The Baltic. What do we know about the Baltic? There are the Baltic States—Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia but these are not the only Baltic states. These are not the sum total of the nations that touch this vast almost-inland sea. Denmark, Finland, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Sweden as well as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Nine countries in all range around this great round bowl of sea. Long before there existed consistent and fixed lines around nations there was this sea. Commerce and connections formed across a sea rather than within national boundaries. As a result, Gdansk, Stockholm and Hamburg developed to have more in common with one another than with cities within their respective modern-day countries. After all, countries—however frantically we may assert their there-ness—are an invention. We drew the lines that make them. On paper. But the sea made these relationships. And this is the key to appreciating Gdansk, a Baltic city as much as a Polish one. A city that has always lived through its sea. Boatyards with eight centuries of continuous history. A historic core with an architecture all its own. And a strategic location that has often made it the pivot upon which hinged great historic events. World War II began here. Polish Communism ended here.
Rebuilt in the decades since the devastation of WWII, it’s once again a gorgeous city. And it’s an absolute delight to visit. That rebuilt historic core is dazzling. So there is that. But there are also two standout museums—The Solidarity Museum-–more properly known as The European Solidarity Centre—and The Museum of Second World War. These museums, opened in 2007 and 2017 respectively, are unmatched in the skill with which they bring to life a vigorous sense of history as lived experience. On recent visits, I was struck by how vividly they both tell what I had presupposed to be pretty well-worn narratives. I found this particularly surprising at The Solidarity Museum. I thought I knew this one—it was about a labor strike. An undeniably pivotal labor strike but surely the retelling would be pretty thin gruel. How wrong I was! The story is the story of a decades-long struggle for dignity and self-determination. Very well told. It just doesn’t get more gripping than that.
So go to Gdansk either with us—we’re there in June 2020 and click here for the full itinerary—or on your own. It’s fascinating, beautiful and full of surprises.