Gdańsk - Misplaced Pages

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Gdańsk is a city in northern Poland, on the coast of the Baltic Sea, with a population of 460,000 (2002). When dealing with the city's pre-1945 existence, English speakers often use the German name Danzig. Part of this may have been because the city much of its existence was a German-speaking community of traders, and because most English-speaking scholars are more familiar with the German language. Alternative spellings from documents from the medieval and Early Modern periods are Gyddanzyc, Dantzig, Dantzigk or Dantzk.

The city is situated at the Motlawa (German: Mottlau) river, that adheres to the swampy area in the delta of the Vistula river. Location in the mouth of the Vistula which waterway systems connects 60% of the area of todays Poland, gives Gdańsk unique advantage as the center of the sea trade. In the past Gdańsk did a very good job leveraging his advantages and became the biggest city of todays Poland.

A major regional port since the 14th century and subsequently a principal ship-building centre, today's Gdańsk remains an important industrial centre despite the development in the 1920s of the nearby port of Gdingen, now Gdynia. Both cities combined together also with a spa in Sopot creates metropolitan area of 850,000 people called Tricity.

History of the city

Settlements existed in the area for several centuries before the birth of Christ. The coast was called 'Gothiscandza' by Jordanes; Tacitus also referred to it in his Germania. Both historians believed the area to be populated. Although there were already wooden structures in existence, the year 997 has in recent years been considered to be the year of the foundation of the city itself: in 1997 Poland celebrated the 1000 Years Gdańsk Aniversary of the foundation of Gdańsk by Mieszko I, Duke of a land much later called Poland and subject to the empire "to compete with the ports of Stettin and Wollin on the Oder River". That same year, Saint Adalbert of Prague entered Prussia from the castle of Gdańsk to convert the inhabitants. By 1148, the town had been assigned to the diocese of Wloclawek and Pomerania, while several crusades were ordered by the popes, to 'christianize' the pagan Prussians. Missionary activity was brought by the empire to Pomerania from the west and to eastern Prussia coming from the east via Riga.

A city charter according to Luebeck Law for a city named Danzig was granted in 1224. Merchants from the Hansa cities of Lübeck and Bremen were the principal founders. The new city seal read, Sigillum Burgensium Dantzike or "Seal of the city of Dantzike," and was similar to the seals of Lubeck and other Hanseatic cities. Slavic Duke Swaitopolk I, that maneuvered between powers of the central authority of Poland and universal authorities of Holy Roman Empire governed in this part of Pomerania. Danzig rose to become one of the more important of the many trading and fishing ports along the Baltic Sea coast and overtook nearby Elbing in western Prussia.

In line with the will of the last duke Mscislaw of the Eastern Pomerania , the kings of Bohemia starting with Przemysl II of Poland took over Danzig in 1294. After his assassination in 1295, the city was temporary ruled by the Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and his son Wenceslaus III , eventually in 1306 Wladislaw Lokietek possessed Danzig.

The rulers of Brandenburg had interitance rights and when in 1308 the margrave of Brandenburg came to claim his rights, Lokietek called the Teutonic Knights for help. The Brandenburgers had to leave, but then the Teutonic Knights also chased the occupying Polish garrison from the Danzig castle. This was followed by the slaughter of the citizens of the Danzig city, known as "massacre of Gdańsk ". However, supposedly Poland never renounced "her rights to Pomerania and Gdańsk" itself.

Danzig flourished under the authority of the Teutonic Knights, benefiting from the major foreign investment committed by the order in the country, that was then called Prussia. Danzig became a full member of the Hanseatic League by 1361. The richer it became, the more Danzig suffered from the barriers in the trade up the Vistula river to Poland, which had a period of the economic prosperity under the wise government of the Casimir The Great. Furthermore, Danzig resented lack of any political rights in the state ruled in the interest of the few knight-monks, motivated by the religious motives.

In 1440, Danzig joined the other Hanseatic League cities of Elbing and Thorn to form the Prussian Confederation, which was supported by Casimir IV of Poland in its rebellion (1454) against the Teutonic Order's rule. The resulting wars between the cities orThirteen Years' War ended with the Order's defeat and the Second Treaty of Thorn in 1466). This treaty was never ratified by emperor nor pope.

The 15th and 16th centuries brought changes to the city's cultural heritage. We can see these changes in the arts, language, and in Danzig's contributions to the world of science. In 1471, a refurbished sailing ship under Danzig captain Paul Beneke the famous altar painting titled: Latest Judgement (Juengste Gericht) by artist Hans Memling to Gdańsk. In around 1480-1490, tablets were installed at St. Mary's church, depicting the Ten Commandments (external link: ) in the Low German language. In 1566, the official language of the city's governing institutions was changed from the Low German used throughout the Hanseatic cities to High German.

Georg Joachim Rheticus visited the mayor of Danzig in 1539, while he was working with Nicolaus Copernicus in nearby Frauenburg, now Frombork. The mayor of Danzig gave Rheticus financial assistance for the publication of the so-called Narratio Prima. Published by the Danzig printer Rhode in 1540, the Narratio Prima is to this day considered to be the best introduction to the Copernicus theory. While in Danzig, Rheticus, who was also a cartographer and navigational instrument maker, interviewed Danzig pilots as to their navigational needs. He presented the Tabula chorographica auff Preusse to Duke Albert of Prussia in 1541.

The Danzig printer Andreas Huenefeld(t) (Hunsfeldus) (1606-1652) printed a Danzig editition of the Rosicrucian Manifestos. Later on, he published the poems of Martin Opitz. The famous poet Opitz had died in 1639 and his friend, the pastor of Danzig, known as Bartholomaeus Nigrinus, together with two associates edited the Opitz poems for the Huenefeld printing house.

In 1606 a distillery named Der Lachs (the Salmon) was founded , which produced one of Danzig's most famous products, a liqueur named Danziger Goldwasser ("Danzig gold water"), made from herbs and with small 22-carat gold flakes floating in the bottle. The recipe for this went with the expellees of 1945 to western Germany, where it continued to be produced.

From the 14th century until the mid-17th century Danzig experienced rapid growth, becoming the largest city on the Baltic seaboard by the 16th century, due to its heavy trading with Holland and handling most of Poland's seaborne trade brought up the Vistula river. The city's prosperity was severely damaged, however, by the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and the Second Northern War (1655-1660), and it suffered an epidemic of bubonic plague in 1709.

Danzig took part in all Hanseatic League conferences until the last one in 1669. By that time Holland and other long distance overseas trade had overtaken the Baltic traders such as Danzig.

In 1743 a Danzig Research Society (Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Danzig) was formed by Daniel Gralath.

During the time of the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century (1772), Danzig remained an independent city state surrounded by Prussia until 1793, when it became part of the State of Prussia as part of the province of West Prussia, reverting under Napoleon to direct Prussian rule after a second brief period (1807-1814) as a free city.

The feeling of grief felt by the citizens of Danzig when their independent city state was incorporated into the state of Prussia is well reflected in the pessimistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.

From the first partion of Poland, Danzig lost its function as a major port for Polish exports on the shore of the Baltic Sea. This was followed by an extended time of economic and population crisis. After 1772, Danzig no longer held the position as the largest port on the Baltic.

From 1824 until 1878, East and West Prussia were combined as a single province under the Prussian kingdom. However, although Danzig was a part of Prussia, it was never a member of so called Deutsche Bund. After the desolved Holy Roman Empire it was included in the newly created German Empire in 1871.

Following Germany's defeat in World War I, Danzig was separated from Germany in 1920 under the Treaty of Versailles, forming with a small surrounding territory a Free City under a commissioner appointed by the League of Nations. The League of Nations rejected the citizens' petition to have their city officially named "Freie Hansestadt Danzig" (free Hanseatic city of Danzig). However, the League recognized them as citizens of Danzig, and thus no longer possessors of German Reich citizenship.

A customs union with Poland was created and gave the Danzig Westerplatte port to the Polish republic. The separation of the Danzig port, post office and customs office under the treaty was said to be justified by Poland's need for direct access to the Baltic Sea. Poland then stationed troops in Danzig. Directly next to Danzig, Poland built a large military style trade harbor in Gdynia and immediately went to defensive war against Soviet Union, where Poland "recovered a large section of the ethnically Polish lands" -- Ukraine.

Local opposition to the the war and the desire to rescind the League of Nations' decision on the status of Danzig's citizens spurred groundroots efforts for a reunification with Germany. It culminated in the election of a Nazi government in Danzig's elections of May 1933.

Danzig unification with Germany was one of the objectives of the Nazi government which came to power in Germany in January 1933. Following the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland, Germany in October 1938 urged the territory's return to Germany. Not surprisingly, Poland refused to accept reunification and, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded the Danzig port Westerplatte, and annexed Danzig, effectively initiating the Second World War. Danzig and areas of the "Polish Corridor" to the south and west became the German Gau (administrative district) of Danzig-West Preussen.

In January 1945 the Soviet Army overran Danzig. Already before the end of World War II, the Treaty of Yalta had placed Danzig under Polish administration, which had immediately started to expel ethnic Germans from the city. This expulsion included Danzig burghers the so-called "Gdańskian burghers", ethnic Germans whose families' roots in Danzig went back many generations and hundreds of years as well as Danzig burghers of Kashubian descent.

Nearly all ethnic German inhabitants of Danzig were eventually removed forcibly to Germany and other countries, when the city was renamed Gdansk and it received now Polish Communist government. Polish sovereignty was recognised by the Soviet-installed East German government in 1950; the Federal Republic of Germany (or West Germany acknowledged de facto Polish possession of the city in 1970).

Gdańsk was the scene of anti-government demonstrations which led to the downfall of Poland's communist leader Wladyslaw Gomulka in December 1970, and ten years later was the birthplace of the Solidarity trade union movement, whose opposition to the government led to the end of communist party rule (1989) and the election as president of Poland of its leader Lech Walesa. It remains today a major port and industrial city.

A list of the 173 mayors of the City of Gdańsk from 1347 - Mar 30,1945 was compiled by the current Gdańsk city government and can be found on their recent website with the invitation for a reunion meeting of Gdańsk at the "First World Gdańsk Reunion". It took place in May 2002. This ] is of interest, as it demonstrates the shifting ethnicity of the city's inhabitants before and after the World Wars.

Famous people born in Gdańsk

History of the city

External Links