Editing Sopot (section)

=== World War II (1939–1945) ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-51909-0003, Polen, Schlagbaum, deutsche Soldaten.jpg|thumb|German soldiers and custom officials reenact the removal of the Polish border crossing in Sopot in September 1939 for the purposes of [[Propaganda in Nazi Germany|Nazi German propaganda]]]]
[[World War II]] broke out on September 1, 1939, after the German [[invasion of Poland]]. The following day the Free City of Danzig was annexed by [[Nazi Germany]] and most of the local [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Kashubians]], and [[Jews]] were arrested<ref>{{cite web |author=amk |url=http://www.rp.pl/artykul/15,411004_O_sopockiej_Polonii_po_latach.html |title=O sopockiej Polonii po latach |publisher=rp.pl |date=2009-12-25 |access-date=2013-03-12 |archive-date=2012-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316215716/http://www.rp.pl/artykul/15,411004_O_sopockiej_Polonii_po_latach.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and murdered during the ''[[Intelligenzaktion Pommern|Intelligenzaktion]]'',<ref name=hm2/> imprisoned or expelled. Due to the war, the city's tourist industry collapsed. The last Wagner Festival was held in 1942.

The city remained under German rule until early 1945. In March the Nazis began evacuating the German population along with [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced laborers]].<ref name=hm2/> On March 23, 1945, the [[Soviet Army]] took over the city after several days of fighting, in which Zoppot lost approximately 10% of its buildings;<ref name=hisarch>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sopot.pl/eGmina/en/cityzone/O_Sopocie/Historia_miasta/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106024249/http://www.sopot.pl/eGmina/en/cityzone/O_Sopocie/Historia_miasta|url-status=dead|title=The History of Sopot|archivedate=January 6, 2010}}</ref> three days later, the Soviet 70th Army reached the [[Gdańsk Bay]] coast north of the city.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Lakowski, Richard |title=Die Militärische Niederwerfung der Wehrmacht |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt |year=2008 |isbn=9783421062376 |editor-last=Müller, Rolf-Dieter |series=Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg |volume=10/1 |location=München |pages=491–681, here: 561 |chapter=Der Zusammenbruch der deutschen Verteidigung zwischen Ostsee und Karpaten}}</ref>

As per the [[Potsdam Conference]], Zoppot was incorporated into the post-war Polish state and its original name Sopot was restored. The authorities of [[Gdańsk Voivodeship (1945–1975)|Gdańsk Voivodeship]] were located in Sopot until the end of 1946. Most of the German inhabitants who had remained in the city (by 1 November 1945 6,000 Germans still lived in the town,<ref name=Byk>{{cite book|title=The Rehabilitation and Ethnic Vetting of the Polish Population in the Voivodship of Gdańsk after World War II|author=Sylwia Bykowska|publisher=Peter-Lang-Verlagsgruppe|page=116|date=2020|isbn=978-3-631-67940-1}}</ref> after the evacuation before the advancing Soviet Army) were soon to be [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]], to make room for Polish settlers from [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|former eastern Polish territories annexed by the Soviet Union]].