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On September 1, 1939, the Nazis invaded Gdansk,
triggering off the Second World War. A little over seven hundred years
earlier, the city had been invaded by the Teutonic Knights; in the 17th
century by the Swedes; and in the 18th century by Peter the
Great of Russia. A series of invasions, all of which have left scars
on a city which ranks as one of those which seems to go from one major
historical event to another.
Gdansk, ever
since it was founded a thousand years ago, has been in the news. A
major port, a prosperous industrial city, an educational town with the
second oldest university in all of Europe. This is the city which,
clinging to the rim of the Baltic, has had changes of fortune as
abrupt and unpredictable as the city’s weather. Gdansk has been rich
and it has been poor; it has been free and it has been captive. It has
seen the glories of the Renaissance and it has seen the horrors of the
Jewish holocaust.
Modern
Gdansk is an amalgam of all its past. A city of towering medieval
cathedrals and old gates; of museums, bridges and bustling markets. Of
drab shipyards and busy factories, of quaint gabled houses and cobbled
streets. A city where vodka and jazz are as highly appreciated as a
good performance at the opera. A city which welcomes visitors as
whole-heartedly as it has fought invaders over the years. |
