The title of an Honorary Citizen of

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 ...

(

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

: ''Honorowy Obywatel Gdańska'') is conferred by the city authorities to persons who made significant contributions to the city of Gdańsk, irrespective of their place of birth or nationality. The first historically documented person who received the title was Wilhelm Baum in 1832. The legal basis for conferring this honour was the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n Act on Local Government from 1831, which introduced the term of an ''honorary citizen''. In the period of the

Free City of Gdańsk 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 Gd ...

(1918-1945) and the

Communist State A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comint ...

(1945-1989) the title of an Honorary Citizen of Gdańsk was awarded to a number of controversial figures such as

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, Hermann Göring and Bolesław Bierut. All these titles were subsequently revoked by the City Council after the end of the

Second World War 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 ...

(this also included titles granted during the Prussian rule) and after the

collapse of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

in Poland. The title is purely symbolic and the recipients do not receive any financial awards. In the past, the recipients received a diploma and the city usually organized a ceremonial banquet to honour those who received the title.

List

Recipients of the

honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

( pl, Honorowi obywatele Gdańska), in order of date of presentation:

Prussia

# Wilhelm Baum (1832, revoked) # Johann Karl Rothe (1841, revoked) # Jakob Friedrich Rüchel-Kleist (1842, revoked) # Paul W. Wundsch (1847, revoked) # Adolf Heinrich von Grabow (1849, revoked) # Stanisław Kostka Rosołkiewicz (1849, revoked) # Emil Friedrich Götz (1849, revoked) # Otto von Manteuffel (1853, revoked) # Friedrich Wilhelm Clausewitz (1856, revoked) # Robert Ludwig Blumenthal (1863, revoked) # Matthias Gotthilf Löschin (1865, revoked) # Eduard Friedrich Wiebe (1885, revoked) # Karl Adolf Ernsthausen (1888, revoked) # Leopold von Winter (1890, revoked) # Julius Albert Licht (1893, revoked) #

Leo von Caprivi Georg Leo Graf von Caprivi de Caprara de Montecuccoli (English: ''Count George Leo of Caprivi, Caprara, and Montecuccoli''; born Georg Leo von Caprivi; 24 February 1831 – 6 February 1899) was a German general and statesman who served as the cha ...

(1894, revoked) # Heinrich Rickert (1895, revoked) # Otto Steffens (1896, revoked) # Richard Damme (1897, revoked) # Georg Friedrich Abegg (1898, revoked) # Gustav Heinrich von Gossler (1899, revoked) # Emil Berenz (1903, revoked) # Paul von Beneckendorff Hindenburg (1915, revoked) # August Anton Ludwig von Mackensen (1915, revoked)

Free City 1918-1945

Max Halbe Max Halbe (4 October 1865 – 30 November 1944) was a German dramatist and main exponent of Naturalism. Biography Halbe was born at the manor of Güttland (Koźliny) near Danzig (Gdańsk), where he grew up. He was a member of an old family of p ...

(1925-1945, revoked) #

Albert Forster Albert Maria Forster (26 July 1902 – 28 February 1952) was a Nazi German politician, member of the SS and war criminal. Under his administration as the ''Gauleiter'' and ''Reichsstatthalter'' of Danzig-West Prussia (the other German-ann ...

(1933-1945, revoked) #

(1939-1945, revoked) # Hermann Göring (1943-1945, revoked)

Communist State

# Bolesław Bierut (1947-1990, revoked) #

Konstanty Rokossowski Konstantin Konstantinovich (Xaverevich) Rokossovsky ( Russian: Константин Константинович Рокоссовский; pl, Konstanty Rokossowski; 21 December 1896 – 3 August 1968) was a Soviet and Polish officer who bec ...

(1949-1990, revoked) # Paweł Batow (1965-1990, revoked) # Wiktor Kulikow (1977-1990, revoked)

III Polish Republic

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...

(1993) # Hans Lothar Fauth (1994) #

Gerard Labuda Gerard Labuda ( csb, Gerard Labùda; 28 December 1916 – 1 October 2010) was a Polish historian whose main fields of interest were the Middle Ages and the Western Slavs. He was born in Kashubia. He lived and died in Poznań, Poland. Life Lab ...

(1994) # Ignacy Adamczewski (1994) #

Hans Koschnick Hans Koschnick (2 April 1929 – 21 April 2016) was a German politician (SPD) and elder statesman. He was the President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen from 1967 to 1985, the President of the Bundesrat in 1970/71 and 1981/82, and afterwards se ...

(1994) #

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

(1997) #

Richard von Weizsäcker Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker (; 15 April 1920 – 31 January 2015) was a German politician ( CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994. Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, who were part of the German nobilit ...

(1997) # Lech Wałęsa (1997) # Marian Kołodziej (1997) # Ryszard Kukliński (1998) # Westerplatte heroes (1998) #

Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig The Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig (Gdańsk) was one of the first acts of World War II in Europe, as part of the September Campaign.Zaloga, S.J., 2002, Poland 1939, Oxford: Osprey Publishing Ltd., On 1 September 1939 the Invasion of ...

heroes (1998) #

Lech Bądkowski Lech Bądkowski (24 January 1920 in Toruń, Poland – 24 February 1984 in Gdańsk) was a Polish writer, journalist, publicist and Kashubian-Pomeranian activist, a promoter of regional history and culture, co-founder and leader of the Kashubi ...

(2000) #

Henryka Krzywonos Henryka Krystyna Krzywonos-Strycharska was the former head of the Gdańsk transport workers. She is noted for playing a role in strikes and protests in 1980 Gdańsk. The authorities later beat her causing her to miscarry, as she had been pregna ...

(2000) # Jerzy Borowczak (2000) # Stefan Lewandowski (2000) #

Bogdan Borusewicz Bogdan Michał Borusewicz (; born 11 January 1949) was the Marshal in the Senate of Poland, Polish Senate from 20 October 2005 to 11 November 2015. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the History of Poland (1945-1989), Communist ...

(2000) #

Bogdan Lis Bogdan Jerzy Lis (born 1952 in Gdańsk) worked in Port of Gdańsk and Elmor company. Between 1971 and 1972 he was imprisoned for his participation in the anti-governmental coastal cities protests. Although in 1975 he joined the Polish United Wo ...

(2000) #

Joanna Duda-Gwiazda Andrzej Gwiazda (born 14 April 1935 in Pińczów) is an engineer and prominent opposition leader, who participated in Polish March 1968 Events and December 1970 Events; one of the founders of Free Trade Unions, Member of the Presiding Committee ...

(2000) #

Alina Pienkowska Alina Barbara Pienkowska (12 January 1952 – 17 October 2002; her surname is often misspelt as ''Pieńkowska'') was a Polish free trade union activist and a Senator for Gdańsk (1991–1993, Solidarity Parliamentary Club). She was involved in the ...

(2000) # Bogdan Felski (2000) # Ludwik Prądzyński (2000) # Wojciech Gruszecki (2000) # Józef Przybylski (2000) # Andrzej Gwiazda (2000) #

Jerzy Sikorski Jerzy Sikorski (born July 25, 1935) is a Polish historian, Copernicologist, medievalist, museologist, author, publisher, journalist, and encyclopedist, who writes and publishes primarily in Polish. He is a resident of Olsztyn, Poland. Life Early ...

(2000) # Stefan Izdebski (2000) # Lech Sobieszek (2000) # Jerzy Kmiecik (2000) # Tadeusz Stanny (2000) # Zdzisław Kobyliński (2000) #

Anna Walentynowicz Anna Walentynowicz (; ; 15 August 1929 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish free trade union activist and co-founder of Solidarity, the first non-communist trade union in the Eastern Bloc. Her firing from her job at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk in Aug ...

(2000, rejected) #

Andrzej Kołodziej Andrzej is the Polish form of the given name Andrew. Notable individuals with the given name Andrzej * Andrzej Bartkowiak (born 1950), Polish film director and cinematographer * Andrzej Bobola, S.J. (1591–1657), Polish saint, missionary and m ...

(2000) # Florian Wiśniewski (2000) #

Henryk Jankowski Father Henryk Jankowski (18 December 1936, in Starogard Gdański – 12 July 2010, in Gdańsk) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, member of Solidarity movement and one of the priests supporting that movement in opposition to the communist governm ...

(2000) #

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

(2000) #

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

(2000) #

Andrzej Januszajtis Andrzej Januszajtis (born 18 August 1928) is a Polish physicist, professor and politician who served as the Chairman of the City Council of Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli ...

(2000) #

(2000, revoked in 2019) # Zbigniew Brzeziński (2002) # Jan Nowak-Jeziorański (2002) #

Dieter Schenk Dieter Schenk (born March 14, 1937) is a German author, former high police officer of the Bundeskriminalamt, and a member of Amnesty International. He is best known for his work and activism which led the German court in Lübeck to overturn a 193 ...

(2003) # Zygmunt Chychła (2003) # Stanisław Bogdanowicz (2004) #

Jean Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanie ...

(2005) #

Ryszard Kaczorowski Ryszard Kaczorowski, GCMG (; 26 November 1919 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish statesman. From 1989 to 1990, he served as the last President of Poland- in-exile. He succeeded Kazimierz Sabbat, and resigned his post following Poland's regaini ...

(2008) # Helmut Kohl (2009) # Tadeusz Mazowiecki (2009) # Ludwik Wiśniewski (2011) # Andrzej Zbierski (2011) #

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...

(2016) #

Tadeusz Gocłowski Tadeusz Gocłowski, C.M. (16 September 1931 – 3 May 2016) was a Roman Catholic archbishop. Ordained to the priesthood in 1956, Gocłowski served as auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gdańsk, Poland, from 1983 to 1984. The ...

(2016) # Joanna Muszkowska-Penson (2018) # Halina Winiarska-Kiszkis (2020) # Jerzy Kiszkis (2020) # Danuta Wałęsa (2022)

References

{{Honorary citizenship

Gdansk Honorary citizens Honorary citizens of Gdansk