ADVERTISING INFORMATION

In 1253 Gdynia was a fishing settlement and now is the center of deep-sea fishing and shipbuilding. After Poland lost Gdansk, Gdynia was developed into the largest port on the Baltic in 1922. It was heavily destroyed during World War II then rebuilt as a modern port

On the 10th January 1920 came the enforcement of the Versailles Treaty ( which ended the 1st World War). One month later on 10th February, in the village of Puck, General Jozef Haller conducted a symbolic marriage of Poland with the sea. Poland had regained access to the Baltic, but their was dissatisfaction among Poles as they had only gained 72km of sandy shore with neither a railway or a harbour which would directly connect any would-be port with central Poland. At the same time Gdansk was given status of a free city which in reality meant that this centre would only serve the interests of Germany.

A "re-instated" Poland realized the need of establishing a truly Polish maritime port which would become an independent link with the rest of the world. An engineering genius called Tadeusz Wenda surveyed the coast in May 1920 and concluded that the best possible site for the construction of a Temporary Naval Port and the Fisherman's shelter was Gdynia, on the Pomeranian coast.

The temporary port in Gdynia was christened on April 29th 1923.

June 1925 was the beginning of the Polish-German customs war. It made the Polish government aware of the significance of identifying different ways of exporting coal in order to avoid Gdansk ( the "Free City"). A new rail link was built ("coal trunk line") which by-passed the Free City and ran through Koscierzyna and Bydgoszcz to the region of Polish Silesia. The years of 1925-1926 were a milestone which turned Gdynia into the centre of Polish international trade.

On 10th February 1926 Gdynia was promoted to the status of City and Augustyn Krause was appointed its first mayor.

The year 1928 saw the start of the construction boom where many great buildings were built initially within the very centre of Gdynia. By 1935 Gdynia had incorporated over a dozen of the surrounding Kashubian villages.

Gdynia was an object of pride for the whole of pre-war Polish society. There were frequent press releases and articles praising the City and organised groups of visitors to the coast kept growing. The speed of the port's metamorphosis put the city in the lead over all Baltic ports in as early as 1933. By the end of 1938 Gdynia's population had reached 120,000.

On 1st September 1939 the Nazis attacked Gdynia from the direction of Sopot and Wejherowo then in the naval port. 15 thousand Polish soldiers of the Coastal Land Defence Force positioned around Gdynia were attacked by German forces three times as strong.

On 14th September 1939 the first battalions of the Wermacht entered Gdynia and tore down all Polish emblems. Nazi occupation had begun which was to last 2000 days.

Once Gdynia had been turned into a Nazi naval base it became enemy territory for the Allies. In 1943 they conducted a heavy attack on the port and ship repair yards. Then in December 1944, six hundred British planes attacked Gdynia. This forced the Nazi army to evacuate.

On 27th March 1945 Gdynia was liberated by the Soviet and Polish armies. On 28th March the port of Gdynia was also liberated. The estimated loss was 90% of the wind-breaks and 45% of the harbour. The removal of scrap and rubble lasted many months but in the summer of 1945 the port of Gdynia started activity again.

On 17th December 1970 the Polish army opened fire on workers waiting for a train in Gdynia Stocznia. The indirect cause of this protest in four Polish cities (Szczecin, Gdynia, Gdansk and Elblag) was a growing feeling of dissatisfaction and bitterness amongst members of the society owing to steadily worsening economic situation in the country. The direct reason were the retail price rises that were introduced on December 13th 1970. The brutality of the state forces was demonstrated by persecution and ill-treatment of demonstrators and by shots fired from helicopters. In total, 45 people died, 18 of those in Gdynia.

The forty years after the 2nd World War was a time of intensive growth for both the port and the City of Gdynia. But there seemed to be no overall plan of development. The reason for this is to be found in the Communist love for "giants". More specifically the development of Gdynia was planned as part of a growth stretching between Tczew and Wejherowo.

Back to Europe

© Copyright 2000 - 2003  Eurotravelling.net  POWERED BY wORLDTRAVELGATE.NET