Germany’s lost cities : a tour of Gdańsk (Danzig)

[Adam Carr]

As this plaque records, in 1970 rioting broke out in Gdańsk and in other cities on the Baltic coast, mainly in protest against increasing prices. On 15 December a rioting crowd burned this building down. The rioting was suppressed by force, with hundreds of deaths. Among those rioting was the young Lech Wałęsa, later leader of Solidarity and President of Poland.

[Adam Carr]

As well as the public buildings generally shown so far, hundreds of private homes from the prewar era have survived in the older parts of Gdańsk. Many were damaged in 1945 and only partly repaired in the decades of austerity which followed under communist rule. Today many are abandoned and others are dilapidated, but it is still possible to see that they were once fine homes in what was then a prosperous German port city. This one is in Ulica Rzeźnicka (Fleischer Gasse), near the National Museum

[Adam Carr]

This one is Ulica Łąkowa (Weiden Gasse), on the eastern side of the Motława.

[Adam Carr]

Finally, this fine old building on Ulica Elżbietańska (Elizabethkirche Gasse), now the offices of the House of the Pelplin Abbots, a Catholic organisation. (Pelplin Abbey is about 50km south of Gdańsk.) Its façade tells a story. Above and to either side of the door are two small plaques bearing the Latin motto “Pro Lege, pro Grege” (For the law, for the flock).

[Adam Carr]

But above that are three plaques which have escaped the attention of the postwar Polonisers of German Danzig. They bear the German words: “Im Jahre 1912 erneut” (Renewed in the year 1912). And above that again, above the second floor windows, are three more plaques, with the German motto: “Gott schütze die Stadt” (God protect the city). Which seems a good note on which to end.

[AvB]

Wow thanks for posting. Great tour, and I'm really eager now to visit the city myself!

[wm]

The rioting was suppressed by force, with hundreds of deaths.

More correctly, there were hundreds of injured, the number of killed was 49.

[Moltke44]

Would love to have either the time or especially the money to do this. I've always wanted to go on just this trip. Thanks for posting! Look forward to the other cities, especially Breslau and Konigsberg.

[Adam Carr]

I have a lot of photos of Breslau, but having now read Richard Hargreaves's book on the siege of Breslau, I realise there were a lot of places I missed, so I won't do a "tour of Breslau" until I have been back there, which I hope to do this northern autumn. While I'm in Silesia I also want to visit the Annaberg Thingplatz site at Góra Świętej Anny. I'm also hoping to go to Moscow, St Petersburg and Kaliningrad, so this trip should generate lots of photos.

[Piotr Kapuscinski]

Data about destruction of Poland's so called Regained Lands in 1945 (soon after the end of WW2):

Cities and towns were destroyed in 56%, villages were destroyed in 28% during WW2.

These are destructions of buildings / development during the war - this data doesn't include post-war pillaging.

Of course 56% is average level of destruction for all towns and cities (including both large cities and small towns). Large cities, which were sites of ferocious combats in 1945, such as Danzig or Breslau, were all destroyed in higher level than just 56%. We can observe the following pattern - in 1945 Germans turn cities into Festungs (Breslau, Danzig, etc.), put inside SS fanatics and Volkssturm cannon fodder, fight to the last brick and to the last drop of blood against the Red Army, cities get utterly destroyed, after WW2 Poles rebuild them for their own money.

Destroyed Danzig after the end of the East Pomeranian Offensive (24 February 1945 – 4 April 1945):







Now guess who rebuilt this city from total ruins after 1945? The answer is - Poland.

Look forward to the other cities, especially Breslau and Konigsberg.

There aren't so many German monuments to see in Konigsberg (Kaliningrad) nowadays. The Soviet Union rebuilt Konigsberg from ruins in its own, Communist way after 1945 - demolishing remnants of historical monuments, rather than rebuilding them. Unlike Poland, which tried to rebuild cities in a historically accurate way.

======================================

The following cities given to Poland in 1945 were destroyed in around 70% during WW2:

- Breslau (Wrocław)
- Stettin (Szczecin)
- Danzig (Gdańsk)
- Leignitz (Legnica)
- Elbing (Elbląg)
- Landsberg an der Warthe (Gorzów Wielkopolski)

And these cities given to Poland in 1945 were destroyed in around 50% during WW2:

- Oppeln (Opole)
- Stolp (Słupsk)
- Allenstein (Olsztyn)
- Koeslin (Koszalin)

Out of all large and medium towns in the Regained Lands, only 1 remained practically undestroyed:

- Waldenburg (Wałbrzych)

[*NL*]

Such photo threads take up a lot of time to create, therefore thanks for this very interesting thread about Gdansk.

Hans.

[pofoka]

I was Danzig in August 2013. The historical downtown is beautiful. The Polishs nicely rebuild the city. Look at my photos:

https://plus.google.com/photos/10748844 ... 4823198785

[Marcus]

Several off-topic posts were removed, this is a photo thread, not a place to argue about who suffered the most and at what time.

/Marcus

[Adam Carr]

I've been meaning to post my Kaliningrad photos, but I never seem to get around to it. I'll try to do it over Xmas.

[Adam Carr]

I have now posted 130 photos of Kaliningrad!