Gallery

 

During the Reformation the Teutonic Order was in decay and in 1466 the Poles ousted the Knights. The King of Poland rewarded the Danzigers with the privileges of a Free City, one of which was the right to use their own currency, and a Charter which greatly promoted commerce so thet by 1754 she was the most prosperous port on the Baltic with a poulation of 77000.

However Danzig was still not left untroubled, due to the attempted repression of the Lutherans in Western Prussia and Danzig by the Polish King Sigismund I. This struggle continued for many years with at one point a defeat of the succeeding Polish King at Weichselmünde in 177.

T3 e first Polish Partition of 1772 left Danzig to Poland, but on the second Partition in 1793 the Prussians annexed the Port. They in turn were ousted by Napoleon in 1807. The city’s growth was now in rapid decline. The Prussians had retained a corridor to the sea arid once more regained control in 1615, and remained there until the end of the First World War — during which time despite sorne industrialisation, Danzig never returned to her former stature.

 

Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 46 - January - February - March - 1985, Page 14.