Polish Post Office (Danzig)

Coordinates: 54°21′18″N 18°39′25″E / 54.355°N 18.657°E / 54.355; 18.657
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The opening of the Polish Post Office "Gdańsk 3" in 1925
Post stamps of Polish Postal Service in the Free City of Danzig

The Polish Post Office (

German invasion of Poland that marked the beginning of World War II
.

History

The post was established in

extraterritorial Polish property.[1]

The Polish Post Office in Danzig comprised several buildings, originally built as a German military hospital.

Polish Intelligence organization, "Group Zygmunt".[citation needed
]

As tensions between

Konrad Guderski to the Baltic Sea coast. With Alfons Flisykowski and others, he helped organize the official and volunteer security staff at the Polish Post Office in Danzig, and prepare them for eventual hostilities. In addition to training the staff, he prepared the defenses in and around the building: nearby trees were removed and the entrance was fortified. In mid-August, ten additional employees were sent to the post office from Polish Post offices in Gdynia and Bydgoszcz (mostly reserve non-commissioned officers
).

In the building of the Polish post on 1 September there were 57 people: Konrad Guderski, 42 local Polish employees, 10 employees from Gdynia and Bydgoszcz, and the building keeper with his wife and 10-year-old daughter who lived in the building. Polish employees had a cache of weapons, including three

Armia Pomorze
was supposed to secure the area.

The German attack plan, devised in July 1939, stipulated that the building defenders would be stormed from two directions. A diversionary attack was to be carried out at the front entrance, while the main force would break through the wall from the neighbouring Work Office and attack from the side.

On September 1, 1939, Polish

illegal combatants
on October 5, 1939, and executed. For embarrassing German SS unit and his commander director of Danzig post office Jan Michoń was shot dead on place and post master Józef Wąsik was burned alive by flamethrower. Sentence on rest of the defenders has been passed in few days and whole group was executed by the wall by gun fire.

In Poland, the whole episode has become one of the better known episodes of the Polish September Campaign and it is usually portrayed as a heroic story of

David and Goliath
proportions. In this view, it was a group of postmen who held out against German SS troops for almost an entire day.

Present

Monument to the Defenders of the Polish Post Office, Gdańsk

After World War II, Danzig was transferred to Poland. Currently, the building is the site of the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk and the Museum of the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk. In front of the Post Office there is the Monument of the Defenders of the Polish Post Office in Gdańsk (unveiled in 1979).

See also

  • Defense of the Polish Post Office in Danzig
  • Postage stamps and postal history of Free City of Danzig

References

  1. ^ "Muzeum". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  2. ^ Williamson, D. G. Poland Betrayed: The Nazi-Soviet Invasions of 1939 p. 65
  3. ^ (in Polish) OBROŃCY POCZTY GDAŃSKIEJ: CHWAŁA I ZBRODNIA Archived 2006-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, Bogusław Kubisz, Mówią Wieki

Further reading

  • Jank, Janusz. Działalność usługowa poczty polskiej w wolnym mieście Gdańsku w latach 1920-1939 = The Polish postal service in the Free City of Danzig between 1920-1939. Gdansk: Dyrekcja Okręgu Poczty, 1999
    ISBN 8387642150
    143p.

54°21′18″N 18°39′25″E / 54.355°N 18.657°E / 54.355; 18.657

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish_Post_Office_(Danzig)&oldid=1193757368"