The first in Poland – an interview with Aleksandra Boćkowska

‘Klaps’ Newspaper Published on 21.09.2026

– The people of Gdynia love their city dearly. They are proud of it. When asked what is the first word that comes to mind when they think of Gdynia, many reply ‘love’ – says Aleksandra Boćkowska, author of the book ‘Gdynia. Pierwsza w Polsce'.

Mateusz Demski

Mateusz Demski: Why is Gdynia ‘the first in Poland’?

Aleksandra Boćkowska: Because it’s the first city from the sea. Because it’s the most self-satisfied of all cities – at least in Poland. Because, in many respects, it really was a leader, at least for a while. Built at record speed during the interwar period. It was intended to serve as a support base for the emerging port – the first of its kind in Poland – but, as time has shown, it turned out to be the first city in Poland designed according to the principles of modernism.

Whilst working on the book and sifting through old newspapers, I kept coming across the phrase ‘Gdynia as the first city in Poland’, which was then elaborated upon: ‘it joined the ranks of cities that are members of the World Trade Centre Association, privatised municipal enterprises, took on the state’s responsibilities, attracted a Coca-Cola factory, secured grants from the European Union long before Poland’s accession to the EU, purchased electric buses and advertised itself on the streets of other cities.’

In short: it all happened first in Gdynia.

Gdynia is a master of self-promotion. The phrase ‘Gdynia as the first city in Poland’ had become so ingrained in the officials’ minds that they used it at every opportunity. They repeated it like a refrain, which after a while had the opposite effect to that intended. A few years ago, activists from the ‘Bryza’ association, which takes a critical view of the local authorities, set up a Facebook page called ‘Gdynia as the first city in Poland’, on which they highlighted the authorities’ blunders.

Another thing is that the residents of Gdynia, regardless of whether they criticize the city council or not (incidentally, political debates here are extremely heated), love their city dearly. They are proud of it. When asked what is the first word that comes to mind when they think of Gdynia, many answer: “love.”

At first, this incredible sense of local patriotism seemed a little grotesque to me. Over time, as I came to understand its origins, I’ve come to regard it with great respect.

In one of your interviews, you said that Gdynia was also the first to join the European Union.

This is, of course, a simplification, but Gdynia has indeed aspired to European identity since the early 1990s. Contacts were established with local governments in Western countries; Mayor Franciszka Cegielska served as a delegate to the Council of Europe starting in 1992; the city successfully applied for pre-accession funds; and the first transfer arrived, if I’m not mistaken, in 1994, a decade before Poland joined the EU. In 2002, Gdynia received the Europe Prize, and on that occasion, Mayor Wojciech Szczurek invited residents to Kościuszko Square to pose for a group photo. Seventeen thousand people showed up, and together they sang ‘Ode to Joy’. Soon after, in a referendum, they overwhelmingly supported accession.

Its European character was fostered by its location on the Baltic Sea and cooperation with Scandinavian countries, as well as with other Western nations. This resulted, first, in contacts, second, in skills, such as writing grant proposals, and third, in an openness to new ideas. People in Gdynia were talking about reducing car traffic, sustainable development, and environmental protection long before these topics became trendy. Whether anything actually came of all that talk is another matter.

It should be added that Gdynia, like other port cities, was already more ‘foreign’ than the rest of the country during the People’s Republic of Poland. Almost every family had a sailor. Thanks to this, clothes and music from the West arrived here first. People from all over Poland would come to the secondhand shops on the enchanting Świętojańska Street. Prof. Jerzy Kochanowski, who studied the black market in People’s Poland, investigated what was smuggled to the coast and in which years. Many of these items were all sorts of electronic gadgets, plastic goods, and symbols of modern life.

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From the very beginning, Gdynia was intended to be a window to the world.

The idea to build a port in Gdynia emerged in the early 1920s, in response to the growing German influence in the Free City of Gdańsk. The port was a major economic project, and, incidentally, a propaganda one as well. Gdynia, then a Kashubian village of 1,200 people—more agricultural than fishing, and in some places a summer resort—transformed into a city of 120,000 within a dozen or so years.

A logical urban layout was established in the city centre, which has just been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, but beyond it, chaos reigned. On the one hand, the port was expanding, and fortunes were being made in the city centre alongside the tenement houses. On the other hand, poor neighbourhoods were springing up, where the workers who built this success lived in appalling conditions. Grzegorz Piątek described this in depth in his book ‘Gdynia Obieczana’. In short, Gdynia grew amid chaos and contrasts. Rich and poor, beautiful and ugly.

But despite everything, she was a source of national pride.

It was undoubtedly a patriotic surge. Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, Minister of Industry and later Deputy Prime Minister, who conceived this project, placed Gdynia on a pedestal from the very beginning. And so the first living, bustling, and real monument to Poland by the sea was created, and its name is Gdynia. This monument will be built forever, and it will grow ever stronger and larger, he said.

From family stories, I know that school field trips used to come to Gdynia before the war. My aunt, who was born in the early 1930s, remembers watching Gdynia expand with her class. My mother, on the other hand, who was born after the war, told me that in her family, Gdynia was the subject of a patriotic cult of personality.

By then, the situation had changed dramatically. Poland had regained Gdańsk and had to prove that it deserved it. Gdańsk was in ruins, so all efforts, including symbolic ones. were directed toward its reconstruction. Gdynia, the pride of the Second Polish Republic, was regarded in the People’s Republic of Poland as a symbol of the evils of the Sanation movement. It was downgraded; all important institutions and offices were removed from the city, and there were even considerations of annexing it to Gdańsk. That plan failed. Interestingly, local party authorities warned their superiors that the people of Gdynia would never agree to it.

For although the social structure changed after the war, not all wartime displaced persons returned, while resettlers from the Eastern Borderlands arrived, the love for Gdynia was still cherished. Undoubtedly, the city’s decline helped to reinforce that pride. The result is that, to this day, the boundary in Kolibki between Gdynia and Sopot remains palpable, much like it once did between Poland and Germany. The animosities imposed from above somehow took root. After 1989, new local government officials included ‘regaining pride’ in their election platform. They carried out this pledge with great fanfare.
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In Poland, we still tend to focus more on Gdańsk than on Gdynia. The strikes of 1970 are a telling example. Janek Wiśniewski, a symbol of the December massacre, was killed in Gdynia, not in Gdańsk, as some people seem to believe.

It seems to me that Janek Wiśniewski, in particular, is associated with Gdynia. If only because Antoni Krauze’s film Black Thursday has been rebroadcast on television every December for years.

The history of December in Gdynia differs from that of Gdańsk. There, workers who took to the streets to protest were shot at. In Gdynia, people on their way to work were shot at. After several days of riots in Gdańsk and agreements reached in Gdynia, Deputy Prime Minister Stanisław Kociołek appeared on local television to urge people to return to work, assuring them that the streets were now calm and safe. People went back, and right next to the Gdynia Stocznia SKM station, ZOMO and the army were waiting for them. Shots were fired, and by morning, 11 people had been killed, including Zbigniew Godlewski, commemorated in the song as Janek Wiśniewski. His friends carried him to Świętojańska Street on a door they had found along the way.

There were several marches, but this one is the one that has stuck most firmly in the collective memory. On Świętojańska Street, near City Hall, another shooting took place. More young men were killed. Eighteen people in all. Among them were two 15-year-olds who happened to be there by chance, one was on his way to see his mother, and the other had gone out to see what was happening.

However, in the collective memory of Poles, Gdańsk remains the symbol of resistance against the Polish People’s Republic. The reason is simple: history is written by the victors. In 1980, when “Solidarity” was being formed, everyone came to Gdańsk. Over the next decade, they built a new Poland and told their story. The Gdynia Shipyard remained under the influence of Andrzej Gwiazda and Kornel Morawiecki, who found themselves marginalized after 1989.

However, the people of Gdynia remember their December. Every year on the 17^th of December, I watch as the city changes. It doesn’t come to a standstill in mourning, but candles are always lit along the parade route, and there are always ceremonies attended not only by veterans, but also by scouts, students, and young people.

From the interior of the country, we view the Tri-City as a cohesive entity. […] A longer stay allows one to detect the animosities, you write in your book.

Recently, on the occasion of Polish Army Day, the prime minister and the president, both from Gdańsk and both Lechia fans. met in Gdynia. As is well known, though politically at odds, they suddenly began joking with each other about having come to Gdynia, which doesn’t happen very often. The president knows what this is all about, said Donald Tusk, patting Karol Nawrocki on the shoulder.

This is a good illustration of these animosities. They were imposed by history and politics. They persist, but it seems to me that, apart from Lechia and Arka fans, they exist mainly in anecdotes and stereotypes. Sometimes I hear terrible things from Gdańsk residents about Gdynia, and vice versa. A leatherworker from Gdynia once told me that people in Gdynia are friendly because it’s a Polish city, while Gdańsk has been overrun by riffraff from who knows where.

On a day-to-day basis, though, I get the impression that cooperation is growing closer. I know plenty of people who live in one city, work in another, and go back and forth between them. Gdańsk has more to offer in terms of entertainment. The city’s nightlife is much livelier. People from Gdynia take advantage of that, too. But when something fun happens in Gdynia, people from Gdańsk come over.
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Szczyl, a popular rapper, has dubbed Gdynia ‘the Florida of Poland’. Plus, there’s the Open’er Festival and the Polish Film Festival. Let me ask you straight out: what are the must-see attractions in Gdynia?

We’re not messing around, we’re heading to the beach. We might be interested in Grabówek’s modernism, but there are priorities. Gdynia is famous for the fact that you can walk straight from the city to the beach. In Kraków, there’s the Planty Park, where everyone runs into everyone else; here, that spot is the Seaside Boulevard. UNESCO has recognised this direct access to the sea, not only for its modernist architecture but also for its seaside grandeur.

Be sure to check out the Przypływ Gallery, located in Bankowiec – the famous building on 3 Maja Street, an icon of modernism. The Gdynia City Museum is currently hosting an interesting exhibition dedicated to Kazimierz “Kach” Ostrowski, a forgotten artist from the Tri-City. And if you have time, it’s worth crossing to the other side of the tracks, taking a stroll through Działki Leśne and Grabówek, and seeing a slightly different kind of modernism. It’s closer to the forest there. Gdynia, as lofty as it may sound, is a city nestled between the forest and the sea. A friend of mine likes to say, I live in a city whose neighbourhoods are interspersed with forests.

Aleksandra Boćkowska – journalist, editor, reporter. Member of the Literary Union. Author of the books ‘To nie są moje wielbłądy. O modzie w PRL’, ‘Księżyc z peweksu. O luksusie w PRL’, ‘Można wybierać. 4 czerwca 1989’, ‘Gdynia. Pierwsza w Polsce’ for which she was nominated for the Arkady Fiedler Amber Butterfly Award. Since 2021, she has been exploring what it’s like to live in Gdynia.