A Dutch City in Poland? | The Forgotten Dutch History of Gdańsk/Danswijk (1358-2023)

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  • Опубліковано 24 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 675

  • @DrainedPunk
    @DrainedPunk Рік тому +213

    Gdańsk has a few different historical parts. What you describe as having some Dutchness within it is called the Main City (Główne Miasto), this was the Hanseatic part of the city, with multilingual merchants inhabiting that portion of Gdansk. Primarily using German as lingua franca. Stare Miasto or the Old Town is another different part of the city and it’s the oldest one. This was primarily a Polish and Kashubian settlement predating arrival of Germans. Then there are parts like Oliwa, which was a primarily Polish part built around a catholic monastery - but in later years during Industrial Revolution heavily germanized.
    The Main Town - the Dutch looking part of the city was totally destroyed during the Second World War and while rebuilding it some of typically German architectural elements were purposefully removed and changed to more of Dutch influenced ones. That’s why it might look familiar to people from the Netherlands.

    • @giselavaleazar8768
      @giselavaleazar8768 Рік тому +20

      The German language is a modern thing as is modern Dutch. The language spoken in current northern Netherlands and current northern Germany regions (both countries didn't exist yet) were very close in Hanseatic League times.

    • @vanbrabant6791
      @vanbrabant6791 Рік тому +10

      ​@@giselavaleazar8768Indeed. The English call our mothertongue Dutch, as also in westernmost Flanders (pilfered by France in around 1700) we called it Duits, now used for German. And after all, the Southern Netherlands (now Belgium) were part of the German Empire from 870 (Treaty of Meersen) until Napoleone Buonaparte grabbed them in around 1800. Greetings from Waterloo.

    • @arnoldhau1
      @arnoldhau1 Рік тому +15

      The German used in the hanseatic context was Low German, quite diffent to what we call German today and in many aspects much closer to modern day Dutch...

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому +5

      @@vanbrabant6791 The reason the English call it Dutch is because we ourselves called it Diets.

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому +8

      It looks familiar in the same way every other Hanseatic city from Novgorod to Antwerpen looks familiar because they all have old houses in the same architectural style built by the same merchants. Not exactly a unique thing for Gdansk.

  • @jakubhulanicki7101
    @jakubhulanicki7101 Рік тому +78

    I am Polish, native of Gdańsk for some years, but now living in Delft. Finding out about Arend Dickmann was definitely a pleasant surprise.

    • @六O
      @六O Рік тому

      z wiochy pochodzisz chamie ,Gdańsk był niemiecki pajacu

    • @cathulhu3772
      @cathulhu3772 Рік тому +1

      Obadaj książkę "Galeony Wojny" - podziękujesz mi później. :))))

    • @DiriaMeneam
      @DiriaMeneam 7 місяців тому

      Danswyk dit is Amsteldamm de Tweede :-)

  • @giulianocantadore6739
    @giulianocantadore6739 Рік тому +259

    Is it just me or does anyone else find it really pleasing that he doesn't not anglicize the pronunciation of Dutch/Flemish names?

    • @Melinmingle
      @Melinmingle Рік тому +13

      His name is hilbert

    • @lumethecrow2632
      @lumethecrow2632 Рік тому +15

      Well he is Dutch, so like

    • @CinCee-
      @CinCee- Рік тому +2

      He can speak Dutch.. thats why

    • @G4KDXlive
      @G4KDXlive Рік тому +1

      The pronunciation of Frysk, Nederlands and Vlaams is exemplary as well as the historical content. ( I can’t really comment on the Polish ) 🙂

    • @simondebeer9917
      @simondebeer9917 Рік тому +3

      I think it's irritating. When speaking English, it's incongruous to use vernacular pronunciations. I'd expect a native English speaker to use the vernacular. I found it so annoying I couldn't watch to be end

  • @times4937
    @times4937 Рік тому +271

    Actually, the city was built of Dutch brick, which was used as ballast for ships on the way to Gdansk for grain.

    • @istoppedcaring6209
      @istoppedcaring6209 Рік тому +7

      then it may have served as balast but bricks require a labour intensive process to produce, they were a trade commodity

    • @dutchman7623
      @dutchman7623 Рік тому +15

      @@istoppedcaring6209 Yes of course! But remember the ballast on VOC ships on their return voyage was Chinese porcelain, which became a nice commodity as well. The brick ballast on their east voyage can be found in Malaysia.

    • @kacperwoch4368
      @kacperwoch4368 Рік тому +8

      A few buildings were. Most are built with typical local bricks, which are much larger than the Dutch ones.

    • @perkunlitewski
      @perkunlitewski Рік тому +2

      Grain from Ukraine... Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth used to control Ukraine. History repeats itself?

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому +3

      @@dutchman7623 the chinese porcelain is a funny one, they first started producing it as cheap knockoff alternative for the dutch porcelain but it became so ubiquitous that the english still refer to porcelain simply as "China" and few people outside the netherlands know it was derived from our porcelain.

  • @wawrzynieckorzen78
    @wawrzynieckorzen78 Рік тому +227

    The reconstructed buildings are not "communist blocks with historical facades" - during afterwar reconstruction the interiors were just adapted to mid-XX century standards: with modern plumbing, electricity and bringing more light into apartments. Similar thing was done in Warsaw Old Town - after reconstruction the standard of living for local inhabitants have significantly risen.
    Anyway - great material!

    • @historywithhilbert
      @historywithhilbert  Рік тому +26

      Fair enough! I couldn't find much material online in English about this but happy to see that the interiors are nice as well!

    • @wawrzynieckorzen78
      @wawrzynieckorzen78 Рік тому +19

      @@historywithhilbert Well, they were nice 70 years ago, now it depends on the place and its administration history, ownership and so on.
      In this period of afterwar reconstruction it was also quite popular to build neighbourhoods that imitated historic ones - and they were also quite prestigeous with actors and artists living in them. Now they probably are not, but after the war it was big deal.

    • @dushmanmardom
      @dushmanmardom Рік тому +4

      They actually are blocks. The bulk of the city was destroyed, and the whole thing was built anew according to modernist principle. And I am glad it was, to be honest, as we can actually breathe in this city.

    • @Pawel_Mrozek
      @Pawel_Mrozek 7 місяців тому +1

      They are blocks. Single facades never represent a single building except those which survived. All rebuild buildings were grouped into blocks with a single staircase and internal structure of an apartment building. They are also much shorter measuring distance from the street leaving large open backyards that are common space and not divided into small private courtyards like before war. So it is nothing like reconstruction. Only facades and streets were reconnected and even this only to the some degree

    • @specodhec341
      @specodhec341 4 місяці тому

      I'm actually living in the Śródmieście in Gdańsk since birth and I can co firm that around 60-70% of the buildings here are actually just communist blocks with facades.
      Many streets in the Śródmieście district have different course, widh, length or placement than their pre-WWII counterparts, some are even missing, as the buildings and their placement was almost completely redesigned to account for new infrastructure (water-sewer/ gas/ electricity/ cars/ trash disposal etc.) and to accomodate possibly the most people per square ft - communists hated big apartments as they feared social gatherings. Flats were designed to be a place to sleep and nothing else, and the "historical" shape of the buildings was almost miraculously brought back, because it was against the communist agenda to remind people of "good old times when capitalists ruled in this city". Not to mention it was bombed to the oblivion for no tactical reason whatsoever, just for the spite of it.
      There is around 10-15% of buildings that were not destroyed beyond the point of collapsing, so they were rebuilt with "modern standards" - room plan changed, sometimes with an additional top floor and block-like roof. In whole Śródmieście there are less than a 50 buildings with original facade and floor plan, the rest is more-less a cheap knock-off of what it used to be, unfortunately.

  • @pawekokot1157
    @pawekokot1157 Рік тому +154

    Gdansk is similar to Amsterdam, because in the Middle Ages and early modern times there were many Dutch merchants (and also architects) who imported mainly grain and wood from Poland. Gdańsk was like a version of Polish Hong Kong with great autonomy and a large stock exchange. The city was multicultural, where lived Poles, Germans, Dutch, Lithuanians, Scots and Swedes

    • @nicolasmarazuela1010
      @nicolasmarazuela1010 Рік тому

      From 1308 until 1944 the majority were germans.

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому +8

      All the cities in the hanseatic league look rather similar. Even cities in the baltics and as far as st. petersburg and veliki novgorod the old merchants houses have the same architectural style. because they were the same merchants having these houses built all along the north sea and baltic coast where they lived and traded. you can go from Novgorod in russia to Kampen in the netherlands and see the same houses.

    • @rambonatorrrr6694
      @rambonatorrrr6694 Рік тому +6

      ​@@TheSuperappelflapdat is niet helemaal waar. Zeker Novgrod ziet er typisch Russisch uit.

    • @marcink5820
      @marcink5820 7 місяців тому +1

      @@TheSuperappelflap Gdańsk was special two ways. One, it was not freezing, secondly it was a main port of European superpower at the time. That resulted in Gdansk's golden age in 15th and 16th century

  • @times4937
    @times4937 Рік тому +131

    In the south of Poland, there is a small town of Wilamowice where there are still traces of Flemish settlement, although the beginnings of this phenomenon date back to the times of the Mongol invasion of Poland and Hungary (XIII). If I'm not mistaken, an ethnic group called the Vilamovians still lives there today and speaks a dialect derived from Flemish.

    • @skoomaddict5273
      @skoomaddict5273 Рік тому +13

      Although some linguists believe that the vilamovian languge is more related to central germanic languages more specifically; the dialects of Plattdeutsch that were present in modern day Silesia. Which actually makes a lot more sense considering the town's location.

    • @galahad-history
      @galahad-history Рік тому +4

      I think Hilbert already made a vid about it ;)

    • @kapskutowykutodaktyl
      @kapskutowykutodaktyl Рік тому +3

      Many "Olenders" were digging and cutting stones in Góry Sowie, being part of Karkonosze Mountains. You can even find writing on some portal in Venice, saying that "Karkonosze made Lords of them".

    • @illmatic7752
      @illmatic7752 Рік тому +2

      Apparently Hihlbert already did a video on it? Does somebody have a link? I just can't seem to find it.

    • @kapskutowykutodaktyl
      @kapskutowykutodaktyl Рік тому

      Yes indeed, thank you. I got referral after this video. @@illmatic7752

  • @antoniomoreira5921
    @antoniomoreira5921 Рік тому +85

    For anyone interested, Schwerpunkt talks about the Early Modern military Danzig in his series about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

    • @ThorOdinson167
      @ThorOdinson167 Рік тому

      There NEVER was a country called " Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth " lol

    • @patrickb1811
      @patrickb1811 Рік тому +7

      @@ThorOdinson167 Sure, cause everytime they should say Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. XD

    • @ThorOdinson167
      @ThorOdinson167 Рік тому +1

      @@patrickb1811
      historicaly short name is just : "Commonwealth "
      without Poland Lithuania )

    • @zhangzy123
      @zhangzy123 Рік тому +1

      @@ThorOdinson167 No nie koniecznie , Właśnie raczej Królestwo Polskie i Wielkie Księstwo Litewskie . Przynajmniej na początku co ulegało zmianom.

    • @kamilszadkowski8864
      @kamilszadkowski8864 Рік тому +4

      @@zhangzy123 You are both wrong. The historic name of Rzeczpospolita should be translated as "The Republic".

  • @olekbojanowski3216
    @olekbojanowski3216 Рік тому +15

    Man you made my day. I am from Gdansk and seeing a video about its history on one of my favourite channels was the best thing that happened to me today.

    • @joannajulke9978
      @joannajulke9978 2 місяці тому

      For me the same. I am from Gdansk too. Have a nice day everyone. But by the way arsenal’s architect was Danish. We have Danish influence in Gdansk too.

  • @yewtoob2007
    @yewtoob2007 Рік тому +64

    Daniel Fahrenheit was born in Gdańsk so you can blame him for our US temperatures.

    • @_qilo_4329
      @_qilo_4329 Рік тому +15

      I only blame US for sticking with it

    • @onurbschrednei4569
      @onurbschrednei4569 Рік тому +4

      It was called Danzig when he was born. He was German

    • @UnterVSK
      @UnterVSK Рік тому

      And city was polish. Go figure out:) Pays contribute to polish kings(very little). been very loyal to Poland. During Swedish deluge 1655- 1660 withstand 5 years of attacking. Actually german speaking citizens should be thankfull to polish kings to let them stay in the city aand all other nationaties. Dont make it national. In these centuries doesnt make any sense.@@onurbschrednei4569

    • @tnickknight
      @tnickknight Рік тому +1

      Danzig is just the German name for Gdansk. It's still Danzig, and it was Prussian, which is not the same

    • @Thipz0rz
      @Thipz0rz Рік тому

      Godverdomme...

  • @SilesianBrethren
    @SilesianBrethren 11 місяців тому +4

    Well done. Liked & subscribed. Thanks

  • @slawomirkulinski
    @slawomirkulinski Рік тому +10

    Gdansk was Hanseatic League city meaning it was trading with most of the Dutch and Italian cities. It was the main port through which Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was shipping grain to Europe. Ships which were coming from ports like Amsterdam were carrying small bricks as a ballast (to prevent them from capsizing). These bricks were used to build buildings in Gdansk.

    • @erikthehalfabee6234
      @erikthehalfabee6234 Рік тому +1

      Interestingly Amsterdam wasn't in the hanseatic league. Danzig broke the league to trade with Amsterdam and this was so profitable to Amsterdam that they called the grain the mother trade (de moedernegotie)

  • @GeraldEatsSoup
    @GeraldEatsSoup Рік тому +15

    I was in Gdańsk last week. Beautiful city

  • @gilianstaelen3087
    @gilianstaelen3087 Рік тому +4

    Watching this while travelling through Poland as Flemish from Bruges hits different.

  • @BernardTheMandeville
    @BernardTheMandeville Рік тому +47

    To all the 'Central Europe, not eastern Europe' commenters: you are correct and I very much agree with you pointing this out considering all the cultural and political implications.
    In western Europe almost every country that was once behind the iron curtain is considered by the general public to be in 'Eastern Europe'. Please bare with us while we adjust :3

    • @gawkthimm6030
      @gawkthimm6030 Рік тому +5

      completely agree, I fall into this trap often too

    • @Nabium
      @Nabium Рік тому +12

      A country can be Central European and Eastern European at the same time, in different contexts.
      Just like you can sometimes call Scotland for Northern European, sometimes Western European. You can sometimes call Portugal for Southern European, sometimes for Western European.
      It's not really wrong, there's no clear limit, it just means different things in different contexts.

    • @telebubba5527
      @telebubba5527 Рік тому +1

      And Germany Eastern, Western and Central European. 🤯 🤒

    • @pawelsz007locp
      @pawelsz007locp Рік тому +15

      @@Nabium no because "Central" and "Eastern" is more of a cultural distinction. For example, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks (so Slavs), have little to no in common with East Slavs. Consider, our religions (despite being irrelevant in today's world), architecture, linguistic features (we have more English, German, French, Latin, Greek words, they have more Turkish, Persian, Bulgarian), laws, respect for democracy and liberty, personal freedom, human rights, sense of citizen duty, etc.

    • @faenethlorhalien
      @faenethlorhalien Рік тому

      Bear.

  • @Bruintjebeer6
    @Bruintjebeer6 Рік тому +2

    I'm 67 but learned a lot today. Thank you for the video. It is a nice history lesson.

  • @tmesisskewomorph7491
    @tmesisskewomorph7491 Рік тому +39

    Very interesting. Informative & educative. Thanks for your time well spent.
    -
    Apart from amber, the Dutch merchants bought Polish salt from Krakow, grain, timber - which was rafted to Gdansk from the Carpathian mountains down the Wisla River. Also, wax as a by product of extensive honey bee keeping and making mead, and furs of wild animals.
    -
    Thanks for keeping this video free of stupidloudbadchoiceidioticmoroniccheaporfree musickness.

    • @dutchman7623
      @dutchman7623 Рік тому +1

      Missed the Wilhelmus too...

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому +3

      dont forget about the animal pelts which were hunted in the baltics and poland, and further south and east inland, that were sold through these ports. they were actually the reason the hanseatic league was started in the first place. very lucrative trade.

  • @michaelmazowiecki9195
    @michaelmazowiecki9195 Рік тому +8

    Gdansk/Danish was one of the leading Hanseatic port cities and in common with other Hansa towns, shows a commonality of architecture, city laws and regulations of the time.

  • @verkoren
    @verkoren Рік тому +2

    Very nice work! Interesting stuff!

  • @jonny32820
    @jonny32820 Рік тому +4

    Thanks for this peace off history,Hilbert.

  • @CoyotesOwn
    @CoyotesOwn Рік тому +20

    I'd note that Warsaw Old Town is older in appearance then it was before the war.
    That because when rebuilding it te architects model it after Cannaletto's painting made towards the end of the 18th century rather than pre-war photos.

    • @kreuner11
      @kreuner11 Рік тому

      Indeed many buildings which were built after the 18th century dissappeared

  • @jangrouwstra3927
    @jangrouwstra3927 Рік тому +9

    Not just Gdansk. 1997 Dutch movie Karakter, set in 1920's Amsterdam, was actually mostly shot in Wroclaw.

  • @ohajohaha
    @ohajohaha Рік тому +6

    Well, it's easy to forget that you're not in Eastern Europe when seeing cities in Poland because it's in Central Europe.

  • @champagne.future5248
    @champagne.future5248 Рік тому +9

    What a wild ride that city has been on

    • @awakenedaristocrat
      @awakenedaristocrat Рік тому

      what? the population was 90% german for basically all it's existence

  • @mateuszdudek3448
    @mateuszdudek3448 Рік тому +1

    I have no idea how that is possible that i didn't know that. Awesome work 👏

  • @pigeonman6434
    @pigeonman6434 Рік тому +7

    There's a Polish sea shanty about the Battle of Oliwa and Arend Dickman it's called "Szanta Oliwska"

  • @alansmithee8831
    @alansmithee8831 Рік тому +14

    Hello Hilbert. Very interesting. I had Polish friends at school, both from WW2 refugee parents and fleeing at the time of Gdansk being in the news for Solidarity trade union. The Polish friends I made at work came for jobs, now that things are better, thankfully.
    With your current topic of study, I thought you might have looked at whether there was a Danish early phase as it sounds like from the name?

  • @johnorchard4
    @johnorchard4 Рік тому +7

    It looks remarkably like any of the Hanseatic cities

  • @OaxBratt
    @OaxBratt Рік тому +11

    🎶Don’t be fooled by the gates I have wrought, I’m stil, I’m still Abram van den Blocke
    I used to build in Flanders, now build in Gdańsk, but I still know where I came from 🎵
    That’s for the 0.001% of us that are both J-Lo and Dutch history fans

    • @OaxBratt
      @OaxBratt Рік тому

      In all seriousness though, great video. Thank you for all your hard work Hilbert

  • @skoomaddict5273
    @skoomaddict5273 Рік тому +27

    Hi! Just a small note: After the first partition of 1772 Gdańsk itself was actually still technically part of Poland. However the Prussian state effectively encircled the city therefore some linguistic influence did occur.

    • @metanoian965
      @metanoian965 Рік тому +3

      1800 - Danzig

    • @johnynawalony5333
      @johnynawalony5333 Рік тому +7

      W gdansku nie bylo 'linguistic influence', w Gdansku po prostu wiekszosc ludnosci poslugiwala sie niemieckim

    • @metanoian965
      @metanoian965 Рік тому +4

      @@johnynawalony5333 98%
      + 1% AshkenaZyd
      + 1% Pol = 100% niemieckim

    • @skoomaddict5273
      @skoomaddict5273 Рік тому

      @@johnynawalony5333 tak, ale mozemy zakladac, ze mniejszosc polska ktora byla wowczas Gdańsku systematycznie sie zmniejszała

    • @randomtutorials9189
      @randomtutorials9189 Рік тому +2

      Danswijk* GEKOLONISEERD

  • @SamBroadway
    @SamBroadway Рік тому

    I don't think I have ever, not a single time thought about the history of Danzig. But, this was very interesting. Sticking to a lifelong principle of learning something new everyday this video has fulfilled my mission for another day of success.

  • @hilding2063
    @hilding2063 Рік тому

    Part of Hanse Trade League for centuries, really nice video. Thank you.

  • @Brian-----
    @Brian----- Рік тому +2

    At 23:25 my understanding is that Gdańsk was not part of the First Partition of Poland, but the Second, in 1793. Between the First and Second partitions Gdańsk remained a Polish exclave port.

  • @Ernzt8
    @Ernzt8 Рік тому +3

    To know more about life in interbellum Danzig/Gdansk I can highly recommend the books by Günther Grass, who is best known for Die Blechtrommel / The Tin Drum

  • @jerzyk3811
    @jerzyk3811 Рік тому +2

    If I am not mistaken, the Mennonites were forbidden to settle within the city walls. The Mennonites church still exists in Gdansk, but it is situated just outside the historic city walls and the moat. Their main territory of the settlement was, as we call it today, Zulawy Wislane, the area between Gdansk and Zalew Wislany.

  • @mavadelo
    @mavadelo Рік тому +10

    Always appreciate how you refuse to anglicize names and places. I had no idea that Gdansk was pronounced like that. Looked it up and lo and behold.. you are basically spot on. tbf I always pronounced it as "kedangsk", very surprised it has an ai sound in there. Great video as always Hilbert.
    12:35 indeed a bit hard but once you see it you can't unsee it. I looked an thought "Well dang... they ARE Red White and Blue!"

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому +1

      dont worry about it, polish is impossible to pronounce.
      red white and blue flags are actually quite common. in fact back then the dutch merchants most likely used a flag with the coat of arms of their particular duchy or whatever, you can see flags with lions on them in other pictures in this video. alternatively depending on the time period they used the prinsenvlag which was orange white and blue, not red.
      the red white and blue dutch flag in these paintings is likely anachronistic, a bit of artistic license.

    • @mavadelo
      @mavadelo Рік тому

      @@TheSuperappelflap Thank youfor the extra bit of history :)

  • @Pawel_Mrozek
    @Pawel_Mrozek 7 місяців тому +1

    The inhabitants of Gdańsk did not want Mennonites in the city, but they allowed them to settle in today's Orunia district, which at that time was located on a large sea lagoon. As you can guess, the Mennonites did what they did best and over the following centuries they drained the entire huge reservoir, turning it into the most fertile fields. This entire region of the Vistula Delta between Gdańsk and Elbląg has become a small Netherlands.

  • @curtisaguirre757
    @curtisaguirre757 Рік тому +2

    Great video! Thanks for this. I do have one teensy weensy critique, not meant to take away form the quality of our work at all. I think that in the name of highlighting the Dutch connections, you have understated the German-ness of the "Royal Free City of Danzig." Unfortunately I no longer have the book I am referring to, but it is a history of the city written by an Epp, a person of Mennonite extraction who is/was from there. (Full disclosure: my mother was born there during the League of Nations Free City period.)
    The city was founded by the local Pomerelian nobles (the Pomerelians were a group that occupied the territory between the Pomeranians to the west and the Prussians (the Baltic people, not the later Germnanized version) to the east. They invited Hanseatic merchants to found a trading centre in exchange for certain privileges. The Teutonic knights were already active to the east "crusading" against the pagan Prussians (Marienburg as main castle). The lingua franca of the Hanseatic league was the Platt of Lübeck, which was the main Hanseatic city in the later Middle Ages. With the demise of the Pomerelian nobility, the Teutonic Knights became the liege power for Danzig and other cities in the region. In the 1400's, these cities rebelled against the oppressive policies of the Order, reaching out to the Polish crown for support, pledging to place themselves under Polish rule. This is how Poland came to control the mouth of the Vistula and the bridge of land to the Baltic Sea. From that point on, Danzig became a Royal Polish Free City, governed by its German (Platt) Hanseatic merchant elite, profiting handsomely from the transfer of raw materials (timber, honey, beeswax, minerals) from the Polish interior onto ships bound west. With the decline in Hanseatic power and the rise of the Dutch Republic, shipping came to be dominated by the latter. the Danzigers were very much the "middle men".
    The shift from Platt to what we now call "High German" (in linguistics, that term means something different) came with the introduction of Luther's translation of the Bible. Across the Platt realm, this book had the unintended consequence of downgrading Platt from a status language to a regional language. By the end of the 1500's the new "High German" (which was actually based on the Middle German dialect of Saxony) had become the status language of all German elites. It should not be surprising, then, that tombstones and dedications would all be in German rather than Platt or some other language.
    In connection to that Bible, the city fathers also brilliantly managed a peaceful transition from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism by hiring a priest for the Marienkirche who was open to both the old teaching and the new. At first he offered mass at the high altar, and then in the afternoon, Lutheran worship in a side chapel. People voted with their feet. When the Lutheran service became better attended than the Roman Catholic, their times and locations were reversed. Once the numbers had stabilized and it was clear that the majority of Danzigers wanted the new teaching, the city fathers financed the smaller Eberhardskirche nearby to house Roman Catholic worship. From that point on, in the Marienkirche, German was the language of worship.
    This is not to say that there weren't people from all over. Merchant cities are magnets for international travel and settlement. My own genealogy on my mothers side includes German, Polish, Danish, and English (remember, all those Dutch ships had to pass through he Sound to pay their sound Tolls to the Danish crown), and probably (based on some of the names that appear) Mennonites.
    Thanks again. I love your stuff!

  • @parmentier7457
    @parmentier7457 Рік тому +6

    I am Dutch and all countries to the right of Germany and Austria are Eastern Europe for us. I think it is also due to the EU, in the past when it still consisted of 11 member states we always spoke of eastern European countries behind the iron curtain. Even when the EU was expanding, it was indicated that the Union was expanding to the east. I think that is why we Dutch people unconsciously refer to Poland as an Eastern European country. I also don't know a Dutch person who says that he is going on holiday to central Europe. It is often eastern or southern Europe. We also do not say, this is a (Polish) Central European player, but an Eastern European player.

    • @robertrobski1013
      @robertrobski1013 Рік тому +1

      So what countries been there before war word 2 to you way before irom curtin , communist countries too 😅😅😅 ?

    • @marcinerdmann476
      @marcinerdmann476 2 місяці тому +1

      Poland is at the same time Eastern, Western, Northern and Central Europe.

  • @turek5869
    @turek5869 Рік тому +6

    The first mention of Gdańsk comes from the Life of Saint Wojciech, written in Latin in 999. It describes Bishop Wojciech's visit to this area in the spring of 997, and this date is often conventionally accepted as the beginning of the city's history. - it was and is PL city if you want talk about history of place tell all of it not only part

  • @HypnoticChronic1
    @HypnoticChronic1 Рік тому +3

    Those narrow and tall structures predominately in Baroque architecture is found in many places in Poland not just Gdańsk, for example you can find it in Kraków around Sukiennice, Tourń, Warsaw, Wrocław etc. it was just a popular style of the time, given how the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was such a crossroads of cultures which you can really see reflected in the architecture, it kind of gives it quite its own unique appeal and appearance that you don't often find elsewhere.

    • @nataliarosemahmood9121
      @nataliarosemahmood9121 Рік тому

      Yes, but in Gdansk almost all houses in the old town are like that. Meanwhile, in other old towns, it's just some of them.

    • @onurbschrednei4569
      @onurbschrednei4569 Рік тому

      Even more broadly, this is just the Hanseatic architecture, and can be found all over the Baltic. Its certainly not a unique dutch thing. Seems like Hilbert is just not familiar with Baltic history.

    • @marcink5820
      @marcink5820 7 місяців тому

      @@onurbschrednei4569 He's correct and that doesn't mean You're wrong. It was spread along Baltic by the Dutch Merchants.

    • @Ultima-Signa
      @Ultima-Signa 5 місяців тому

      It’s not an architectural style that is or was unique to Poland-Lithuania… You can/could find the very same architecture throughout all of northern, central and especially eastern Germany (while their structures there have been older than the ones you can find throughout Poland), Netherlands etc. … Basically all cities that were part of the Hanseatic league or had close to that league via trading with Hanseatic cites and thus having their own Hanseatic settlements without yet being part of the league. Its Hanseatic architecture. The Hanse was a German trading union of cities with same regulations and architectural traditions, that influenced the German architecture throughout the whole region even in non-Hanseatic cities. Given how (historically) large the German population has been in those polish cities that you have managed, even making up the majority - especially in the old quarters of those towns - it makes sense that they brought Hanseatic architecture with them as the Hanseatic league was a very popular and powerful Organisation. Maybe read up on it.
      But the thing is that the cities and towns in Germany were thoroughly damaged and destroyed in ww2, more so than Polish ones, and unlike the polish ones not rebuilt after the war due to a lack of money, housing, workers etc. … interestingly enough the Poles rebuilt their damaged cities and towns with German POWs (and even German civilians of the region, but without any compensation for them), and that lasted well into after the end of ww2.

    • @Ultima-Signa
      @Ultima-Signa 5 місяців тому

      @@marcink5820German merchants, not Dutch. The Hanseatic merchants were very much predominantly German back then, as the Hanseatic League was a German thing. Not to mention that the Dutch back then were considered the same as Germans.

  • @henasgd1566
    @henasgd1566 Рік тому +1

    When in Gdańsk visit KL Stuthoff. Very close to Gdańsk.

  • @G4KDXlive
    @G4KDXlive Рік тому +3

    Hey Hilbert, how about a video discussing Königsberg, also formerly German and a very historic city?

    • @Kaiser7068
      @Kaiser7068 22 дні тому

      indeed yes, but unlike Danzig/Gdansk, Königsberg had a very clear German identity. Danzig/Gdansk was founded by slavs, conquered by germans, settled by germans, with polish, dutch and even italian minorities, so Danzig has been a very mixed city throughout its history, while Königsberg was founded by germans, inhabited by germans, governed by germans and always was german until 1945 when the Russians expelled the native german inhabitants. Königsberg itself had a much more clearly german identity than Danzig

  • @HansVerhoog
    @HansVerhoog Рік тому +9

    Interessant verhaal. Dank voor het delen. 🙂
    Misschien een tip voor een toekomstige vlog. Begin vorige eeuw was er net onder Limburg een 4e land gelegen aan het toen vier- nu drielandenpunt. Namelijk Neutraal Moresnet.
    Je kunt dit in Limburg nog zien aan de weg naar het drielandenpunt, die nog steeds Viergrenzenweg heet.

    • @ducemano
      @ducemano Рік тому +1

      Omdat daar een zink-mijn was, en een monopoly van bv duitsland niet ok werd geacht.

    • @HansVerhoog
      @HansVerhoog Рік тому

      correct :-)

  • @HieMan-g1n
    @HieMan-g1n Рік тому +19

    This Dutch or Hanseatic influences may have had their good or bad side (after all the city has been Polish for most of its history and it's important if a city that belongs to you doesn't serve interests of another country). What's curious is that today we have some micro-culture. Famou citizens are icons no matter if they were Polish or German (Schopenhauer achieved a meme status and you see his face on bags and t-shirts and of course his house and that of his family are there too). But of the Dutch it's Arend Dickmann who comes to mind. Our Nelson. It's cool that you can visit his gravesite in the basilica even though it's easy to miss unless you know where to look for it beforehand.

    • @StalinLovsMsmZioglowfagz
      @StalinLovsMsmZioglowfagz Рік тому

      Interesting, never heard of Arend Dickmann before and can’t find anything in English on UA-cam, would love to learn more.
      Cheers

    • @wurzel9671
      @wurzel9671 Рік тому +8

      I thought Danzig was German for most of its history?

    • @HieMan-g1n
      @HieMan-g1n Рік тому +2

      @@StalinLovsMsmZioglowfagz
      Well his Opus Magnum is the Battle of Oliwa. Oliwa is actually the oldest district of Gdansk and maybe back then it had access to the coastline (?). Polish Trafalgar, small because the Baltic rarely saw huge battles but fitting for Polish (while in fact Dutch by birth) Nelson, Dickman also died in the moment of his greatest triumph. 1627. Other than a shanty I'm not sure how much people remember him. His deed is remembered for sure, there's a rather famous painting of the battle. Looks like he was a merchant navyman before he entered the service under the Polish king during the war with Sweden and quickly became an admiral and of course he won the battle so he must've known his stuff.
      But despite comparatively minor naval traditions in Poland (except I guess during WWII, there's even a book about it called Great Days of the Small Fleet) Gdansk has this very 16th-18th c. marine feel to it. There used to be an official function of a pirate (for tourists), there really was a pirate who lived here ages ago though name escapes me and today if you walk around the old town you may spot some folks, men and women, wearing what I guess are 18th century clothes and military uniforms. It's a reconstruction group "Garrison."
      There are some photos of them here. Looks like they do all kinds of stuff and from Napoleonic era as well.
      www.gdanskstrefa.com/podsumowanie-roku-garnizonu-gdanskiego/

    • @StalinLovsMsmZioglowfagz
      @StalinLovsMsmZioglowfagz Рік тому

      @@HieMan-g1n Thanks so much, I really appreciate it. My ma is Polish and my dad is German. Best from the United States, cheers

    • @HieMan-g1n
      @HieMan-g1n Рік тому +7

      @@wurzel9671
      The timeline says:
      Poland - 639 years and counting
      Germany - 270 years (+19 when it was officially a free city but clearly dominated by Germans)
      also 67 years Duchy of Pomerania, 12 years it was disputed, 7 years of it being a free city that was basically a French posession during the Napoleonic Wars. That's about it. But of course throughout the ages even as it belonged to Poland various groups especially Germans were heavily present, influential and held demographic majority.

  • @Iris_and_or_George
    @Iris_and_or_George Рік тому +3

    Intersting video thank you! An unrelated question, are you Dutch? As in Dutch is your first language? Because if so, congratulations on the English accent! I usually hear it instantly but, with you only when pronouncing Dutch names as you should.

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому

      Im Dutch and I can definitely tell you Hilbert still has a slight Dutch accent. But overall his british english accent is very good.

  • @zafelrede4884
    @zafelrede4884 Рік тому +1

    I think in some parts you overblow the dutchness of Gdansk/Danzig and some of the terms you use were likely never pronounced the dutch way nor intended to be (25:05)

  • @Flippoooooooo
    @Flippoooooooo Рік тому +6

    Would this Dutch influence also reach to places such as Riga and Talinn? Very interesting!

    • @Anerisian
      @Anerisian Рік тому

      No, it’s just a bad take.

    • @nox5555
      @nox5555 Рік тому

      @@Anerisian the dutch part is because there were no dutch identity, the influence he found was just old northern german. the dutch split up from that at some point but it took them centuries and the big difference in culture and language are relative new.

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому +1

      the same architectural style was used everywhere from flanders up along the north sea coast and into the baltics, as far as st. petersburg and novgorod. this style isnt specifically dutch. it was a north german / hanseatic architectural style.
      foreigners just associate it with the netherlands because they are usually exposed to it for the first time when they see pictures of amsterdam. and amsterdam is one of the few such cities that werent bombed to shit in one of the many wars that have happened in the centuries since this style was popular.

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому

      @@nox5555 depends, at many points in time you could argue that ethnic groups such as the batavians, burgundians, frisians and belgians definitely have a different identity from the saxons and other north german ethnic groups. the netherlands are a remnant of the middle kingdom that was founded after charlemagne died and it is a mix of north german and frankish genetic groups.
      historically dutch people rather identified with their region in the lowlands rather than being dutch. dutch, or diets, was a low german language group that was mostly mutually intelligible and spoken in areas of what is now the benelux, northern and western germany, and northern france.
      besides the language there was no common dutch identity.
      people would rather consider themselves a citizen of holland or utrecht or antwerpen instead of a citizen of the netherlands.
      a national identity really only started to emerge after belgium split off from the 17 provinces around 1830 and the remaining provinces in the republic sort of invented a dutch identity to keep the rest of the country together, with holland being by far the biggest influence on this identity. the accent from holland was taught in schools and regional accents or languages such as limburgs were seen as backwards and provincial.
      in holland we still refer to everything outside of north and south holland as "the provinces" because thats what they were, areas that were exploited for mining, salt winning, agriculture, and later fossil fuel extraction, and of course for building vacation homes in nicely spacious parks in cities such as Arnhem to get away from the busy life in holland.

    • @gudrunvenema9759
      @gudrunvenema9759 Рік тому

      Tuurlijk wel:-)

  • @galahad-history
    @galahad-history Рік тому +19

    Thank you for covering this interesting topic! Small note: Poland is in the most central geographical part of Europe (tbh the central point of Europe is literally in Poland).

    • @metanoian965
      @metanoian965 Рік тому

      West of center

    • @jolotschka
      @jolotschka Рік тому +1

      Or in Lithuania 🇱🇹 😊. Is said 😊

    • @galahad-history
      @galahad-history Рік тому +3

      @@jolotschka True, there is a lot of so called "central points of Europe". Some in Poland, some in Lithuania or Belarus.

    • @randomtutorials9189
      @randomtutorials9189 Рік тому

      Eastern Europe******** they speak Slavic there

    • @berlineczka
      @berlineczka Рік тому +5

      @@randomtutorials9189 "they speak Slavic" is bullshit. Being Slavic has nothing to do with the distinction. This is a deep historical divide - Western Slavs alligned themselves in 10th century with the West - Latin script, Catholic Christianity (later Protestant too), exchange of culture and wives for the kings predominantly with other Catholic states, location of towns under the Magdeburg law, trade with the Germans (up the the point that many cities in the region were more German than local).
      Eastern Orthodox Europe, under the influence of the Byzantine Empire and later the Russian one, was in direct opposition to that.
      Being showed up under the "East" in 1945 felt like a betrayal (seriously, google the "Yalta betrayal" phenomenon or read Milan Kundera's essay "The stolen West, or the tragedy of Eastern Europe"). Joining the EU was dubbed "the return to Europe", for a reason.

  • @combatpriest5878
    @combatpriest5878 Рік тому +6

    0:06 "You're not in eastern Europe at all, but rather, further to the west" That's right! Because Poland is in central Europe!

    • @ThorOdinson167
      @ThorOdinson167 Рік тому

      but it is east by culture !!!

    • @combatpriest5878
      @combatpriest5878 Рік тому +1

      @@ThorOdinson167 but it is west by alphabet !!!

    • @ThorOdinson167
      @ThorOdinson167 Рік тому

      @@combatpriest5878
      so what ???
      Turkey - has also west alphabet (latin)
      and even Kazahstan has too lol shit damnnn
      ahhha aha hhh )))
      it means also that Poland - is asian country too ?
      - maybe )))

    • @combatpriest5878
      @combatpriest5878 Рік тому

      @@ThorOdinson167 if you ask any Polish person if they feel more connected with Russians and Ukrainians or Czechs and Slovaks, 80% will respond Czechs and Slovaks. Seems like you are eastern yourself since you use ))) instead of :) which also says Poland is more western/central because we use :) and not )))

  • @aniinnrchoque1861
    @aniinnrchoque1861 5 місяців тому +2

    East Prussia overall saw its fair share of Dutch immigrants.
    One area was referred to as "little Holland", not too far away from Gūdanits near Ēlbings.

    • @RickyKoboo
      @RickyKoboo Місяць тому

      I am Polish from what is “East Prussia” aka Warmia Masuria and I have a last name that’s common in Netherlands and South Africa

    • @rudolfkraffzick642
      @rudolfkraffzick642 Місяць тому

      There is a town until 1945 called Preussisch Holland, seat of a county. Dutch people were needed to build dams and to cultivate swamps.

  • @diegoyanesholtz212
    @diegoyanesholtz212 Рік тому +4

    Can you do a video about Dutch Brazil?

  • @stanisawmiosz647
    @stanisawmiosz647 Рік тому +3

    After 1772 partition of Poland Gdansk still was in Polish hands. Only in 1793 second partition Gdansk became Prussian city

  • @CT7056
    @CT7056 Рік тому +4

    Pomeranians/Kashubians are also a big part of Gdańsk history!

    • @marcinerdmann476
      @marcinerdmann476 2 місяці тому +1

      Gdańsk is the capital city of Kashubia.

    • @CT7056
      @CT7056 2 місяці тому

      @@marcinerdmann476 That is correct.

  • @lugusstudios1328
    @lugusstudios1328 Рік тому +2

    Would it be correct to say it is more of a Flemish city than a Dutch city?

  • @patrickfreeman9094
    @patrickfreeman9094 Рік тому

    Waarom is het geluid niet verwijderd van de verschillende clips van gebouwen in Gdaňsk?

  • @MrNonejm
    @MrNonejm Рік тому +6

    first 10 seconds of the video and I'm already in pain. We're not eastern, c'mon guys the Iron Curtain is no more since 32 years :c

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому

      From a Dutch perspective, everything after west germany, starting from the ex-DDR, is eastern europe.

  • @Geebvs
    @Geebvs Рік тому +1

    Fantastic work, I was born in Gdańsk, raised in the suburbian area and then lived here for 6 years. From the livability and economic reasons, this place is a hell, with horrible management, unfriendly geological hill environment that causes traffic jams, heavy winds and significantly colder climate, poorly maintained road infrastructure, rubbish public transport and barbaric housing prices adjusted to the AirBnb Booking short-term rent and rich Polish who utilize Gdansk as a place to invest into an empty apartment, leaving locals with horrible housing situation. However, it's amazing to see a tourist perspective, which truly highlights the pros of this amazing city - its unique soul and stunning old town architercture with amazing history. I won't lie, you've a little bit improved my negative bias ;) Cheers!

  • @adaslesniak
    @adaslesniak Рік тому +5

    At 1939 there were few Poles in Gdansk - about 3%. But there were many Kaszubs which were not Poles, nor speaking Polish, but when asked if they are Poles they often responded "yes" what for them meant "we are not Germans".

  • @wendischhanse2555
    @wendischhanse2555 7 місяців тому

    Mooi werk. Uiteindelijk iets over Gdansk meer diepgaan. Dla mnie bomba. Ciesze sie.

  • @MarekMichalakMusic
    @MarekMichalakMusic Рік тому

    Nice and informative video.
    The Dutch links continue to this day, particularly if we pick up a topic that your yourself brought up: the Carillon.
    The carillon in the tower of St. Catherine's church consists of 50 bells which were all ordered from and delivered by Eijsbouts in Asten between 1989 and 2013.
    Likewise, the present day carillon in the tower of the main city hall consist of 37 bells built by Eijsbouts around the turn of the century (2000-2002) if my memory is not letting me down on the dates on this one.
    The interesting thing to know about the rebuilding post 1948 is that while the facades of buildings were somewhat authentically rebuilt where there was photographic evidence of their detail, the actual living space behind the facades was newly developed.
    While the old town patrician houses were narrow and running deep, often with servants quarters added in as an extension at the end of the house, the post war rebuilding sought to give more day light and greenery to residents and the houses were not rebuilt to their original depth to allow for the creation of square like court yards in on the inside of blocks. You can often see some of these yards when you go down side streets running perpendicular to the main streets towards the Motlawa river.
    Also, not all facades were rebuilt in the same location where they were prior to the war and those knowledgably about this will be able to pin point some facades which prior to 1945 stood in some neighbouring streets.
    In several places you will find facades that have no doors, fake doors or a doorway leading to a first floor shop or restaurant, while the upper floors of the building actually belong to a neighbouring building. Some of the rebuilt apartment houses stretch across two or three facades running parallel to the road rather than running deep away from the road, but most people would not suspect it looking from the outside.

  • @Gov.KingdomOfKubuland
    @Gov.KingdomOfKubuland 6 місяців тому

    I love Gdansk. I am here at least once a month for Planespotting

  • @TheStickCollector
    @TheStickCollector Рік тому +1

    Nice to see such an unlikely pairing

  • @Decybello
    @Decybello Рік тому

    26:35 - oooooh, it was going pretty well and you blew it... on the september 1st 1939 thing were, well, kicked off in the city of Wieluń, which was bombarded by the Luftwaffe quite a bit earlier than Gdańsk and it's shelling from Schleswig-Holstein started... About an hour or so earlier to be exact.

  • @istoppedcaring6209
    @istoppedcaring6209 Рік тому +6

    Dutch connection!!!
    but mostly flemings
    but I get it, people don't generally know Flanders and Dutch eyes are more numerous as well, still it would have been nice to have Flanders included in the title.

    • @liamtahaney713
      @liamtahaney713 Рік тому +2

      Does read a bit like Netherlandish revanchism...oh well the Flemish nationalists and internet historians will lap it up. Because everywhere that speaks the same (or similar) language is the same, right?

    • @istoppedcaring6209
      @istoppedcaring6209 Рік тому +1

      @@liamtahaney713 what i take from it is that it ties in with why the dutch are mostly in favour of a "reunification" of Flanders with the netherlands,, there are flemish supporters of this but they envision it as an actual union of two countries into one new entity
      the dutch tend to imagine it as flanders simply becoming part of the existing netherlands.

    • @sebe2255
      @sebe2255 Рік тому +3

      Flemings is a fairly new identity though. Most Dutch speakers in what is now called Flanders were not in any way seen as Flemish for their entire history. In this case, Brugge is actually Flemish. But People that immigrated from Brabant, Limburg or even Luxemburg in the middle ages are sometimes retroactively called Flemish because the current political borders within Belgium have made “Flemish” the overarching identity for Dutch speakers. However in the middle ages Flanders was a specific county, that also included a lot of French speakers
      And ultimately saying they are Dutch is not necessarily wrong, even if they came from Flanders, Brabant, Limburg, Frisia or Holland. The Netherlands doesn’t have a monopoly on the word Dutch. Even linguistically, the institution that decides on matter regarding the Dutch language is shared with Flanders.
      So Dutch doesn’t automatically mean “the Netherlands”

    • @ChristiaanHW
      @ChristiaanHW Рік тому

      ​@@sebe2255 yeah, before Belgium and Luxembourg became their own countries, they and The Netherlands where one and the same thing. With Holland (part of The Netherlands) as the most famous part of the Low Lands.
      So it makes (historically) sence to call everyone from the Low Lands in Dutch during that time.
      To me Flanders is kinda like the far south of The Netherlands. Thay maybe a different country but they are as close to us as Frisians.
      (Dutch and Flemish are like Step-siblings in my mind.)

    • @-_YouMayFind_-
      @-_YouMayFind_- Рік тому

      Flanders was part of the Netherlands

  • @AyubuKK
    @AyubuKK Рік тому

    Fascinating

  • @nettcologne9186
    @nettcologne9186 Рік тому +9

    The East Germanic Gutons first settled in the Danzig area (BC). Whether the Gutons are the ancestors of the Goths is a matter of debate. (AD) the Balts, more precisely the Balts-Prussians, also settled in what is now Gdańsk (Danzig). Scandinavians followed, and then Slavs. In 1224 Danzig received city rights according to Lübeck law. The people of Lübeck called Danzig= Danceke, the Germans Danzig and the Poles Gdańsk.

    • @ronaldostrowski4014
      @ronaldostrowski4014 Рік тому +5

      Gdansk was established by the Polish rulers Mieszko the First in 987 AD it was Polish for more centuries than it was German. The Teutonic Knights took the citi during the 1300s until the Poles defeated them and retook city in 1455. Even with its multi-etnic population the city was part of the Kingdom of Poland until 1793 just before Poland disappeared from the map for 123 years. As for Goths and others who were there and remained were assimilated by the Slavs and have contributed to the Polish gene pool.

    • @nettcologne9186
      @nettcologne9186 Рік тому +4

      Interesting that you emphasize the Polish in this way, although there is nothing specifically Polish to be found in the city.
      - Even if it annoys you now, but the Germanic tribes were there first ;-)

    • @Πέτρος-ψ1δ
      @Πέτρος-ψ1δ Рік тому +4

      What Germanic "tribes" ? Discovered by the NAZI-era German archeogists ? 🤣 The thing is current archeological and DNA researches do not confirm that. DNA of prehistoric inhabitants of modern-day Poland corresponds to DNA of modern Polish population... So... even if there were any mixed in tribes from east, north, west or south you can find their descendents still here, in Poland. Sorry to dissilusion you, mate 🤣

    • @ronaldostrowski4014
      @ronaldostrowski4014 Рік тому +1

      @@nettcologne9186 Early Germanic tribes long gone and assimilated. Slavic tribes in Berlin, Rostock and Dresden long gone and assimilated. The Polish Christian State recognised by the West as such in 966AD made up of Lechtic Slavs with ancestors that also would have included remaining Goths, Balts, Celts and Sarmatians. The Holy Roman Empire made up of Germanics, Huns, Celts and Slavs. This is ancient history that preceded the founding of Gdansk by Polish ruler Mieszko the First in 987AD. Deal with it.

    • @konradpalczynski6786
      @konradpalczynski6786 Рік тому +4

      @@ronaldostrowski4014Gdańsk was for many years in Poland, but was never polish, or polish speaking majority. The concept of nations is relatively new

  • @tedskinhead
    @tedskinhead Рік тому

    Well, nice to watch Gdańsk history video, being citizen of it and also having menonite surnames in family tree, cheers

  • @aileenmarzanna
    @aileenmarzanna Рік тому +3

    Als ik had geweten dat je hier was had ik je graag even voor een kop koffie uitgenodigd en met je door de stad gelopen. Ken overigens ook genoeg amateur-historici die graag over de stad praten :-D

  • @nerfun5335
    @nerfun5335 Рік тому +2

    Even the modern houses look Dutch!

  • @AW-dt8ct
    @AW-dt8ct Рік тому

    I'd like to watch a video about flemish/dutch/frisian settling in central Poland (area around Lodz). My ancestor was a flemish settler. Greetings from Lodz.

  • @bandit2206
    @bandit2206 Рік тому +2

    aye when you going bring back the five minutes series ? also can make a video on the Zapatista Army of National Liberation please and thank you

    • @frenzalrhomb6919
      @frenzalrhomb6919 Рік тому

      Love my Mexican Indigenous Comrades!! Greetings from Australia!!

  • @АннаБолдырева-ш3л

    Are there traditional German Fahrwerk houses in Poland and Baltic states? Germans were colonists and landlords for a long time in Estonia,Latvia(Livonian Order,Courland)

    • @cetus4449
      @cetus4449 Рік тому +3

      Interesting, but in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Germans were hired workers and poorly paid military mercenaries, or townspeople and peasants coming from medieval economic emigration. Quite different was situation in the region of the former Teutonic state, covering the area of Prussia and Pomerania. By the way, in the 15th century its citizens (mixed population of pruthenian, german and polish origin) rebelled against the Teutonic Order and asked the Polish king to be allowed to belong to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The situation changed again at the end of the eighteenth century, when the Polish state was partitioned.

    • @WasaWasabiWasa
      @WasaWasabiWasa 9 місяців тому

      There are Fahrwerk houses in Pomerania and Silesia.

  • @apollotoaster5048
    @apollotoaster5048 Рік тому

    This city is going on my list

  • @Michael_Brock
    @Michael_Brock Рік тому

    Just looking at thumbnail, I am thinking Hanseatic League. I'll know soon.
    From memory this was a trade league in the early middle ages that dominated Baltic trade. But I do remember reading that London was a Hanseatic League city at one point so north sea was covered. Do not know how entrenched it was in the low countries.

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому

      London was never in the Hanseatic league. It was however the city that had the largest Hanseatic trading post while not being a member of the league.
      The cities in the league were exclusively located along the continental coastline from Flanders through the coast of Holland, then in the Southern Sea, which at the time had not been closed off by the Dutch. It is now closed off by a dike and is called the Ijsselmeer. Some of the largest Hanseatic cities such as Dorestad and Kampen were located in this inland sea which was not as exposed to storms and floods as the North Sea coastline.
      From there the cities were spread along the German North Sea coastline and across Denmark into Poland and the Baltics, and of course many cities were located inland along rivers that ended at this coastline, from where goods where shipped by flatbottoms, to be loaded onto seaworthy vessels at the sea ports, and vice versa.
      This transhipment role and the tariffs imposed for that service are what made cities such as Amsterdam and Antwerpen ridiculously wealthy. And later, the port of Rotterdam which now fulfills that function for most of western Europe.
      The furthest Hanseatic city in the East was Novgorod in Russia, today called Veliki (Old) Novgorod to distinguish it from Niezni (New) Novgorod.
      Most of the cities in the League were free cities, city states that were either completely independent or had a large degree of autonomy from whatever king or prince ruled the area it was in. This also often exempted them from a lot of taxes, which is one of the reasons why these cities are still rich to this day.

  • @jvdh78
    @jvdh78 Рік тому

    How world history can bring a lot of changes for locals. Very interesting, the history of King's Mountain and of Gdańsk. Let's call this beautiful Polish city Dance World in English.👍

  • @KitkatTSB
    @KitkatTSB Рік тому +3

    First like and comment
    Im subscribed
    And notifications on

  • @annafirnen4815
    @annafirnen4815 Рік тому +1

    Very interesting video, thank you for making it! But oh boy, good luck with keeping the comments section civil because from the looks of it some want to start WW3 in here 🤦‍♀️

    • @MK-lm6hb
      @MK-lm6hb Рік тому

      That's nothing suprising. Any video about Poland attracts Russian bots whose role is to stir up trouble.

  • @berndf0
    @berndf0 Рік тому +1

    The Gulden had been one of the major currencies of the HRE for centuries. Danzig had been using a Gulden based on the Prussian Gulden even before 1793. The Gulden remained the currency in many parts of the former HRE until the late 19th century until the introduction of national currencies in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The choice of the name Gulden for the currency of the free city is not a sign of Dutch influence.

    • @michakoniecko853
      @michakoniecko853 Рік тому +3

      Polish currency name "Złoty" is direct translation "Gulden" into polish.

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому

      @@michakoniecko853 Thats funny, because the American dollar is a phonetic translation of the "daalder" or "thaler" in german, which was a coin equal in value to 1,50 gulden. until the euro was introduced we had a coin that was named "rijksdaalder" which was worth 2,50 gulden, about equal to one euro.
      so i guess most currencies around the world are named after some form of dutch or low german coin.

    • @berndf0
      @berndf0 Рік тому +1

      @@TheSuperappelflap Daalder is the Dutch rendering of a Bohemiam coin, the "Joachimsthaler Guldengroschen" (High German Thaler > Low German Daler > Dutch daalder). Because Bohemia, the Netherlands and Spain were all Habsburgian ruled, the name spread through all of the countries. From there it came to the American colonies as an alternative name for the Ocho Real, the predominant coin in all of the Americas. And that is from where the US got the name of their currency.

  • @knorvoland7289
    @knorvoland7289 Рік тому +3

    Heel interessant! Als Bruggeling ook wel fijn om oze stad vermeld te zien worden, en dat je de polderregio met o.a. Lissewege en Damme. Ik kan me moeilijk inhouden wel op te merken dat je het uitsprak als "Lisseweg", maar het wordt met een lange "e" uitgesproken, nl. "Lissewege", ook wel conform het taalhebruik in de regio.

  • @dannyvandervelden6050
    @dannyvandervelden6050 Рік тому

    interessante video weer, zou je misschien een keer een video over Olivier van Noort willen overwegen

  • @irieeyewah7093
    @irieeyewah7093 Рік тому

    Tak danke dank u thank you sooo veeeel

  • @helenorgarycrevonis2022
    @helenorgarycrevonis2022 Рік тому +1

    Great topic and interesting. The city is Dutch/German more so than Polish, it reverted back to Poland after WW2 and mainly thanks to Stalin.

    • @Nepetita69696
      @Nepetita69696 Рік тому +2

      Doesn't change the fact that it's origins and ownership is Polish since day one.

    • @edwinbruckner4752
      @edwinbruckner4752 Рік тому +2

      It always bothers me that Polish people have 'a lot of trouble' regarding this.
      The Polish practically didn't use this land for 1000years, then came some German/Dutch/Prussian merchants who made this area florish, and suddenly this area was Polish all along, please... you guys did nothing.
      And don't even mention the ( economic ) cutoff of this land from Germany prior to WW2.
      Gee, I wonder why Germany invaded Poland, but such things are not to be spoken out loud.
      And then to think that some Polish political guys recently asked to cut of acces to Kaliningrad from Russia. These guys really seem to never learn.

    • @kolakpatolik1857
      @kolakpatolik1857 Рік тому +4

      @@edwinbruckner4752 Duchy of Poland 997-1025
      Kingdom of Poland 1025-1227
      Duchy of Pomerelia 1227-1282
      Kingdom of Poland 1282-1308
      Teutonic Order 1308-1410 GERMAN 102 years
      Kingdom of Poland 1410-1411
      Teutonic Order 1411-1454 GERMAN 43 years
      Kingdom of Poland 1454-1569
      Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1569-1793
      Kingdom of Prussia 1793-1807 GERMAN 14 years
      Free City of Danzig 1807-1814
      Kingdom of Prussia 1814-1871 GERMAN 57 years
      German Empire 1871-1918 GERMAN 47 years
      Weimar Germany 1918-1920 GERMAN 2 years
      Free City of Danzig 1920-1939
      Nazi Germany 1939-1945 GERMAN 6 years
      People's Republic of Poland 1945-1989
      Republic of Poland 1989-present
      Let's count my German friend. 102+43+14+57+47+2+6=271. Now fuk off my German friend. :)

    • @wlodek7422
      @wlodek7422 Рік тому +2

      It was ours since at least 1000ad, it was even part of polish lithuanian commonwealth for years. We held it much longer than Germans, what are you even talking about?

    • @onurbschrednei4569
      @onurbschrednei4569 Рік тому +1

      @@wlodek7422 Its not about who "held it", but who actually lived in it. And the city was majority, and mostly completely, German speaking from the 1200s until 1945. So 700 years.

  • @wojak6351
    @wojak6351 Рік тому +5

    0:06 Don't you mean central europe?

  • @ukaszwilinski3495
    @ukaszwilinski3495 Рік тому

    Interesting and valuable material. Slight correction. Poland lost Gdansk as a result of the second partition in 1793, not the first one.

  • @olowrohek9540
    @olowrohek9540 Рік тому

    Lol 😆 very interesting 👌
    It was an old Dutch dialect in Wilkowice near of City Bielsko Biala

  • @1EpicFailz
    @1EpicFailz Рік тому +3

    I see more of a Belgian Flemish / Brabantic connection instead of a Dutch one. Title is a little misleading

    • @alexBumann
      @alexBumann Рік тому

      More zeeland

    • @1EpicFailz
      @1EpicFailz Рік тому

      @@user-dj8ir5dv3y I don’t see how this relates to anything I said

    • @1EpicFailz
      @1EpicFailz Рік тому

      @@user-dj8ir5dv3y No Belgian calls himself Dutch I am pretty sure. This just seems like Dutch-washing of Belgian history

    • @sebe2255
      @sebe2255 Рік тому

      @@user-dj8ir5dv3yExcept the Dutch language institute is controlled by both the Netherlands and Flanders, and they are exactly the same language. The Netherlands and Flanders have regional differences within their own borders too but that doesn’t change the fact that the language taught to everyone is Standard Dutch.
      On top of that “Flemish” is a modern identity. Antwerp and Brussels were historically not Flemish, and their regional languages is not actual Flemish. The Flemish label often get retroactively used when it doesn’t apply in the middle ages, or even the modern age. Until the 20th century Flemish language movement, Flanders was just a country, with a significant French population on too of that.
      This is Dutch history in the broad sense. So not the state of the Netherlands but rhe Dutch cultural sphere, which obviously includes what is now called Flanders

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому

      "Dutch" historically can refer to the whole low countries. Which is an area that starts at the city of Calais in France and goes east across the French department du nord. The counties of Hainaut and Artois, the princebishopric of Liege in what is now Belgium, to Luxembourg and from there into the German lower Rhineland. People there historically all spoke Old or Middle Dutch, also called Diets or Low German. (Low referring again to the low countries)
      So when Hilbert says Dutch influence in Gdansk, he is referring to Dutch in this broad geographical sense, which includes the entire modern country of Belgium.

  • @drychaf
    @drychaf Рік тому

    I learnt a lot from this, thanks. I visited the city in May, and knew some of the history, but the Dutch contribution didn't enter my head. With such a lot of it, my concept of the city has altered a lot.
    France - there are many Flemish/Dutch architectural influences across northern France, almost down to the Somme. I'd like to know if there were living (linguistic) cultural links with Flemish/Dutch at the time these buildings were constructed. Were the architects Flemish/Dutch, or was it a style copied by the French? I know that Flemish is still spoken by some near the border with Belgium, but timelines and statistics of the presence of such speakers further across the north is very difficult to find. The place-names are often Germanic (all the way to Berck), which could be from the post Roman period, but maybe Flemish/Dutch was still spoken much later (I know it lasted into the second millennium), at least to some extent, even overlapping with the architecture spreading from the Flanders, and maybe it was a reason that this influence spread so widely in the region of northern France?

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому +2

      Basically, the old language border between the dutch and french language families, originally started at Calais, which in Dutch is called Kales. From there to the east, large parts of the French department du nord, the counties of Hainaut (Henegouwen), Artois (Artesië) and the princebishopric of Liege (Luik) through to Luxemburg and large parts of the German Rhineland spoke some dialect of Diets aka Low German.
      If you go and visit towns in Northern France such as Arras (Atrecht) they look Dutch, because, well, they are. They just dont speak Dutch anymore. Events such as the Hugenots fleeing to the northern Dutch republic seeking religious freedom, the annexations by Napoleon in the 1700s, the founding of Belgium, up to modern times even, the language barrier has slowly crept up north.
      Of course, the French being French they did absolutely nothing useful with the land they took from us. When it was Dutch these places were insanely wealthy, now go visit Lille, its awful.

    • @drychaf
      @drychaf Рік тому

      @@TheSuperappelflap Thank you for that. So there is a lot of architecture, now in France, from the low countries' golden age, though I notice that Calais' town hall is a style revival built in 1912-25. I have read that French was already the main language in Artois by 1658, when France took possession of it. West of Artois, I think the language died out by around 1200, or so, but if If you know of any good articles on the Dutch history of Artois and eastwards to the Belgian border I would like to have a look. The French never refer to the Dutch when discussing their towns' attractions. I can use google translate of course.

    • @TheSuperappelflap
      @TheSuperappelflap Рік тому +1

      @@drychaf Most of what I know is from printed history books. If you search for the dutch words "taalgrens historisch" or "taalgrens geschiedenis" you will find plenty of articles about this topic

  • @kawecki07
    @kawecki07 Рік тому

    Dutch and Poles were trading for like 1000 years thanks to the Jewish connections. In XVI century, during the great hunger period, Jewish and Hansa traders made sick amounts of money on grain and meat by transporting it to Amsterdam from Poland-Lithuania and re-selling it France, Spain and Germany with a margin. Land transport was too dangerous because of the religious wars and other internal german conflicts. The demand was so high, that it caused hunger in Poland too, because nobility preferred to sell grain for foreign coins, instead of feeding their own labour :). Up to this day the word Hansa=Mafia in the Polish national consciousness.

  • @nikolasmaes99
    @nikolasmaes99 Рік тому

    Thats cool beans my Dutch friend. You should do Göteborg next if you haven't already.

    • @SnowWhiteArches
      @SnowWhiteArches Рік тому

      Could you explain me what you mean? I’m from Gdańsk but living temporarily in Göteborg and this archi style is very interesting to me

    • @nikolasmaes99
      @nikolasmaes99 Рік тому

      ​@@SnowWhiteArches The Dutch had a big influence on the city of Göteborg:
      "King Gustavus Adolphus founded Gothenburg by royal charter in 1621 as a heavily fortified, primarily Dutch, trading colony. "
      "The town was designed like Dutch cities such as Amsterdam, Batavia (Jakarta) and New Amsterdam (Manhattan)"
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothenburg
      It was part of a trading network called De Hansesteden, The Hanseatic league or Die Hansestädte. That's Dutch, English and German but the network also comprised of some cities on the Baltic sea, France, Scotland, England, Italy and so on. Could see it as a forerunner of the EU or the Schengen zone as it was focused on trade. It's a very typical style that I'm very fond of, checking out as many former Hanse cities I can in my life.
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Gothenburg#The_Gothenburg_of_Charles_IX

  • @radosaworman7628
    @radosaworman7628 Рік тому +2

    The fact that Polish navy does not contain a flagship called "admirał arrandt dikmann" i find beyond distasteful.
    We are not really great at sea faring but we still should celebrate the greatness that we fostered in our land- even if it came from non-slavic or non-lithuanian stock. If polish panheon of greatness contains lithuanians (Adam Mickiewicz/Mickievichus- poer), belorussians (General Kościuszko) and many other nations it should also contain this Fresian!

    • @Πέτρος-ψ1δ
      @Πέτρος-ψ1δ Рік тому +1

      I do not think that it is done on purpose, it's - I guess - simply due to the fact that XVII century, especially its first half is kind of "forgotten", and probably the reason for that was communist-era Russian occupation of Poland. The first half of the XVII century was the time when Polish-Lithuenian Commonwealth reached its maximum extent and was a European superpower. At that time we invaded Russia, seized the Kremlin and our king Władysław IV was chosen by Russian boyars a tzar of Russia. In Soviet( Russian ) era of occupation of Poland it was a tabu topic, to be forgotten forever... The Dutch-born admiral was in service of the Polish Crown exactly in that period of time. Now we can freely talk about it, and hopefully such figures will find due recognition and will be treasured in Polish memory as our heroes.

  • @asz621
    @asz621 Рік тому

    For most Western Europeans, civilizational Europe ends in Germany, which is of course untrue. Poland is a highly developed country, especially the western part, including cities such as Gdańsk, Poznań and Wroclaw. Go to Belarus or Ukraine and you will see eastern Europe there.

  • @PiotrPavel
    @PiotrPavel 2 місяці тому

    why such dates 1358-2023?

  • @leannevandekew1996
    @leannevandekew1996 Рік тому

    Love from Seattle.

  • @mieszko1985
    @mieszko1985 Рік тому +5

    Well it doesnt look like eastern europe cause its in central europe

  • @r.a.h7682
    @r.a.h7682 Рік тому

    better reupload because it stays at 360p

  • @marcocapelle
    @marcocapelle Рік тому +1

    Nice to have some live footage as well! With regard to the Mennonites, I don't think they advocated a second baptism, but rather they rejected infant baptism.

    • @Alex-zs7gw
      @Alex-zs7gw Рік тому

      🤷🏼‍♂️....all mumbo jumbo really tho init

    • @grzegorzrozynski8659
      @grzegorzrozynski8659 Рік тому

      The Menonites rejected service in the army, which was granted to the by the Polish king.

    • @Paul_C
      @Paul_C Рік тому

      Any form of religion should be banned from history, unless it is necessary to explain when war was waged.
      Basically war is a process that is religion based...

    • @zhangzy123
      @zhangzy123 Рік тому

      ​@@Paul_CAlso write that the first and second wars were a religious war. I sympathize with people like you

    • @zhangzy123
      @zhangzy123 Рік тому

      ​@@grzegorzrozynski8659Mennonites could not serve in the army. They settled in Poland where there was religious freedom - Confederation of Warsaw 1573. They had problems with themselves. After the partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795, they left Prussia because there was compulsory military service in Prussia

  • @philippeengammare6253
    @philippeengammare6253 Рік тому

    Also Wroclaw = Breslau, along others. In 1945, USSR annexed thé est part of Poland, and they gave Poland régions which were German or Austrian, to the Oder-Neisse Line.

  • @eoghannp8619
    @eoghannp8619 Рік тому +1

    Isn't there still a Skotska ulica (sp?) / Schottengasse / Scottish Street in Gdansk / Danzig? Another forgotten fact about the city: its English / Scots name - now completely obsolete- is Dantzick. Try finding that on a map in 2023! 😀 Peace - and out.

  • @ohajohaha
    @ohajohaha Рік тому

    The reason why it was dull and gray was so that when viewed from above, cities wouldn't have any particular landmarks for planes to bomb. Remember that in the 40's everyone thought WW3 was imminent.
    The building style was mandated by the communists, who were forcibly installed in Poland. Who also used the anti-german sentiment and atrocities to justify pro-soviet takeover.