10.02.2020

100th Anniversary of Poland’s Wedding to the Sea

On February 10, 1920, a solemn act of Poland’s Wedding to the Baltic Sea took place in Puck. General Józef Haller, representing the Republic of Poland, said during the ceremony: „Here is the day of reverence and glory! It is the day of freedom because the White Eagle has spread its wings not only over the Polish lands but also over the Polish sea. Now free are the worlds and countries to us. From now on a Polish seaman will reach every place guided by the White Eagle, the world is his oyster!”

Under the Treaty of Versailles, the Republic of Poland received a 147 km long coastal strip – from the borders of Gdańsk, which, as the Free City of Danzig, remained under the protection of the League of Nations, to the area of Karwia. Although it was not much, taking into account the aspirations of the reviving state, let us remember that this part of the coast has always been extremely important for Poland. The estuary of the Vistula to the Gulf of Gdańsk was of great importance for the economy. The whole gulf was a convenient place for establishing ports.

The fate of Gdańsk Pomerania was turbulent. At least since the time of Mieszko I, it was in the possession of the Piast dynasty. The military order took it over in 1308. From 1466, from the victory over the Teutonic Knights in the Thirteen Years’ War, it belonged to Poland. It was lost in 1772 in the first partition to Prussia.

On September 23, 1922, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland adopted a bill authorising the government to build a seaport in Gdynia. Over a dozen or so years, the fishing settlement has evolved into one of the largest and most modern ports in Europe, around which a city of more than 120,000 residents was built.

 

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