In response, Grenschutz Ost paramilitary units, led by Gerhard Roßbach, were sent to the area to quell Polish activism.

On 27 January 1920, Polish troops under the command of Józef Haller entered the town of Gniew to the sound of the Mazurek Dąbrowskiego and were joined by 400 members of the People's Guard.

[5] The Republic of Gniew was typical of what the historian Tomasz Kamusella has described as "an entire avalanche of such shortlived polities" that emerged from wars in Central and Eastern Europe between 1908 and 1924.

[6] In 2018, the mayor of Gniew passed a resolution to create a public company named Republika Gniewska in order to promote tourism in the town.

[8] The commemorations included an interactive city game organized by the local University of the Third Age, historical lectures, an exhibition, imitation passports, renditions of the national anthem, and Dean Martin's Sway (in reference to a letter written by the inhabitants of the Republic to President Woodrow Wilson).