Gdynia ['?d??a] ( listen) (German: Gdingen, Kashubian: Gdiniô) is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport of Gda?sk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea. Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gda?sk and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trójmiasto), with a population of over a million people.
For centuries, Gdynia remained a small agricultural and fishing village on the Baltic coast. At the beginning of the 20th-century Gdynia became a seaside resort town and experienced an inflow of tourists. This also triggered an increase in local population. After Poland regained its independence in 1918, a decision was made to construct a Polish seaport in Gdynia, between the Free City of Danzig (a semi-autonomous city-state under joint League of Nations and Polish administration) and German Pomerania, making Gdynia the primary economic hub of the Polish Corridor. It was then that the town was given a more cosmopolitan character with modernism being the dominant architectural style and emerged as a city in 1926.
The rapid development of Gdynia was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Although the German troops refrained from deliberate bombing, the newly built port and shipyard were completely destroyed. The population of the city suffered much heavier losses as most of the inhabitants were evicted and expelled. The locals were either displaced to other regions of occupied Poland or sent to Nazi concentration camps throughout Europe. After the war, Gdynia was settled with the former inhabitants of Warsaw and lost cities such as Lviv and Vilnius in the Eastern Borderlands. The city was gradually regenerating itself with its shipyard being rebuilt and expanded. In December 1970 the shipyard workers protest against the increase of prices was bloodily repressed. This greatly contributed to the rise of the Solidarity movement in Gda?sk.
Today the port of Gdynia is a regular stopover on the itinerary of luxurious passenger ships and a new ferry terminal with a civil airport are under realisation. The city won numerous awards in relation to safety, infrastructure, quality of life and a rich variety of tourist attractions. In 2013 Gdynia was ranked as Poland's best city to live in and topped the rankings in the overarching category of general quality of life. Gdynia is also highly noted for its access to education. There are prestigious universities such as the Polish Naval Academy located nearby.
Gdynia hosts the Gdynia Film Festival, the main Polish film festival, and was the venue for the International Random Film Festival in 2014.
Video Gdynia
History
The area of the later city of Gdynia shared its history with Pomerelia (Eastern Pomerania); in prehistoric times it was the center of Oksywie culture; it was later populated by Slavs with some Baltic Prussian influences.
- Late 10th century: Pomerelia was united with Poland.
- During the reign of Mieszko II Pomerelia seceded from Poland and became independent.
- 1116/1121: Boles?aw III reunited Pomerelia with Poland.
- 1209: First mention of Oxhöft (now known as Oksywie, which is now a part of Gdynia).
- 1227: Pomerelia again became an independent Duchy.
- 1253: First known mention of the name "Gdynia", as a Pomeranian (Kashubian) fishing village. The first church on this part of the Baltic Sea coast was built there.
- 1294: Pomerelia was inherited by the future Polish king Przemys? II, and remained as part of Poland until -
- 1309-1310; The Teutonic Order conquered Pomerelia and added it to Prussia.
- 1380: The owner of the village which became Gdynia, Peter from Rusocin, gave the village to the Cistercian Order.
- 1382: Gdynia became property of the Cistercian abbey in Oliva, now Oliwa.
- 1454: Thirteen Years' War started.
- 1466: Thirteen Years' War ended. Pomerelia became part of Royal Prussia, a newly established province of the Kingdom of Poland, and later of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1772: In the First Partition of Poland, Royal Prussia (including Gdynia) was annexed into the Kingdom of Prussia. Gdynia became known in German as Gdingen, and was expropriated from the Cistercian Order.
- 1789: There were only 21 houses in Gdynia.
- 1870:
- The Kingdom of Prussia became part of the German Empire.
- The village of Gdingen had some 1,200 inhabitants, and it was not a poor fishing village as it is sometimes described. It was a popular tourist spot with several guest houses, restaurants, cafés, several brick houses and a small harbour with a pier for small trading ships. The first Kashubian mayor of Gdingen was Jan Radtke.
- 1919: Treaty of Versailles and the start of the dismemberment of eastern Germany.
- 1920: Gdingen (now named Gdynia), along with other parts of former West Prussia, became a part of the new Republic of Poland; simultaneously, the city of Gda?sk and surrounding area was declared a free city and put under the League of Nations, though Poland was given economic liberties and requisitioned for matters of foreign representation.
Construction of the seaport
The decision to build a major seaport at Gdynia village was made by the Polish government in winter 1920, in the midst of the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1920). The authorities and seaport workers of the Free City of Gda?sk felt Poland's economic rights in the city were being misappropriated to help fight the war. German dockworkers went on strike, refusing to unload shipments of military supplies sent from the West to aid the Polish army, and Poland realized the need for a port city it was in complete control of, economically and politically.
Construction of Gdynia seaport started in 1921 but, because of financial difficulties, it was conducted slowly and with interruptions. It was accelerated after the Sejm (Polish parliament) passed the Gdynia Seaport Construction Act on 23 September 1922. By 1923 a 550-metre pier, 175 metres (574 feet) of a wooden tide breaker, and a small harbour had been constructed. Ceremonial inauguration of Gdynia as a temporary military port and fishers' shelter took place on 23 April 1923. The first major seagoing ship arrived on 13 August 1923.
To speed up the construction works, the Polish government in November 1924 signed a contract with the French-Polish Consortium for Gdynia Seaport Construction. By the end of 1925, they had built a small seven-metre-deep harbour, the south pier, part of the north pier, a railway, and had ordered the trans-shipment equipment. The works were going more slowly than expected, however. They accelerated only after May 1926, because of an increase in Polish exports by sea, economic prosperity, the outbreak of the German-Polish trade war which reverted most Polish international trade to sea routes, and thanks to the personal engagement of Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, Polish Minister of Industry and Trade (also responsible for construction of Centralny Okr?g Przemys?owy). By the end of 1930 docks, piers, breakwaters, and many auxiliary and industrial installations were constructed (such as depots, trans-shipment equipment, and a rice processing factory) or started (such as a large cold store).
Trans-shipments rose from 10,000 tons (1924) to 2,923,000 tons (1929). At this time Gdynia was the only transit and special seaport designed for coal exports.
In the years 1931-1939 Gdynia harbour was further extended to become a universal seaport. In 1938 Gdynia was the largest and most modern seaport on the Baltic Sea, as well as the tenth biggest in Europe. The trans-shipments rose to 8.7 million tons, which was 46% of Polish foreign trade. In 1938 the Gdynia shipyard started to build its first full-sea ship, the Olza.
Construction of the city
The city was constructed later than the seaport. In 1925 a special committee was inaugurated to build the city; city expansion plans were designed and city rights were granted in 1926, and tax privileges were granted for investors in 1927. The city started to grow significantly after 1928.
A new railway station and the Post Office were completed. The State railways extended their lines, built bridges and also constructed a group of houses for their employees. Within a few years houses were built along some 10 miles (16 km) of road leading northward from the Free City of Danzig to Gdynia and beyond. Public institutions and private employers helped their staffs to build houses.
In 1933 a plan of development providing for a population of 250,000 was worked out by a special commission appointed by a government committee, in collaboration with the municipal authorities. By 1939 the population had grown to over 120,000.
Gdynia during World War II (1939-1945)
The city and seaport were occupied in September 1939 by German troops and renamed Gotenhafen after the Goths, an ancient Germanic tribe, who had lived in the area. Some 50,000 Polish citizens, who after 1920 had been brought into the area by the Polish government after the decision to enlarge the harbour was made, were expelled to the General Government. Kashubians who were suspected to support the Polish cause, particularly those with higher education, were arrested and executed. The main place of execution was Pia?nica (Groß Plaßnitz), where about 12,000 were executed. The German gauleiter Albert Forster considered Kashubians of "low value" and did not support any attempts to create a Kashubian nationality. Some Kashubians organized anti-Nazi resistance groups, "Gryf Kaszubski" (later "Gryf Pomorski"), and the exiled "Zwiazek Pomorski" in Great Britain.
The harbour was transformed into a German naval base. The shipyard was expanded in 1940 and became a branch of the Kiel shipyard (Deutsche Werke Kiel A.G.). Gotenhafen became an important base, due to its being relatively distant from the war theater, and many German large ships--battleships and heavy cruisers--were anchored there. During 1942, Dr Joseph Goebbels authorized relocation of SS Cap Arcona to Gotenhafen Harbour as a stand-in for RMS Titanic during filming of the German-produced movie Titanic, directed by Herbert Selpin.
The city was also the location for the Nazi concentration camp Gotenhafen, a subcamp of the Stutthof concentration camp near Gda?sk.
The seaport and the shipyard both witnessed several air raids by the Allies from 1943 onwards, but suffered little damage. Gotenhafen was used during winter 1944-45 to evacuate German troops and refugees trapped by the Red Army. Some of the ships were hit by torpedoes from Soviet submarines in the Baltic Sea on the route West. The ship Wilhelm Gustloff sank, taking about 9,400 people with her - the worst loss of life in a single sinking in maritime history. The seaport area was largely destroyed by withdrawing German troops and millions of encircled refugees in 1945 being bombarded by Soviet Military (90% of the buildings and equipment were destroyed) and the harbour entrance was blocked by the German battleship Gneisenau that had been brought to Gotenhafen for major repairs.
After World War II
On March 28, 1945, Gotenhafen was captured by the Soviets and assigned to Polish Gda?sk Voivodeship, who again renamed it Gdynia.
In the Polish 1970 protests, worker demonstrations took place at Gdynia Shipyard. Workers were fired upon by the police. The fallen (e.g. Brunon Drywa) became symbolized by a fictitious worker Janek Wi?niewski, commemorated in a song by Mieczys?aw Cholewa, Pie?? o Janku z Gdyni. One of Gdynia's important streets is named after Janek Wi?niewski. The same person was portrayed by Andrzej Wajda in his movie Man of Iron as Mateusz Birkut.
On December 4, 1999, a storm destroyed a huge crane in a shipyard, which was able to lift 900 tons.
Maps Gdynia
Climate
The climate of Gdynia is an oceanic climate owing to its position of the Baltic sea, which moderates the temperatures, compared to the interior of Poland. The climate is cool throughout the year and there is a somewhat uniform precipitation throughout the year. Typical of Northern Europe, there is little sunshine during the year.
Economy
Notable companies that have their headquarters or regional offices in Gdynia:
- PROKOM SA - the largest Polish I.T. company
- C. Hartwig Gdynia SA - one of the largest Polish freight forwarders
- Sony Pictures - finance center
- Thomson Reuters - business data provider
- Vistal - bridge constructions, offshore and shipbuilding markets; partially located on old Stocznia Gdynia terrains
- Nauta - shiprepair yard; partially located on old Stocznia Gdynia terrains
- Crist - shipbuilding, offshore constructions, steel structures, sea engineering, civil engineering; located on old Stocznia Gdynia terrains
Former:
- Stocznia Gdynia - former largest Polish shipyard, now under bankruptcy procedures
- Nordea - banks, sold and consolidated with PKO bank
Transport
Port of Gdynia
In 2007, 364,202 passengers, 17,025,000 tons of Cargo and 614,373 TEU containers passed through the port. Regular car ferry service operates between here and Karlskrona, Sweden.
Airport
The conurbation's main airport, Gda?sk Lech Wa??sa Airport, lays approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) south-west of central Gdynia, and has connections to approximately 55 destinations. It is the third largest airport in Poland. A second General Aviation terminal was scheduled to be opened by May 2012, which will increase the airport's capacity to 5mln passengers per year.
Another local airport, (Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport) is situated partly in the village of Kosakowo, just to the north of the city, and partly in Gdynia. This has been a military airport since the World War II, but it has been decided in 2006 that the airport will be used to serve civilians. Work was well in progress and was due to be ready for 2012 when the project collapsed following a February 2014 EU decision regarding Gdynia city funding as constituting unfair competition to Gda?sk airport. In March 2014, the airport management company filed for bankruptcy, this being formally announced in May that year. The fate of some PLN 100 million of public funds from Gdynia remain unaccounted for with documents not being released, despite repeated requests for such from residents to the city president, Wojciech Szczurek.
Road transport
Trasa Kwiatkowskiego links Port of Gdynia and the city with Obwodnica Trójmiejska, and therefore A1 motorway. National road 6 connects Tricity with S?upsk, Koszalin and Szczecin agglomeration.
Railways
The principal station in Gdynia is Gdynia G?ówna railway station, and Gdynia has five other railway stations. Local services are provided by the 'Fast Urban Railway,' Szybka Kolej Miejska (Tricity) operating frequent trains covering the Tricity area including Gda?sk, Sopot and Gdynia. Long distance trains from Warsaw via Gda?sk terminate at Gdynia, and there are direct trains to Szczecin, Pozna?, Katowice, Lublin and other major cities. In 2011-2015 the Warsaw-Gda?sk-Gdynia route is undergoing a major upgrading costing $3 billion, partly funded by the European Investment Bank, including track replacement, realignment of curves and relocation of sections of track to allow speeds up to 200 km/h (124 mph), modernization of stations, and installation of the most modern ETCS signalling system, which is to be completed in June 2015. In December 2014 new Alstom Pendolino high-speed trains were put into service between Gdynia, Warsaw and Kraków reducing rail travel times to Gdynia by 2 hours.
Education
There are currently 8 universities and institutions of higher education based in Gdynia. Many students from Gdynia attend also universities located in the Tricity.
- State-owned:
- Gdynia Maritime University
- Polish Naval Academy
- University of Gdansk - departments of Biology, Geography and Oceanology
- Privately owned:
- WSB Universities - WSB University in Gda?sk, departments of Economics and Management
- Academy of International Economic and Political Relations
- Kwiatkowski Graduate School of Business Administration
- Pomeranian Higher School of Humanities
- Cardinal Stefan Wyszy?ski University - department in Gdynia
- Higher School of Social Communication
Sports
Sport teams
- Arka Gdynia - men's football team (Polish Cup winner 1979 and 2017, currently plays in the first division of Polish football, the Ekstraklasa)
- Ba?tyk Gdynia - men's football team, playing in the 2nd league in the season 2009/2010;
- Lotos Gdynia - women's basketball team (Polish Champion 2004 in Sharp Torell Basket Liga)
- Asseco Prokom Gdynia - men's basketball team (Polish Basketball League and Euroleague)
- RC Arka Gdynia - rugby team (Champions of Poland in seasons 2003/2004, 2004/2005 and 2010/2011)
- Seahawks Gdynia - American football team (Polish American Football League) (Champions of Poland in season 2011/2012)
- Kager Gdynia - men's basketball team (Dominet Bank Ekstraliga)
- KS ??czpol Gdynia - women's handball team (1st league in season 2003/2004)
Culture
Gdynia hosts the Gdynia Film Festival, the main Polish film festival. The International Random Film Festival was hosted in Gdynia in November 2014. Since 2003 Gdynia has been hosting the Open'er Festival, one of the biggest contemporary music festivals in Europe. The festival welcomes many foreign hip-hop, rock and electronic music artists every year. The lineup for 2015 was Mumford and Sons, Of Monsters and Men, The Prodigy, The Vaccines and many more. Another important summer event in Gdynia is the Viva Beach Party, which is a large two-day techno party made on Gdynia's Public Beach and a summer-welcoming concerts CudaWianki. Gdynia also hosts events for the annual Gda?sk Shakespeare Festival.
In the summer of 2014 Gdynia hosted Red Bull Air Race World Championship.
Sights and tourist attractions
Gdynia is a relatively modern city. Its architecture includes the 13th century St. Michael the Archangel's Church in Oksywie, the oldest building in Gdynia, and the 17th century neo-Gothic manor house located on Folwarczna Street in Or?owo. The city also holds many examples of early 20th-century architecture, especially monumentalism and early functionalism, and modernism. A good example of modernism is PLO building situated at 10 Lutego Street.
The surrounding hills and the coastline attract many nature lovers. A leisure pier and a cliff-like coastline in K?pa Red?owska, as well as the surrounding Nature Reserve, are also popular locations. In the harbour, there are two anchored museum ships, the ORP B?yskawica destroyer and the Dar Pomorza tall ship frigate. A 1.5 kilometre long promenade leads from the marina in the city centre, to the beach in Red?owo.
Most of Gdynia can be seen from Kamienna Góra (54 metres (177 feet) asl) or the viewing point near Chwaszczyno. There are also two viewing towers, one at Góra Donas, the other at Kolibki.
Population and area
Notable people
- Józef Micha? Hubert Unrug (1884-1973), German-born Polish vice admiral who helped create the Polish navy
- Karol Olgierd Borchardt (1905-1986), Polish maritime author and educator
- Kazimierz Ostrowski (1917 Berlin - 1999 Gdynia) Polish painter
- Jacek Fedorowicz (born 1937), Polish satirist and actor
- Gunnar Heinsohn (born 1943), German scientist
- Jörg Berger (1944-2010), German soccer player, trainer
- Klaus Hurrelmann (born 1944), German scientist
- Marcin Mi?ciel (born 1975), soccer player
- Michael Klim (born 1977), Polish-born Australian swimmer, world champion
- Adam Darski, Behemoth frontman
- Stefan Liv, (1980-2011) Swedish ice hockey player
- Monika Pyrek, pole vaulter
- Anna Rogowska, pole vaulter
- Anna Przybylska, Polish actress (1978-2014)
- Pawel Anaszkiewicz, Polish-Mexican visual artist
International relations
Twin towns -- sister cities
Gdynia is twinned with:
Cultural references
In 2008, Gdynia made it onto the Monopoly Here and Now World Edition board after being voted by fans through the Internet. Gdynia occupies the space traditionally held by Mediterranean Avenue, being the lowest voted city to make it onto the Monopoly Here and Now board, but also the smallest city to make it in the game. All of the other cities are large and widely known ones, the second smallest being Riga. The unexpected success of Gdynia can be attributed to a mobilization of the town's population to vote for it on the Internet.
An abandoned factory district in Gdynia was the scene for the survival series Man vs Wild, season 6, episode 12. The host, Bear Grylls, manages to escape the district after blowing up a door and crawling through miles of sewer.
Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the supervillain in the James Bond novels, was born in Gdynia on May 28, 1908, according to Thunderball.
Gdynia is sometimes called "Polish Roswell" due to the alleged UFO crash on January 21, 1959.
See also
- Donas
- Gdynia trolleybus
- Ports of the Baltic Sea
- St. Anthony parish, Gdynia
References
Further reading
- (ed.) R. Wapi?ski, Dzieje Gdyni, Gda?sk 1980
- (ed.). S. Gierszewski, Gdynia, Gda?sk 1968
- Gdynia, in: Pomorze Gda?skie, nr 5, Gda?sk 1968
- J. Borowik, Gdynia, port Rzeczypospolitej, Toru? 1934
- B. Kasprowicz, Problemy ekonomiczne budowy i eksploatacji portu w Gdyni w latach 1920-1939, Zapiski Historyczne, nr 1-3/1956
- M. Widernik, G?ówne problemy gospodarczo-spo?eczne miasta Gdyni w latach 1926-1939., Gda?sk 1970
- (ed.) A. Bukowski, Gdynia. Sylwetki ludzi, o?wiata i nauka, literatura i kultura, Gda?sk 1979
- Gminy województwa gda?skiego, Gda?sk 1995
- H. Górnowicz, Z. Brocki, Nazwy miast Pomorza Gda?skiego, Wroc?aw 1978
- Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. I-IV, Pozna? 1969-2003
- (ed.) W. Odyniec, Dzieje Pomorza Nadwi?la?skiego od VII wieku do 1945 roku, Gda?sk 1978
- L. B?dkowski, Pomorska my?l polityczna, Gda?sk 1990
- L. B?dkowski, W. Samp, Poczet ksi???t Pomorza Gda?skiego, Gda?sk 1974
- B. ?liwi?ski, Poczet ksi???t gda?skich, Gda?sk 1997
- Józef Spors, Podzia?y administracyjne Pomorza Gda?skiego i S?awie?sko-S?upskiego od XII do pocz?tków XIV w, S?upsk 1983
- M. Latoszek, Pomorze. Zagadnienia etniczno-regionalne, Gda?sk 1996
- B. Bojarska, Eksterminacja inteligencji polskiej na Pomorzu Gda?skim (wrzesie?-grudzie? 1939), Pozna? 1972
- K. Ciechanowski, Ruch oporu na Pomorzu Gda?skim 1939-1945., Warszawa 1972
External links
- Gdynia Port - Home for all Polish Ocean Liners
- Gdynia city website
- Virtual tour on Gdynia's coast
- Gdynia tourist guide
- Gdynia Tripadvisor
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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