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You can't really say Danzig was a part of "Germany" before 1871 as there was no Germany before 1871. Danzig was either Prussian, or under nominal Polish rule, but was never really "Polish." And for most of the era after, say 1500, it's pretty clear that Danzig was primarily German. Yes, there was always a sizeable Polish population, but to say Danzig was Polish is like saying Strasbourg was German. Also from Wikipedia: German colonists under strict Hansa supervision built numerous Hansa cities on and near the east Baltic coast, such as Danzig (Gdańsk), Elbing (Elbląg), Thorn (Toruń), Reval (Tallinn), Riga, and Dorpat (Tartu), some of which still retain many Hansa buildings and bear the style of their Hanseatic days. Most were founded under Lübeck law (Lübisches Recht), which provided that they had to appeal in all legal matters to Lübeck's city council. The Livonian Confederation incorporated parts of modern-day Estonia and Latvia and had its own Hanseatic parliament (diet); all of its major towns became members of the Hanseatic League. The dominant language of trade was Middle Low German, a dialect with significant impact for countries involved in the trade, particularly the larger Scandinavian languages. ... In 1454, year of Elisabeth Habsburg's marriage to the Jagiellonian king the towns of the Prussian Confederation rose against the dominance of the Teutonic Order and asked for help from King Casimir IV of Poland. Danzig, Thorn, and Elbing came under the protection of the Kingdom of Poland, (1466 - 1569 referred to as Royal Prussia) by the Second Peace of Thorn (1466). Polish-Lithuania in turn was heavily supported by the Holy Roman Empire through family connections and by military assistance under the Habsburgs. ... The member cities took responsibility for their own protecting. Polish attempts at subjugating Danzig had to be fought off repeatedly. In 1567 a Hanseatic League Agreement reconfirmed previous obligations and rights of League members, such as common protection and defense against enemies. The Prussian Quartier cities of Thorn, Elbing, Koenigsberg and Riga and Dorpat also signed. When pressed by the king of Poland-Lithuania, Danzig remained neutral and would not allow ships running for Poland into its territory. They had to anchor somewhere else, such as at Puck (or Pautzke as it was named then). My notes: the main difference between Danzig and the eastern Baltic cities such as Dorpat and Riga is that those cities never had "German" rule in the surrounding territory. They maintained sizeable German populations and considerable German culture, without being "German." Thorn, Elbing and Konigsberg, like Danzig, did, and were German cities.