I'm hoping pictures will help me remember everything correctly here.
So these three cities were all visited on one trip. Why? Because they make up the tri-cities, or in Polish: Trójmiasto, situated right along the Baltic Sea coast. You may be thinking: what the hell? The sea? In the winter? I couldn't agree more. It was Cold, and yes, that is Cold with a capital C on purpose. Back home we get really, really cold winters, I know. But southern Alberta cold can't be compared with sea coast cold. Never mind, I think the Portuguese that were with us almost died ;).
So, as far as I know, Gdansk is the main city and if we go into medieval times, I believe it was quite a hotspot. But, since most of us don't really understand the importance of kings and knights from 997 to... oh I don't know, the late 1800's, let's fast forward to a more modern history. As all... or at least, most history buffs should know, after World War I ended Woodrow Wilson wrote the "Fourteen Points". As everyone knows, history has a tendency to repeat itself, so I don't know whether to call them incredibly effective or not... but anywho. So Mr. Wilson wrote these Fourteen Points and number 13 happened to call for an independent Polish state, with (and this is important) access to the sea. As most of you should know, Poland was not a country during WWI. It's geographical location put it in one of the worst possible places to be during that time, and it was divided three ways. One went to Russia, one to Austro-Hungary, and one to, of course, Germany. Well, back to Gdansk. Gdansk had a somewhat perfect location to be reinstated in part of Polska, but unfortunately, the Polish were no longer the majority in the city. That role of the majority went to... you guessed it; Germany.
So, Instead, in accordance with the terms of the Versailles Treaty, it became the Free City of Danzig, an independent quasi-state under the auspices of the League of Nations with its external affairs largely under Polish control. For those of you who don't speak history, I sure hope you know what the Treaty of Versailles is... or I would be forced to question your high school diploma. But it's your lucky day, lets touch on the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations all at once.
Here it goes: so five years after the war began so much destruction and horror had been wrought, even though the war itself ended November 11, 1918 (Remembrance Day, Independence Day...) People, like human being tend to look for, wanted someone to suffer. 6 months at the Paris Peace Conference and by October 21,1919, exactly 5 years after the whole ordeal began (ie: when Archduke Franz Ferdinand was murdered), The League of Nations (no the Justice League does not exist) registered the Treaty and it was printed in a Treaty Series (a series written by angry masses to punish people who, honestly, probably didn't deserve it, but hey, we can't change history). The Treaty of Versailles kicked Germany's ass. It's not really fair, in my mind. But at the time, people were scared and angry. So I will withhold my opinion. The Treaty forced Germany to accept full responsibility of the whole war. Ouch eh? (look up the War Guilt clauses if you're interested). Not only did they need to accept this, but they needed to pay for it. This meant reparation payments totally nearly $385 billion USD today. And they had to disarm (that one was probably a good idea). I could go on about they punishment Germany received... but lets tie this in with Gdansk. The Treaty of Versailles covered many, many things, but one that important to us is the one that states: "The strategically important port of Danzig (Gdansk) with the delta of the Vistula River on the Baltic Sea was separated from Germany as the Freie Stadt Danzig" (or Free City of Danzing) placing it under the protection of the League of Nations and not really belonging anywhere. That is until 1933 when the Nazi party took over.
So how did the Nazi party take over the "Free" City of Danzing? Remember when I said that the majority of the population was German? Yeah? That came back to bite the League in the ass. The Germans wanted back into their country (understandable) and the Nazi Party used this as a foothold into Poland. The Nazi Party soon gained the majority of the parliament in Danzing and Hitler used the issue as an excuse to invade Poland September 1st, 1939. The attack on Westerplatte was the first of World War II, but I will touch on that later.
I just realized I haven't really talked about the trip itself. Well, we woke up bloody early and caught a train (6 hours I think?) made it to the hostel safe and sound and began a tour shortly after.
We began in Solidarity Square which ties back into the fall of Communism in Poland in the 80's. Established in September of 1980 at the Gdansk shipyards, Solidarity was an independent labor union instrumental in the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, and the primary catalyst that would transform Poland from a repressive communist satellite to the EU member democracy it is today.
 |
| Add caption |
Solidarity Square is located at the Gdansk shipyards. In July of 1980 the Polish government was forced, once again, to raise the price of goods, and curb the growth of wages. This pissed a lot of people off and soon strikes were organized across the country, despite the censorship and the lack of communication amongst the people they managed to come together quite efficiently and stand up against communism. The Gdansk shipyard strike began August 14. "On August 16th, several other strike committees joined the Gdansk shipyard workers and the following day 21 demands of the unified strike committee were put forward. These demands went far beyond the scope of local concern, calling for the legal formation of independent trade unions, an end to media censorship, the right to strike, new rights for the Church, the freeing of political prisoners, and improvements in the national health system." (http://www.gdansk-life.com/poland/solidarity)
The Polish government eventually gave the workers most of what they wanted, which further increased their confidence and soon a national labor union was born and the Solidarity (Solidarnosc in Polish) movement began. Before you know it 80% of the Polish workforce joined the union. This was one of the first movements against the Soviet Union began.
One thing led to another and... as you all should know, the communist Soviet Union fell. I have already talked so much about history, I am assuming no one is reading anymore :)
After we visited Solidarity square we went to a Museum of Solidarity. It was an eye opener into the lives of Polish people during the times of Communism, and how hard they really had to fight to have the freedom they have today. It was actually very enlightening because, as a Canadian, we always think about how "troops have fought for our freedom" and "troops continue to fight for our freedom"... but in Poland... it was the Polish PEOPLE that actually fought for their freedom. Not military men, just regular people. Please don't take that as a statement disregarding what Canadian troops have done, but just a point that everyone had to fight against communism in Poland. For more information regarding the Solidarity movement in Gdansk, this is a great site: http://www.gdansk-life.com/poland/solidarity
 |
| Gdansk Old Town |
Since Gdansk is along the sea coast there is a huge market for Baltic Amber... speaking of which, mom if you are reading this. Let me know when you get your Christmas present :)
Later that night, after a nap (of course) and like all good Erasmus students, we went out.
The next day we continued our tour, walking through the historic landmarks of Gdansk. The most important being Westerplatte.
Westerplatte is the location of the first battle of World War II. (Be prepared, more history coming your way)
 |
| Buildings at Westerplatte |
September 1, 1939, moments after the first bombs of WWII were dropped over Poland, a German vessel supposedly in Danzing for non-violent purposes, opened fire. The German army, thinking they had an advantage began an artillery attack. However, the Polish side put up quite a fight. Repeated attacks by about 3,500 German soldiers were repelled by a small army of 180 Polish soldiers. The soldiers stationed at Westerplatte put off further German attacks down the Polish coast for 7 days. Even once their food supplies were cut off, they continued to fight. Major Henryk Sucharski surrendered on September 7, 1939 due to a lack of food supplies and ammunition. As a sign of honor, the German army allowed the Major to keep his sword when they took him prisoner. We then continued our tour... visiting numerous monuments and the amber museum.
The Amber Museum was amazing. The pieces we saw in there were true works of art, and made primarily out of amber!
Later that night we took a night train to Sopot and visited yet another club. We then (naturally... mom) got bored and ran to the coast and visited the Baltic sea, at night, during the winter. Geniuses we are.
The next day we returned to Sopot and saw the ship yard there and visited the aquarium.
Our trip then came to a close and we returned back to Poznan :)
That's all for Gdansk!
I'm in Turkey now, so I guess;
xoxo from Turkey
No comments:
Post a Comment