Early times
editBefore Gdansk was established, the area 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 BC. The coast was called Gothiscandza by Jordanes; Tacitus also referred to it in his Germania. Both historians believed the area to be populated.
It is known that the Kashubians migrated to the area, but it is sure they settled 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 the 8th and 9th centuries, and, in the 10th century, an important stronghold of the Pomeranian dukes and at least 1,000 inhabitants.
Foundation of the City
editAlthough 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 Poland, who all received to compete with the ports of Szczecin and Wolin on the Oder River.
In 1000 Gdańsk belonged to the territory later called Pomerania, and to the bishopric in Kołobrzeg (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 Włocławek (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.
Capital of the Pomeranian Duchy (1138–1294/1308)
editIn 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 2,000 inhabitants, and Swantipolk II granted a charter 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, Gdańsk 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 the duke of Great Poland (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)
editAt the beginning of the 14th century, the region was plunged into war involving Poland and Brandenburg to the west. Brandenburg's claim to Gdansk 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 Wladislaw Lokietek of Poland. According to traditional Polish historiography all the inhabitants of the city, both Polish and German, were brutally slaughtered, but the extent of the slaughter is disputed. The Teutonic Order continued its invasion of the Polish lands, incorporating them into its domains. In September 1309, Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg sold his fictitious claim to the territory to the Teutonic Order for 10,000 marks. Since then the city became also known 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 Danzig, which could confirm it.
Initially the new rulers tried to reduce the economic significance of Danzig, by abolishing the local government and the privileges of the Lübeck traders. This apparently relates to the fact that the Danzig city council members, including Arnold Hecht and Conrad Leczkow, were in 1411 removed and beheaded. Later they had to accept the fact that Danzig defended its independence and was the biggest seaport of the region after overtaking Elbing (now Elblag), another nearby 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.
Possesion of Danzig 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 Danzig Pomerania as an alm or gift of Polish kings, and they also acknowlegded 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)
editIn 1440, Danzig joined the nearby Hanseatic cities of Elbing (now Elblag) and Thorn (now Torun) which together with gentry from Pomerania formed the Prussian Confederation, which then asked Casimir IV of Poland for incorporation of whole Prussia into Polish kingdom (February 1454) against the Teutonic Order's rule. The resulting "War of the Cities" or Thirteen Years' War ended with the Order's defeat and its surrender to the Polish crown (Second Treaty of Thorn, October 1466) of its rights in Gdansk Pomerania and the rest of the area subsequently known as Polish - or 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 contributions to the world of science. In 1471, a refurbished sailing ship under captain Paul Beneke brought the famous altar painting titled: Latest Judgement (Jüngste Gericht) by artist Hans Memling to the city. Around 1480–1490, tablets were installed at St. Mary's church, depicting the Ten Commandments (1) 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 Gdansk in 1539, while he was working with Nicolaus Copernicus in nearby Frombork. The mayor gave Rheticus financial assistance for the publication of the Narratio Prima, published by the in the city by the printer Rhode in 1540 and to this day considered the best introduction to the Copernican theory. While in Gdansk, Rheticus, who was also a cartographer and navigational instrument maker, interviewed pilots as to their navigational needs. He presented the Tabula chorographica auff Preusse to Duke Albert of Prussia in 1541.
The city struggled to remain as independent member of the Hanseatic League through the 16th century against various pressures (see Albrecht IV Giese, a councilman and member of a long established Gdansk patrician family, for details).
Local printer Andreas Hünefeld(t) (Hunsfeldus) (1606–1652) printed a Gdansk 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 Gdansk, 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 Gdansk'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 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.
Gdansk 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 Danzig.
In 1743 a Danzig Research Society was formed by Daniel Gralath.
In the Kingdom of Prussia (1793–1806, 1815–1919)
editIn the first of the late 18th century Partitions of Poland (1772), the German-speaking inhabitants of Danzig fought fiercely to keep status quo, while the majority of Polish Pomerania fell to the Kingdom of Prussia. Danzig was surrounded by the Prussian territories until the Second Partition Of Poland (1793), when it was incorporated into the Prussian kingdom as part of the province of West Prussia, reverting at the Congress of Vienna to direct Prussian rule after a brief period (1807–14) as a free city.
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, and industrial machinery in nearby Elbing and Ferdinand Schichau's Schichau Werke gained the upper hand for the city of Elbing again. Schichau later constructed a large shipyard in Danzig as well, however.
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 1815–1866 German Confederation (Deutsche Bund). After the Confederation's dissolution, the city was included, along with the rest of Prussia in the North German Confederation in 1867 and the newly created German Empire in 1871.
Free City Danzig (1920–1939)
editFollowing Germany's defeat in World War I, the Allied powers in the Treaty of Versailles (1919) decided to create the Free City of Danzig (under a commissioner appointed by the League of Nations) covering the city itself, the seaport, and a small surrounding territory. The purpose of this decision was to enable the Poles to use Danzig again as their chief port, while not subordinating the German population of the city to direct Polish rule. The League of Nations rejected the citizens' petition to have their city officially named as the Free Hanseatic City of Danzig (Freie Hansastadt Danzig). However, the League recognized them as citizens of Danzig with a separate Freistadt Danzig citizenship, and thus as no longer possessing German citizenship.
The strategic aim of Poland was to regain free access to the open sea, and the territory settlement given to Poland in the Treaty of Versailles was a good opportunity for this. The Polish government also hoped to return to the relationship Poland had with its main port of Danzig before 1772. However, at a crucial time of Polish-Soviet war, when the Soviet army was approaching Warsaw, Danzig workers went on strike to block delivery of ammunition to the Polish army. This move set both sides into the conflict that marks the history of the Free City of Danzig.
A customs union with Poland was created by the allied powers, which gave the Gdansk port of Westerplatte to the Polish republic as a Polish military transit depot. 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 small squad of troops at Westerplatte. Due to massive resentment by the German inhabitants of Danzig, the Poles, using large foreign investments, began building a large port in Gdynia, just 25 km away from Danzig . due to the Polish-German trade war of 1925–1934, Poland was more focused then ever in its history on 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, but Danzig also profited from the prosperity. Nevertheless, Poland frequently resorted to economical sanctions during conflicts with the authorities of the Free City, and Danzig suffered greatly as a result.
The strong economy of the late 1920s was not well-used by Danzig, as the leaders of the city were more interested in preparing the way for a future reunion with Germany than in developing better relations with Poland.
The Free City of Danzig (German Freie Stadt Danzig) issued its own stamps and currency (the Gulden). Many examples of stamps and coins, bearing the legend Freie Stadt Danzig, survive in collections. The general desire of the inhabitants was for an eventual reunion with Germany, and elections in the city generally gave success to nationalist elements. This culminated in the election of a Nazi Party government in Danzig's elections of May 1933, shortly after Hitler's accession to power in Germany.
German incorporation of Danzig was one of the nationalistic territorial claims that every government of the Weimar Republic had put on its agenda. When the Nazi government came to power in Germany in 1933, it had the government of Danzig stage a military incident in Danzig in 1934. Ultimately, though, Germany, which had not begun yet to openly rearm, decided to compromise rather than risk war with what was then a much larger Polish army.
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 Danzig. Poland and Danzig entered a brief period of good economic cooperation and prosperity. Neverthless, a totalitarian society was being constructed, and being a member of minority groups — 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 Danzig, 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)
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Following the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland, Germany in October 1938 urged the free city's cession to Germany. Poland refused to accept this and was eventually backed in its stance by the governments of France and the United Kingdom, disturbed by the annexion of Bohemia and Moravia in March of 1939. On September 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland. On September 2 Germany officially annexed the Free City of Danzig. Polish postmen defending the Polish Post Office were killed after they surrendered. 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 Corridor to the south and west, became the German Reichsgau (administrative district) of Danzig-West Prussia (Danzig-Westpreussen).
Poles as well as Jews were sent to concentration camps, mainly the neighbouring Stutthof, where 85,000 of locals perished. An estimate 60,000 members of the Polish (including many Kashubs) intelligentsia were killed in the Piasnica mass murder site.
At the beginning of 1945 Germany began to evacuate civilians from Danzig. Most of the German population fled the city, many by seaborne evacuation to Schleswig-Holstein. This happened during the winter, under heavy allied bombing and in constant danger of submarines.
On March 30, 1945 the Soviet Army seized Danzig. In the following days, Soviet soldiers had a completely free hand in the city. In Danzig there 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 — 40% of the city's pre-war population — lost their lives in the war, including the evacuation and Soviet capture of the city. However, this number is not based on reported casualties, but rather on difference between pre-war population and Danzigers finally settled down in Germany.
From Danzig to Gdansk and end of WWII
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Already before the end of World War II, the Yalta Conference had agreed to place Gdansk, under Polish administration, and this decision was confirmed at the Potsdam Conference. A treaty between Poland and the German Democratic Republic in 1950 confirmed existing border on Oder-Neisse line. However, due to the absence of a formal peace treaty and the powerful influence of the eastern refugee lobby in West Germany, the Federal Republic did not recognize the new border until the inception of Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik in 1970. The borders were reaffirmed by a treaty with reunited Germany in 1990.
Following the capture of the city 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 enemy aliens. Poles widely blamed the Danzigers for bringing about the Second World War (see also German exodus from Eastern Europe).
Most of the Germans had to face special verification committees that had to judge their personal behaviour during the war. 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 had to obtain special permissions for emigration.
In the whole process, most of the pre-war German citizens of Danzig fled to the Federal Republic.
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 German was the principal language — portrayed, for instance, in Danzig native Günter Grass's novels The Tin Drum and Dog Years — into a city were most people spoke Polish.
Post-WWII
editEventually, 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 their Polish names, such as Długi Targ for Langemarkt (Long Market), the city's main pedestrian center.
Gdansk, once again Poland's principal port, 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/Danzig 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.
On 10 May 2004, the Gdansk-Tricity international airport has been officialy renamed to Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport to commemorate famous Gdansk citizen Lech Walesa. This led to some controversy if this should be spelled Lech Walesa (without diacritics, but better recognizable in the world) or Lech Wałęsa (with Polish letters, but difficult to write and pronounced for foreigners.)