Editing Gdynia (section)

=== Gdynia during World War II (1939–1945) ===
[[File:Niemcy w Gdyni.jpg|thumb|German occupying forces in Gdynia in 1939]]
During the German [[invasion of Poland]], which started [[World War II]] in September 1939, Gdynia was the site of [[Battle of Gdynia|fierce Polish defense]]. On 13 September 1939, the Germans carried out first arrests of local Poles in the southern part of the city, while the Polish defense was still ongoing in the northern part.<ref name=mw105>{{cite book |last=Wardzyńska |first=Maria |year=2009 |title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion |language=pl |location=Warsaw|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]] |page=105}}</ref> On 14 September 1939, the Germans captured the entire city, and then [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupied]] it until 1945. On 15–16 September, the Germans carried out further mass arrests of 7,000 Poles, while Polish soldiers still fought in nearby [[Battle of Kępa Oksywska|Kępa Oksywska]].<ref name=mw105/> The German police surrounded the city and carried out mass searches of weapons.<ref name=mw105/> Arrested Poles were held and interrogated in churches, cinemas and halls, and then around 3,000 people were released until 18 September.<ref name=mw105/> The occupiers established several prisons and camps for Polish people, who were afterwards either deported to [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]] or executed.<ref name=mw106>Wardzyńska, p. 106</ref> Some Poles from Gdynia were executed by the Germans near [[Starogard Gdański]] in September 1939.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 108</ref> In October and November 1939, the Germans carried out public executions of 52 Poles, including activists, bank directors and priests, in various parts of the city.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 156</ref> In November 1939, the occupiers also murdered hundreds of Poles from Gdynia during the [[massacres in Piaśnica]] committed nearby as part of the ''[[Intelligenzaktion]]''. Among the victims were policemen, officials, civil defenders of Gdynia, judges, court employees, the director and employees of the [[National Bank of Poland]], merchants, priests, school principals, teachers,<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 106, 146–148</ref> and students of local high schools.<ref>{{cite book |last=Drywa |first=Danuta |editor-last=Kostkiewicz |editor-first=Janina |year=2020 |title=Zbrodnia bez kary... Eksterminacja i cierpienie polskich dzieci pod okupacją niemiecką (1939–1945) |language=pl |location=[[Kraków]] |publisher=[[Jagiellonian University|Uniwersytet Jagielloński]], [[Biblioteka Jagiellońska]] |page=181 |chapter=Germanizacja dzieci i młodzieży polskiej na Pomorzu Gdańskim z uwzględnieniem roli obozu koncentracyjnego Stutthof}}</ref> On the night of 10–11 November, the German security police carried out mass arrests of over 1,500 Poles in the [[Obłuże]] district, and then murdered 23 young men aged 16–20, in retaliation for breaking windows at the headquarters of the German security police.<ref>Wardzyńska, p. 156–157</ref>[[File:Poles arrested in Gdynia September 1939.jpg|thumb|left|Poles arrested by the Germans in Gdynia in September 1939]] On 11 November, a German gendarme shot and killed two Polish boys who were collecting Polish books from the street, which were thrown out of the windows by new German settlers in the Oksywie district.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kołakowski |first=Andrzej |editor-last=Kostkiewicz |editor-first=Janina |year=2020 |title=Zbrodnia bez kary... Eksterminacja i cierpienie polskich dzieci pod okupacją niemiecką (1939–1945) |language=pl |location=Kraków |publisher=Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Biblioteka Jagiellońska |page=75 |chapter=Zbrodnia bez kary: eksterminacja dzieci polskich w okresie okupacji niemieckiej w latach 1939-1945}}</ref> The Germans renamed the city to ''Gotenhafen'' after the [[Goths]], an ancient Germanic tribe, who had lived in the area. 10 Poles from Gdynia were also murdered by the Russians in the large [[Katyn massacre]] in April–May 1940.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gdynia.pl/spoleczenstwo,7580/dzien-pamieci-ofiar-zbrodni-katynskiej,548870 |title=Pamiętamy o ofiarach zbrodni katyńskiej |website=Gdynia.pl |access-date=10 September 2021 |language=pl |archive-date=10 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910092026/https://www.gdynia.pl/spoleczenstwo,7580/dzien-pamieci-ofiar-zbrodni-katynskiej,548870 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some 50,000 Polish citizens were [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expelled]] to the [[General Government]] (German-occupied central Poland) to make space for new German settlers in accordance with the ''[[Lebensraum]]'' policy. Local [[Kashubians]] who were suspected to support the Polish cause, particularly those with higher education, were also arrested and executed. The German [[gauleiter]] [[Albert Forster]] considered Kashubians of "low value" and did not support any attempts to create a Kashubian nationality. Despite such circumstances, local Poles, including Kashubians, organized [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance]] groups, [[Kashubian Griffin]] (later [[Pomeranian Griffin]]), the exiled "Związek Pomorski" in the [[United Kingdom]], and local units of the [[Home Army]], [[Service for Poland's Victory]] and [[Gray Ranks]]. Activities included distribution of underground Polish press, smuggling data on German persecution of Poles and Jews to Western Europe, sabotage actions, espionage of the local German industry,<ref>{{cite book |last=Chrzanowski |first=Bogdan |year=2022 |title=Polskie Państwo Podziemne na Pomorzu w latach 1939–1945 |language=pl |location=Gdańsk |publisher=IPN |pages=30, 40, 48, 52, 57 |isbn=978-83-8229-411-8}}</ref> and facilitating escapes of endangered Polish resistance members and British and French prisoners of war who fled from [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|German POW camps]] via the city's port to [[Neutral powers during World War II|neutral]] [[Sweden]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Chrzanowski |first=Bogdan |title=Organizacja sieci przerzutów drogą morską z Polski do Szwecji w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej (1939–1945) |journal=Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum |language=pl |volume=5 |pages=16, 25, 30–34 |issn=0137-5377}}</ref> The [[Gestapo]] cracked down on the Polish resistance several times, with the Poles either killed or deported to the [[Stutthof concentration camp|Stutthof]] and [[Ravensbrück concentration camp|Ravensbrück]] concentration camps.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chrzanowski |first=Bogdan |title=Polskie Państwo Podziemne na Pomorzu w latach 1939–1945 |pages=47, 50–51}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Chrzanowski |first=Bogdan |title=Organizacja sieci przerzutów drogą morską z Polski do Szwecji w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej (1939–1945) |pages=16, 27–28, 37}}</ref> In 1943, local Poles managed to save some [[Kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany|kidnapped Polish children]] from the [[Zamość]] region, by buying them from the Germans at the local train station.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kozaczyńska |first=Beata |editor-last=Kostkiewicz |editor-first=Janina |year=2020 |title=Zbrodnia bez kary... Eksterminacja i cierpienie polskich dzieci pod okupacją niemiecką (1939–1945) |language=pl |location=Kraków |publisher=Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Biblioteka Jagiellońska |page=123 |chapter=Gdy zabrakło łez... Tragizm losu polskich dzieci wysiedlonych z Zamojszczyzny (1942-1943)}}</ref>
[[File:ORP Błyskawica w nowym kamuflażu - 02-01-2012.jpg|thumb|[[ORP Błyskawica|ORP ''Błyskawica'']], Polish destroyer which served in World War II, now a [[museum ship]]]]
The harbour was transformed into a German naval base. The [[shipyard]] was expanded in 1940 and became a branch of the [[Kiel]] shipyard (''Deutsche Werke Kiel A.G.''). The city became an important base, due to its being relatively distant from the [[war theater]], and many German large ships—[[battleship]]s and [[heavy cruiser]]s—were anchored there. During 1942, Dr Joseph Goebbels authorized relocation of {{SS|Cap Arcona|1927|2}} to Gotenhafen Harbour as a stand-in for {{RMS|Titanic}} during filming of the German-produced movie ''[[Titanic (1943 film)|Titanic]]'', directed by [[Herbert Selpin]].

The Germans set up an ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]''-operated penal camp in the [[Grabówek, Gdynia|Grabówek]] district,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1517 |title=Einsatzgruppen-Straflager Gdynia-Grabówek |website=Bundesarchiv.de |access-date=25 February 2023 |language=de |archive-date=25 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230225165157/https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1517 |url-status=live }}</ref> a transit camp for [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] marine POWs,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=Geoffrey P. |last2=Overmans |first2=Rüdiger |last3=Vogt |first3=Wolfgang |year=2022 |title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]], [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |page=208 |isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}}</ref> a [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] subcamp of the [[Stalag XX-B]] POW camp for several hundred Allied POWs at the shipyard,<ref>{{cite book |last=Daniluk |first=Jan |editor-last=Grudziecka |editor-first=Beata |title=Stalag XX B: historia nieopowiedziana |language=pl |location=Malbork |publisher=Muzeum Miasta Malborka |page=12 |chapter=Stalag XX B Marienburg: geneza i znaczenie obozu jenieckiego w Malborku-Wielbarku w latach II wojny światowej |date=21 February 2024 |isbn=978-83-950992-2-9}}</ref> and two [[Subcamp (SS)|subcamps]] of the [[Stutthof concentration camp]], the first located in the [[Orłowo, Gdynia|Orłowo]] district in 1941–1942, the second, named ''Gotenhafen'', located at the shipyard in 1944–1945.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gliński |first=Mirosław |title=Podobozy i większe komanda zewnętrzne obozu Stutthof (1939–1945) |journal=Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum |language=pl |volume=3 |pages=168, 180 |issn=0137-5377}}</ref>

The seaport and the shipyard both witnessed several air raids by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] from 1943 onwards, but suffered little damage. Gdynia was used during winter 1944–45 to evacuate German [[troop]]s and refugees trapped by the [[Red Army]]. Some of the ships were hit by [[torpedo]]es from Soviet [[submarine]]s in the [[Baltic Sea]] on the route west. The ship {{MV|Wilhelm Gustloff||2}} sank, taking about 9,400 people with her – the worst loss of life in a single sinking in maritime history. The seaport area was largely destroyed by withdrawing German troops and millions of encircled [[refugee]]s in 1945 being bombarded by the Soviet military (90% of the buildings and equipment were destroyed) and the harbour entrance was blocked by the German battleship {{ship|German battleship|Gneisenau||2}} that had been brought to Gotenhafen for major repairs.