Poland Cruises: Cruises to Gdansk, Poland

April 2024 · 2 minute read

What’s now Gdansk was inhabited as far back as the Stone Age, thanks to its abundance of fish. The town itself was founded in 975 AD as a wooden fortress on the banks of the Motlawa River, named Gyddanyzc.

From 1308 for more than a century, Gdansk was ruled by the Order of Teutonic Knights. It became part of Poland in the 15th century and enjoyed status as one of the most important ports on the Baltic Sea. In the 18th century, various powers divided Poland, and Gdansk became part of Prussia, then Germany in 1871, when it was named Danzig. Poland became independent again after the First World War.

But on September 1, 1939, at Westerplatte on the Baltic coastline, the first shots of World War II were fired when a German warship took aim at a Polish army base north of Gdansk. The city was occupied by the Nazis for five years, some 80 percent of the buildings destroyed in the battle for its liberation. After 1945, the city became part of Poland again, under communist rule.

Uprisings against the state by shipyard workers took place in 1970 and again in 1980, as the Solidarity movement gained momentum. Solidarity was the first free trade union to be recognized in a Soviet bloc country. By 1989, it had become a fully fledged political party, winning 99 percent of the vote in a free national election.

Gdansk has since reinvented itself as a tourist destination, with a vibrant culture of food, drink, and shopping, as well as world-class museums.

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