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Tag: Gdańsk

Gdańsk’s heritage and reconstruction after the war

After the Second World War, Gdańsk was fully integrated into Poland. Subsequently, the population dynamic of the city changed – many German residents fled or were expelled, and were replaced by Poles, who came especially from areas lost to the Soviets in the former eastern lands. With new rulers and a new populace in place, a question arose – what to do about the ruined city?

September 26, 2025 - Błażej Kowacz

With a view to the Baltic Sea

Our geopolitical imagination, which until recently was stretched along the East-West axis, has now gained a new dimension – the North. This new perception is becoming the impetus for economic as well as demographic changes that are taking place along the Polish coast.

The city of Gdańsk, one of the largest port cities in Europe, reached the height of its power at the turn of the 17th century. During this period, it held the prestigious status of a royal city, enjoying extensive autonomy and maintaining its own naval fleet. In return for loyalty and financial support, the Polish kings granted the city numerous privileges. Thanks to its location on the Baltic Sea and at the mouth of the Vistula river, Gdańsk controlled the trade in grain, timber and salt.

July 8, 2025 - Piotr Leszczyński

Modern Europe – forged in the Gdańsk Shipyard

In recent years Polish collective memory has become too focused on the military traditions of freedom and independence fighters. This approach overlooks the thinking and achievements of the 1970s and 1980s, which were the result of peaceful social movements. By opting for non-violence, the ten-million-strong Solidarity movement, Solidarność, chose a difficult, but in the end effective, path.

The historic Gdańsk Shipyard is one of the most important memory sites in Europe today. It is a complex that includes Solidarity Square, alongside the Monument of the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970, the historic Gate Number 2, the former BHP Hall (a place where in 1980 the famous August Accords between the communist authorities and the democratic opposition were negotiated) and the European Solidarity Centre (ECS). Upon the ECS’s initiative the shipyard was placed on the European Heritage Label list.

September 29, 2022 - Basil Kerski

The living and the dead

A conversation with Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, a Polish poet, and Trupa Trupa, songwriter, vocalist and guitarist. Interviewer: Jacek Hajduk

JACEK HAJDUK: During the 2019 SXSW Music Festival you dedicated the performance of your group, Trupa Trupa, to the memory of the late Gdańsk mayor, Paweł Adamowicz. Let us then start with Gdańsk. How much of this city is with you today? And how was it before? Which faces of this multi-layered urban centre are close to your heart?

GRZEGORZ KWIATKOWSKI: Today, Gdańsk is a big part of me, unlike in the past. Back then I was more interested in self-isolating myself and creating a kind of enclave in one of its districts – Gdańsk Wrzeszcz. This actually is still my ideal, but now I also understand the impact that this city has on me and my poetry. This is mainly because of my family stories.

September 12, 2021 - Grzegorz Kwiatkowski Jacek Hajduk

The memory and experience of 1980

An interview with Cezary Obracht-Prądzyński, sociologist and professor at Gdańsk University. Interviewer: Piotr Leszczyński

PIOTR LESZCZYŃSKI: What was the phenomenon of August 1989 in Poland? What took place at that time in the Gdańsk Shipyard, and what can this experience tell us now about Polish society of that time?

CEZARY OBRACHT-PRĄDZYŃSKI: It is not easy to talk about Solidarity. We do not have one position that would allow us to interpret the events, the causes and effects of the strike – both the experience and the memory of Solidarity have been very diverse. Solidarity was a very heterogenous movement from the beginning. It is remembered differently by people who worked and lived in Gdańsk and witnessed these events, who got to see what was taking place in the shipyard. Their perspective was unlike those who lived in other parts of the country and were forced to rely on information broadcasted by state media.

August 31, 2020 - Cezary Obracht-Prondzyński Piotr Leszczyński

Pandemic response in Gdańsk

Interview with the mayor of Gdańsk, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz. Interviewer: Paulina Siegień.

July 20, 2020 - Aleksandra Dulkiewicz Paulina Siegień

Integration comes later. An immigrant in Gdańsk

Interview with Yuliya Shavlovskaya from the Gdańsk Support Center for Immigrants. Interviewer: Paulina Siegień

October 29, 2019 - Julia Szawłowska Paulina Siegień

Neighbours in difficult times. Gdańsk and Kaliningrad

Since July 1st 2019, it has been possible to to enter Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast with a free electronic visa. This could be a new chapter in the relationship between Gdańsk and its Russian partner.

July 29, 2019 - Paulina Siegień

Saving the forgotten homes of the borderland

Centuries ago, thousands of Dutch and German Mennonites fled religious persecution and settled in the Żuławy region of Poland, introducing their arcaded houses, windmills and dykes to the area. Though this rich cultural history has deteriorated since the Second World War, some inhabitants are determined to revive it.

April 2, 2019 - Máté Mohos

Funeral of the Mayor of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz

The funeral will be organised by the City of Gdańsk together with the family of the late Mayor. Thursday, January 17th 3 pm –a City Council session will be held for the commemoration of Mayor Adamowicz in the Artus Court. At 5 pm the Mayor’s coffin will be carried to the European Solidarity Center and […]

January 17, 2019 - New Eastern Europe

Local governments are the foundation of democracy

A conversation from 2016 with Paweł Adamowicz, Mayor of the city of Gdańsk. Interviewer: Iwona Reichardt

January 15, 2019 - Iwona Reichardt

Solidarity Academy: Borderlands

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS 17th – 25th of November 2018 at the European Solidarity Center in Gdańsk

July 17, 2018 - Marina Adamyan

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