INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

THE UNWANTED COMPROMISE?
THE FREE CITY OF GDAŃSK 1920—1939

date | 4-6 November 2021
venues | Gdansk Museum — Artus Court, European Solidarity Centre — library
admission | free
transmission | www.gdansk.pl, ecs.gda.pl


On the occasion of the centenary of the proclamation of the Free City of Gdansk, we would like to invite you to an international academic conference entitled ’Unwanted Compromise? Wolne Miasto Gdańska 1920-1939. The period of the second Free City of Gdańsk is a subject that still evokes emotions in generations of Poles who remember the inter-war period and the years of the Second World War. We hope that the conference will help to understand why the presence of a small "post Versailles" political entity on the world map was an unwanted compromise.

/ POLISH VERSION click here
/ DEUTSCHE VERSION hier klicken

Photographs from the Gdańsk Museum Archives


THE PROGRAMME
pdf version to download here

4/11/2021 | THURSDAY | Dwór Artusa, Długi Targ 43-44
17.00
Opening ceremony
Concert by Cappella Gedanensis conducted by Rafał Kłoczko 
part 1 / Johannes Hannemann (1902-1945)
Kammerserenade für Oboe und Streichorchester (1943, parts 1, 2, 3, 5)
oboe solo: Mateusz Zurawski
solo violin: Marta Gebska

OPENING DEBATE „THE UNWANTED COMPROMISE”
prof. Jacek Friedrich, prof. Peter Oliver Loew
moderation: Basil Kerski

part 2 / Henryk Hubertus Jabłoński (1915–1989)
Espressione per Violoncello Ed Archi (1971)
Songs to words by Janina Kątkowska (1964, 1. Time, 2. Longing, 4. Death)
soprano: Klaudia Trzasko
cello: Alicja Różycka

5/11/2021 | FRIDAY | Europejskie Centrum Solidarności — library
9.00—10.45 Session I | Free cities before the Free City
prof. Ralf Roth, Frankfurt | A Happy Time. The Free City of Frankfurt 1816—1866
prof. Andrzej Chwalba, Kraków | A Rotten Compromise. The Free City of Cracow
prof. Miloš Řezník, Warszawa | The First Free City of Gdańsk
Discussion


10.45—11.15 coffee break

11.15—13.00 Session II, part 1 | The Free City of Gdańsk – Perspectives from Inside
dr Bennet Brämer, Berlin | The Constitution of the Free City in Comparison
dr Jan Daniluk
, Gdańsk | Faces of Modernity. Radio in the Free City
prof. Grzegorz Berendt
, Gdańsk | Migrations to and from the Free City of Gdańsk
Discussion

13.00—14.30 lunch break

14.20—16.45 Session II, part 2
mgr Adrian Mitter, Toronto/Marburg | The Free City of Danzig as a Hub for Legal and Illicit Trade
prof. Marek Kornat, Warszawa | The Polish Policy Towards the Free City of Danzig
dr Jerzy Łazor, Warszawa | Danzig, Gdynia, and French capital in interwar Poland
prof. Luciano Segreto, Florencja/Gdańsk | The impossible bid. The economy and finance of the Free City of Danzig
Discussion

16.45—17.15 coffee break

17.15—19.45 Session II, part 3
mgr Andrzej Trzeciak, Gdańsk | Międzywojenna stocznia gdańska (Danziger Werft) jako polska współwłasność oraz sytuacja jej polskich pracowników 1918—1939
dr Magdalena Staręga, Gdańsk | Ludwig Noé – industrialist, engineer, politician and diplomat
prof. Jacek Friedrich, Gdańsk | Symbols of the Free City 
mgr Jagoda Załęska-Kaczko, Gdańsk | The Nazification of Public Space in the Free City of Gdańsk (Selected Aspects)
Discussion

6/11/2021 | SATURDAY | Europejskie Centrum Solidarności — library

9.30—12.30 Session IV | Comparisons
dr Martyn Housden, Bradford | The League of Nations and Gdańsk
prof. Ruth Leiserowitz, Warszawa | Jealous of Danzig. Interwar perspectives from Memel/Klaipėda
prof. Raoul Pupo, Patrick Karlsen, Triest | Free State of Fiume, Free Territory of Trieste: A Comparison
dr Marco Bresciani, Florencja | The “Danzig of the Adriatic”: The post-1945 Discussion on the Free Territory of Trieste
prof. Wojciech Skóra, Słupsk | The Gdansk Spying Arcade. The Free City as a place of confrontation and cooperation of intelligence services of European countries
Discussion

12.30—14.00 lunch break

14.00—16.00 Session V | The Free City of Gdańsk – History of Memory
prof. Peter Oliver Loew, Darmstadt | The Free City of Gdańsk is Still Alive
prof. Miłosława Borzyszkowska-Szewczyk, Gdańsk | Figures of Memory – Interpretations – Dialogues. The image of the Free City of Gdańsk in autobiographies by authors of Jewish origin
dr Magdalena Sacha, Gdańsk | The Free City of Gdańsk Between Real and Phantom Border
Discussion

16.00 Summary


Organizers
prof. Grzegorz Berendt, prof. Miłosława Borzyszkowska-Szewczyk, prof. Jacek Friedrich, Basil Kerski, dr Przemysław Ruchlewski, dr Judyta Bielanowska,
prof. Edmund Kizik, prof. Peter Oliver Loew, Adrian Mitter, prof. Miloš Řezník, prof. Luciano Segreto, dr Ewa Szymańska

Institutions involved
Deutsches Polen-Institut Darmstadt, Niemiecki Instytut Historyczny w Warszawie, Uniwersytet Gdański, Politechnika Gdańska,
Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Herder-Institut Marburg, Muzeum Gdańska,
Europejskie Centrum Solidarności, Muzeum Narodowe w Gdańsku, Instytut Kaszubski, Miasto Gdańsk