Editing Gdynia (section)

=== Construction of the seaport ===
[[File:Gdynia, Dworzec Morski 1935 (67264189).jpg |left|thumb|Gdynia Seaport in 1935]]
The decision to build a major seaport at Gdynia village was made by the Polish government in winter 1920,<ref name="World Port Source - Gdynia">{{cite web |url=http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/POL_Port_of_Gdynia_1177.php |title=Port of Gdynia |work=worldportsource.com |access-date=29 May 2010 |archive-date=29 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091129053809/http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/POL_Port_of_Gdynia_1177.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> in the midst of the [[Polish–Soviet War]] (1919–1921).<ref name="Citino">[[Robert M. Citino|Robert Michael Citino]]. ''The path to blitzkrieg: doctrine and training in the German Army, 1920–1939''. Lynne Rienner Publishers. 1999. p. 173.</ref> The authorities and seaport workers of the [[Free City of Danzig]] felt Poland's economic rights in the city were being misappropriated to help fight the war. German dockworkers went on strike, refusing to unload shipments of military supplies sent from the West to aid the Polish army,<ref name="Citino" /> and Poland realized the need for a port city it was in complete control of, economically and politically.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

[[File:140429-POL-Gdynia-Muzeum MW.jpg|thumb|Museum of the Navy in Gdynia|left]]

Construction of Gdynia seaport started in 1921<ref name="Citino"/> but, because of financial difficulties, it was conducted slowly and with interruptions. It was accelerated after the [[Sejm]] (Polish parliament) passed the ''Gdynia Seaport Construction Act'' on 23 September 1922. By 1923 a 550-metre pier, {{convert|175|m|abbr=off}} of a wooden tide breaker, and a small harbour had been constructed. Ceremonial inauguration of Gdynia as a temporary military port and fishers' shelter took place on 23 April 1923. The first major seagoing ship, the French Line steamer ''Kentucky'', arrived on 13 August 1923 after being diverted because of a strike at Gdansk.<ref>"Emigration Shipping Lines of Gdynia, 1924-1939", by Oskar Myszor, in ''East Central Europe in Exile: Transatlantic Migrations'', ed. by Anna Mazurkiewicz (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014) p. 165</ref> 
{{Historical populations|1950|103458|1960|147625|1970|191500|1978|227140|1988|249805|2002|253458|2011|249139|2021|245222|footnote=Source:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.polskawliczbach.pl/Gdynia |title=Gdynia (Pomorskie) » mapy, nieruchomości, GUS, noclegi, szkoły, regon, atrakcje, kody pocztowe, wypadki drogowe, bezrobocie, wynagrodzenie, zarobki, tabele, edukacja, demografia |access-date=9 June 2022 |archive-date=9 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609174532/https://www.polskawliczbach.pl/Gdynia |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Demographic and occupational structure and housing conditions of the urban population in 1978-1988|url=https://statlibr.stat.gov.pl/exlibris/aleph/a22_1/apache_media/RQ1U9XAX48KJJDQ54QSAFQKQ6AK6GS.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Statistics Poland - National Censuses|url=https://bdl.stat.gov.pl/bdl/dane/podgrup/temat/}}</ref>}}[[File:Gdynia, transatlantyk MS Pilsudski 1935 (67264474).jpg|thumb|[[MS Piłsudski|MS Pilsudski]] in Gdynia, 1935]]
To speed up the construction works, the Polish government in November 1924 signed a contract with the French-Polish Consortium for Gdynia Seaport Construction. By the end of 1925, they had built a small seven-metre-deep harbour, the south pier, part of the north pier, a railway, and had ordered the trans-shipment equipment. The works were going more slowly than expected, however. They accelerated only after May 1926, because of an increase in Polish exports by sea, economic prosperity, the outbreak of the German–Polish trade war which reverted most Polish international trade to sea routes, and thanks to the personal engagement of [[Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski]], Polish Minister of Industry and Trade (also responsible for the construction of [[Centralny Okręg Przemysłowy]]). By the end of 1930 docks, piers, breakwaters, and many auxiliary and industrial installations were constructed (such as depots, trans-shipment equipment, and a rice processing factory) or started (such as a large cold store).{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Trans-shipments rose from 10,000 tons (1924) to 2,923,000 tons (1929). At this time Gdynia was the only transit and special seaport designed for coal exports.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

In the years 1931–1939 Gdynia harbour was further extended to become a universal seaport. In 1938 Gdynia was the largest and most modern seaport on the Baltic Sea, as well as the tenth biggest in Europe. The trans-shipments rose to 8.7&nbsp;million tons, which was 46% of Polish foreign trade. In 1938 the [[Stocznia Gdynia|Gdynia shipyard]] started to build its first full-sea ship, the ''[[SS Olza|Olza]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Szabados |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T_zvDwAAQBAJ&dq=1938+Gdynia+shipyard+Olza&pg=PT51 |title=Polish Immigration to America: When, Where, Why and How |date=27 August 2016 |publisher=Stephen Szabados |language=en |access-date=18 May 2022 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425160608/https://books.google.com/books?id=T_zvDwAAQBAJ&dq=1938+Gdynia+shipyard+Olza&pg=PT51 |url-status=live }}</ref>