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Gdańsk is a city on the
Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
coast of northern
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, and the capital of the
Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk Voivo ...
. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal
seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...
. Gdańsk lies at the mouth of the Motława River and is situated at the southern edge of
Gdańsk Bay Gdańsk Bay or the Gulf of Gdańsk is a southeastern bay of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the adjacent port city of Gdańsk in Poland. Geography The western part of Gulf of Gdańsk is formed by the shallow waters of the Bay of Puck. The so ...
, close to the city of
Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...
and the
resort town A resort town, resort city or resort destination is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding area. Sometimes ...
of
Sopot Sopot (; or ) is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania Province and has the City with powiat ri ...
; these form a
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
called the Tricity (''Trójmiasto''), with a population of approximately 1.5 million. The city has a complex history, having had periods of Polish, German and self rule. An important shipbuilding and trade port since the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, between 1361 and 1500 it was a member of the
Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...
, which influenced its economic, demographic and urban landscape. It also served as Poland's principal seaport and was its largest city since the 15th century until the early 18th century when
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
surpassed it. With the
Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...
, the city was annexed by
Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
in 1793, and became a part of the
German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
in
1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Bapaume – Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...
. In 1807–1814 and 1920–1939 it was a free city. On 1 September 1939 it was the scene of a military clash at Westerplatte, one of the first which initiated
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. In the 1980s, Gdańsk was the birthplace of the Polish
Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
movement, which helped precipitate the collapse of the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
, the
fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (, ) on 9 November in German history, 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions we ...
and the dissolution of the
Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...
. Gdańsk is home to the University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk University of Technology, the
National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...
, the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre, the
Museum of the Second World War The Museum of the Second World War () is a state cultural institution and museum established in 2008 in Gdańsk, Poland, which is devoted to the Second World War. Its exhibits opened in 2017. The museum is supervised by the Ministry of Culture ...
, the Polish Baltic Philharmonic, the
Polish Space Agency The Polish Space Agency (POLSA; Polish language, Polish: ''Polska Agencja Kosmiczna'', PAK) is the List of government space agencies, space agency of Poland, administered by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (Poland), Ministry o ...
and the
European Solidarity Centre The European Solidarity Centre () is a museum and library in Gdańsk, Poland, devoted to the history of Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity, the Polish trade union and civil resistance movement, and other opposition movements of Communis ...
. Among Gdańsk's most notable historical landmarks are the
Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...
, the
Green Gate The Green Gate (, former , now Grünes Tor) in Gdańsk, Poland, is one of the city's most notable tourist attractions. It is situated between Long Market (''Długi Targ'') and the River Motława. History With the Golden Gate (Gdańsk), Golden ...
,
Artus Court The Artus Court (; ; formerly also ''Junkerhof'') is a building in the centre of Gdańsk at Długi Targ 44, which used to be the meeting place of merchants and a centre of social life. Today it is a point of interest of numerous visitors and a b ...
, Neptune's Fountain, and St. Mary's Church, one of the largest brick churches in the world. The city is served by
Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (, formerly , ) is an international airport located northwest of Gdańsk, Poland, not far from the city centres of the Tricity metropolitan area: Gdańsk (), Sopot () and Gdynia (). Since 2004, the airport has bee ...
, the country's third busiest airport and the most important international airport in northern Poland. Gdańsk is among the most visited cities in Poland, having received 3.4 million tourists according to data collected in 2019. The city also hosts St. Dominic's Fair, which dates back to 1260, and is regarded as one of the biggest trade and cultural events in Europe. Gdańsk has also topped rankings for the quality of life, safety and living standards worldwide, and its historic city centre has been listed as one of Poland's national monuments.


Names


Origin

The name of the city was most likely derived from ''Gdania'', a river presently known as Motława on which the city is situated. Other linguists also argue that the name stems from the
Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...
adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...
/
prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Particularly in the study of languages, a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the word to which it is affixed. Prefixes, like other affixes, can b ...
''gъd-'', which meant ' wet' or ' moist' with the addition of the
morpheme A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this ...
'' ń''/''ni'' and the
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
''-sk''.


History

The name of the settlement was recorded after St. Adalbert's death in 997 CE as ''urbs Gyddanyzc'' and it was later written as ''Kdanzk'' in 1148, ''Gdanzc'' in 1188, ''Danceke'' in 1228, ''Gdańsk'' in 1236, ''Danzc'' in 1263, ''Danczk'' in 1311, ''Danczik'' in 1399, ''Danczig'' in 1414, and ''Gdąnsk'' in 1656. In Polish documents, the form Gdańsk was always used. The Germanised form ''Danzig'' developed later, simplifying the consonant clusters to something easier for German speakers to pronounce. The cluster "gd" became "d" (''Danzc'' from 1263), the combination "ns" became "nts" (''Danczk'' from 1311), and finally an epenthetical "i" broke up the final cluster (''Danczik'' from 1399). In Polish, the modern name of the city is pronounced . In English (where the
diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...
over the "n" is frequently omitted) the usual pronunciation is or . The Germanised name, ''Danzig'', is usually pronounced , or alternatively in more Southern German-speaking areas. The city's
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
name may be given as either ''Gedania'', ''Gedanum'', or ''Dantiscum''; the variety of Latin and German names typically reflects the difficulty of pronunciation of the original Polish city's name, all German- and Latin/Romance-speaking populations always encounter in trying to pronounce the difficult and complex Polish/ Lechitic words.


Ceremonial names

In the
Kashubian language Kashubian () or Cassubian (; ; ) is a West Slavic language belonging to the Lechitic subgroup.Stephen Barbour, Cathie Carmichael, ''Language and Nationalism in Europe'', Oxford University Press, 2000, p.199, In Poland, it has been an officia ...
the city is called . On special occasions, the city is also referred to as "The Royal Polish City of Gdańsk" (; ; ). Although some Kashubians may also use the name "Our Capital City Gduńsk" () or "Our egionalCapital City Gduńsk" (), the cultural and historical connections between the city and the region of
Kashubia Kashubia or Cassubia ( or ; ; or ) is an ethnocultural region in the historic Eastern Pomerania (Pomerelia) region of northern Poland. It is inhabited by the Kashubian people, and many in the region have historically spoken the Kashubian langua ...
are debatable and use of such names raises controversy among Kashubians.


History


Ancient history

The oldest evidence found for the existence of a settlement on the lands of what is now Gdańsk comes from the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
(which is estimated to be from 2500–1700 BC). The settlement that is now known as Gdańsk began in the 9th century, being mostly an
agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
and
fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...
-dependent village. In the beginning of the 10th century, it began becoming an important centre for
trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...
(especially between the Pomeranians) until its annexation in 975 by
Mieszko I Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was Duchy of Poland (966–1025), Duke of Poland from 960 until his death in 992 and the founder of the first unified History of Poland, Polish state, the Civitas Schinesghe. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was t ...
.


Early Poland

The first written record thought to refer to Gdańsk is the ''vita'' of Saint Adalbert. Written in 999, it describes how in 997 Saint
Adalbert of Prague Adalbert of Prague (, , , , ; 95623 April 997), known in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia by his birth name Vojtěch (), was a Czech missionary and Christian saint. He was the Bishop of Prague and a missionary to the Hungarians, Poles, ...
baptised the inhabitants of ''urbs Gyddannyzc'', "which separated the great realm of the duke Bolesław the Brave of Poland">Bolesław_I_Chrobry.html" ;"title=".e., Bolesław I Chrobry">Bolesław the Brave of Polandfrom the sea."Loew, Peter Oliver: Danzig. Biographie einer Stadt, Munich 2011, p. 24. No further written sources exist for the 10th and 11th centuries. Based on the date in Adalbert's ''vita'', the city celebrated its millennial anniversary in 1997.Wazny, Tomasz; Paner, Henryk; Golebiewski, Andrzej; Koscinski, Bogdan: Early medieval Gdańsk/Danzig revisited (EuroDendro 2004), Rendsburg 2004
pdf-abstract
.
Archaeological evidence for the origins of the town was retrieved mostly after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
had laid 90percent of the city centre in ruins, enabling excavations.Loew (2011), p. 24; Wazny et al. (2004)
abstract
.
The oldest seventeen settlement levels were dated to between 980 and 1308. Mieszko I of Poland erected a stronghold on the site in the 980s, thereby connecting the History of Poland (966–1385), Polish state ruled by the Piast dynasty with the trade routes of the Baltic Sea. Traces of buildings and housing from the 10th century have been found in archaeological excavations of the city.


Pomeranian Poland

The site was ruled as a
duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important differe ...
of Poland by the
Samborides The Samborides () or House of Sobiesław () were a ruling dynasty in the historic region of Pomerelia. They were first documented about 1155 as governors (''princeps'') in the Eastern Pomeranian lands serving the royal Piast dynasty of Kingdom o ...
. It consisted of a settlement at the modern Long Market, settlements of craftsmen along the Old Ditch, German merchant settlements around St Nicholas' Church and the old Piast stronghold. In 1215, the ducal stronghold became the centre of a Pomerelian splinter duchy. At that time the area of the later city included various villages. In 1224/25, merchants from
Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
were invited as ''hospites'' (immigrants with specific privileges) but were soon (in 1238) forced to leave by Świętopełk II of the Samborides during a war between Świętopełk and the
Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...
, during which Lübeck supported the latter. Migration of merchants to the town resumed in 1257. Significant German influence did not reappear until the 14th century, after the takeover of the city by the Teutonic Order. At latest in 1263
Pomerelia Pomerelia, also known as Eastern Pomerania, Vistula Pomerania, and also before World War II as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pomerania on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland. Gdańsk Pomerania is largely c ...
n duke, Świętopełk II granted city rights under
Lübeck law The Lübeck law () was the family of codified municipal law developed at Lübeck, which became a free imperial city in 1226 and is located in present-day Schleswig-Holstein. It was the second most prevalent form of municipal law in medieval and e ...
to the emerging market settlement. It was an autonomy charter similar to that of Lübeck, which was also the primary origin of many settlers. In a document of 1271 the
Pomerelia Pomerelia, also known as Eastern Pomerania, Vistula Pomerania, and also before World War II as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pomerania on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland. Gdańsk Pomerania is largely c ...
n duke Mestwin II addressed the Lübeck merchants settled in the city as his loyal citizens from Germany. In 1300, the town had an estimated population of 2,000. While overall the town was far from an important trade centre at that time, it had some relevance in the trade with
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
. Low on funds, the Samborides lent the settlement to Brandenburg, although they planned to take the city back and give it to Poland. Poland threatened to intervene, and the Brandenburgians left the town. Subsequently, the city was taken by Danish princes in 1301.


Teutonic Order

In 1308, the town was taken by
Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
and the Teutonic Knights restored order. Subsequently, the Order took over control of the town. Primary sources record a
massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...
carried out by the Teutonic Order against the local population, of 10,000 people, but the exact number killed is subject of dispute in modern scholarship. Hartmut Boockmann, ''Ostpreußen und Westpreußen'', Siedler, 2002, p. 158, Multiple authors accept the number given in the original sources,James Minahan, One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000,
p. 376 Google Books
while others consider 10,000 to have been a medieval exaggeration, although scholarly consensus is that a massacre of some magnitude did take place. The events were used by the Polish crown to condemn the Teutonic Order in a subsequent papal lawsuit. Thomas Urban:
Rezydencja książąt Pomorskich
.
The knights colonized the area, replacing local
Kashubians The Kashubians (; ; ), also known as Cassubians or Kashubs, are a Lechitic ( West Slavic) ethnic group native to the historical region of Pomerania, including its eastern part called Pomerelia, in north-central Poland. Their settlement area is ...
and Poles with German settlers. In 1308, they founded ''Osiek Hakelwerk'' near the town, initially as a Lechitic fishing settlement. In 1340, the Teutonic Order constructed a large fortress, which became the seat of the knights'
Komtur Commander (; ; ; ; ), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval military orders, such as the Knights Hospitaller, for a member senior to a Knight. ...
. In 1346 they changed the Town Law of the city, which then consisted only of the '' Rechtstadt'', to
Kulm law Kulm law, Culm law or Chełmno Law (; ; ) was a legal constitution for a municipal form of government used in several Central European cities in the Middle Ages and early modern period. It was initiated on 28 December 1233 in the Monastic State o ...
. In 1358, Danzig joined the
Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...
, and became an active member in 1361. It maintained relations with the trade centres
Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...
,
Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( ; , ; ), also known simply as Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the oldest cities in Russia, being first mentioned in the 9th century. The city lies along the V ...
,
Lisboa Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
, and
Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...
. Around 1377, the
Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...
was equipped with city rights as well. In 1380, the ''New Town'' was founded as the third, independent settlement. After a series of Polish-Teutonic Wars, in the Treaty of Kalisz (1343) the Order had to acknowledge that it would hold Pomerelia as a
fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
from the Polish Crown. Although it left the legal basis of the Order's possession of the province in some doubt, the city thrived as a result of increased exports of grain (especially wheat), timber,
potash Potash ( ) includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.
, tar, and other goods of forestry from Prussia and Poland via the
Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...
River
trading routes A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over land or water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a singl ...
, although after its capture, the Teutonic Order tried to actively reduce the economic significance of the town. While under the control of the Teutonic Order German migration increased. The Order's religious networks helped to develop Danzig's literary culture. A new war broke out in 1409, culminating in the
Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila), a ...
(1410), and the city came under the control of the
Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...
. A year later, with the First Peace of Thorn, it returned to the Teutonic Order.


Kingdom of Poland

In 1440, the city participated in the foundation of the Prussian Confederation which was an organisation opposed to the rule of the Teutonic Order. The organisation in its complaint of 1453 mentioned repeated cases in which the Teutonic Order imprisoned or murdered local patricians and mayors without a court verdict. On the request of the organisation King
Casimir IV of Poland Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...
reincorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. This led to the Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the
State of the Teutonic Order The State of the Teutonic Order () was a theocratic state located along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. It was formed by the knights of the Teutonic Order during the early 13th century Northern Crusades in the region ...
(1454–1466). Since 1454, the city was authorized by the King to mint Polish coins. The local mayor pledged allegiance to the King during the incorporation in March 1454 in
Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
, and the city again solemnly pledged allegiance to the King in June 1454 in
Elbląg Elbląg (; ; ) is a city in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland, located in the eastern edge of the Żuławy region with 127,390 inhabitants, as of December 2021. It is the capital of Elbląg County. Elbląg is one of the ol ...
, recognizing the prior Teutonic annexation and rule as unlawful. On 25 May 1457 the city gained its rights as an autonomous city. On 15 May 1457,
Casimir IV of Poland Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...
granted the town the Great Privilege, after he had been invited by the town's council and had already stayed in town for five weeks. With the Great Privilege, the town was granted full autonomy and protection by the King of Poland.: "Geben wir und verlehen unnsir Stadt Danczk das sie zcu ewigen geczeiten nymands for eynem herrn halden noc gehorsam zcu weszen seyn sullen in weltlichen sachen." The privilege removed tariffs and taxes on trade within Poland, Lithuania, and Ruthenia (present day
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
and
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
), and conferred on the town independent jurisdiction, legislation and administration of her territory, as well as the right to mint her own coin. Furthermore, the privilege united Old Town, Osiek, and Main Town, and legalised the demolition of New Town, which had sided with the Teutonic Order. By 1457, New Town was demolished completely, no buildings remained. Gaining free and privileged access to Polish markets, the seaport prospered while simultaneously trading with the other Hanseatic cities. After the
Second Peace of Thorn (1466) The Peace of Thorn or Toruń of 1466, also known as the Second Peace of Thorn or Toruń (; ), was a peace treaty signed in the Hanseatic city of Thorn (Toruń) on 19 October 1466 between the Polish king Casimir IV Jagiellon and the Teutonic K ...
between Poland and the Teutonic Order the warfare ended permanently; Gdańsk became part of the Polish province of Royal Prussia, and later also of the Greater Poland Province. The city was visited by
Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...
in 1504 and 1526, and '' Narratio Prima'', the first printed abstract of his heliocentric theory, was published there in 1540. After the
Union of Lublin The Union of Lublin (; ) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Kingd ...
between Poland and Lithuania in 1569 the city continued to enjoy a large degree of internal autonomy (cf. Danzig law). Being the largest and one of the most influential cities of Poland, it enjoyed voting rights during the royal election period in Poland. In the 1560s and 1570s, a large
Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...
community started growing in the city, gaining significant popularity. In the 1575 election to the Polish throne, Danzig supported Maximilian II in his struggle against
Stephen Báthory Stephen Báthory (; ; ; 27 September 1533 – 12 December 1586) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586) as well as Prince of Transylvania, earlier Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576). The son of Stephen VIII Báthory ...
. It was the latter who eventually became monarch but the city, encouraged by the secret support of
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
and Emperor Maximilian, shut its gates against Stephen. After the Siege of Danzig, lasting six months, the city's army of 5,000 mercenaries was utterly defeated in a field battle on 16 December 1577. However, since Stephen's armies were unable to take the city by force, a compromise was reached:
Stephen Báthory Stephen Báthory (; ; ; 27 September 1533 – 12 December 1586) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586) as well as Prince of Transylvania, earlier Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576). The son of Stephen VIII Báthory ...
confirmed the city's special status and her Danzig law privileges granted by earlier Polish kings. The city recognised him as ruler of Poland and paid the enormous sum of 200,000 guldens in gold as payoff ("apology"). During the Polish–Swedish War of 1626–1629, in 1627, the naval
Battle of Oliwa The Battle of Oliwa, also known as the Battle of Oliva or the Battle of Gdańsk Roadstead, was a naval battle that took place on 28 November, 1627, slightly north of the port of Gdańsk off of the coast of the village of Oliva during the Polish ...
was fought near the city, and it is one of the greatest victories in the history of the
Polish Navy The Polish Navy (; often abbreviated to ) is the Navy, naval military branch , branch of the Polish Armed Forces. The Polish Navy consists of 46 ships and about 12,000 commissioned and enlisted personnel. The traditional ship prefix in the Polish ...
. During the Swedish invasion of Poland of 1655–1660, commonly known as the
Deluge A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood. The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the biblical book of Genesis. Deluge or Le Déluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-L ...
, the city was unsuccessfully besieged by Sweden. In 1660, the war was ended with the
Treaty of Oliwa A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...
, signed in the present-day district of Oliwa. In 1677, a Polish-Swedish alliance was signed in the city. Around 1640,
Johannes Hevelius Johannes Hevelius Some sources refer to Hevelius as Polish: * * * * * * * Some sources refer to Hevelius as German: * * * * *of the Royal Society * (in German also known as ''Hevel''; ; – 28 January 1687) was a councillor and mayor of Danz ...
established his
astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...
in the
Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...
. Polish King
John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( (); (); () 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobieski was educated at the Jagiellonian University and toured Eur ...
regularly visited Hevelius numerous times. Beside a majority of German-speakers, whose elites sometimes distinguished their German dialect as
Pomerelia Pomerelia, also known as Eastern Pomerania, Vistula Pomerania, and also before World War II as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pomerania on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland. Gdańsk Pomerania is largely c ...
n, the city was home to a large number of Polish-speaking Poles, Jewish Poles, Latvian-speaking
Kursenieki The Kursenieki (, – 'Curonians', , ) are a nearly extinct Baltic ethnic group living along the Curonian Spit. "Kuršiai" refers only to inhabitants of Lithuania and former East Prussia that speak a southwestern dialect of Latvian. Some auto ...
,
Flemings Flemish people or Flemings ( ) are a Germanic ethnic group native to Flanders, Belgium, who speak Flemish Dutch. Flemish people make up the majority of Belgians, at about 60%. ''Flemish'' was historically a geographical term, as all inhabita ...
, and Dutch. In addition, a number of Scots took refuge or migrated to and received citizenship in the city, with first Scots arriving in 1380, and a French
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
commune was founded in 1686. During the
Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
, most German-speaking inhabitants adopted
Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
. Due to the special status of the city and significance within the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
, the city inhabitants largely became bi-cultural sharing both Polish and German culture and were strongly attached to the traditions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.Historia Polski 1795–1815 Andrzej Chwalba Kraków 2000, p. 441 The city suffered a last great plague and a slow economic decline due to the wars of the 18th century. After peace was restored in 1721, Danzig experienced steady economic recovery. As a stronghold of
Stanisław Leszczyński Stanisław I Leszczyński (Stanisław Bogusław; 20 October 1677 – 23 February 1766), also Anglicized and Latinized as Stanislaus I, was twice King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and at various times Prince of Deux-Ponts, Duk ...
's supporters during the
War of the Polish Succession The War of the Polish Succession (; 1733–35) was a major European conflict sparked by a civil war in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth over the succession to Augustus II the Strong, which the other European powers widened in pursuit of ...
, it was taken by the
Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
after the Siege of Danzig in 1734. In the 1740s and 1750s Danzig was restored and Danzig port was again the most significant grain exporting ports in the
Baltic region The Baltic Sea Region, alternatively the Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states, refers to the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, including parts of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Un ...
. The Danzig Research Society, which became defunct in 1936, was founded in 1743. In 1772, the
First Partition of Poland The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...
took place and
Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
annexed almost all of the former Royal Prussia, which became the Province of West Prussia. However, Gdańsk remained a part of Poland as an
exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...
separated from the rest of the country. The
Prussian king The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...
cut off Danzig with a military controlled barrier, also blocking shipping links to foreign ports, on the pretense that a cattle plague may otherwise break out. Danzig declined in its economic significance. However, by the end of the 18th century, Gdańsk was still one of the most economically integrated cities in Poland. It was well-connected and traded actively with German cities, while other Polish cities became less well-integrated towards the end of the century, mostly due to greater risks for long-distance
trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...
, given the number of
violent Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...
conflicts along the trade routes.


Prussia and Germany

Danzig was annexed by the
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...
in 1793, in the
Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...
. Both the Polish and the German-speaking population largely opposed the Prussian annexation and wanted the city to remain part of Poland. The mayor of the city stepped down from his office due to the annexation. The notable city councilor Jan (Johann) Uphagen, historian and art collector, also resigned as a sign of protest against the annexation. His house exemplifies
Baroque in Poland The Polish Baroque lasted from the early 17th to the mid-18th century. As with Baroque style elsewhere in Europe, Poland's Baroque emphasized the richness and triumphant power of contemporary art forms. In contrast to the previous, Renaissance styl ...
and is now a museum, known as Uphagen's House. An attempted student uprising against Prussia led by Gottfried Benjamin Bartholdi was crushed quickly by the authorities in 1797. During the
Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, in 1807, the city was besieged and captured by a coalition of French, Polish,
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
,
Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
, and
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...
forces. Afterwards, it was a free city from 1807 to 1814, when it was captured by combined Prussian-Russian forces. In 1815, after France's defeat in the
Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, it again became part of Prussia and became the capital of within the province of
West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and from 1878 to 1919. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773, formed from Royal Prussia of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonweal ...
. Since the 1820s, the Wisłoujście Fortress served as a prison, mainly for Polish political prisoners, including resistance members, protesters, insurgents of the
November November is the eleventh and penultimate month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 30 days. November was the ninth month of the calendar of Romulus . November retained its name (from the Latin ''novem'' meaning " ...
and
January January is the first month of the year in the Julian calendar, Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the year within most of the No ...
uprisings and refugees from the
Russian Partition The Russian Partition (), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Poland. The Russian ac ...
of Poland fleeing conscription into the Russian Army, and insurgents of the November Uprising were also imprisoned in Biskupia Górka (''Bischofsberg''). In May–June 1832 and November 1833, more than 1,000 Polish insurgents departed partitioned Poland through the city's port, boarding ships bound for
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
(see ''
Great Emigration The Great Emigration () was the emigration of thousands of Poles and Lithuanians, particularly from the political and cultural élites, from 1831 to 1870, after the failure of the November Uprising of 1830–1831 and of other uprisings such as ...
''). The city's longest serving mayor was Robert von Blumenthal, who held office from 1841, through the
revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...
, until 1863. With the
unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...
in 1871 under Prussian
hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states, either regional or global. In Ancient Greece (ca. 8th BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of ...
, the city became part of the
German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
and remained so until 1919, after Germany's defeat in
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Starting from the 1850s, long-established Danzig families often felt marginalized by the new town elite originating from mainland Germany. This situation caused the Polish to allege that the Danzig people were oppressed by German rule and for this reason allegedly failed to articulate their natural desire for strong ties with Poland.


Free City of Danzig and World War II

When Poland regained its independence after
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
with access to the sea as promised by the
Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
on the basis of
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
's "
Fourteen Points The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress ...
" (point 13 called for "an independent Polish state", "which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea"), the Poles hoped the city's harbour would also become part of Poland. However, in the end – since Germans formed a majority in the city, with Poles being a minority (in the 1923 census 7,896 people out of 335,921 gave Polish, Kashubian, or Masurian as their native language) – the city was not placed under Polish sovereignty. Instead, in accordance with the terms of the
Versailles Treaty The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace of Versailles, exactl ...
, it became the
Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...
, an independent quasi-state under the auspices of the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
with its external affairs largely under Polish control. Poland's rights also included free use of the harbour, a Polish post office, a Polish garrison in Westerplatte district, and customs union with Poland. The Free City had its own constitution,
national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...
,
parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, and government (). It issued its own stamps as well as its currency, the Danzig gulden. With the growth of Nazism among Germans, anti-Polish sentiment increased and both Germanisation and Racial segregation, segregation policies intensified, in the 1930s the rights of local Poles were commonly violated and limited by the local administration. Polish children were refused admission to public Polish-language schools, premises were not allowed to be rented to Polish schools and preschools.Wardzyńska, p. 40 Due to such policies, only eight Polish-language public schools existed in the city, and Poles managed to organize seven more private Polish schools. In the early 1930s, the local Nazi Party capitalised on pro-German sentiments and in 1933 garnered 50% of vote in the parliament. Thereafter, the Nazis under Gauleiter Albert Forster achieved dominance in the city government, which was still nominally overseen by the League of Nations' High Commissioner. In 1937, Poles who sent their children to private Polish schools were required to transfer children to German schools, under threat of police intervention, and attacks were carried out on Polish schools and Polish youth. German militias carried out numerous beatings of Polish activists, scouts and even postal workers, as "punishment" for distributing the Polish press.Wardzyńska, p. 41 German students attacked and expelled Polish students from the technical university. Dozens of Polish surnames were forcibly Germanized, while Polish symbols and monuments that reminded that for centuries Gdańsk was part of Poland were removed from the city's landmarks, such as the
Artus Court The Artus Court (; ; formerly also ''Junkerhof'') is a building in the centre of Gdańsk at Długi Targ 44, which used to be the meeting place of merchants and a centre of social life. Today it is a point of interest of numerous visitors and a b ...
and the Neptune's Fountain.Wardzyńska, p. 42 From 1937, the employment of Poles by German companies was prohibited, and already employed Poles were fired, the use of Polish in public places was banned and Poles were not allowed to enter several restaurants, in particular those owned by Germans. In 1939, before the German invasion of Poland and outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, local Polish railwaymen were victims of beatings, and after the invasion, they were also imprisoned and murdered in Nazi concentration camps, concentration camps. NSDAP, The German government officially demanded the return of Danzig to Germany along with an extraterritorial (meaning under German jurisdiction) highway through the area of the Polish Corridor for land-based access from the rest of Germany. Hitler used the issue of the status of the city as a pretext for attacking Poland and in May 1939, during a high-level meeting of German military officials explained to them: "It is not Danzig that is at stake. For us it is a matter of expanding our Lebensraum in the east", adding that there will be no repeat of the Czech situation, and Germany will attack Poland at first opportunity, after isolating the country from its Western Allies. After the German proposals to solve the three main issues peacefully were refused, German-Polish relations rapidly deteriorated. Germany Invasion of Poland, attacked Poland on 1 September after having signed Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. The German attack began in Danzig, with a bombardment of Polish positions at Westerplatte by the German battleship , and the landing of German infantry on the peninsula. Outnumbered Polish defenders at Westerplatte Battle of Westerplatte, resisted for seven days before running out of ammunition. Meanwhile, after a fierce day-long Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig, fight (1 September 1939), defenders of the Polish Post office were tried and executed then buried on the spot in the Danzig quarter of Zaspa in October 1939. In 1998 a German court overturned their conviction and sentence. The city was officially annexed by Nazi Germany and incorporated into the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. About 50 percent of members of the History of the Jews in Gdańsk, Jewish community had left the city within a year after a pogrom in October 1937. After the Kristallnacht riots in November 1938, the community decided to organize its emigration and in March 1939 a first transport to Mandatory Palestine, Palestine started. By September 1939 barely 1,700 mostly elderly Jews remained. In early 1941, just 600 Jews were still living in Danzig, most of whom were later murdered in the Holocaust. Out of the 2,938 Kehilla (modern), Jewish community in the city, 1,227 were able to escape from the Nazis before the outbreak of war. Gestapo, Nazi secret police had been observing Polish minority communities in the city since 1936, compiling information, which in 1939 served to prepare lists of Poles to be captured in Operation Tannenberg. On the first day of the war, approximately 1,500 Polish people, ethnic Poles were arrested, some because of their participation in social and economic life, others because they were activists and members of various Polish organisations. On 2 September 1939, 150 of them were deported to the Stutthof concentration camp, Sicherheitsdienst camp Stutthof some from Danzig, and murdered. Many Poles living in Danzig were deported to Stutthof or executed in the Massacres in Piaśnica, Piaśnica forest. During the war, Germany operated a prison in the city, an ''Einsatzgruppen''-operated penal camp, a camp for Romani people, two subcamps of the Stalag XX-B German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II, prisoner-of-war camp for Allies of World War II, Allied POWs, and several subcamps of the Stutthof concentration camp within the present-day city limits. In 1941, Hitler ordered the Operation Barbarossa, invasion of the Soviet Union, eventually causing the fortunes of war to turn against Germany. As the Red Army, Soviet Army advanced in 1944, German populations in Central Europe took flight, resulting in the beginning of a great population shift. After the East Pomeranian Offensive, final Soviet offensives began in January 1945, hundreds of thousands of German refugees converged on Danzig, many of whom had fled on foot from East Prussia, some tried to escape through the city's port in a large-scale evacuation involving hundreds of German cargo and passenger ships. Some of the ships were sunk by the Soviets, including the after an evacuation was attempted at neighbouring
Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...
. In the process, tens of thousands of refugees were killed. The city also endured heavy Allied and Soviet air raids. The city was Siege of Danzig (1945), captured by 1st Warsaw Armoured Brigade, Polish and Red Army, Soviet troops in March 1945. The city was heavily damaged and Soviet soldiers and German saboteurs set fire to houses. Soviet soldiers committed large-scale Rape during the liberation of Poland, rape and Looting of Poland in World War II, looting, especially of the port, shipyard and factories. In line with the decisions made by the Allies at the Yalta Conference, Yalta and Potsdam Conference, Potsdam conferences, the city became again part of Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. The remaining German residents of the city who had survived the war Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II, fled or were expelled to postwar Germany. The city was repopulated by ethnic Polish people, Poles; up to 18 percent (1948) of them had been Polish population transfers (1944–1946), deported by the Soviets in Repatriation of Poles (1955–1959), two major waves from pre-war eastern Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union.


Post World War II (1945–1989)

In 1946, the communists executed 17-year-old Danuta Siedzikówna and 42-year-old :pl:Feliks Selmanowicz, Feliks Selmanowicz, known Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish resistance members, in the local prison. The port of Gdańsk was one of the three Polish ports through which Greeks and Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonians, refugees of the Greek Civil War, reached Poland. In 1949, four transports of Greek and Macedonian refugees arrived at the port of Gdańsk, from where they were transported to new homes in Poland. Parts of the historic old city of Gdańsk, which had suffered large-scale destruction during the war, were rebuilt during the 1950s and 1960s. The reconstruction sought to dilute the "German character" of the city, and set it back to how it supposedly looked like before the annexation to Prussia in 1793. Nineteenth-century transformations were ignored as "ideologically malignant" by post-war administrations, or regarded as "Prussian barbarism" worthy of demolition, while Flemish/Dutch, Italian and French influences were emphasized in order to "neutralize" the German influx on the general outlook of the city. Boosted by heavy investment in the development of its port and three major shipyards for Soviet ambitions in the
Baltic region The Baltic Sea Region, alternatively the Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states, refers to the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, including parts of Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Un ...
, Gdańsk became the major shipping and industrial centre of the People's Republic of Poland. In December 1970, Gdańsk was the scene of Polish 1970 protests, anti-regime demonstrations, which led to the downfall of Poland's communist leader Władysław Gomułka. During the demonstrations in Gdańsk and Gdynia, military as well as the police opened fire on the demonstrators causing several dozen deaths. Ten years later, in August 1980, Gdańsk Shipyard was the birthplace of the
Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
trade union movement. In September 1981, to deter Solidarity, Soviet Union launched Exercise Zapad-81, the largest military exercise in history, during which amphibious landings were conducted near Gdańsk. Meanwhile, the Solidarity held its first national congress in Hala Olivia, Gdańsk in which more than 800 deputies participated. Its opposition to the Communist regime led to the end of Communist Party rule in 1989, and sparked a series of protests that overthrew the Communist regimes of the former
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
.


Contemporary history (1990–present)

Solidarity's leader, Lech Wałęsa, became President of Poland in 1990. In 2014 the
European Solidarity Centre The European Solidarity Centre () is a museum and library in Gdańsk, Poland, devoted to the history of Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity, the Polish trade union and civil resistance movement, and other opposition movements of Communis ...
, a museum and library devoted to the history of the movement, opened in Gdańsk. On 9 July 2001, the city was flooded, with 200 million Polish złoty, zł being estimated in damage, 4 people killed, and 304 evacuated. As a result, the city has built 50 reservoirs, the number of which is rising. Gdańsk native Donald Tusk is Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and again from 2023 to present and was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. In 2014, the remains of Danuta Siedzikówna and Feliks Selmanowicz were found at the local Garrison Cemetery, and then their state burial was held in Gdańsk in 2016, with the participation of thousands of people from all over Poland and the highest Polish authorities. In January 2019, the Mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, was Assassination of Paweł Adamowicz, assassinated by a man who had just been released from prison for violent crimes. After stabbing the mayor in the abdomen near the heart, the man claimed that the mayor's political party had been responsible for imprisoning him. Though Adamowicz underwent a multi-hour surgery, he died the next day. In October 2019, the City of Gdańsk was awarded the Princess of Asturias Awards, Princess of Asturias Award in the Concord category as a recognition of the fact that "the past and present in Gdańsk are sensitive to solidarity, the defense of freedom and human rights, as well as to the preservation of peace". In a 2023 Report on the Quality of Life in European Cities compiled by the European Commission, Gdańsk was named as the fourth best city to live in Europe alongside Leipzig, Stockholm and Geneva.


Geography

Gdańsk lies at the mouth of the Motława river to the Martwa Wisła, a branch of the
Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...
. It is located on the border between different physiographic regions: Vistula Spit (waterside part of the city), Vistula Fens (eastern part of the city), Kashubian Coastland (north-western part of the city) and Kashubian Lake District (western part of the city).


Climate

Gdańsk has a climate with both oceanic and continental influences. According to some categorizations, it has an oceanic climate (Cfb), while others classify it as belonging to the humid continental climate (Dfb). It actually depends on whether the mean reference temperature for the coldest winter month is set at or . Gdańsk's dry winters and the precipitation maximum in summer are indicators of continentality. However seasonal extremes are less pronounced than those in inland Poland.Gdansk
". ''Weatherbase.com''. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
The city has moderately cold and cloudy winters with mean temperature in January and February near or below and mild summers with frequent showers and thunderstorms. Average temperatures range from and average monthly rainfall varies per month with a rather low annual total of . In general, the weather is damp, variable, and mild. The seasons are clearly differentiated. Spring starts in March and is initially cold and windy, later becoming pleasantly warm and often increasingly sunny. Summer, which begins in June, is predominantly warm but hot at times with temperature reaching as high as at least couple times a year with plenty of sunshine interspersed with heavy rain. Gdańsk averages 1,700 hours of sunshine per year. July and August are the warmest months. Autumn comes in September and is at first warm and usually sunny, turning cold, damp, and foggy in November. Winter lasts from December to March and includes periods of snow. January and February are the coldest months with the temperature sometimes dropping as low as .


Economy

The industrial sections of the city are dominated by shipbuilding, petrochemical, and chemical industries, as well as food processing. The share of high-tech sectors such as electronics, telecommunications, IT engineering, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals is on the rise. Amber processing is also an important part of the local economy, as the majority of the world's amber deposits lie along the
Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
coast. Major companies based in Gdańsk include multinational clothing company LPP (company), LPP, Energa, Remontowa, the Gdańsk Shipyard, Ziaja, and BreakThru Films. The city also served as a major base for Grupa Lotos, with the Gdańsk Refinery having been the second-largest in Poland, with a capacity of . Gdańsk also hosts the biennial BALTEXPO International Maritime Fair and Conference, the largest fair dedicated to the maritime industry in Poland. The largest shopping center located in the city is Forum Gdańsk, which covers a large plot in the city centre. In 2021, the registered unemployment rate in the city was estimated at 3.6%.


Main sights


Architecture

The city has some buildings surviving from the time of the
Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...
. Most tourist attractions are located in the area of the Main City of Gdańsk, along or near Ulica Długa (''Long Street'') and Długi Targ (''Long Market''), a pedestrian thoroughfare surrounded by buildings reconstructed in historical (primarily during the 17th century) style and flanked at both ends by elaborate city gates. This part of the city is sometimes referred to as the Royal Route, since it was once the path of processions for visiting Kings of Poland. Walking from end to end, sites encountered on or near the Royal Route include: * Highland Gate ('':pl:Brama Wyżynna w Gdańsku, Brama Wyżynna''), which marks the beginning of the Royal Route * Torture House (''Katownia'') and Prison Tower (''Wieża więzienna''), now housing the Amber Museum ('':pl:Muzeum Bursztynu w Gdańsku, Muzeum Bursztynu'') * Mansion of the Society of Saint George ('':pl:Dwór Bractwa św. Jerzego w Gdańsku, Dwór Bractwa św. Jerzego'') * Golden Gate (Gdańsk), Golden Gate (''Złota Brama'') * ''Ulica Długa'' ("Long Lane"), filled with picturesque tenements ** Uphagen's House (''Dom Uphagena''), branch of the Museum of Gdańsk ** Lion's Castle ('':pl:Lwi Zamek, Lwi Zamek'') ** Gdańsk Town Hall, Main Town Hall (''Ratusz Głównego Miasta'', built 1378–1492) * ''Długi Targ'' ("Long Market") ** Artus Court, Artus' Court (''Dwór Artusa'') ** Neptune's Fountain (''Fontanna Neptuna''), a masterpiece by architect Abraham van den Blocke, 1617. It is the oldest working fountain in Poland. ** New Jury House ('':pl:Nowy Dom Ławy w Gdańsku, Nowy Dom Ławy''), in which the seemingly 17th-century ''Maiden in the Window'' appears every day during the tourist season, referring to a popular novel ''Panienka z okienka'' ("Maiden in the Window") by Jadwiga Łuszczewska, set in 17th-century Gdańsk ** Golden House ('':pl:Złota Kamienica w Gdańsku, Złota Kamienica''), a distinctive Renaissance in Poland, Renaissance townhouse from the early 17th century, decorated with numerous reliefs and sculptures *
Green Gate The Green Gate (, former , now Grünes Tor) in Gdańsk, Poland, is one of the city's most notable tourist attractions. It is situated between Long Market (''Długi Targ'') and the River Motława. History With the Golden Gate (Gdańsk), Golden ...
(''Zielona Brama''), a Mannerist architecture and sculpture in Poland, Mannerist gate, built as a formal residence of Polish kings, now housing a branch of the National Museum, Gdańsk, National Museum in Gdańsk Gdańsk has a number of historical churches, including St Catherine's Church, Gdańsk, St. Catherine's Church, Basilica of St. Nicholas, Gdańsk, St. Nicholas' Church and St. Mary's Church (''Bazylika Mariacka''). The St. Mary's Church is a municipal church built during the 15th century, and is one of the largest brick churches in the world. The city center within 17th-century fortifications represent one of Poland's official national List of Historical Monuments (Poland), Historic Monuments (''Pomnik historii''), as designated on 16 September 1994 and tracked by the Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa, National Heritage Board of Poland. Other main sights in the historical city centre include: * Royal Chapel of the Polish King
John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( (); (); () 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobieski was educated at the Jagiellonian University and toured Eur ...
* ''Żuraw'' – medieval port crane * Mannerist architecture and sculpture in Poland, Mannerist Great Armoury * Granaries on the Ołowianka and Granary Islands * John III Sobieski Monument in Gdańsk, John III Sobieski Monument * Old Town Hall * Mariacka Street * Polish Post Office (Danzig), Polish Post Office, site of the Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig, 1939 battle * Brick gothic town gates, i.e., Mariacka Gate, Straganiarska Gate, Cow Gate Main sights outside the historical city centre include: * Abbot's Palace (Oliwa), Abbot's Palace in the Oliwa Park * Oliwa Cathedral * Brzeźno Pier * City walls of Gdańsk, Medieval city walls * Westerplatte * Wisłoujście Fortress * Gdańsk Zoo * Olivia Business Centre, a district made up of six buildings ** Olivia Star, the tallest building in Gdańsk and the rest of northern Poland. It was finished in 2018 and measures at . File:Gdansk Royal Chapel.jpg, Royal Chapel of the Polish King –
John III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( (); (); () 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobieski was educated at the Jagiellonian University and toured Eur ...
was built in baroque style between 1678 and 1681 by Tylman van Gameren. File:Bazylika Mariacka DSC01870.jpg, St. Mary's Church – one of the largest brick churches in the world File:Gdańsk (DerHexer) 2010-07-15 091.jpg, Polish Post Office (Danzig), Polish Post Office, site of the Defence of the Polish Post Office in Danzig, 1939 battle


Museums

*
National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...
(''Muzeum Narodowe'') ** Department of Ancient Art – contains a number of important artworks, including Hans Memling's ''The Last Judgment (Memling), The Last Judgement'' **
Green Gate The Green Gate (, former , now Grünes Tor) in Gdańsk, Poland, is one of the city's most notable tourist attractions. It is situated between Long Market (''Długi Targ'') and the River Motława. History With the Golden Gate (Gdańsk), Golden ...
** Department of Modern Art – in the Abbot's Palace (Oliwa), Abbot's Palace in Oliwa ** Ethnography Department – in the Abbot's Granary in Oliwa ** Gdańsk Photography Gallery * Historical Museum ('':pl:Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Gdańska, Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Gdańska''): ** Gdańsk Town Hall, Main Town Hall ** Artus Court, Artus' Court ** Uphagen's House ** Amber Museum ('':pl:Muzeum Bursztynu w Gdańsku, Muzeum Bursztynu'') ** Museum of the Polish Post ('':pl:Muzeum Poczty Polskiej w Gdańsku, Muzeum Poczty Polskiej'') ** '':pl:Wartownia nr 1 na Westerplatte, Wartownia nr 1 na Westerplatte'' ** Museum of Tower Clocks ('':pl:Muzeum Zegarów Wieżowych, Muzeum Zegarów Wieżowych'') ** Wisłoujście Fortress * National Maritime Museum, Gdańsk (''Narodowe Muzeum Morskie''): ** museum ship ''SS Sołdek'' is anchored on the Motława River and was the first ship built in post-war Poland. *
European Solidarity Centre The European Solidarity Centre () is a museum and library in Gdańsk, Poland, devoted to the history of Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity, the Polish trade union and civil resistance movement, and other opposition movements of Communis ...
. Museum and library dedicated to the history of the
Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
movement. * Archdiocese Museum ('':pl:Muzeum Archidiecezjalne w Gdańsku, Muzeum Archidiecezjalne'') * Museum of the Second World War


Entertainment

* Polish Baltic Philharmonic * Baltic State Opera, Baltic Opera * Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre is a Shakespearean theatre built on the historical site of a 17th-century playhouse where English travelling players came to perform. The new theatre, completed in 2014, hosts the annual Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival.


Transport

The city's core transport infrastructure includes
Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (, formerly , ) is an international airport located northwest of Gdańsk, Poland, not far from the city centres of the Tricity metropolitan area: Gdańsk (), Sopot () and Gdynia (). Since 2004, the airport has bee ...
, an international airport located in Gdańsk, and the Szybka Kolej Miejska (Tricity), Szybka Kolej Miejska, (SKM) which functions as a rapid transit system for the Tricity area, including Gdańsk,
Sopot Sopot (; or ) is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania Province and has the City with powiat ri ...
and
Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...
, operating frequent trains to 27 stations covering the Tricity. The principal station in Gdańsk is Gdańsk Główny railway station, served by both Szybka Kolej Miejska (Tricity), SKM local trains and Polskie Koleje Panstwowe, PKP long-distance trains. In addition, long-distance trains also stop at Gdańsk Oliwa railway station, Gdańsk Wrzeszcz railway station, Sopot railway station, Sopot, and Gdynia Główna railway station, Gdynia. Gdańsk also has nine other railway stations, served by local Szybka Kolej Miejska (Tricity), SKM trains; Long-distance trains are operated by PKP Intercity which provides connections with most major List of cities and towns in Poland, Polish cities, including
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
,
Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
, Łódź, Poznań, Katowice, Szczecin, Częstochowa, and Wrocław. Polregio operates regional trains with the neighbouring Kashubian Lake District, Kashubian Lakes Region along with trains to Słupsk, Hel, Poland, Hel, Malbork, and
Elbląg Elbląg (; ; ) is a city in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland, located in the eastern edge of the Żuławy region with 127,390 inhabitants, as of December 2021. It is the capital of Elbląg County. Elbląg is one of the ol ...
. Between 2011 and 2015, the rail route between Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Warsaw underwent a major upgrade, resulting in improvements in the railway's speed and critical infrastructure such as signalling systems, as well as the construction of the Pomorska Kolej Metropolitalna, a major suburban railway, which was opened in 2015. City buses and Trams in Gdańsk, trams are operated by ZTM Gdańsk (Zarząd Transportu Miejskiego w Gdańsku). The Port of Gdańsk is a seaport located on the southern coast of
Gdańsk Bay Gdańsk Bay or the Gulf of Gdańsk is a southeastern bay of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the adjacent port city of Gdańsk in Poland. Geography The western part of Gulf of Gdańsk is formed by the shallow waters of the Bay of Puck. The so ...
, located within the city, and the Obwodnica Trójmiejska and A1 autostrada (Poland), A1 autostrada allow for automotive access to the city. Additionally, Gdańsk is part of the Rail-2-Sea project. This project's objective is to connect the city with the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanța with a long railway line passing through Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.


Sport

There are many popular professional sports teams in the Gdańsk and Tricity area. The city's professional Association football, football club is Lechia Gdańsk. Founded in 1945, they play in the , Poland's top division. Their home stadium, Stadion Miejski (Gdańsk), Stadion Miejski, was one of the four Polish stadiums to host the UEFA Euro 2012 competition, as well as the host of the 2021 UEFA Europa League Final. Other notable football clubs are Gedania 1922 Gdańsk and SKS Stoczniowiec Gdańsk, which both played in the second tier in the past. Other notable clubs include speedway club Wybrzeże Gdańsk, rugby club RC Lechia Gdańsk, Lechia Gdańsk, ice hockey club Stoczniowiec Gdańsk, and volleyball club Trefl Gdańsk. The city's Hala Olivia was a venue for the official 2009 EuroBasket, and the Ergo Arena was one of the 2013 Men's European Volleyball Championship, 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship and 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships venues.


Politics and local government

Contemporary Gdańsk is one of the major centres of economic and administrative life in Poland. It has been the seat of a Polish central institution, the
Polish Space Agency The Polish Space Agency (POLSA; Polish language, Polish: ''Polska Agencja Kosmiczna'', PAK) is the List of government space agencies, space agency of Poland, administered by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (Poland), Ministry o ...
, several supra-regional branches of further central institutions, as well as the supra-regional (appellate-level) institutions of justice. As the capital of the
Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk Voivo ...
it has been the seat of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Office, the Sejmik, and the Marshall's Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and other voivodeship-level institutions. Legislative power in Gdańsk is vested in a unicameral Gdańsk City Council (Rada Miasta), which comprises 34 members. Council members are elected directly every four years. Like most legislative bodies, the City Council divides itself into committees, which have the oversight of various functions of the city government.


Districts

Gdańsk is divided into 34 administrative divisions: 6 and 28 . A full list can be found at Districts of Gdańsk, but the largest include Śródmieście, Gdańsk, Śródmieście, Przymorze Wielkie, Chełm, Gdańsk, Chełm, Wrzeszcz Dolny, and Wrzeszcz Górny.


Education and science

There are 15 higher schools in the city, including three universities. Notable educational institutions include the University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk University of Technology, and Gdańsk Medical University. The city is also home to the Baltic Institute.


International relations


Consulates

There are four consulates general in Gdańsk – China, Germany, Hungary, Russia, one consulate –
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, and 17 honorary consulates – Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Estonia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Peru, Seychelles, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Uruguay.


Twin towns – sister cities

Gdańsk is Sister cities, twinned with: * Helsingør, Denmark * Bremen, Germany * Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland, United States * Kalmar, Sweden * Nice, France * Astana, Kazakhstan * Rotterdam, Netherlands * Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Sefton, United Kingdom * Turku, Finland * Vilnius, Lithuania


Former twin towns

* Kaliningrad, Russia * Saint Petersburg, Russia On 3 March 2022, Gdańsk City Council passed a unanimous resolution to terminate the cooperation with the Russian cities of Kaliningrad and Saint Petersburg as a response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian invasion of Ukraine.


Partnerships and cooperation

Gdańsk also cooperates with: * Ghent, Belgium * Le Havre, France * Marseille, France * Odesa, Ukraine


Demographics

The 1923 census conducted in the Free City of Danzig indicated that of all inhabitants, 95% were German, and 3% were Polish and Kashubian. The end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
is a significant break in continuity with regard to the inhabitants of Gdańsk. German citizens began to flee en masse as the Soviet Red Army advanced, composed of both spontaneous flights driven by rumors of Soviet war crimes, Soviet atrocities, and organised evacuation starting in the summer of 1944 which continued into the spring of 1945.Arie Marcelo Kacowicz, Pawel Lutomski, ''Population resettlement in international conflicts: a comparative study'', Lexington Books, 2007, pp. 100, 101

Approximately 1% (100,000) of the German civilian population residing east of the Oder–Neisse line perished in the fighting prior to the surrender in May 1945. German civilians were also sent as "reparations labour" to the Soviet Union. Poles from other parts of Poland replaced the former German-speaking population, with the first settlers arriving in March 1945. On 30 March 1945, the Gdańsk Voivodeship (1945–1975), Gdańsk Voivodeship was established as the first administrative Polish unit in the Recovered Territories. As of 1 November 1945, around 93,029 Germans remained within the city limits. The locals of German descent who declared Polish nationality were permitted to remain; as of 1 January 1949, 13,424 persons who had received Polish citizenship in a post-war "ethnic vetting" process lived in Gdańsk. The settlers can be grouped according to their background: *Poles that had been freed from forced labor in Nazi GermanyKarl Cordell, Andrzej Antoszewski, ''Poland and the European Union'', 2000, p. 168, , : gives 4.55 million in the first years *Polish population transfers (1944–1946), Repatriates: Poles expelled from the areas east of the new Polish-Soviet border. This included assimilated minorities such as Armenians in Poland, the Polish-Armenian community *Poles incl.
Kashubians The Kashubians (; ; ), also known as Cassubians or Kashubs, are a Lechitic ( West Slavic) ethnic group native to the historical region of Pomerania, including its eastern part called Pomerelia, in north-central Poland. Their settlement area is ...
relocating from nearby villages and small towns *Settlers from central Poland migrating voluntarily *Non-Poles forcibly resettled during Operation Vistula in 1947. Large numbers of Ukrainians were forced to move from south-eastern Poland under a 1947 Polish government operation aimed at dispersing, and therefore assimilating, those Ukrainians who had not been expelled eastward already, throughout the newly acquired territories. Belarusians living around the area around Białystok were also pressured into relocating to the formerly German areas for the same reasons. This scattering of members of non-Polish ethnic groups throughout the country was an attempt by the Polish authorities to dissolve the unique ethnic identity of groups like the Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Lemkos, and broke the proximity and communication necessary for strong communities to form. *Jews, Jewish Holocaust survivors, most of them Polish population transfers (1944–1946), Polish repatriates from the Eastern Borderlands. *Greeks in Poland, Greeks and Macedonians (ethnic group), Slav Macedonians, refugees of the Greek Civil War.


People


See also

*Tourism in Poland *List of honorary citizens of Gdańsk *764 Gedania – a minor planet orbiting the Sun *Danzig Highflyer *Father Eugeniusz Dutkiewicz SAC Hospice *
Kashubians The Kashubians (; ; ), also known as Cassubians or Kashubs, are a Lechitic ( West Slavic) ethnic group native to the historical region of Pomerania, including its eastern part called Pomerelia, in north-central Poland. Their settlement area is ...
*List of neighbourhoods of Gdańsk *St. Mary's Church, Gdańsk *Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art *Ronald Reagan Park *''Live in Gdańsk'' *Orunia Park *Danzig Trilogy - novels by Günter Grass


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * *


External links

* {{Authority control Gdańsk, 980s establishments 10th-century establishments in Poland Populated places established in the 10th century Members of the Hanseatic League City counties of Poland Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship Port cities and towns of the Baltic Sea Port cities and towns in Poland Geographical naming disputes Holocaust locations in Poland Sites of Nazi war crimes during the Invasion of Poland Former exclaves Capitals of former nations