Gdansk Off The Beaten Path

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Being in Gdansk ( former Danzig) remember to see some places which are the reminiscent of what the city used to be many years before. Though I‘ve lived here in Tri-Cities for many years, I recently discovered Nowy Port District / Neufahrwasser. The place seems to be neglected but it’s being renovated and it’s an absolutely must see for those who are looking for a something real, something off beaten path. Many tends to visit Westerplatte, why don’t you go to Twierdza Wisloujscie / Fortress and take a ferry to cross the river and do some sightseeing in Nowy Port. Then you can ended up in Brzezno visiting a lighthouse on the way.

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Not much is left from the once so rich interior of the St. Peter and Paul church as it was almost completely burnt down during the World War II. Originally the church was built in the 14th century. There are, as often, different information on the year of building but I rely on the plaque on the church wall.

The church is situated in the Old Suburbs, Stare Przedmiescie, south of the main tourist areas, in ul. Zabi Kruk, just a little east of the Franciscan Church and the National Museum. The closest tram stop is Zabi Kruk on lines 8 and 13 (the third stop from the main station), then head south ~250 metres.

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When walking along ul. Za Murami in the southern parts of Glówne Miasto you'll come across a couple of old bastions, from 14th and 15th centuries. My first picture shows Baszta Narozna and the other two shows Baszta Schultza.

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Originally a monastery was built in 1391 and a church 1464. During religious fights in the 1670s the church was destroyed but the monastery survived until 1835 when the monks were evicted. In 1840 it was transformed to the parish church of St Joseph.
It sits on Ul. Bielanska, in between the Old Town Hall, St Elisabeth's Church and the shopping centre opposite to the railway station.
In 1945, when the Red Army had taken the city, they locked in 100 persons taking shelter in the church and put the church on fire killing all the people inside.
You can look at more pictures by clicking the link further down. The page is fully in Polish.

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This monumental stone structure in a shape of battleaxe digged into the ground was ceremonially unveiled by Polish communist authorities in 1969 (Podwale Staromiejskie, close to the Swan Gate). It's the monument for those who fighted Gdansk to be a Polish city. There are dates of the battles and fights between Poles and Germans from 1308 till 1945. I've found it a bit controversial.

Let me explain that Soviets and communists always regarded and publicized that Gdansk and the western part of Poland had always been Polish, never German. The key purpose of this propaganda was to false true history still living in human memory and minds. That's why they used to put up a lot of monuments about "coming back of a city/town X to its roots that was Poland" and about "liberation from hands of German occupants" never mind the city/town belonged to Poland or Germany and had German or Polish majority before WWII. The fact that Gdansk had Polish minority of only about 10% in 1934 could never been published on the eastern side of the Iron Wall. Not to mention the fact that "liberation" of Gdansk in 1945 meant burning the city out to the ground, house by house, by new, Soviet occupants following by cruel persecutions of their citizens who didn't want to accept new, communist rule, and 44 years of totalitarian communism.

Some (many?) Gdansk citizens would like to see this monument ended up on the waste heap. I'd rather put some explanations for visitors by the monument. Each year, a few tenths Gdansk old communists (called now post-communists) gather at this monument and put flowers on the 1st May (Labour Day regarded by many as the only post-communist holiday in Poland now). At the same time, young post-communists (they call themselves socialdemocrats) march around Gdansk to protest against neo-liberalism of the government. Well, freedom of speech came back to Gdansk in 1989, now doubts :-).

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Westerplatte is a peninsula in Gdansk, at an estuary of the Dead Vistula (one of the Vistula delta estuaries). I drove there by my car maybe 15 min. from Gdansk downtown (a ship from the Long Waterfront = Dlugie Pobrzeze is an option). I bought a ticket to a museum (3 zl; daily 8.00 am - 7.00 pm) in a gift shop (Pamiatki) by a parking lot. The very small museum is placed in the former Polish guard-house No.1, an ugly building pays tribute to the heroic defence. The short information for visitors is given on the table put outside (in Polish, English and German). But all items displayed in the museum are described exclusively in Polish :-(.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Poland has been wiped off the map of Europe since 1795. The country had been divided among Germany (Gdansk, Wroclaw), Austria (Krakow, Lvov) and Russia (Warsaw, Vilnius) till the WWI (1914 - 1918) which finally broght independence to Poland in 1918. Gdansk and the area around was disputed between Poland and Germany and finally the Free City of Gdansk was created (under a commissioner appointed by the League of Nations) . In 1925 the Council of the League of Nations allowed Poland to set up a Polish Military Transit Depot in Westerplatte, on a territory of the Free City of Gdañsk. On 1 September 1939, at 04:45 local time, as Germany began its invasion of Poland, the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein started to shell the Polish garrison with its 280mm and 150mm main guns. The World War II broke out.

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I put this provocative question when I saw weapons used by Polish troops defending Westerplatte during the first 7 days of September 1939. They are displayed in the museum in the Guard-house No.1. I easily got to know how large the disproportion in arms between the Germans and Poles had been: one Polish 75mm gun (shortly destroyed) against many 280mm and 150mm German guns; 182 Polish soldiers against 2,600 German ones etc.

The attacks by German marines, who were hoping for an easy victory, were repelled, with Polish small arms and machinegun fire, many times. But shortage of food, water, ammunition and medical supplies together with heavy bombings with the ship and a field heavy artillery along with dive-bombing raids by Germans, eventually forced heroic defenders to gave up on the 7th day.

HEROISM OR SHEER STUPIDITY?
It was not stupidity. Only 14 Poles were killed and 53 wounded of 205 soldiers defending Westerplatte. Number of German losses remains undisclosed but it's estimated 300 killed and many more wounded. And, anyway, saying stupidity about one who lost his/her live for freedom of his country is inappriopriate.

However, there are Poles (minority) who think that it's a sheer stupidity to loose so many lives during the WWII to be finally "prized" with a new, totalitarian system - the Soviet communism which brought next, numerous victims. Their conclusion is that it could have been much better to cooperate with Hitler (like most conquered countries had done) instead of buildind the army abroad and in occupied Poland which, together lost many soldiers. The disproportion between the Polish contribution to World War II and "the prize" at the end is shocking, indeed.

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There are some pictures and information about the meeting of pope John Paul II with youths in Westerplatte on 27 June 1987. They are displayed in the museum in the Guard-house No.1.
I remember well, one of the most important words said to young people by John Paul II:
"We know, that here, in this place, in Westerplatte, a group of young Poles, the soldiers under major Sucharski's command, was remaining nobly obtinate in September 1939, taking an uneven fight against invaders, the heroic fight.

They have remained in the nation's memory as a meaningful symbol. It's necessary, this symbol continously to talk and to mount a challenge for more and more people and generations of Poles.

Each of you, young friends, finds some own "Westerplatte" in your life, some tasks given to carry out, some correct errands which you can't fight not to do them, some duties, obligations you can't shirk. You may not desert. At the end, you find some order of truths and values in and around you, which should be kept and defended, like Westerplatte was. Yes, to defend for you and the others."
Excuse, the translation into English is mine. Hopefully it's correct. Isn't it?

On the same day, the U.S. President Ronald Reagan had a speech near the Brandenburg Gate and called for tearing down the Berlin Wall and opening the Gate. Surely, I could read only about "Ronald Reagan's dangerous provocation in West Berlin" in all Polish newspapers. Add common news about the nightmare of unemployment which oppresses western youths, economic crisis in the West etc. etc.

Despite the communist propaganda, for many young people, this task, to tear down communism, became the obligation John Paul II was talking about. The papal appeal for the youth, for creating their own “Westerplatte”, or virtues that they would be ready to defend to the last was understood that way. It was a prelude to what was about to happen in this part of Europe.