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Published: July 22nd 2014
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The Marina in Gydnia
was an excellent stop for us for a few days Throughout history Gdańsk (Danzig) has been predominantly a German city even though it was well inside of Polish borders. At the end of World War I Poland regained its independence from Prussia but the city of Gdańsk was designated as a free city and put under the control of the League of Nations. The Polish government needing a port on the Baltic Sea and chose to develop Gdynia into a major seaport as it controlled this area. During the 1920’s and 30’s the small fishing village of Gdynia became a major seaport and large industrial city.
Walking around the city of Gdynia gave us more of a feeling of a “regular” city where people worked and lived and not a center for tourism. Sure there were tourists here, some of the smaller cruise ships came to this port. From what we saw it appeared that most of them were bussed over to Gdańsk and other points of interest and did not stay in Gdynia. When we went to the visitor center to find out what there was to see and do they gave us a brochure entitled “Modernism Route” describing a self-walking tour which would indicate the various buildings of
Dredging Went On Here
to keep the beach in such beautiful shape interest. As explained in this brochure the architecture style called modernism was the beginning of industrial design. The center of this style was established in Germany with the Bauhaus style, France with functionalism, Holland and Belgium with what was called neo-plasticism. It spread around the world, but few cities had their city-centers and key public buildings built in this avant-garde style such as Gdynia did. The idea was that Gdynia would become the Polish dream of providing an ambitious economic plan and gave young architects, urban planners, decorators and designers a chance to show their skills. This happened during the 1930’s and resulted in numerous buildings having silhouettes that mimicked ship architecture with its curved edged and numerous balconies that appear to be those seen on cruise ships. Modernism states its beauty lies in its simplicity and use of geometry and use of rhythm in the arrangement of its balconies, windows and terraces. It was interesting to see this city with these ideas in mind. If we had not read this information we could have come away thinking that this was just a very modern city devoid of much interest, but when looked at with this knowledge it put a
new slant on what we saw. Hopefully you can see some of this through some of the photos we took of the buildings lining the streets of this city.
Fortunately Gdynia is well connected with other areas of Poland. We were able to plan a few day trips by catching a commuter train to Gdańsk and then on to other places we wanted to visit.
One of the places we took a day trip to was Malbork Castle, the largest Gothic castle in the world by surface area and the largest brick structure in Europe. It was built in stages from the early 7
th to the 13
th century by Prussians of the Teutonic Order, a German Roman Catholic religious order of crusaders (not all Crusaders went to Jerusalem, some were sent to this part of Europe to convert the pagan tribes) there. It consists of three separate castles located on a 21 acre site. It was located on the River Nogat giving them access to the Baltic Sea. In 1309 it became the seat of the Grand Master of the Order. The High Castle was the Monastery, the Middle Castle the seat of the Grand Master and the
Marking the Entrance to Stutthof
and the concentration camp that was located there. political center of the monastic state and the Fore-Castle acted as the economic base. It was the main diplomatic, military, economic and religious center of the Teutonic Order until 1410 when they were defeated by the Polish king. This was the beginning of their downfall but it wasn’t until 1454 when the peasants revolted that the remains of the Teutonic Order became incorporated into the Polish Crown. In 1457 the Castle belonged to the King and for more than three centuries it served as the residence of Polish rulers and a military base for Royal Prussia. The northern portion of Poland in 1772 was partitioned off and became part of Prussia. During this time the castle served as barracks and warehouses. Major reconstruction of the castles were undertaken in the late 19
th and early 20
th centuries. WWII caused considerable damage, but was once again reconstructed and in 1997 became one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. It was an excellent day trip from Gdynia giving us a chance to see a little more of the area and learn more about the Teutonic Order and the power they wielded in the area.
Another day we traveled to visit a seaside
The Commanders Home
nicely situated away from the "camp" and its horrific activities. village about hour from Gdańsk. This was not a trip to enjoy the beach however, it was to visit the Stutthof Museum. This is not your typical museum though – it was the first concentration camp to be built outside of Germany during WWII. It existed from September 2, 1939 up to May 9, 1945. During this time 110,000 people from 25 European countries were imprisoned here. Most of the inmates were Poles, Russians and Jews, out of which 65,000 did not survive.
The setting of the camp was in an idyllic wooded area. The commander’s villa sat on a small hill within the wooded area separated from the daily activities within the camp. The inmates constructed the villa in 1941 as well as a few of them took care of cleaning it and working in the garden.
You traveled throughout the camp seeing the places that had housed the inmates, where the SS guards watched over the camp, saw the narrow gauge railway cars that brought the prisoners to this fateful place and the infirmary which was not known for providing good care, but in many cases caused many of the deaths. The DAW factory which was
a German Armament Factory was located here using inmates as slave labor. Some of the buildings were used for workshops to produce goods needed in the camp. These included tailors, cobblers, electricians, locksmiths, blacksmiths, carpenters and painters.
We were shown two films telling the history of the camp and how they had continually denied that it became an extermination camp. The survivors as well as the remains of the gas chamber, the gallows and the crematory told a very different story.
The information boards provided a clearer picture of the history of the camp and the magnitude of the desire to rid this area of all Poles and Jews. Fortunately some of the survivors have participated in helping recreate this museum so we can all remember those that did not survive. A memorial is located here to commemorate those that had lost their lives. What surprised us both was the number of non-Jewish Poles that were interned in the camp. They were the ones that initially built the camp, but there was a more sinister plan directly from Hitler. The SS was under direct orders from Hitler to eliminate all of the intelligentsia of Poland planning to use
The First Tower Seen
when coming up to the Stutthof concentration camp the remaining population as slave labor to support Germany. Also without leaders it would be difficult if not impossible for the Poles to mount any insurgent effort to push out the Germans. We have always known about the horrible treatment of the Jews but to read the first-hand accounts of the treatment these people received at the hands of the Nazis is unbelievable. In fact we find it difficult to comprehend how inhumane the Nazis were. The callous disregard for human dignity and life is simply uncomprehending and what saddens us both is that some 70 years later there are parts of the world where this continues to happen. It was a very emotional trip to take, but we felt it was important to learn more about this section of history with its impact on the people of Poland.
We were very glad that we made a stop in Gdynia as it gave us more time to learn about the development of this area of Poland. After being here for six days it was time to leave and the weather cooperated for us to move on to Latvia.
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john
non-member comment
thanks
so enjoying the very informative revisits to what is a very sad moment in the history of western mankind. balanced with the news of today and what is happening in eastern Europe/Russia one wonders what was learned. travel safely my friends.