The Sea, My City, And Me
For the first time Gdynia was mentioned in a document from 1253, under the name
Gdina, a village belonging to the parish in Oksywie. In 1414 the first inn was built - a
meeting place for fishermen and a social-shopping. Because of the convenient
location by the sea, in the early twentieth
century Gdynia became a seaside summer
resort. It was visited by numerous Poles
from the centre of the country who stayed
in Gdynia. After joining the region, the
Polish began a new period in the history
of Gdynia, which became the site of the
construction of a seaport. The port of
Gdynia was built, because it really was an
independent Polish seaport. The port in the
(The oldest monument of Gdynia)
Free City of Danzig was, which under the
Treaty of Versailles was a stateless city, to
be used freely by Poles and Germans as
they were to have equal rights. But in
reality, the Poles were discriminated.
In April 1923 there was an opening of the temporary port, and in August the same
year the first seagoing vessel sailed to Gdynia. It was the SS Kentucky, under the
French flag. On February 10, 1926 Gdynia received the city rights - as it already had 12
thousand people. In 1934 Gdynia became the largest port on the Baltic Sea in terms of
cargo volume, and also the most modern port in Europe. II World War caused
significant damage to the port and a small part of the city. The dynamic development
of the port (container base) and other infrastructure lead Gdynia to be the fastest
growing city in Poland. In December 1970
Gdynia shipyard workers and residents
protested against the existing political order.
The reaction of the security forces were
dead and wounded. These events are
commemorated with such monuments as the
Monument of the Victims of December 1970
which stands nearby Gdynia Shipyard as well
as 23-foot cross that stands at the City Hall.
Today the city is still one of the most
important and most modern ports of the Baltic
states and is one of the largest Polish cities.
1870 – 1 September - a railway line linking
Gdańsk to Gdynia, and Wejherowo to Sczecin
was opened
1920 – 10 January – Pomorze Gdańskie was
included in the Polish territory on the basis of
the arrangements of the Peace Conference in
Paris
13 February – Gdynia’s marriage with the sea at
Redlowska beach.
1925 – houses in Gdynia were lit with the light
of electric lamps
1926 – 10 February – Gdynia was promoted to
be a city.
1927 – 6 January – Polish flags were raised on
the first merchant ships bought in France. The
same year Gdynia received the telephone lines
1927 – the first journey of the city’s means of
transport
1929 – the creation of a football club called Arka
Gdynia.
SS Kentucky
1930 – the consecration of the ship „Dar
Pomorza” in Gdynia’s port; raising of the
polish flag on the first polish passenger ship
“Polonia”.
1939 – 1 – 9 September – the Heroic Gdynia’s
defence as well as the defence of Kepa
Oksywska from the invasion of German
army
1943 – first „trolejbus” in Gdynia
(in Poland are only 3 cities
which has got „trolejbusy”. In
Gdynia are one of the most
modern in Europe)
1967 – visiting French president
Charlesa de Gaulle’a
1987 – visiting pope Jan Paweł II
1990 – opening ferry line to the
Karlskrona in Sweden
Solaris Trollino 12m (trolejbus)
Stena Spirit in Gdynia’s harbor
Świętojańska Street
Boulevard
Pier
Arka Gdynia’s playing field
He was a legendary sailor, an admiral of the Danish
Fleet. There was no Polish Fleet at that time, so Polish
sailors were mercenaries in other countries. According
to the legend, he reached America before Christopher
Columbus. He had managed to hand in his maps to
Christopher Columbus before he died. Jan of Kolno
studied at Cracow University in 1455. He was probably
born to a family of sailors or merchants settled in
Gdańsk.
The engineer Tadeusz Wenda, is a person who immediately
comes to mind when people say "Gdynia". He received a job
as a construction manager at the port of Gdynia in the
Ministry of Industry and Trade. He chose the place for
the construction of the port. He was the author of the
technical concept and site plan as well as a works
manager. From 1932 he supervised further works, as a
clerk in Marine Board in Gdynia.
After I World War Poland regained independence after
123 years of partitions, but it wasn’t known which lands will
eventually be included as part of Polish territory. Gdynia
was and is in Kaszubian region. Kaszubian region is a land in
Pomoranian region, which is inhabitted by the Kaszubian ethnic minority. They speak their own language and they
have had their own culture till this day. Kaszubians, beside
having their own sense of individuality, have always felt as
the Polish. Abraham, as a keen defender of Polish
Pomoranian and Kaszubian region, decided to go to Peace
Conference in Paris. There he wanted to convince the
governors that the place where he lived (Pomoranian and
Kaszubian regions) should be included in the territory of his
beloved country.
The legend says, he went to Paris on foot! He was said
to hit the table with his big fist (he was more that 2m tall)
and said “There is no Kaszubian region without the Polish,
and no Poland without Kaszubian region”. Abraham’s
opinion had to have a positive effect on the members of the
conference as after such long time the Pomoranian was
given back to Poland.
Kazimierz Porębski was Polish Vice-Admiral and the
Commander of Polish Navy in the years 1919-25. In
the first years of independence he has become the
central figure of Polish politics in the sea. This
activity was characterized by extraordinary
dynamism and dedication. Porębski occurred to be an
activist, an organizer, and the main spokesman of
maritime affairs in his work. He was also a propagator
of building a port in Gdynia.
Leonid Teliga was a Polish sailor who sailed round the
world single-handed. He started his voyage on 25th
January 1967 in Casablanca. He visited a great number
of ports en route, warmly welcomed in many places in
the world and nominated an honorary member of
various yacht clubs. It took him 2 years and three
months to complete the race. He accomplished his
voyage on 30th April 1969. An ambulance waited for
him at the Warsaw airport. In spite of intensive
medical care, Teliga died on 21st May 1970.
He was a Deputy Minister, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Minister of Industry and Minister of Trade
in II Rzeczpospolita (RP). All the greatest economic
achievements of II RP are related with his activities .
The most important economic enterprise was the port
construction in Gdynia in the years 1926-30. This main
investment was strongly supported by Kwiatkowski,
who did everything to accelerate this building.
While he was in charge of the marine politics the
significant activities took place to enable the shipping
industry in Gdynia. Thanks to them Gdynia had
possibility to become one of the biggest and the most
modern ports on the Baltic Sea. Unfortunately after the
II World War because of the communists politics he
was banished from his own country and till his death
he could not come back.
Every year people are awarded with the medal of
Kwiatkowski for their outstanding contribution to
Gdynia.
He carried on the construction of the first Polish hitech yacht “Gemini” and founded a yacht shipyard
“Gemini International”. In 1999 he inaugurated the
programme Race 2000 –the participation of a Polish
crew in the round the world regatta.
In 2001 Roman Paszke decided to break the record of
sailing round the world single-handed without calling
in at any ports. The current world record is held by a
Frenchman, Francis Joyon (57 days, 13 hours, 34
minutes). Because of the bad weather conditions on the
southern hemisphere the voyage had to be cancelled.
Roman Paszke did not give up and started a new race
on his 90-feet catamaran “Gemini 3”. He was going to
beat the world record of non-stop single-handed sailing
round the world “against the wind”. Unfortunately,
because of a serious damage of his catamaran, Paszke
had to stop his race in January 2012. In spite of that, he
is going to continue his preparations for the next trial.
The current world record is 122 days, 14 hours, 3 minutes
and 49 seconds. Many sailors tried to sail “against the
wind” in the past, but only six of them succeeded,
including one woman.
At the beginning a little about the street itself:
Świętojańska Street is one of the longest streets in Gdynia (1866m.). Along the street there is
an unbelievable amount of shops, restaurants, pharmacies or other private companies.
How is this festival celebrated?
The Festivals is on 23 June. This
festival is nothing else but a nameday of Świętojańska Street. We
shouln't forget the fact that on the
same day there is the St. John’s
night.
Along the street there are many
stages set up and there is a lot of
different things being done, shown
or presented at each stage. For
example, at the first stage there is
an artist who sings, while at the
next one some well-known Polish
chef shows how to cook some
typical Polish dish. In addition,
there are prepared numerous
playgrounds, slides and other
attractions for children. But the
main attraction is the parade.
Depending on the theme these are
the parades where the army, fire
brigades, acrobats, clowns, antique
vehicles and many other people
take part.
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-the Marshal Józef Piłsudski
-the General Józef Haller
-the Engineer Eugene Kwiatkowski - Deputy Prime Minister who was involved in the
creation of the city and the port of Gdynia.
The herring march takes place since immemorial time but since 2002 it is an official
celebration called "The herring march". It is a pedestrian march, with the length of
about 13km, which takes place on the Tern’s Shallow at Puck Bay between Rewa and
Kuźnica. The march is organized to popularize the tourism at Puck Bay and on the shallow
itself. This march consists of four stages: "the faith", "the Moses’s syndrome", "a test" and
"only to the seashore". During the march every participant has to eat specially prepared
herring and needs to drink a special sailor’s drink.
The first stage called "the faith" requires the participants to go into the sea in Kuźnica and
slowly move away from the seashore of the Hel’s Peninsula. After about 500 metres they
have to start swimming.
The second stage called "the Moses’s syndrome" makes the participants go through the
water up to the level of their knees till they reach the dry land which is a small, long and
narrow island which cannot be seen from Rewa or Kuźnica. The name of this stage is
symbolic and is compared to the biblical Moses’s walk through the sea during exiting Egypt.
The third stage is "the test". Participants have to eat specially prepared herring and drink a
special sailor’s drink made of unknown ingredients.
The fourth and the last stage is called "only to the seashore". It is the hardest stage of the
march because the participants have to swim through the artificially deepened part of the
shallow which is 700 - 1400m wide (depends on the sea currents). During the summer
editions the participants swim through this stage holding to the help line from the
fishermen’s boats. If somebody lets go of the rope he needs to get onboard a boat.
From there...
…to there.
The tradition of the sea days dates back to XVIII and XIX century when the kaszubian
fishermen had a custom of cutting the mushrooms’ parasol at the Midsummer's Night.
The parasols were a symbol of evil and human nuisances. Those ceremonies like throwing
the garlands in spring had only the folk character never national.
On 6th December there has been a motorcyclists Santas parade for 9 years. People wearing
Santa’s suits ride through the streets of Gdynia, Gdańsk and Sopot. The route leads from
Gdynia to Gdańsk, or from Gdańsk to Gdynia. The first rally was held in 2003 and then 9
people rode through the streets. In 2007 there were 757 motorcyclists in the streets whereas
in 2011 about 2500 people. Everyone who has a motorcycle and is dressed as a Santa can
come. Of course, he or she needs to have a motorcycle driving license. During the parade
voluntary donations are collected for children and they are transferred to one school in Gdynia
and one in Gdańsk.
We think that you enjoyed our city ;)