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Gdańsk is a city in northern Poland, on the coast of the Baltic Sea, with a population of 460,000 (2002). When dealing with the city's pre-1945 existence, English speakers often use the German name Danzig. Part of this may have been because the city much of its existence had a large German-speaking community of traders, and because most English-speaking scholars are more familiar with the German language. Alternative spellings from documents from the medieval and Early Modern periods are Gyddanzyc, Dantzig, Dantzigk or Dantzk.

The city is situated at the Motlawa (German: Mottlau) river, that adheres to the swampy area in the delta of the Vistula river. Location in the mouth of the Vistula which waterway systems connects 60% of the area of Poland, gives Gdańsk unique advantage as the center of the sea trade. In the past Gdańsk did a very good job leveraging his advantages and became the biggest city of Poland.

A major regional port since the 14th century and subsequently a principal ship-building centre, today's Gdańsk remains an important industrial centre despite the development in the 1920s of the nearby port of Gdynia. Both cities combined together also with a spa in Sopot creates metropolitan area of 850 000 people called Tricity.

History of the city

Settlements existed in the area for several centuries before the birth of Christ. The coast was called 'Gothiscandza' by Jordanes; Tacitus also referred to it in his Germania. Both historians believed the area to be populated. Although there were already wooden structures in existence, the year 997 is generally considered to be the year of the foundation of the city itself: in 1997 Poland celebrated the 1000 Years Gdask Aniversary of the foundation of Gdask by Mieszko I, Duke of Poland, "to compete with the ports of Stettin and Wollin on the Oder River". That same year, Saint Adalbert of Prague entered Prussia from the castle of Gdask to convert the inhabitants. By 1148, the town had been assigned to the diocese of Wloclawek and Pomerania, while several crusades were ordered by the popes, to 'christianize' the heathen Prussians. Missionary activity was spurred both to the west in Pomerania and to the east.

A city charter according to Luebeck Law for a city named Danzig was granted in 1224. Merchants from the Hansa cities of Lübeck and Bremen were the principal founders. The new city seal read, Sigillum Burgensium Dantzike or "Seal of the city of Dantzike," and was similar to the seals of Lubeck and other Hanseatic cities. Slavic Duke Swaitopolk I, that maneuvered between powers of the central authority of Poland and universal authorities of Holy Roman Empire governed in this part of Pomerania. Danzig rose to become one of the more important of the many trading and fishing ports along the Baltic Sea coast. and overtook nearby Elbing in western Prussia.

In line with the will of the last duke Mscislaw of the Eastern Pomerania , the king Przemysl II of Poland took over Gdask in 1294. After his assassination in 1295, the city was temporary ruled by the Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and his son Wenceslaus III , eventually in 1306 Wladislaw Lokietek possessed Gdask.

When in 1308 the margrave of Brandenburg attacked Gdañsk Lotietek called the Teutonic Knights for help. The Brandenburgers had to leave, but then the Teutonic Knights also chased the Polish garrison from the Gdask castle. This was followed by the slaughter of the citizens of the Danzig city, known as "massacre of Gdask ". However, Poland never renounced her rights to the Pomerania and Gdask itself.

Under the authority of the Teutonic Knights, Gdask flourished benefiting from the major foreign investment committed by the order in the country, that was called then Prussia. Gdask became a full member of the Hanseatic League by 1361. Richer it became, the more Gdask suffered from the barriers in the trade up the Vistula river to Poland, which had a period of the economic prosperity under the wise government of the Kazimierz The Great. Furthermore, Gdask resented lack of any political rights in the state ruled in the interest of the few knight-monks, motivated by the religious motives.

In 1440, Gdask joined the other Hanseatic League cities of Elblag and Thorn to form the Prussian Confederation, which was supported by Casimir IV of Poland in its rebellion (1454) against the Teutonic Order's rule. The resulting Thirteen Years' War ended with the Order's defeat and the Second Treaty of Thorn in 1466).

The 15th and 16th centuries brought changes to the city's cultural heritage. We can see these changes in the arts, language, and in Gdańsk's contributions to the world of science. In 1471, a refurbished sailing ship under Gdask captain Paul Beneke the famous altar painting titled: Latest Judgement (Juengste Gericht) by artist Hans Memling to Gdańsk. In around 1480-1490, tablets were installed at St. Mary's church, depicting the Ten Commandments (external link: ) in the Low German language. In 1566, the official language of the city's governing institutions was changed from the Low German used throughout the Hanseatic cities to High German.

Georg Joachim Rheticus visited the mayor of Gdańsk in 1539, while he was working with Copernicus in nearby Frombork. The mayor of Gdask gave Rheticus financial assistance for the publication of the so-called Narratio Prima. Published by the Gdańsk printer Rhode in 1540, the Narratio Prima is to this day considered to be the best introduction to the Copernican system. While in Gdańsk, Rheticus, who was also a cartographer and navigational instrument maker, interviewed Gdańsk pilots as to their navigational needs. He presented the Tabula chorographica auff Preusse to Duke Albert of Prussia in 1541.

The Danzig printer Andreas Huenefeld(t) (Hunsfeldus) (1606-1652) printed a Gdask editition of the Rosicrucian Manifestos. Later on, he published the poems of Martin Opitz. The famous poet Opitz had died in 1639 and his friend, the pastor of Gdańsk, known as Bartholomaeus Nigrinus, together with two associates edited the Opitz poems for the Huenefeld printing house.

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

From the 14th century until the mid-17th century Gdańsk experienced rapid growth, becoming the largest city on the Baltic seaboard by the 16th century, due to its heavy trading with Holland and handling most of Poland's seaborne trade brought up the Vistula river. The city's prosperity was severely damaged, however, by the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and the Second Northern War (1655-1660), and it suffered an epidemic of bubonic plague in 1709.

Gdañsk took part in all Hanseatic League conferences until the last one in 1669. By that time Holland and other long distance overseas trade had overtaken the Baltic traders such as Gdańsk.

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

During the time of the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century (1772), Gdańsk remained as the Polish exclave surrounded by Prussian occupied Pomerania until 1793, when it became part of the State of Prussia as part of the province of West Prussia, reverting under Napoleon to direct Prussian rule after a second brief period (1807-1814) as a free city.

The feeling of grief that the Gdańsk citizens had after they had lost their freedom becoming member of the absolutist state of Prussia, was the best reflexed in the pessimistic philozophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.

Since the first partion of Poland, Gdańsk lost it's meaning as a prime Polish port on the shore of the Baltic see. It was followed by the extended time of the economic and population crisis. The position that Gdańsk had hold as the biggest town in Poland and the biggest port at the Baltic see until 1772, it was never again to be regained.

From 1824 until 1878, East and West Prussia were combined as a single province under the Prussian kingdom. However, even as Gdańsk was a part of Prussia, it was never a member of so called Deutsche Bund. For the first time to was included into newly created German Empire in 1871.

Following Germany's defeat in World War I, Gdańsk was separated from Germany in 1920 under the Treaty of Versailles, forming with a small surrounding territory a Free City under a commissioner appointed by the League of Nations. The League of Nations rejected the citizens' petition to have their city officially named "Freie Hansestadt Danzig" (free Hanseatic city of Gdańsk). However, the League recognized them as citizens of Gdańsk , and thus no longer holders of German citizenship.

A customs union with Poland was created and gave the Gdañsk Westerplatte port to the Polish republic. The separation of the Gdañsk port, post office and customs office under the treaty was said to be justified by Poland's need for direct access to the Baltic Sea. Poland then stationed troops in Gdańsk . Directly next to Gdańsk, Poland built a large trade harbor in Gydnia and immediately went to defensive war against Soviet Union, where Poland recovered a large section of the ethnically Polish lands.

Local opposition to the the war and the desire for the to rescind the League of Nations'decision on the status of Gdańsk's citizens spurred groundroots efforts for a reunification with Germany. It culminated in the election of a Nazi government in the Gdańsk's elections of May 1933.

Gdańsk's unification with Germany was one of the objectives of the Nazi government which came to power in Germany in January 1933. Following the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland, Germany in October 1938 urged the territory's return to Germany. Not surprisingly, Poland refused to accept reunification and, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded the Gdañsk port Westerplatte, and annexed Gdańsk, effectively initiating the Second World War. Gdańsk and areas of the "Polish Corridor" to the south and west became the German Gau (administrative district) of Danzig-West Preussen.

In January 1945 the Soviet Army overran Gdańsk. Already before the end of World War II, the Treaty of Yalta had placed Gdańsk under Polish administration, which had immediately started to expel ethnic Germans from the city. This expulsion included both those Germans brought in as part of a Nazi resettlement programme and the so-called "Gdańskian burghers", ethnic Germans whose families' roots in Gdañsk went back many generations, sometimes hundreds of years.

Nearly all ethnic German inhabitants of Gdańsk were eventually removed forcibly to Germany and other countries. Polish sovereignty was recognised by the Soviet-installed East German government in 1950; the Federal Republic of Germany (or West Germany acknowledged de facto Polish possession of the city in 1970).

Gdańsk was the scene of anti-government demonstrations which led to the downfall of Poland's communist leader Wladyslaw Gomulka in December 1970, and ten years later was the birthplace of the Solidarity trade union movement, whose opposition to the government led to the end of communist party rule (1989) and the election as president of Poland of its leader Lech Walesa. It remains today a major port and industrial city.

A list of the 173 mayors of the City of Gdańsk from 1347 - Mar 30,1945 was compiled by the current Gdańsk city government and can be found on their recent website with the invitation for a reunion meeting of Gdańsk at the "First World Gdańsk Reunion". It took place in May 2002. This ] is of interest, as it demonstrates the shifting ethnicity of the city's inhabitants before and after the World Wars.

Famous people born in Gdańsk

• Johannes Dantiscus 1485
• Bernhard von Reesen 1490
• Albrecht IV Giese 1524
• Johannes Hevelius 1611
• Georg Daniel Schultz 1615
• Andreas Schlueter 1660
• Jacob Theodor Klein 1685
• Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit 1686
• Daniel Gralath 1708
• Louise Adelgunde Gottsched 1713
• Daniel Chodowiecki 1726
• Johann Wilhelm Archenholz 1741
• Georg Forster 1754
• Johanna Schopenhauer 1766
• Johannes Daniel Falk 1768
• Arthur Schopenhauer 1788
• Max Halbe 1865
• Günter Grass 1927

External Links:

• 1598 map of Pomerania and western Prussia with Dan(t)zig
• c.1630 map of Prussia with Dantzk
• Free City of Danzig stamps
• City History from Gdansk City Hall page
• Web page with photographs from Gdańsk