 10,500.[67] Native Jews and newcomers established themselves in the city and contributed to its civic life, culture and economy. Danzig became a venue for international meetings of Jewish organisations, such as the convention of delegates from Jewish youth organisations of various nations, attended by David Ben-Gurion, which founded the World Union of Jewish Youth on 2 September 1924 in the Schützenhaus venue. On 21 March 1926 the Zionistische Organisation für Danzig convened delegates of Hechalutz from all over for the first conference in Danzig using Hebrew as common language, also attended by Ben Gurion.
With a Nazi majority in the Volkstag and Senate, anti-Semitic persecution and discrimination occurred unsanctioned by the authorities. In contrast to Germany, which exercised capital outflow control since 1931, emigration of Danzig's Jews was nonetheless somewhat easier, with capital transfers enabled by the Bank of Danzig. Moreover, the comparatively few Danzig Jews were offered easier refuge in safe countries because of favorable Free City migration quotas.
After the anti-Jewish riots of Kristallnacht of 9/10 November 1938 in Germany, similar riots took place on 12/13 November in Danzig.[68][69] The Great Synagogue was taken over and demolished by the local authorities in 1939. Most Jews had already left the city, and the Jewish Community of Danzig decided to organize its own emigration in early 1939.[70]
Politics
Government

The Free City was governed by the Senate of the Free City of Danzig, which was elected by the parliament (Volkstag) for a legislative period of four years. The official language was German,[71] although the usage of Polish was guaranteed by law.[72][73] The political parties in the Free City corresponded with the political parties in Weimar Germany; the most influential parties in the 1920s were the conservative German National People's Party, the Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig and the Catholic Centre Party. A Communist Party was founded in 1921 with its origins in the Spartacus League and the Communist Party of East Prussia. Several liberal parties and Free Voter's Associations existed and ran in the elections with varying success. A Polish Party represented the Polish minority and received between 3% (1933) and 6% (1920) of the vote (in total, 4,358 votes in 1933 and 9,321 votes in 1920).[74]
Initially, the Nazi Party had only a small amount of success (0.8% of the vote in 1927) and was even briefly dissolved.[22] Its influence grew with the onset of difficult economic times and the increasing popularity of the Nazi Party in Germany proper. Albert Forster became the Gauleiter in October 1930. The Nazis won 50 percent of votes in the Volkstag elections of 28 May 1933, and took control of the Senate in June 1933, with Hermann Rauschning becoming President of the Senate of Danzig.
Rauschning was removed from his position by Forster and replaced by Arthur Greiser in November 1934.[68] He later appealed to the public not to vote for the Nazis in the 1935 elections.[22] Political opposition to the Nazis was repressed[75] with several politicians being imprisoned and murdered.[76][77] The economic policy of Danzig's Nazi-led government, which increased the public expenditures for employment-creation programs[78] and the retrenchment of financial aid from Germany led to a devaluation of more than 40% of the Danziger Gulden in 1935.[29][79][80][81][82][83] The Gold reserves of the Bank of Danzig declined from 30 million Gulden in 1933 to 13 million in 1935 and the foreign asset reserve from 10 million to 250,000 Gulden.[84] In 1935, Poland protested when Danzig's Senate reduced the value of the Gulden so that it would be the same as the Polish Zloty.[85]
As in Germany, the Nazis introduced laws mirroring the Enabling Act and Nuremberg laws (November 1938);[86] existing parties and unions were gradually banned. The presence of the League of Nations however still guaranteed a minimum of legal certainty. In 1935, the opposition parties, except for the Polish Party, filed a lawsuit to the Danzig High Court in protest against the manipulation of the Volkstag elections.[22][68] The opposition also protested to the League of Nations, as did the Jewish Community of Danzig.[87][88] The number of members of the Nazi Party in Danzig increased from 21,861 in June 1934 to 48,345 in September 1938.[89]
German-Polish tensions

The rights of the Second Polish Republic within the territory of the Free City were stipulated in the Treaty of Paris of 9 November 1920 and the Treaty of Warsaw of 24 October 1921.[90] The details of the Polish privileges soon became a permanent matter of disputes between the local populace and the Polish State. While the representatives of the Free City tried to uphold the City's autonomy and sovereignty, Poland sought to extend its privileges.[91]
Throughout the Polish–Soviet War, local dockworkers went on strike and refused to unload ammunition supplies for the Polish Army. While the ammunition was finally unloaded by British troops,[92] the incident led to the establishment of a permanent ammunition depot at the Westerplatte and the construction of a trade and naval port in Gdynia,[93] whose total exports and imports surpassed those of Danzig in May 1932.[94] In December 1925, the Council of the League of Nations agreed to the establishment of a Polish military guard of 88 men on the Westerplatte peninsula to protect the war material depot.[95][96]
During the interwar period the Polish minority was heavily discriminated against by the German population, which openly attacked its members using racist slurs and harassment, and attacks against the Polish consulate by German students were praised by authorities.[97]
Several disputes between Danzig and Poland occurred in the sequel. The Free City protested against the Westerplatte depot, the placement of Polish letter boxes within the City[98] and the presence of Polish war vessels at the harbour.[99] The attempt of the Free City to join the International Labour Organization was rejected by the Permanent Court of International Justice at the League of Nations after protests of the Polish ILO delegate.[100][101]
After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, the Polish military doubled the number of 88 troops at Westerplatte in order to test the reaction of the new chancellor. After protests the additional troops were withdrawn.[102] Nazi propaganda used these events in the Volkstag elections of May 1933, in which Nazis won absolute majority.[103]
Until June 1933, the High Commissioner decided in 66 cases of dispute between Danzig and Poland; in 54 cases one of the parties appealed to the Permanent Court of International Justice.[104] Subsequent disputes were resolved in direct negotiations between the Senate and Poland after both had agreed to abstain from further appeals to the International Court in the summer of 1933 and bilateral agreements were concluded.[105]
In the aftermath of the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact of 1934, Danzig–Polish relations improved and Adolf Hitler instructed the local Nazi government to cease anti-Polish actions.[106]  In return, Poland did not support the actions of the anti-Nazi opposition in Danzig. The Polish Ambassador to Germany, Józef Lipski, stated in a meeting with Hermann Göring[107]
"... that a National Socialist Senate in Danzig is also most desirable from our point of view, since it brought about a rapprochement between the Free City and Poland, I would like to remind him that we have always kept aloof from internal Danzig problems. In spite of approaches repeatedly made by the opposition parties, we rejected any attempt to draw us into action against the Senate. I mentioned quite confidentially that the Polish minority in Danzig was advised not to join forces with the opposition at the time of elections."
When Carl J. Burckhardt became High Commissioner in February 1937, both Poles and Germans openly welcomed his withdrawal, and Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Józef Beck notified him not to "count on the support of the Polish State" in the case of difficulties with the Senate or the Nazi Party.[108]
While the Senate appeared to respect the agreements with Poland, the "Nazification of Danzig proceeded relentlessly"[109] and Danzig became a springboard for anti-Polish propaganda among the German and Ukrainian minority in Poland.[110] The Catholic Bishop of Danzig, Edward O'Rourke, was forced to withdraw after he had tried to implement four additional Polish nationals as parish priests in October 1937.[65]
Danzig crisis

The German policy openly changed immediately after the Munich Conference in October 1938, when German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop demanded the incorporation of the Free City into the Reich.[111] The Polish ambassador to Germany, Jozef Lipski, declined Ribbentrop's offer, saying that Polish public opinion would not tolerate the Free City joining Germany and predicated that if Warsaw allowed that to happen, then the Sanation military dictatorship that had ruled Poland since 1926 would be overthrown.[17]  On 24 March 1939, the Polish Foreign Minister, Colonel Jozef Beck, who was part of the triumvirate which ruled the Sanation regime and largely ran foreign policy on his own, told a meeting of the Polish cabinet that Poland should go to war if Germany made any attempt to alter the status of Danzig.[17] Beck stated that Danzig "regardless of what it is worth as an object" had become a "symbol" in Poland that was so important that Poland should go to war over the issue.[17] Besides for the possibility of a revolution in Poland overthrowing the Sanation regime should Danzig be allowed to return to Germany, Beck as part of his plans for a "Third Europe" (i.e. a block of Eastern European states under Polish leadership) had sought to develop economic relations with Sweden and Finland.[112] Beck envisioned both Sweden and Finland joining the "Third Europe" block, and German plans to take back Danzig threatened to allow Germany a "choke-hold" on Poland's main link to the sea as the port facilities at Danzig were still better developed than those at Gdynia.[112] Ernst von Weizsäcker on 29 March 1939 told the Danzig government the Reich would carry out a policy to the Zermürbungspolitik (point of destruction) towards Poland, saying a compromise solution was not wanted, and on 5 April 1939 told Hans-Adolf von Moltke under no conditions was he to negotiate with the Poles.[113]
On 31 March 1939, the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, announced in the House of Commons a "guarantee" of Polish independence, stating that Britain would go to war with Germany if there was an attempt to end Polish independence, through Chamberlain pointedly excluded the borders of Poland from the "guarantee".[17] In April 1939, High Commissioner Burckhardt was told by the Polish Commissioner-General that any attempt to alter its status would be answered with armed resistance on the part of Poland.[114] Beck had not abandoned hopes of negotiating a settlement with Germany.[115] During the spring and summer of 1939 it was the aim of British foreign policy to built a "peace front" embracing Britain, France, the Soviet Union and a number of other European states such as Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey with the aim of "containing" Germany.
Beck made it clear that he wanted no Polish-Soviet treaty to go along with the British-inspired "peace front" since an alliance with the Soviets would rule out any possibility of a settlement with Germany, which he still had hopes of reaching.[115] Beck declined to have Polish diplomats take part in the talks between British, French and Soviet diplomats about having the Soviet Union join the "peace front", and during a visit to London in April 1939 he declined British offers to create a military alliance of Britain, Poland and Romania designed to block the Reich's offers to expand its influence in Eastern Europe.[115] The Polish historian Anita Prazmowska wrote that Beck's refusal of the British offers of assistance was partly due to his "inflated sense of self-importance and the general overestimation of Poland's military potential" as he believed that Poland was one of the world's great powers that could defeat Germany on its own, but also due to his desire not have Poland join the anti-German "peace front" at a time when he still believed that he could settle the Danzig issue.[115] During his visit to London on 4–6 April 1939 Beck told Chamberlain that any effort to include the Soviet Union in the "peace front" would cause the very war it was supposed to prevent, and wanted to exclude the Soviet Union from the "peace front" for that reason.[116] On 5 May 1939, Beck in a speech broadcast on Polish radio stated that Poland wanted peace but that "peace...has its price, high but definable. We in Poland do not recognize the conception of peace at any price. There is only one thing..which is without price, and that is honor".[117]
All through the spring and summer of 1939 there was a massive media campaign in Germany demanding the immediate return of the Free City of Danzig to Germany under the slogan "Home to the Reich!". However, the Danzig crisis was a just a pretext for war. Ribbentrop ordered Count Hans-Adolf von Moltke, the German ambassador to Poland, not to negotiate with the Poles over Danzig as it was always Ribbentrop's great fear that the Poles might actually agree to the Free City returning to Germany, thereby depriving the Reich out of its pretext for attacking Poland.[118]  However, the German propaganda that all the Reich wanted was to bring Danzig home did some effect abroad. In April 1943, when mass grave of the Polish officers massacred by the NKVD in Katyn Wood was discovered, the Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King wrote in his diary that it was the Poles who caused the outbreak of the war in 1939 by refusing to give in to Hitler's demand that Danzig be allowed to rejoin Germany, and as such it was the Poles' own fault for the Katyn Wood massacre and everything else they had suffered since 1939.[119] The British historian Victor Rothwell described King's view that the Poles had caused their own suffering as one motivated by spite and his resentment at being pressured by public opinion into declaring war on Germany despite his own inclinations towards neutrality.[119] From distant New Zealand, the Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage offered to return New Zealand Samoa, which had once been the colony of German Samoa together with the rest of the former German islands in the Pacific held by New Zealand, in exchange for Germany promising not to use violence to alter the status of Danzig.[119]

However, in 1938, the Reich government had first demanded autonomy for the Sudetenland region and after Prague had conceded the demand for autonomy, had laid claim to the Sudetenland. On 15 March 1939, Germany had occupied the Czech part of Czecho-Slovakia, which had done immense damage to Hitler's claim that he was only trying to undo an "unjust" Treaty of Versailles by bringing all of the ethnic Germans "home to the Reich". The British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax late in August 1939 told Herbert von Dirksen, the German ambassador in London:“Last year the German government put forward the demand for the Sudetenland on purely racial grounds; but subsequent events proved that this demand was only put forward as a cover for the annihilation of Czechoslovakia. In view of this experience… it is not surprising that the Poles and we ourselves are afraid that the demand for Danzig is only a first move towards the destruction of Poland’s independence”.[120]
Tensions escalated into the Danzig crisis during the summer of 1939. F.M Shepard, the British consul in Danzig, reported that the Danzig Nazis were bringing arms from Germany and building fortifications.[121]  In July 1939, the British government reluctantly extended its "guarantee" of Poland to the status of Free City of Danzig, stating a German attempt to take Danzig would be a casus belli.[122] At the beginning of August, the Senate told Warsaw that henceforward the Free City would not longer recognize the authority of Polish customs officers in Danzig, which led Beck in response to warn that the Senate did not have the right to disregard the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and that the German government also did not have the right to speak for Danzig.[123] Much to the chagrin of the British Foreign Office, Warsaw did not to consult Britain first when it issued a warning that the Polish Air Force would bomb Danzig if the authority of Polish customs officers continued to be ignored.[123] The Senate backed down while the British who were informed after the fact of the Polish decision to confront the Free City were thrown into panic over the possibility of an armed clash in Danzig plunging Europe into war.[123] The British ambassador to Poland, Sir Howard William Kennard, sought in vain for a promise from Colonel Beck that Poland would take no action in Danzig without first obtaining British approval.[123] Beck disliked Kennard and kept him in the dark about what Poland would do if Danzig voted to rejoin Germany, but also about the state of German-Polish relations, much to the vexation of the Foreign Office.[124]
In the middle of August, Beck offered a concession, saying that Poland was willing to give up its control of Danzig's customs, a proposal which caused fury in Berlin.[125] However, the leaders of the Free City sent a message to Berlin on 19 August 1939 saying: "Gauleiter Forster intends to extend claims...Should the Poles yield again it is intended to increase the claims further in order to make accord impossible".[125] The same day a telegram from Berlin expressed approval with the proviso: "Discussions will have to be conducted and pressure exerted against Poland in such a way that responsibility for failure to come to an agreement and the consequences rest with Poland".[125] On 23 August 1939, Albert Forster, the Gauleiter of Danzig, called a meeting of the Senate that voted to have the Free City rejoin Germany, raising tensions to the breaking point.[126] The same meeting appointed Forster the Danzig State President, through this was due to Forster's long-running rivalry with Arthur Greiser, a völkisch fanatic who regarded Forster as too soft on the Poles. Both the appointment of Forster as State President and the resolution calling for the Free City to rejoin the Reich were violations of the charter the League of Nations had given Danzig in 1920, and the matter should have been taken to the League of Nations's Security Council for discussion.[123]
Since these violations of the Danzig charter would have resulted in the League deposing the Danzig's Nazi government, both the French and British prevented the matter from being referred to the Security Council.[127] Instead the British and French applied strong pressure on the Poles not to sent in a military force to depose the Danzig government, and appoint a mediator to resolve the crisis.[128] In the meantime, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein had arrived in Danzig.[128] Upon anchoring in Danzig harbor, the Schleswig-Holstein ominously aimed its guns at the Polish Military Depot on the Westerplatte peninsula in a provocative gesture that further raised the tensions in the Free City.[128]
At about 4:48am on 1 September 1939, the Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Westerplatte, firing the first shots of World War II.
Second World War and aftermath

World War II began with the shelling of the Westerplatte on 1 September 1939. Gauleiter Forster entered the High Commissioner's residence and ordered him to leave the City within two hours,[129] and the Free City was formally incorporated into the newly formed Reichsgau of Danzig-West Prussia. Local SS and the police cooperated with the Germans with expelling Polish authorities from in and around the city. Polish civilian Post Office employees had received military training and were in possession of a cache of weapons–mostly pistols, three light machine guns, and some hand grenades–and were thus able to defend the Polish Post Office for fifteen hours. Upon their surrender, they were tried and executed. (The sentence was officially revoked by a German court as illegal in 1998.)[130][131] The Polish military forces in the city held out until 7 September.
Up to 4,500 members of Polish minority were arrested with many of them executed.[132]
In the city itself hundreds of Polish prisoners were subjected to cruel Nazi executions and experiments, which included castration of men  and sterilization of women considered dangerous to the "purity of Nordic race" and beheading by guillotine.[133]
The judicial system was one of the main tools of extermination policy towards Poles led by Nazi Germany in the city and  verdicts were motivated by statements that Poles are subhuman.[134]
By the end of the Second World War, nearly all the city had been reduced to ruins. On 30 March 1945, the city was taken by the Red Army.
At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the Allies agreed that the city would become part of Poland.[135] In 1947, a Free City of Danzig Government in Exile was established.
By 1950, around 285,000 fled and expelled citizens of the former Free City were living in Germany, and 13,424 citizens of the former Free City had been "verified" and granted Polish citizenship.[136] By 1947, 126,472 Danzigers of German ethnicity were expelled to Germany from Gdańsk, and 101,873 Poles from Central Poland and 26,629 from Soviet-annexed Eastern Poland took their place.[136]
In fiction
Historical Danzig forms the setting for several major works of Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass, including his acclaimed Danzig Trilogy novels The Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse and Dog Years, as well as in his memoirs. Grass grew up in the Danzig suburb of Langfuhr (now Wrzeszcz).
See also
Areas annexed by Nazi Germany
Danzig Corridor
Alfons Flisykowski
Danzig Research Society
History of Gdańsk
Administrations of Danzig before April 1945
Stutthof concentration camp
Allgemeiner Arbeiterverband der Freien Stadt Danzig

Further reading
 - Available on JSTOR
 - Polish abstract title: "Tożsamości kulturowa gdańszczan w ujęciu etnolingwistycznym na przykładzie wybranych tekstów publicystycznych Wolnego Miasta Gdańska "
 - At Pomeranian Digital Library (Polish: Pomorska Biblioteka Cyfrowa, German: Pommern Digitale Bibliothek, Kashubian: Pòmòrskô Cyfrowô Biblioteka)

 (many in German)

, Wanderlust, Salon.com, January 5, 1998.
 at the Wayback Machine(archived September 30, 2007)
, from passportland.com.
, a video interview.

Coordinates:

When was the Free City of Danzig established?


Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobiles produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Olds Motor Vehicle Co. was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. It produced over 35 million vehicles, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory. At the time of its closure in 2004, Oldsmobile was the oldest surviving American automobile marque, and one of the oldest in the world, after Peugeot, MAN and Tatra.
History
Early history: 1897-1929

Oldsmobiles were first manufactured by the Olds Motor Vehicle Co. in Lansing, Michigan, a company founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In 1902, the company produced 635 cars, making it the first high-volume gasoline-powered automobile manufacturer. (Electric car manufacturers such as Columbia Electric and steam powered car manufacturers such as Locomobile had higher volumes a few years earlier.) Oldsmobile became the top selling car company in the United States for a few years around 1903-4. Ransom Olds left the company in 1904 because of a dispute and formed the REO Motor Car Company.
The 1902 to 1904 Oldsmobile Curved Dash was the first mass-produced car,[1] made from the first automotive assembly line, an invention that is often miscredited to Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company. (Ford was the first to manufacture cars on a moving assembly line.) After Olds merged Olds Motor Vehicle Co. with the Olds Gas Engine Works in 1899, it was renamed Olds Motor Works and moved to a new plant in Detroit, located at the corner of East Jefferson Avenue and MacArthur Bridge.[2] By March 1901, the company had a whole line of models ready for mass production. However, a mistake by a worker caused the factory to catch fire, and it burned to the ground, with all of the prototypes destroyed. The only car that survived the fire was a Curved Dash prototype, which was wheeled out of the factory by two workers while escaping the fire. A new factory was built in Lansing, and production of the Curved Dash commenced.
Officially, the cars were called "Olds automobiles," but were colloquially referred to as "Oldsmobiles." It was this moniker, as applied especially to the Curved Dash Olds, that was popularized in the lyrics and title of the 1905 hit song "In My Merry Oldsmobile".  The last Oldsmobile Curved Dash was made in 1907. General Motors purchased the company in 1908.

The 1910 Limited Touring was a high point for the company. Riding atop 42-inch wheels, and equipped with factory "white" tires, the Limited was the prestige model in Oldsmobile's two model lineup. The Limited retailed for US$4,600, an amount greater than the purchase of a new, no-frills three bedroom house. Buyers received goatskin upholstery, a 60hp (45kW) 707CID (11.6L) straight-six engine, Bosch Magneto starter, running boards and room for five. Options included a speedometer, clock, and a full glass windshield. A limousine version was priced at $5,800. While Oldsmobile only sold 725 Limiteds in its three years of production, the car is best remembered for winning a race against the famed 20th Century Limited train, an event immortalized in the painting Setting the Pace by William Hardner Foster. In 1926, the Oldsmobile Six came in five body styles, and ushered in a new GM bodystyle platform called the "GM B platform", shared with Buick products.[3]
In 1929, as part of General Motors' companion make program, Oldsmobile introduced the higher standard Viking brand, marketed through the Oldsmobile dealer network. Viking was discontinued already at the end of the 1930 model year although an additional 353 cars were marketed as 1931 models.
1930s

In 1937, Oldsmobile was a pioneer in introducing a four-speed semi-automatic transmission called the "Automatic Safety Transmission", although this accessory was actually built by Buick, which would offer it in its own cars in 1938. This transmission features a conventional clutch pedal, which the driver presses before selecting either "low" or "high" range. In "low," the car shifts between first and second gears. In "high," the car shifts among first, third and fourth gears.[4]
1940s: Pioneering

For the 1940 model, Oldsmobile was the first auto manufacturer to offer a fully automatic transmission, called the "Hydramatic", which features four forward speeds. It has a gas pedal and a brake—no clutch pedal. The gear selector is on the steering column.
Starting in 1941 and continuing through 1999, Oldsmobile used a two digit model designation. As originally implemented, the first digit signifies the body size while the second represents the number of cylinders. Body sizes were 6, 7, 8, and 9, and six- and eight-cylinder engines were offered. Thus, Oldsmobiles were named "66" through "98".
The last pre-war Oldsmobile rolled off the assembly line on February 5, 1942. During World War II, Oldsmobile produced numerous kinds of material for the war effort, including large-caliber guns and shells.  Production resumed on October 15, 1945 with a warmed-over 1942 model serving as the offering for 1946.
Oldsmobile once again was a pioneer when, for the 1949 model, the Rocket engine was introduced, which used an overhead valve V8 design rather than the flathead "straight-eight" design which prevailed at the time. This engine produced far more power than the other engines that were popular during that era, and found favor with hot-rodders and stock car racers. The basic design, with a few minor changes, endured until Oldsmobile redesigned its V8 engines in the mid-1960s.
1950s: A Divisional Image Campaign centered on the 'Rocket' engines

Oldsmobile entered the 1950s following a divisional image campaign centered on its 'Rocket' engines and its cars' appearance followed suit. Oldsmobile's Rocket V8 engine was the leader in performance; its cars were generally considered the fastest on the market; and by the mid-1950s their styling was among the first to offer a wide, "open maw" grille, suggestive of jet propulsion. Oldsmobile adopted a ringed-globe emblem to stress what marketers felt was its universal appeal. Throughout the 1950s, the make used twin jet pod-styled taillights as a nod to its "Rocket" theme. Oldsmobile was among the first of General Motors' divisions to receive a true hardtop in 1950 called the "Holiday coupe" (Buick's version was called the "Riviera", and Cadillac's was called the "Coupe DeVille"), and it was also among the first divisions (along with Buick and Cadillac) to receive a wraparound windshield, a trend that eventually all American makes would share at sometime between 1953 and 1964. New for 1954 on 98 coupes and convertibles (Starfire) would be front and rear "sweep cut" fender styling, which would not show up on a Chevrolet until 1956 and not until 1957 on a Pontiac.

In the 1950s the nomenclature changed again, and trim levels also received names that were then mated with the model numbers. This resulted in the Oldsmobile 88 emerging as base Dynamic 88 and the highline Super 88. Other full-size model names included the "Holiday" used on hardtops, and "Fiesta" used on its station wagons. When the 88 was retired in 1999 (with a Fiftieth Anniversary Edition), its length of service was the longest model name used on American cars after the Chrysler New Yorker.  Mid-1955 also saw the introduction of the four-door Holiday pillarless hardtop, the industry's first (along with Buick).
General Motors' styling as a whole lost its frontrunner status in 1957 when Chrysler introduced Virgil Exner's "forward look" designs. When compared side to side, Oldsmobile looked dated next to its price-point competitor DeSoto. Compounding the problem for Oldsmobile and Buick was a styling mistake which GM called the "Strato Roof". Both makes had models which contained the heavily framed rear window, but Detroit had been working with large curved backlights for almost a decade. Consumers disliked the roof and its blind spots, forcing GM to rush a redesign into production on some of its models. Oldsmobile's only off year in the 1950s was 1958. The nation was beginning to feel the results of its first significant post war recession, and US automobile sales were down for the model year. Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac received a heavy-handed makeover of the 1957 GM designs. The Oldsmobile that emerged in 1958 bore little resemblance to the design of its forerunners; instead the car emerged as a large, overdecorated "chromemobile" which many felt had overly ostentatious styling.
Up front, all 1958 Oldsmobiles received one of General Motors' heavily styled front fascias and quad-headlights. Streaking back from the edge of the headlights was a broad belt consisting of two strips of chrome on regular 88s, three strips on Super 88s, and three strips (top and bottom thin, inside thick) on 98s that ended in a point at mid-body. The bottom of the rear fender featured a thick stamping of a half tube that pointed forward, atop which was a chrome assembly of four horizontal chrome speed-lines that terminated into a vertical bar. The tail of the car featured massive vertical chrome taillight housings. Two chrome stars were fitted to the trunklid.

Ford styling consultant Alex Tremulis (designer of the 1948 Tucker sedan) mocked the 1958 Oldsmobile by drawing cartoons of the car, and placing musical notes in the rear trim assembly. Another Detroit stylist employed by Ford bought a used 1958 Oldsmobile in the early 1960s, driving it daily to work. He detached and rearranged the Oldsmobile lettering above the grille to spell out slobmodel as a reminder to himself and co-workers of what "bad" auto design meant to their business.
In 1959, Oldsmobile models were completely redesigned with a rocket motif from front to rear, as the top of the front fenders had a chrome rocket, while the body-length fins were shaped as rocket exhausts which culminated in a fin-top taillight (concave on the 98 models while convex on the 88 models).  The 1959 models also offered several roof treatments, such as the pillared sedan with a fastback rear window and the Holiday SportSedan, which was a flat-roofed pillarless hardtop with wraparound front and rear glass.  The 1959 models were marketed as "the linear look", and also featured a bar-graph speedometer which showed a green indicator through 35 miles per hour (56km/h), then changed to orange until 65 miles per hour (105km/h), then was red above that until the highest speed read by the speedometer, 120 miles per hour (190km/h).  Power windows were available on the 98 models, as was two-speed electric windshield wipers with electrically powered windshield washers.  The 88 still relied on vacuum-operated windshield wipers without a washer feature.  1959 Oldsmobiles were offered with "Autronic Eye" (a dashboard-mounted automatic headlight dimmer) as well as factory-installed air conditioning and power-operated front bench seat as available options. The 1959 body style was continued through the 1960 model year, but the fins were toned down for 1960 and the taillights were moved to the bottom of the fenders.
Notable Achievements & Models: 1960-1969

Notable achievements for Oldsmobile in the 1960s included the introduction of the first turbocharged engine in 1962 (the Turbo Jetfire), the first modern front-wheel drive car produced in the United States (the 1966 Toronado), the Vista Cruiser station wagon (noted for its roof glass), and the upscale 442 muscle car. Olds briefly used the names "Jetstar 88" (1964–1966) and Delmont 88 (1967–1968) on its least expensive full size models in the 1960s.
Notable models for the 1960s:
Oldsmobile 442 - began as a 1964 muscle car option package (4-barrel carburetor, 4-speed manual transmission, and 2 exhausts) on the F-85/Cutlass. In 1965, to better compete with the Pontiac GTO, the original 330CID V8 rated at 310hp (231kW) was replaced by a new 400CID V8 rated at 345hp (257kW). The 442 definition was changed to "4" hundredCID V8 engine, "4"-barrel carburetor, and "2" exhaust pipes, and was named by "Car Craft Nationals" as the "top car of 1965". In 1968 the 442 became its own model and got a larger, 455CID (7.5L), V8 engine in 1970.
Oldsmobile Cutlass (1961–1999) - mid-size car. Oldsmobile's best seller in the 1970s and 1980s, and in some of those years America's best-selling car. In 1966 a top-line Cutlass Supreme was introduced as a four-door hardtop sedan with a more powerful 320hp (239kW) 330CID Jetfire Rocket V8 than the regular F-85/Cutlass models, a more luxurious interior and other trimmings. In 1967 the Cutlass Supreme was expanded to a full series also including two-door hardtop and pillared coupes, a convertible and a four-door pillared sedan. It also came with a 6.6L 400 CID engine as an option in 1967.
Oldsmobile F-85 (1961–1972) - compact sedan, coupe and station wagon powered by a 215CID aluminum block V8 engine from 1961 to 1963. In 1964 the F-85 was upgraded to an intermediate sized car and the aluminum V8 was replaced by conventional cast-iron six-cylinder and V8 engines. The Cutlass was initially the top model of the F-85 line but became a separate model by 1965 with the F-85 nameplate continued only on the lowest priced models through the 1972 model year, after which all Oldsmobile intermediates were Cutlasses.
Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser (1964–1977) - a stretched wheelbase Cutlass station wagon, which was stretched to 120" from 115" in the 1964-67 models and to 121" from 116" in the 1968-72 models, the stretched area being in the second-row seating area. This car featured an elevated roof over the rear seat and cargo area and glass skylights over the rear seating area, which consisted of a transverse skylight over the second seat (two-piece from 1964 to 1967, one-piece from 1968 to 1972) and small longitudinal skylights directly over the rear cargo-area windows, and also featured standard second-row sunvisors. The three-seat models featured forward-facing seating, at a time when most three-seat station wagons had the third row of seats facing the rear. From 1965 to 1970, it would be Oldsmobile's flagship station wagon, as no full-sized wagons were produced. The third-generation 1973-77 models no longer had skylights other than an optional front-row pop-up sunroof. This car was merely an up-line trim package on the Cutlass Supreme wagon and carried the Vista Cruiser nameplate rather than the Cutlass nameplate. The optional third seat was rear-facing in the third-generation Vista Cruiser.
Oldsmobile Starfire (1961–1966) - a sporty and luxurious hardtop coupe and convertible based on the 88. The Starfire featured interiors with leather bucket seats and a center console with floor shifter, along with a standard Hydra-Matic transmission, power steering and brakes (and power windows and seats on convertibles). It was powered by Oldsmobile's most powerful Rocket V8 engine, a 394CID engine from 1961 to 1964 rated from 330 to 345hp (257kW), and a larger 425CID Super Rocket V8 from 1965 to 1966, rated at 375hp (280kW).
Oldsmobile Jetstar I (1964–1966) - life for the somewhat obscure Jetstar I started in 1964. It was designed to be a low cost option to the successful full size Starfire series - more of a direct competitor to the Pontiac Grand Prix. Standard equipment included the 345hp (257kW) 394ci Starfire engine, vinyl bucket seats and console. Keeping the “sport” part of the Starfire, it possessed less of the luxury and glitz. It weighed in at 4028 pounds, and 16,084 were produced for 1964. It was a Starfire without the frills and was informally dubbed “the poor man’s Starfire”. Proving to be an ill-fated model, 1965 concluded the 2-year run for the Jetstar I. Only 6,552 were sold. The introduction of the Pontiac GTO and Oldsmobile 4-4-2 in 1964 insured the future of the musclecars were the intermediates, and the front-drive Toronado loomed big in Oldsmobile's future taking over the flagship status from the Starfire. Further confused with its lesser brethren with the Jetstar 88 nameplate, there was no way but out for the Jetstar I. And close examination of prices revealed that unless one bought a sparsely optioned JS1, there was little financial incentive to buy a JS1 over the Starfire. But lost in the mix was a high-performance car in the ’65 Jetstar I. Trimmed down to 3963#, the ’65 model was an overlooked performance car. The new 370hp (276kW) 425ci Starfire engine delivered 470lb⋅ft (637N⋅m) of torque, was durable, and was quite an improvement over the ’64 394. The new Oldsmobile Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission was a vast performance improvement over the previous “slim-jim” Hydra-Matic transmission. Also, Oldsmobile offered the Muncie 4-speed with Hurst shifter in ’65. Oldsmobile boasted in a 1965 press release that “a Jetstar I proved to be the top accelerator of the entire event” at the 1965 Pure Oil Performance Trials in Daytona beach. Those trials were sanctioned and supervised by NASCAR. Note: between 1964 and 1966, Oldsmobile named its least expensive full size model the Oldsmobile Jetstar 88 which the Jetstar I was not related to, and priced $500–$600 below the Jetstar I.
Oldsmobile Delta 88 (1949–1999) While the "88" series of Oldsmobile's date back to the 1940s, and were offered in a variety of trim levels, the introduction of the Delta 88, which superseded the Super 88 line as Olds' mid-level full-sized vehicles, was a watershed event for the division.  Better trimmed than the low price Dynamic 88 range, but available in a wider range of body styles than the Super 88 had been, the Delta range was an immediate hit with car buyers.  It quickly over shadowed the Dynamic 88 line.  To pump life into the Dynamic 88 range, Oldsmobile renamed it the Delmont 88 for 1967.  However the Delta continued to climb in popularity to the point where Oldsmobile dropped the Delmont range at the end of the 1968 model run. Eventually the Delta 88 was joined by the Delta 88 Royale, a premium trimmed Delta.  The Delta continued to be Oldsmobile's most popular full size line.  In an attempt to modernize marketing efforts as Oldsmobile's fortunes declined, the "Delta" name was dropped in 1989, but the car lived on as the Eighty-Eight until Oldsmobile ended its production in 1999.
Oldsmobile Toronado (1966–1992) - a front-wheel drive coupe in the personal luxury car category, introduced in 1966. At the time, the largest and most powerful front-wheel-drive car ever produced, and one of the first modern front-wheel-drive cars equipped with an automatic transmission. The original Toronado was powered by a 425CID Super Rocket V8 engine rated at 385hp (287kW), mated to a three-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission. The Toronado was Motor Trend magazine's 1966 "car of the year".
Troubles & Triumphs: 1970-1989

Oldsmobile sales soared in the 1970s and 1980s (reaching an all-time high of 1,066,122 in 1985) based on popular designs, positive reviews from critics, and perceived quality and reliability, with the Cutlass series becoming North America's top selling car by 1976. By this time, Olds had displaced Pontiac and Plymouth as the third best-selling brand in the U.S. behind Chevrolet and Ford. In the late 1970s and again in the mid-1980s, model-year production topped one million units, something only Chevrolet and Ford had achieved.
The soaring popularity of Oldsmobile vehicles resulted in a major issue in the late 1970s. At that time, each General Motors division produced its own V8 engines, and in 1977, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Buick each produced a unique 350-cubic-inch displacement V8. It was during the 1977 model year that demand exceeded production capacity for the Oldsmobile V8 and as a result, Oldsmobile began equipping most full size Delta 88 models (those with Federal emissions specifications) with the Chevrolet 350 engine instead. Although it was widely debated whether there was a difference in quality or performance between the two engines, there was no question that the engines were different from one another. Many customers were loyal Oldsmobile buyers who specifically wanted the Rocket V8, and did not discover that their vehicle had the Chevrolet engine until they performed maintenance and discovered that purchased parts did not fit. This became a public relations nightmare for GM.[5][6]
Following this debacle, disclaimers stating that "Oldsmobiles are equipped with engines produced by various GM divisions" were tacked onto advertisements and sales literature; all other GM divisions followed suit. In addition, GM quickly stopped associating engines with particular divisions and to this day, all GM engines are produced by "GM Powertrain" (GMPT) and are called GM "Corporate" engines instead of GM "Division" engines. Although it was the popularity of the Oldsmobile division vehicles that prompted this change, declining sales of V8 engines would have made this change inevitable as all but the Chevrolet version of the 350-cubic-inch engine were eventually discontinued.
Oldsmobile also introduced a 5.7L (350 cu-in) V8 diesel engine option on its Custom Cruiser, Delta 88 and 98 models in 1978; and a smaller 4.3L (260 cu-in) displacement V8 diesel on the 1979 Cutlass Salon and Cutlass Supreme/Cutlass Calais models. These were largely based on corresponding gasoline engines but with heavier duty cast blocks, re-designed heads and fast glow plugs; and on the 5.7L, oversized cranks, main bearings and wrist pins. There were several problems with these engines, including water and corrosion in the injectors (no water separator in the fuel line); paraffin clogging of fuel lines and filters in cold weather; reduced lubrication in the heads due to undersized oil galleys; head bolt failures; and the use of aluminum rockers and stanchions in the 4.3L V8 engines. While the 5.7L was also offered on various Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, and Pontiac models, it was eventually discontinued by all divisions in 1985. V6 diesels of 4.3L displacement were also offered between 1982 and 1985.
Notable models:
Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (1966–1997) - more performance and luxury than the lower priced Cutlass and Cutlass S models, fitting in at the lower end of the personal luxury car market. Models were similar to the Pontiac Grand Prix, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and Buick Regal.
Oldsmobile 88 (1949-1999) - Oldsmobile full-sized family coupe and sedan.  Led Oldsmobile sales from 1950-1974. Downsized in 1977, became front-wheel-drive in 1986.  The first generation 88 is reputed to have inspired the song "Rocket 88" - arguably the first rock & roll record.
Oldsmobile 98 (1941–1996) - Oldsmobile full-sized luxury coupe and sedan that was downsized in 1977 and 1985, became front-wheel-drive in 1985.
Oldsmobile Toronado (1966–1992) - personal luxury coupe, major redesign downsized the car in 1979 then again in 1986, Motor Trend Car of the Year in '66.
Oldsmobile Omega (1973–1984) - European flavored compact car originally based on the Chevrolet Nova and later the Chevrolet Citation.
Oldsmobile Calais (or Cutlass Calais) (1985–1991) - popular compact coupe and sedan on GM's "N-body" platform, similar to the Pontiac Grand Am. The series' name was taken from what was formerly the high-end option package for Cutlass Supreme models.
Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera (1982–1996) - popular selling upscale mid-sized car based on GM's A platform. During its run, the Cutlass Ciera was Oldsmobile's best-selling model. It consistently ranked among the highest rated vehicles by J. D. Power and Associates; it was ranked the "Best in Price Class" on July 30, 1992 and the "Top-Ranked American-Made Car" on May 28, 1992. It was also named "Safe Car of the Year" by Prevention magazine on March 6, 1992.
Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser (1971–1992) - full-size station wagon. Downsized in 1977. Within Oldsmobile, the Custom Cruiser shared its trim with either (or both) the Oldsmobile Delta 88 or Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight; following the further downsizing of Oldsmobile sedans in 1986, the Custom Cruiser effectively became a stand-alone model line.  With the discontinuation of the Cutlass Supreme Classic in 1988, the Custom Cruiser became the sole Oldsmobile sold with rear-wheel drive.
Oldsmobile Starfire (1975–1980) - sporty subcompact, hatchback coupe similar to the Chevrolet Monza, which was itself, based on the Chevrolet Vega.
Oldsmobile Firenza (1982–1988) - compact sedan, hatchback, coupe, and station wagon based on GM's J-body, sharing the same platform with the Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac Sunbird, and Buick Skyhawk.
1990s: Introduction of the Aurora & Retirement of the Eighty-Eight and Ninety-Eight
After the tremendous success of the 1970s and 1980s, things changed quickly for Oldsmobile and by the early 1990s the brand had lost its place in the market, squeezed between other GM divisions, and with competition from new upscale import makes Acura, Infiniti and Lexus. GM continued to use Oldsmobile sporadically to showcase futuristic designs and as a "guinea pig" for testing new technology, with Oldsmobile offering the Toronado Trofeo, which included a visual instrument system with a calendar, datebook, and climate controls. For 1995, Oldsmobile introduced the Aurora, which would be the inspiration for the design of its cars from the mid-1990s onward. The introduction of the Aurora marked as General Motors' catalyst to reposition Oldsmobile as an upscale import fighter. Accordingly, Oldsmobile received a new logo based on the familiar "rocket" theme. Nearly all the existing model names were gradually phased out: the Cutlass Calais in 1991, the Toronado and Custom Cruiser in 1992, the Ninety-Eight and Ciera (formerly Cutlass Ciera) in 1996, Cutlass Supreme in 1997, and finally the Eighty-Eight and Cutlass (which had only been around since '97) in 1999. They were replaced with newer, more modern models with designs inspired by the Aurora.
Redesigned & new models introduced from 1990 to 2004:
Oldsmobile Achieva (1992–1998) - compact sedan & coupe
Oldsmobile Alero (1999–2004) - compact sport sedan & coupe
Oldsmobile Aurora (1995–2003) - full-size luxury/performance sedan (redesigned for 2001)
Oldsmobile Bravada (1991–2004) - mid-size premium Sport utility vehicle (redesigned for 1996 and 2002)
Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser (1971–1992) - full-size station wagon. (Redesigned for 1991)
Oldsmobile Cutlass (1997–1999) - mid-size sedan
Oldsmobile Eighty Eight (1949–1999) - full-size premium sedan (redesigned for 1992)
Oldsmobile Intrigue (1998–2002) - mid-size luxury/sport sedan
Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight (1941–1996) - full-size luxury sedan (redesigned for 1991)
Oldsmobile Silhouette (1990–2004) - premium minivan (redesigned for 1997)
2000-2004: Discontinuations & Farewell
In spite of Oldsmobile's critical successes since the mid-1990s, a reported shortfall in sales and overall profitability prompted General Motors to announce in December 2000 its plans to shut down the Oldsmobile organization. That announcement was officially revealed two days after Oldsmobile distributed the Bravada SUV – which became another critical hit for the division and turned out to be its final vehicle to manufacture.
The phaseout was conducted on the following schedule:
February 2001: The 2002 Bravada, the company's last new model, hits Oldsmobile showrooms
June 2002: Production ends for Intrigue and the Aurora V6 sedans
March 2003: Aurora V8 sedan production ends
January 2004: Bravada SUV production ends
March 2004: Silhouette minivan production ends
April 2004: Alero compact car production ends
The last 500 Aleros, Auroras, Bravadas, Silhouettes and Intrigues produced received special Oldsmobile heritage emblems and markings which signified 'Final 500'. All featured a unique Dark Cherry Metallic paint scheme. Auroras and Intrigues would be accompanied by special Final 500 literature. The Oldsmobile division's last completed production car was an Alero GLS 4-door sedan, which was signed by all of the Olds assembly line workers. It was on display at the R. E. Olds Transportation Museum located in Lansing, Michigan until GM's bankruptcy, when it retook possession of the car. It is now located at the GM Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Oldsmobile models
Production

Models

Oldsmobile Six
Oldsmobile Eight
Oldsmobile Deluxe
Oldsmobile 66 and 68 (1939–1948)
Oldsmobile 76 and 78 (1946–1950)
Oldsmobile 98 (1941–1996)
Oldsmobile 88 (1949–1999)
Oldsmobile F-85 (1961–1967)
Oldsmobile Starfire (1961–1966 & 1975–1980)
Oldsmobile Jetstar I (1964–1965)
Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser (1964–1977)
Oldsmobile Cutlass (1964–1977, 1980–1981 & 1997–1999)
Oldsmobile Toronado (1966–1992)
Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (1967–1997)
Oldsmobile 442 (1968–1980 & 1985–1987)
Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser (1971–1992)
Oldsmobile Omega (1973–1984)
Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon (1973–1980 & 1985–1987)
Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser (1978–1996)
Oldsmobile Firenza (1982–1988)
Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera (1982–1996)
Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais (1985–1991)
Oldsmobile Touring Sedan (1987–1990)
Oldsmobile Silhouette (1990–2004)
Oldsmobile Bravada (1991–2004)
Oldsmobile Achieva (1992–1998)
Oldsmobile Aurora (1995–2003)
Oldsmobile Intrigue (1998–2002)
Oldsmobile Alero (1999–2004)

Concept

Oldsmobile Starfire (1953)
Oldsmobile Cutlass (1954)
Oldsmobile F-88 (1954)
Oldsmobile 88 Delta (1955)
Oldsmobile Golden Rocket (1956)
Oldsmobile F-88 Mark II (1957)
Oldsmobile F-88 Mark III (1959)
Oldsmobile X-215 (1962)
Oldsmobile El Torero (1963)
Oldsmobile J-TR (1963)
Oldsmobile Thor by Ghia (1967)
Oldsmobile Incas by ItalDesign (1986)
Oldsmobile Aerotech (1987)
Oldsmobile Aerotech III (1989)
Oldsmobile Tube Car (1989)
Oldsmobile Expression (1990)
Oldsmobile Achieva (1991)
Oldsmobile Anthem (1992)
Oldsmobile Antares (1995)
Oldsmobile Alero Alpha (1997)
Oldsmobile Recon (1999)
Oldsmobile Profile (2000)
Oldsmobile O4 (2001)

Canadian market
In Canada the range was limited, with the Oldsmobile Silhouette and Oldsmobile Bravada being unavailable to Canadian consumers until much later in their production life.
The Oldsmobile Cutlass (1997–1999 version) was not offered there.
The Oldsmobile Silhouette was sold in Canada from 1998 onwards, unlike in the United States.
The Oldsmobile Bravada was unavailable in Canada until its third generation in 2002; previous models sold in Canada were grey import vehicles.
Other markets
In Mexico all Oldsmobile models were sold under the Chevrolet brand.
The Oldsmobile Alero was sold as a Chevrolet in Europe but it retained Oldsmobile's badge / logo on the front, the Chevrolet name was used due to buyers' unfamiliarity with Oldsmobile in Europe.
Marketing themes
Early on in its history, Olds enjoyed a healthy public relations boost from the 1905 hit song In My Merry Oldsmobile. The same theme—a fast, powerful Olds car helping the driver romance the opposite sex—was updated in the 1950s with the iconic hit Rocket 88.
The strong public relations efforts by GM in the 1950s was epitomized in the Motorama, a "one company" auto show extravaganza. Millions of Americans attended, in a spirit not unlike a "mini-World's Fair". Every GM division had a "Dream Car". Oldsmobile's dream/concept car was called "The Golden Rocket".

The Dr. Oldsmobile theme was one of Oldsmobile's most successful marketing campaigns in the early '70s, it involved fictional characters created to promote the wildly popular 442 muscle car. 'Dr. Oldsmobile' was a tall lean professor type who wore a white lab coat. His assistants included 'Elephant Engine Ernie' who represented the big block 455 Rocket engine. 'Shifty Sidney' was a character who could be seen swiftly shifting his hand using a Hurst shifter.
'Wind Tunnel Waldo' had slicked back hair that appeared to be constantly wind blown. He represented Oldsmobile's wind tunnel testing, that produced some of the sleekest designs of the day. Another character included 'Hy Spy' who had his ear to the ground as he checked out the competition.
A public relations campaign in the late 1980s proclaimed that this was "not your father's Oldsmobile." Ironically, many fans of the brand say that the declining sales were in fact caused by the "this is not your father's Oldsmobile" campaign, as the largest market for Oldsmobiles was the population whose parents had, in fact, owned Oldsmobiles and that by going away from the traditional vehicles that Oldsmobile's brand was built upon, lost many loyal buyers and put the brand on a collision course with Pontiac and Buick which led to internal cannibalization and a downfall from which it could never recover. Oldsmobile's final major ad campaign had the slogan "Start Something" in a last-ditch effort to market to younger buyers at the turn of the millennium.[7]
Advertising gallery

A 1902 advertisement for Oldsmobile - Galveston Daily News, December 28, 1902
A 1904 advertisement for Oldsmobile - Syracuse Post-Standard, September 30, 1904
A 1905 advertisement for Oldsmobile.
Oldsmobile four-cylinder touring car (Model S) - Syracuse Herald, April 7, 1906
A 1908 advertisement for Oldsmobile (Model M) - La Crosse Tribune, May 8, 1908
A 1910 advertisement for Oldsmobile - Mansfield News, April 23, 1910
A 1910 advertisement for Oldsmobile - Syracuse Post-Standard, June 11, 1910

Motorsport
NASCAR
Oldsmobile is especially known for its competition in NASCAR. Beginning with the Rocket 88, Oldsmobile proved heavily competitive in stock car racing. In the Sixties, the Rocket 88 was replaced by the 442. Eventually, the Cutlass would lead Oldsmobile into the Eighties before GM reduced its entries to Chevrolet and Pontiac in the Nineties. It was the restyled body of the Cutlass Supreme that (along with the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Buick Regal, and Pontiac Grand Prix) ushered in the down-sized cars into NASCAR cup competition.  While the Cutlass looked almost identical to the Buick Regal (which scored 35+ victories in the 1981 thru 1985 seasons), the Cutlass (like the Dodge Mirada) didn't take one checkered flag, and many teams moved away from it in 1983 to the Regal, Grand Prix, and restyled Monte Carlo SS.  This was a rude awakening to Oldsmobile, which was getting used to wins on the NASCAR circuit. The body style of the 1988-92 Cutlass proved to be a winner for NASCAR competition and it visited the victory circle 13 times between 1989 and 1992, when Oldsmobile ended its racing program.
IMSA GT
In the IMSA GT Championship, Oldsmobile would provide power for IMSA GT Prototypes alongside Chevrolet and Buick. The Cutlass was used in IMSA GTO along with other vehicles also being used in Trans Am and NASCAR.
IndyCar
Oldsmobile was an engine supplier in the IndyCar Series along with Infiniti starting in 1996. .
Trans Am Series
The Cutlass was used in the Trans Am Series during the 1980s. Many vehicles also being used in NASCAR at the time were used in Trans Am and IMSA GTO.
See also

List of automobile manufacturers
List of defunct automobile manufacturers of the United States
Oldsmobile Diesel engine
Oldsmobile Quad 4 engine
Oldsmobile straight-6 engine
Oldsmobile V8 engine
Irving Jacob Reuter

Further reading

 on GM website
 — last year of production

 at Curlie
 — Oldsmobile photo archive, history, concepts, vintage ads, videos, and owners registry.

vtOldsmobile road car timeline, 1946–1970s — next »Type1940s1950s1960s1970s6789012345678901234567890123456789SubcompactStarfireCompactF-85OmegaCompact
station wagonF-85 Station WagonMid-sizeF-85F-85CutlassCutlassCutlassCutlassMid-size
station wagonF-85 Station WagonF-85 Station WagonCutlass Station WagonVista CruiserVista CruiserVista CruiserCutlass CruiserFull-size66/6876/7876Jetstar 88Jetstar 88Delmont 88888888Dynamic 88Dynamic 88Dynamic 88Super 88Super 88Super 88Super 88Super 88Delta 88Delta 88Delta 889898Ninety-EightNinety-EightNinety-EightNinety-EightNinety-EightNinety-EightNinety-EightFull-size
station wagon7688 Fiesta88 Fiesta88 FiestaCustom CruiserCustom Cruiser88Personal luxuryJetstar IStarfireToronadoToronadoToronadoMuscle car4-4-2

vt« previous — Oldsmobile road car timeline, 1980s–2004Type1980s1990s2000s0123456789012345678901234SubcompactStarfireCompactFirenzaOmegaCutlass CalaisAchievaAleroMid-sizeCutlassCutlass CieraCutlassCutlass SupremeCutlass SupremeIntrigueMid-size station wagonCutlass CruiserCutlass CruiserFull-sizeDelta 88Delta 88/Eighty-EightEighty EightLSSNinety-EightNinety-EightNinety EightRegencyAuroraAuroraFull-size station wagonCustom CruiserCustom CruiserPersonal luxuryToronadoToronadoMinivanSilhouetteSilhouetteSUVBravadaBravadaBravada

What year did they discontinue Oldsmobile?


An air brake or, more formally, a compressed air brake system, is a type of friction brake for vehicles in which compressed air pressing on a piston is used to apply the pressure to the brake pad needed to stop the vehicle.  Air brakes are used in large heavy vehicles, particularly those having multiple trailers which must be linked into the brake system, such as  trucks, buses, trailers, and semi-trailers, in addition to their use in railroad trains. George Westinghouse first developed air brakes for use in railway service. He patented a safer air brake on March 5, 1872.  Westinghouse made numerous alterations to improve his air pressured brake invention, which led to various forms of the automatic brake.  In the early 20th century, after its advantages were proven in railway use, it was adopted by manufacturers of trucks and heavy road vehicles.
Design and function
Air brake systems are typically used on heavy trucks and buses. The system consists of service brakes, parking brakes, a control pedal, and an air storage tank. For the parking brake, there is a disc or drum arrangement which is designed to be held in the 'applied' position by spring pressure. Air pressure must be produced to release these "spring brake" parking brakes. For the service brakes (the ones used while driving for slowing or stopping) to be applied, the brake pedal is pushed, routing the air under pressure (approx 100–120psi or 690–830kPa or 6.89–8.27 bar) to the brake chamber, causing the brake to be engaged. Most types of truck air brakes are drum brakes, though there is an increasing trend towards the use of disc brakes. The air compressor draws filtered air from the atmosphere and forces it into high-pressure reservoirs at around 120psi (830kPa; 8.3bar). Most heavy vehicles have a gauge within the driver's view, indicating the availability of air pressure for safe vehicle operation, often including warning tones or lights. A mechanical "wig wag" that automatically drops down into the driver's field of vision when the pressure drops below a certain point is also common.  Setting of the parking/emergency brake releases the pressurized air in the lines between the compressed air storage tank and the brakes, thus allowing the spring actuated parking brake to engage. A sudden loss of air pressure would result in full spring brake pressure immediately.
A compressed air brake system is divided into a supply system and a control system. The supply system compresses, stores and supplies high-pressure air to the control system as well as to additional air operated auxiliary truck systems (gearbox shift control, clutch pedal air assistance servo, etc.).
Supply system

The air compressor is driven by the engine either by crankshaft pulley via a belt or directly from the engine timing gears. It is lubricated and cooled by the engine lubrication and cooling systems. Compressed air is first routed through a cooling coil and into an air dryer which removes moisture and oil impurities and also may include a pressure regulator, safety valve and smaller purge reservoir. As an alternative to the air dryer, the supply system can be equipped with an anti-freeze device and oil separator. The compressed air is then stored in a supply reservoir (also called a wet tank) from which it is then distributed via a four-way protection valve into the primary reservoir (rear brake reservoir) and the secondary reservoir (front/trailer brake reservoir), a parking brake reservoir, and an auxiliary air supply distribution point. The system also includes various check, pressure limiting, drain and safety valves.
Air brake systems may include a wig wag device which deploys to warn the driver if the system air pressure drops too low.
Control system
The control system is further divided into two service brake circuits, the parking brake circuit, and the trailer brake circuit. The dual service brake circuits are further split into front and rear wheel circuits which receive compressed air from their individual reservoirs for added safety in case of an air leak. The service brakes are applied by means of a brake pedal air valve which regulates both circuits. The parking brake is the air operated spring brake type where its applied by spring force in the spring brake cylinder and released by compressed air via a hand control valve. The trailer brake consists of a direct two line system: the supply line (marked red) and the separate control or service line (marked blue). The supply line receives air from the prime mover park brake air tank via a park brake relay valve and the control line is regulated via the trailer brake relay valve. The operating signals for the relay are provided by the prime mover brake pedal air valve, trailer service brake hand control (subject to local heavy vehicle legislation) and the prime mover park brake hand control.

Trailer Control Valve
Spring brake cylinder
Air brake foot valve
Trailer brake relay valve
Truck air compressor
Air dryer
Air brake relay valve
Four way protection valve

Advantages
Air brakes are used as an alternative to hydraulic brakes which are used on lighter vehicles such as automobiles. Hydraulic brakes use a liquid (hydraulic fluid) to transfer pressure from the brake pedal to the brake shoe to stop the vehicle. Air brakes are used in heavy commercial vehicles due to their reliability. They have several advantages for large multitrailer vehicles:[1]
The supply of air is unlimited, so the brake system can never run out of its operating fluid, as hydraulic brakes can. Minor leaks do not result in brake failures.
Air line couplings are easier to attach and detach than hydraulic lines eliminating the risk of air getting into hydraulic fluid since there is no hydraulic fluid. Air brake circuits on trailers can be easily attached and removed.
Air not only serves as a fluid for transmission of force, but also stores potential energy, so it can serve to control the force applied. Air brake systems include an air tank that stores sufficient energy to stop the vehicle if the compressor fails.
Air brakes are effective even with considerable leakage, so an air brake system can be designed with sufficient "fail-safe" capacity to stop the vehicle safely even when leaking.
Driving technique and operator licensing
As air brakes must be operated differently from more common hydraulic systems, most countries require additional training and licensing in order to legally drive any vehicle using an air brake system.  The FMCSA requires that drivers who operate a vehicle equipped with air brakes take their driving test in one.[2]
Driving a vehicle with air brakes requires basic knowledge of proper maintenance as well. A driver is required to inspect the air pressurization system prior to driving and make sure all tanks are in working order. In addition, the manner of applying brakes is usually different from regular hydraulic type systems. Pressure is applied slowly and air levels must be monitored at all times as a loss in air pressure will result in brake lockup, aka "dynamiting". Unlike hydraulic brakes, air brakes must not be pumped repeatedly as the repetitive application and release of air will drain the system prematurely.
See also

Air brake (aircraft)
ArvinMeritor
Gladhand connector
Knorr-Bremse
Ozone cracking
Polymer degradation
Railway air brake
WABCO Vehicle Control Systems

State of California, Copyright 2003, California Commercial Driver Handbook, Sec. 5
North American Standard Inspection Program, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (12 December 2005). Tractor Protection Systems. Retrieved 7 September 2006 from:

The short film  is available for free download at the Internet Archive

How often should a 18 wheeler get their brakes checked?