THIS PLACE IS MAGICAL ONCE A YEAR I HAVE TO BE THERE :}
01.03.2015I was quite a long time ago, when I was still small, I don't remember the moment myself, but old photos remind me of it
17.07.2013Westerplatte - peninsula in Gdansk, at the mouth of the Dead Vistula River. In 1926-39 the peninsula was home to the Military Transit Depot, the defense of which in September1939 became one of the best-known symbols of Polish resistance to the Nazis. In May 1734, a 2,500-strong French intervention corps of Count Louis de Plélo (who himself died there) landed here in an attempt to break the siege of Gdansk by the Russians during the War of the Polish Succession. On March 14, 1924, the Council of the League of Nations granted Poland the area on the Westerplatte peninsula, at the mouth of the harbor channel to the sea, opposite the suburb of Nowy Port. On October 31, 1925, the area within the Free City of Danzig on the Westerplatte peninsula was officially transferred to Poland for indefinite and free use. On December 7, 1925, the League of Nations granted Poland the right to maintain a military guard at Westerplatte, and as early as January 18, 1926, at 2 p.m., the first unit arrived on the minesweeper ORP Mewa and began guard duty. In 1926-39, the Military Transit Depot operated on the peninsula. On August 25, 1939, the German training battleship Schleswig-Holstein (in fact, a well-armed ship prepared to attack Westerplatte) arrived in Gdansk for a supposedly courtesy visit. From September 1-7, 1939, there was a defense of the peninsula by the Poles under the command of Major Henryk Sucharski (from September 2 to 7 his deputy Capt. Franciszek Dąbrowski was in command). During these battles, only German sources report the attack of live torpedoes on the firing positions of Westerplatte from New Port, the garrison fought alone and in encirclement in the face of overwhelming enemy forces. After the surrender as early as October 10, 1939, the Nazis transported Polish prisoners to Westerplatte to clean up the area after the fighting. In March 1940, a sub-camp (Abteilung Aussenstelle) of the Stutthof concentration camp was formally established at Westerplatte. Its commanders were SS-Hauptsturmführer Franz Christoffel, SS-Untersturmführer Paul Ehle and SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Mathesius. In May 1941, demolition work on Westerplatte (dismantling of the barracks) was completed by the last group of prisoners and the camp was disbanded. After the war, in the fall of 1946, demining of the peninsula area began. That year, a cross and a plaque with the names of the fallen were placed on the site of Watchtower No. 5, creating a symbolic cemetery of the fallen. On July 2, 1962, the cross was removed and a 1945 T-34 tank was put in its place. On October 9, 1966, the Monument to the Defenders of the Coast was unveiled here, still standing today. It is 25 meters high (not counting the base, which is a 20-meter high mound). This monument, by its shape, resembles a chipped bayonet stuck in the ground. On June 12, 1987, a meeting between Pope John Paul II and 38 Westerplatians and young people took place here.
17.02.2010
