Under the motto 'HOISTING HISTORY', the European Solidarity Centre and the University of Gdańsk invite you to monthly popular science lectures focusing on the Gdańsk Shipyard and its workers. The first lecture is already on January 26. Admission is free.
In mid-July 2022, the Gdańsk ECS opened an exhibition entitled. 'STOCZNIA | Man. Industry. City.' Although it is the largest temporary exhibition in the institution's history and the first since the factory's collapse, its creators do not consider the topic exhausted.
Resonance
The legacy of the Gdańsk Shipyard is unique in that it combines the tragic experience of both World Wars with the birthplace of Poland's modern democracy. Thanks to the uprising of the shipyard workers in August 1980, who united society in their fight for workers' and civil rights, the Gdańsk Shipyard made the front pages of the world's most widely read magazines. A peaceful revolution had begun, the effects of which spread to Central and Eastern Europe.
To date, the Gdańsk Shipyard has attracted the attention of researchers primarily as the birthplace of Solidarity.
- 'In the exhibition STOCZNIA, we attempt to define this place and its heritage anew. We show its various faces, often surprising and more widely unknown. However, the exhibition is governed by its own rules, and some fascinating topics have only been hinted at. It was out of a sense of insufficiency that we came up with the idea of deepening selected themes that have not yet been covered in detail,' - says dr Magdalena Staręga of the University of Gdańsk, coordinator of the STOCZNIA exhibition, coordinator of the lecture series and one of the lecturers on shipbuilding heritage at the ECS. - 'The heritage of Gdańsk's shipyards, especially the Gdańsk Shipyard, resonates incredibly today. Many former workers cultivate this memory, and the ECS is a natural place to nurture it. We are part of this history; our building stands next to the legendary Gate No. 2 and the monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers 1970. We want to lift this knowledge and make it available to all those interested, whether they are fans of the history of Gdańsk, the region or the shipyard itself. We very much look forward to the presence of young people.'
Wind of history
The history of the Gdańsk Shipyard and its predecessors dates back more than 170 years. Their history begins with establishing a small corvette repair base in the mid-19th century, located on the banks of the Dead Vistula. The pursuit of Prussian and then German domination of the seas determined the subsequent development of the plant. Its shipbuilding for the needs of the Second and Third Reich, like that of the private Schichau Shipyard, established in the neighbourhood at the end of the 19th century, played a significant role in the two largest world conflicts of the 20th century. Life began to revive on the ruins of the shipyard in 1945 - one of the leading industrial plants of Poland, which from then on found itself in the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, was built here. Over the following decades, the shipyard became not only the pride of the domestic economy and the largest plant in the region but also a place that contributed to Gdańsk's new identity. The Gdansk Shipyard's industrial tradition continues with the Gdańsk Repair Yard, separated from it in 1952, today the most extensive Polish ship repair and shipbuilding facility.
The lecture series will open with a lecture by dr Jan Daniluk on forced labour in the shipbuilding industry in Gdańsk during World War II. The choice is not accidental. From the perspective of the experience of the shipbuilding industry in Gdańsk, the exhibition touches on the political, social and cultural history of Poland and Europe, but at the centre of the story are the fates of people, not ships.
The man at the centre
- 'The anonymous hero of history is the centre of the narrative in the STOCZNIA exhibition. We also want people to be the protagonists of the story during the lectures,' - says dr Konrad Knoch, a media expert from the University of Gdańsk, co-curator of the exhibition and one of the speakers. - 'The rich heritage of this place often surprises visitors, and so will the lectures. The peaceful 1980 Solidarity strike of the shipyard workers is confronted with the story of the prisoners of the Stutthof sub-concentration camp working for the plant. In turn, near the tremendous pride of the Gdańsk shipyard in communist times, the fishing base, we show a model of the U-Boat U-9 produced at the Imperial Shipyard in Gdańsk, a tool for merciless warfare at sea. This stirs up emotions, all the more so because the memory of the Gdańsk Shipyard as the birthplace of Solidarity is still very much alive among Gdańsk residents and Poles.'
Seven researchers - historians, art historians, political scientist and a linguist - will take on the role of speakers. Most of them are affiliated with the University of Gdańsk. This is the first such major joint venture between the ECS and UG, the result of an agreement between the institutions signed in November 2022 concerning, among other things, scientific cooperation.
The lecture series 'HOISTING HISTORY' is one of the elements of a rich programme of events under the motto 'STOCZNIA. WE TELL HISTORY', addressed to families, schoolchildren, young people, Gdańsk residents and tourists.
VENUE | European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk, pl. Solidarności 1
ACCESS | free
INFORMATION | www.ecs.gda.pl
WALKS AROUND THE SHIPYARD EXHIBITION / GUIDED TOURS
time | 75-90 minutes
age group | not less than 16 years
address | Gdańsk, pl. Solidarności 1 (entrance through the historic Gate No. 2)
meeting | at the ECS ticket office (ground floor)
Programme
22/01 SUN 11.00
guided by dr Magdalena Staręga - art historian specialising in modern architecture and the cultural heritage of the Gdańsk Shipyard, lecturer at the University of Gdańsk, curator of the exhibition STOCZNIA
26/02 SUN 11.00
guided by Karolina Lejczak - historian, co-creator of the permanent exhibition at the ECS, curator of historical and artistic collections, responsible for acquiring objects for the exhibition STOCZNIA
26/03 SUN 11.00
guided by dr Konrad Knoch - historian specialising in the 20th century, lecturer at the University of Gdańsk, leader of the team creating the permanent exhibition at the ECS, co-curator of the exhibition STOCZNIA
23/04 SUN 11.00
guided by Karolina Lejczak - historian, co-curator of the permanent exhibition at the ECS, curator of historical and artistic collections, responsible for acquiring objects for the exhibition STOCZNIA
28/05 SUN 11.00
guided by dr Magdalena Staręga - art historian specialising in modern architecture and the cultural heritage of the Gdańsk Shipyard, lecturer at the University of Gdańsk, curator of the exhibition STOCZNIA
25/06 SUN 11.00
guided by dr Konrad Knoch - historian specialising in the 20th century, lecturer at the University of Gdańsk, leader of the team creating the ECS permanent exhibition, co-curator of the exhibition STOCZNIA
Details: https://ecs.gda.pl/wydarzenia/spacer-po-wystawie-stocznia/