KS Gedania Danzig was an ethnically-Polish association football club that was part of German football competition in the inter-war period. It was formed in 1922 in what was at the time the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

(present day

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

). Banned by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

in 1939, the club re-emerged following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and is active today as ''

Gedania 1922 Gdańsk GKS Gedania 1922 is a football team based in Gdańsk, Poland. Founded in 1945 the club was the reforming of Gedania Danzig. History Gedania Danzig Formed on 15 September 1922, Gedania was an ethnic Polish football team who played in the Free ...

''. __TOC__

History

In 1920, following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Danzig and environs were separated from Germany through the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

, becoming an autonomous city-state under a

League of Nations mandate A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administ ...

. ''Gedania'' was founded as a sports club 15 September 1922 out of the gymnastics club ''Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne Sokół'' (Falcon Gymnastics Society). Initially the club was to be named ''Polonia'', however, local authorities opposed the idea, so the name ''Gedania'', a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

ized version of the name of the city, was used instead. In 1931, the football department of the club was founded and just two years later, in 1933, the club was competing in Germany's

Gauliga Ostpreußen The Gauliga Ostpreußen was the highest football league in the Prussian province of East Prussia (German: Ostpreußen) and the Free City of Danzig from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrati ...

, one of sixteen top flight divisions formed in the re-organization of the country's football competition under the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. The team enjoyed only moderate success, finishing second in what had become the Gauliga Danzig (I), a regional division of the Gauliga Ostpreußen, in 1936–37 and 1937–38, before delivering poor performances in the playoff round of the combined Gauliga Ostpreußen in both seasons. The ethnically-Polish side was regarded as politically unpalatable to the Nazi regime and was disbanded on 31 August 1939, on the eve of

, which began with the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

. The club's sporting equipment was destroyed while trophies, awards and the club chronicle were all stolen or taken away. Some of the team's facilities were used by the German military sports club ''

LSV Danzig Luftwaffensportverein Danzig was a short-lived German association football club from the city of Danzig, West Prussia (today Gdańsk, Poland). ''LSV'' was an air force (Luftwaffe) sports club that was active from 1941–44 and was made up prima ...

'' during the war. Following the war, the club was re-established as ''Gedania Gdańsk'', and currently plays in the regional league Gdańsk I. The club also has sections for

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

External links

Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv
historical German domestic league tables

(en: Football in East Prussia and Danzig)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danzig, Gedania Sport in Gdańsk History of Gdańsk Football clubs in Poland Football clubs in Germany Association football clubs established in 1922 Association football clubs disestablished in 1939 1922 establishments in Germany 1922 establishments in Poland Defunct football clubs in Germany Defunct football clubs in Poland Polish association football clubs outside Poland