Polish property at Westerplatte 1919–1925

Abstract

Westerplatte is present in the collective cognizance mainly as the place where World War 2 began. Both the defense of the peninsula in September 1939 as well as the creation and activities of the Polish garrison have been studied extensively. However, Polish presence at Westerplatte before the peninsula was handed over to Poland in 1924, has been studied far less. In fact, due to the strategic importance of the area, Polish authorities took a keen interest in Westerplatte as early as in 1919, as soon as the decision to create the Free City had been made. In 1919–1920 the Poles bought a number of buildings at Westerplatte, mainly those which comprised the bathing complex. The purchases were made on the instruction of the Polish government with the Bank Związku Spółek Zarobkowych (Bank for the Association of Co-operatives) of Poznań as proxy. The paper describes how and to what end the purchases came to be as well as issues of evicting the inhabitants and demolitions post-1924.