Westerplatte

Fot. PROT

It was here, at Westerplatte on the 1st September 1939, that shots from the German battleship ”Schleswig-Holstein” began the Second World War. The heroic sevenday-long defence by 182 Poles against 3,400 Germans has passed into history. The losses on the Polish side amounted to 15 dead and on the German side to 400. To commemorate this event a 25-metre monument was erected on the site, along with a huge inscription: ”No More War.” Every year on 1st September, at 4.45 a.m. exactly, there is a solemn ceremony to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

The Polish Post Office

Fot. PROT

The staff of the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk became famous because of their heroic defence of the building against units of the police and SS Heimwehr on the 1st September 1939. After an uneven 14-hour-long battle, the Polish Post Office workers surrendered. On 5 October 1939 they were shot in the Gdańsk district of Zaspa. Today this event is commemorated by a monument in front of the building and by collections in the Post Office and Telecommunications Museum. The defenders of the Post Office were posthumously awarded the Virtuti Militari Cross.

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