History of Gdansk

History

Early times

Before Gdansk was established, the vicinity was inhabited by populations belonging to the various archealogical cultures of the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Settlements existed in the area for several centuries before the birth of Christ.

In the 1st century AD, a new culture called the Wielbark culture appeared in the Gdansk area. This culture is widely identified as the Gothiscandza that was mentioned by Jordanes in the 6th century. It was characterised by Scandinavian burial traditions, such as the stone circles. In the 3rd century AD, this culture moved to the Ukraine, which they called Oium, and formed the Chernyakhov culture.

It is known that the Kashubians migrated to the area, but it is sure they sttled in neighboring areas in Pomerania with the general Slavic people's movement to the north and west from the Pripjet marshes after 600. There are traces of a crafts and fishing settlement from 8th–9th, and — in the 10th century — an important strongold of the Pomeranian dukes and at least 1000 inhabitants.

Foundation of the City

Although there were already wooden structures, the year 997 has in recent years been considered to be the date of the foundation of the city itself, as the year in which Saint Adalbert of Prague (sent by the Polish king Boleslav the Brave to conquer Prussia) travelled through the castle of Gdańsk (Gyddanyzc): in 1997 Poland celebrated the millennium of Gdańsk's foundation by Mieszko I, Duke of later socalled Poland, who all received to compete with the ports of Szczecin and Wolin on the Oder River.

Mieszko I and son received land in lien and the ducal title from the Ottonian emperors and in 1000 Gdańsk belonged to the territory later called Pomerania, and to the bishopric in Kolobrzeg (never actually in use), from ca 1015 to the Pomeranian bishopric in Kruszwica, and in 1124 the town had been assigned to the diocese of Wloclawek (Cuiavia and Pomerania), while several crusades were ordered by the popes, to 'christianize' the pagan Prussians and Pomeranians, who for centuries defended semselves again take-over attempts by the rest of the Polish tribes.

Spellings of the name from medieval and early modern documents are Gyddanzyc, Kdansk, Gdanzc, Dantzk, Dantzk, Dantzig, Dantzigk, Dantiscum and Gedanum.

Historical population

Capital of the Pomeranian Duchy (1138–1294/1308)

In the 12th century, Poland was divided into several provinces under the overlordship of the High-duke of Cracow. In reality the duchy of Pomerania was regaining more and more independence. Gdańsk was the capital of an entire dynasty of the dukes, the most famous being Mestwin I (1207–1220) Swantipolk II the Great (1215–1266) and Mestwin II (1271–1294)

In ca 1235 the city had some 2000 inhabitants and was granted a charter (by the duke Swantipolk) incorporating the Lübeck rights. More and more merchants from the Hansa cities of Lübeck and Bremen settled in the city. Officially chartered as a city in 1224 and named Gdańsk, it rose to become one of the more important trading and fishing ports along the Baltic Sea coast.

In 1282/1294 Mestwin II, the last duke of Eastern Pomerania ceded all his lands including Gdańsk to imperial Duke (later King) Przemysl II of Poland. After his assassination in 1296, the city was temporary ruled by the kings of Bohemia and Poland, Wenceslaus II and his son Wenceslaus III.

Occupation by the Teutonic Knights (1308–1454)

At the beginning of the 14th century, the region was plunged into war involving Poland and Brandenburg to the west. Brandenburg's claim to Gdańsk and Pomerania was based on a treaty of August 8, 1305 between Brandenburg's rulers and Wenceslaus III, promising the Meissen territory to the Bohemian crown in exchange for Gdansk Pomerania (the contract was not made).

During the course of the war, Gdansk was seized (November 1308) by the Teutonic Knights, called in by Wladyslaw the Elbow High of Poland. All the inhabitants of the city, both Polish and German, were brutally slaughtered. The Teutonic Order continued its invasion of the Polish lands, incorporating them into its domains. In September 1309, Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg sold his claim to the territory to the Teutonic Order for 10,000 marks. Since then the city first became called by its German name "Danzig". This was the start of a series of conflicts between Poland and the Teutonic Order. The massacre is sometimes disputed by some, but nevertheless after the supposed event there was some stagnation and even reversal in development of Gdansk, which could confirm it.

Initially the new rulers tried to reduce the economic significance of Gdańsk, by abolishing the local government and the privileges of the Lubeck traders. This apparently relates to the fact that the Gdańsk city council including Arnold Hecht and Conrad Leczkow was in 1411 removed and beheaded. Later they had to accept the fact that Gdańsk defended its independence and was the biggest seaport of the region after overtaking Elblag, another nearby Prussian Hanse city in importance. Subsequently the city flourished, benefiting from major investment and economic prosperity in Prussia and Poland, which stimulated trade along the Vistula. The city had become a full member of the Hanseatic League by 1361, but its merchants remained resentful at the barriers to the trade up the Vistula river to Poland, along with the lack of political rights in a state ruled in the interest of the Order's religiously-motivated knight-monks.

Possession of Gdansk by the Teutonic Order was questioned all the time by the Polish kings Wladyslaw the Elbow High and Casimir the Great what led to a series of bloody wars and legal suits in the papal court in 1320 and 1333. Finally in 1343 peace was concluded when the Teutonic Knights accepted that they control Gdansk Pomerania as an alm or gift of Polish kings, and they also acknowledged the feudal overlordship of Poland. Polish rights to Pomerania were no longer questioned and the Polish kings retained the title Duke of Pomerania.

Leader of Royal Prussia (1454/66–1793)

In 1440, Gdańsk joined the nearby Hanseatic cities of Elblag and Torun to form the Prussian Confederation, which rebelled (February 1454) against the Teutonic Order's rule and sought protection from Casimir IV of Poland. An "Act of Incorporation of Royal Prussia" was signed in Krakow (March 6, 1454), recognizing Pomerania as part of the Polish Kingdom. The resulting Thirteen Years' War ended with the Order's defeat and surrender to the Polish crown (Second Treaty of Thorn, 19 October 1466) of its rights in Gdańsk Pomerania and the rest of the area subsequently known as Royal Prussia.

The 15th and 16th centuries brought changes to the city's cultural heritage. These changes could be seen in the arts, language, and in Gdańsk contributions to the world of science. In 1471, a refurbished sailing ship under Gdańsk captain Paul Beneke brought the famous altar painting titled: Latest Judgement (Jüngste Gericht) by artist Hans Memling to Gdansk. Around 1480–1490, tablets were installed at St. Mary's church, depicting the Ten Commandments [1] (http://artyzm.com/n/nieznani/dolnoniemiecki/e_tablica.htm) 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 Gdańsk in 1539, while he was working with Nicolaus Copernicus in nearby Frombork. The mayor of Gdańsk gave Rheticus financial assistance for the publication of the Narratio Prima, published by the Gdańsk printer Rhode in 1540 and to this day considered the best introduction to the Copernican theory. While in Gdańsk, Rheticus, who was also a cartographer and navigational instrument maker, interviewed Gdańsk pilots as to their navigational needs. He presented the Tabula chorographica auff Preusse to Duke Albert of Prussia in 1541.

The Gdansk printer Andreas Hünefeld(t) (Hunsfeldus) (1606–1652) printed a Gdańsk edition 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 Gdańsk, known as Bartholomaeus Nigrinus, together with two associates edited the Opitz poems for the Hünefeld printing house.

In 1606 a distillery named Der Lachs (the Salmon) was founded, which produced one of Gdańsk's most famous products, a liqueur named Danziger Goldwasser ("Gdańsk gold water"), made from herbs and with small 22 carat (92%) gold flakes floating in the bottle. The recipe for this went with those expelled in 1945 to western Germany, where it continued to be produced.

From the 14th century until the mid-17th century Gdansk experienced rapid growth, becoming the largest city on the Baltic seaboard by the 16th century owing to its large trade with the Netherlands and its handling of most of Poland's seaborne trade, transported up north via the Vistula river. The city's prosperity was severely damaged, however, by the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and the Northern Wars (1655–1660), and it suffered an epidemic of bubonic plague in 1709.

Gdańsk took part in all Hanseatic League conferences until the last one in 1669. By that time the United Provinces and other long-distance overseas commercial powers had overtaken the Baltic trade centres such as Gdańsk.

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

In the Kingdom of Prussia (1793–1806, 1815–1919)

In the first of the late 18th century Partitions of Poland (1772), German-speaking inhabitants of Gdańsk, fought fiercely to stay independent, while the majority of Polish Pomerania fell to the Kingdom of Prussia. Danzig was surrounded by the Prussian territories until 1793, when it was incorporated into the Prussian kingdom as part of the province of West Prussia, reverting under Napoleon Bonaparte to direct Prussian rule after a second brief period (1807–14) as a free city.

The feeling of grief felt by the citizens of Danzig when their independent city was incorporated into the state of Prussia was reflected in the pessimistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. From the first partition of Poland, the city lost its function as the principal port for Polish exports via the Baltic, and ceased to be the region's largest port as it experienced a prolonged economic and demographic slump.

With the industrial revolution and the steam engine trains, ships industrial machinery nearby Elbing and Ferdinand Schichau's Schichau Werke gained the upper hand for the city of Elbing again. Schichau later however constructed a large shipyard in Danzig as well.

From 1824 until 1878, East and West Prussia were combined as a single province under the Prussian kingdom. But although Danzig was a part of Kingdom of Prussia, it was never a member of the 1815–66 German Confederation (Deutsche Bund). After the Confederation's dissolution, the city was included in the newly created German Empire in 1871.

Free City (1920–1939)

Following Germany's defeat in World War I, the Allied power in the Treaty of Versailles (1919), decided to create Free City of Gdansk (under a commissioner appointed by the League of Nations) covering the city itself, the seaport, and a substantial surrounding territory. The League of Nations rejected the citizens' petition to have their city officially named as the Free Hanseatic city of Gdansk (Freie Hansestadt Danzig). However, the League recognized them as citizens of Gdansk with a separate Freistadt Danzig citizenship, and thus no longer possessors of Deutsches Reich/German citizenship.

The strategic aim of Poland was to regain free access to the open sea, and the territory assign to Poland in Treaty of Versailles were good opportunity for it. Poland also wanted to return to the relationship Poland had with the main port in Gdansk before 1772. However, at the crucial time of Polish–Soviet war, when Soviet army tried to capture Warsaw, Gdansk workers went on strike to block delivery of ammunition to the Polish army. This move set both sides in the conflict that marks the history of the Free City of Gdansk.

A customs union with Poland was created by the victorious allies of WWI, which gave the Gdansk Westerplatte port to the Polish republic, as the Polish military transit depot. The separation of the Gdansk 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 small squad of troops at Westerplatte. Due to massive resentment by the Gdansk inhabitants and with large foreign investments, Poland began building a large military port in Gdynia, just 25 km away from Gdansk. Unlike Gdansk, Gdynia was in direct possession of Poland and soon became the so called "Polish outside window".

After WWI massive inflow of Poles into the area took place. Gdynia was a small fishing village and spa with a 1000 inhabitants. With Poland's take-over it had over 100.000 Polish inhabitants 20 years later.

Due to a Polish–German trade war between 1925 and 1934, Poland was more focused than ever in history on the international trade. For example, the new railway line was build to connect Silesia with the coast and the new tariffs made it very cheap to send goods through Polish ports rather then German ones. Gdynia became the biggest port on the Baltic sea, however Danzig also profited from the prosperity. Nevertheless, Poland used to resort to economical sanctions, during Gdansk-Polish conflicts and then Gdansk suffered greatly.

The strong economy of the late 1920s was badly used by Danzig, as the leaders of the city were keen on showing their nationalistic views rather than developing peaceful and friendly relations with Poland.

The Free City of Danzig (Polish Wolne Miasto Gdansk) issued its own stamps and currency (the Gulden). Many examples of stamps and coins, bearing the legend Freie Stadt Danzig, survive in collections. The desire to rescind the Allied Powers' decision on the status of the city's 400,000 citizens, the majority of them local Kashub descents. This culminated in the election of a Nazi Party government in Danzig's elections of May 1933.

German incorporation of Gdansk was one of nationalistic territorial claims that every government of the Weimar Republic put on its agenda. When the Nazi government came to power in Germany in 1933, it had the government in Danzig stage a military incident in Gdansk in 1934. Both countries were on edge of war, but since Poland had showed its strength and united political will, Germany decided to compromise.

A Polish–German non-aggression agreement was signed and the Free City's government was ordered by the Nazis to stop making problems between Poland and Gdansk. Poland and Gdansk entered brief period of good economic cooperation and prosperity. Neverthless, a totalitarian society was being constructed, and being a member of minority -- either Polish or Jewish — required stamina in the face of everyday acts of violence and persecutions.

In 1939, the Jewish community decided that all members should leave — not only Gdansk — but the whole region, as they realised it would be soon in the hands of Nazis. This was successfully achieved.

World War II (1939–1945)

Following the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland, Germany in October 1938 urged the territory's cession to Germany. Not surprisingly, Poland refused to accept this threat and, on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, initiating World War II. On September 2 Germany officially annexed the Free City. The Nazi regime murdered the Polish postmen defending the Polish Post Office after the COF: this was one of the first war crimes during WWII. Other Polish soldiers defending the Westerplatte stronghold surrendered after 7 days of fighting. The German commander returned the sword to the Polish commander for putting up a brave fight. In October 1939, Danzig, together with the rest of the Polish Pomerania to the south and west, became the German Reichsgau (administrative district) of Danzig-West Prussia (Danzig–Westpreussen).

Poles, as well as German Nazi dissidents were sent to concentration camps, mainly the neighbouring Stutthof, where 85,000 locals perished. Kashub and Polish intelligentsia were killed in the Piasnica mass murder site, estimated at 60,000 victims.

At the beginning of 1945, Germany started evacuating civilians from Danzig. Most Germans fled the city, many by seaborne evacuation to Schleswig-Holstein. This happened during winter, under the bombs and in constant danger of submarines.

On March 30, 1945 the Soviet Army seized Danzig. In the following days, Soviet soldiers were given completely free hand in the city. In Danzig were scenes of brutal violence, rapes, murders, and robbery, and eventually the city was set on fire.

The official German history estimates that about 100,000 Danzigers — a quarter of the city's prewar population — lost their lives in the war, including the evacuation and Soviet capture of the city.

Post-WWII

Already before the end of World War II, the Yalta Conference had agreed to place Danzig, now called Gdansk, under de facto Polish administration, and this decision was confirmed at the Potsdam Conference. WW2 didn't end in a peace treaty with Germany, therefore West Germany — unlike the countries of anti-Nazi coalition — didn't recognized the border for formal point of view (de jure). The question of Polish sovereignty over Gdansk was eventually resolved after the treaties with East Germany 1950, West Germany 1970 and United Germany 1990.

A Communist-led Polish administration was declared in Gdansk. Nevertheless, the city was seriously devastated.

After the war ended, nearly all citizens of Germany that returned and remained in the city were recognized as a enemy aliens, citizens of an enemy country. Poles widely believed that the Danzigers' blame for triggering the WWII could not be rejected.

Most of the Germans had to face special verification committees that had to judge the personal behaviour during the German time. Many failed, even if their families' roots in Danzig/Gdansk went back many centuries, or they were of Kashubian descent, but had shown their support for Germany during WWII. The commitees are often criticised, since they were established by a communist government and their members were not always competent.

Later on, questions of citizenship were the subject of judicial process. Nevertheless, if somebody was granted Polish citizenship, he was not able to emigrate to Germany on his volition. After 1948, Stalin made the Polish government close the border for those who wanted to join their families in Germany. People of German origin were repressed and had to obtain special permissions for emigration. In the whole process, most of pre-war German citizens of Danzig left to Germany

New Polish residents were settled in Gdansk from other parts of Poland and from Polish-speaking areas east of the Curzon Line that were annexed by the Soviet Union after WWII. Many local Kasubs also moved into the city. The city was thus transformed from a city where most people communicated in the German language — portrayed in Danzig native Günter Grass's novels The Tin Drum and Dog Years — into a city where most people communicated using Polish.

Eventually, Polish artisans restored much of the old city's architecture, 90 percent destroyed in the war, but removed nearly all German inscriptions. All German names of streets, buildings, shipyards and districts were changed to Polish names, such as Długi Targ for Langemarkt (Long Market), the city's main pedestrian center.

Gdansk 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 Gdansk from 1347 to March 1945 was compiled by the current Gdansk city government and can be found on their recent website with the invitation for the "First World Gdańsk Reunion", which took place in May 2002. This list [2] (http://roots.gdansk.gda.pl/en/postacie/burmistrzowie.asp) demonstrates the shifting ethnicity of the city's inhabitants before and after the World Wars.

Famous people born in Gdansk

• Joannes Dantiscus, 1485, poet, church canon and bishop
• Bernhard von Reesen, 1490
• Albrecht IV Giese, 1524
• Anton van Obberghen, 1543, architect
• Anton Möller, 1563, painter
• Johannes Hevelius, 1611, astronomer
• Georg Daniel Schultz, 1615
• Andreas Schlüter, 1660
• Jacob Theodor Klein, 1685
• Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), physicist and engineer
• Daniel Gralath, 1708
• Louise Adelgunde Gottsched, 1713
• Daniel Chodowiecki, 1726, painter
• Johann Wilhelm Archenholz, 1741
• Georg Forster, 1754
• Johanna Schopenhauer, 1766
• Johannes Daniel Falk, 1768
• Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788
• Max Halbe, 1865
• Günter Grass, b. 1927, writer and philosopher
• Ryszard Grodnicki, b. 1947, painter, photographer
• Krzysztof Kolberger, b. 1950, actor
• Paweł Huelle, b 1957, writer and journalist
• Donald Tusk, b. 1957, politician, journalist and historian
• Dariusz Michalczewski, b. 1968, boxer

Famous people living or working in Gdansk

• Lech Walesa, b. 1943, trade unions activist, politician, president of Poland (1990–1995)

Further reading

• (ed.) E. Cieślak, Historia Gdańska, vol. I–II, Gdańsk 1978
• E. Cieślak, C. Biernat, Dzieje Gdańska, Gdańsk 1969
• P. Simson, Geschichte der Stadt Danzig, vol. 1–4, Danzig 1913-18
• H. Samsonowicz, Badania nad kapitałem mieszczańskim Gdańska w II połowie VX wieku., Warszawa 1960
• Cz. Biernat, Statystyka obrotu towarowego Gdańska w latach 1651–1815., Warszawa 1962
• M. Bogucka, Gdańsk jako ośrodek produkcyjny w XIV–XVII wieku., Warszawa 1962
• M. Bogucka, Handel zagraniczny Gdańska w pierwszej połowie XVII wieku, Wrocław 1970
• H. Górnowicz, Z. Brocki, Nazwy miast Pomorza Gdańskiego, Wrocław 1978
• Gminy województwa gdańskiego, Gdańsk 1995
• Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. I–IV, Poznań 1969-2003
• L. Bądkowski, Pomorska myśl polityczna, Gdańsk 1990
• W. Odyniec, Dzieje Prus Królewskich (1454–1772). Zarys monograficzny, Warszawa 1972
• (ed.) W. Odyniec, Dzieje Pomorza Nadwiślańskiego od VII wieku do 1945 roku, Gdańsk 1978
• L. Bądkowski, W. Samp, Poczet książąt Pomorza Gdańskiego, Gdańsk 1974
• B. Śliwiński, Poczet książąt gdańskich, Gdańsk 1997
• Józef Spors, Podziały administracyjne Pomorza Gdańskiego i Sławieńsko-Słupskiego od XII do początków XIV w, Słupsk 1983
• M. Latoszek, Pomorze. Zagadnienia etniczno-regionalne, Gdańsk 1996
• Działacze polscy i przedstawiciele R.P. w Wolnym Mieście Gdańsku, Pomorze Gdańskie nr 9, Gdańsk 1974
• B. Bojarska, Eksterminacja inteligencji polskiej na Pomorzu Gdańskim (wrzesień-grudzień 1939), Poznań 1972
• K. Ciechanowski, Ruch oporu na Pomorzu Gdańskim 1939–1945., Warszawa 1972
• Dziedzictwo kulturowe Pomorza nad Wisłą, Pomorze Gdańskie nr 20, Gdańsk 1997

External links

• 1598 map of Pomerania and western Prussia with Dan(t)zig (http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/desbillons/atlas/seite70.html)
• c.1630 map of Prussia with Dantzk (http://wwwtest.library.ucla.edu/libraries/mgi/maps/blaeu/prvssia.jpg)
• Map c 1701 of Prussia — Preussen with Freie Stadt Danzig (http://www.frombork.art.pl/Frombork-foto/m_reyilly.jpg)
• Free City of Gdansk stamps (http://home.golden.net/~medals/PortGdansk.html)
• www.danzig-online.de — Informationen über Danzig (http://www.danzig-online.de/)
• www.danzig.de — Geschichte und Menschen einer alten Hansestadt (http://www.danzig.de/)