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Gdansk

BASIC FACTS
Establishment: 997
City rights: 1263
Area: 262 sq. Km
Elevation: 130 metres
Population: around 460 000
Unemployment rate: 6,7 %
Significant employers (whole Tricity area): Reuters, Prokom Software, Grupa Lotos, GE Money Bank, Nordea Bank
Official website: www.gdansk.pl

TRANSPORT & ACCOMODATION COSTS
Single public transport ticket - 1 PLN
Monthly ticket - 55 PLN
Taxi fares - 2-3 PLN / km
A single room monthly rent - 350-600 PLN
A single room flat rent - 900 PLN
A double room flat rent - 1400 PLN

HISTORY
Shortly before Easter 997 St Wojciech or Adalbert, a missionary and bishop of Bohemia, was killed by the pagan Prussians. A Benedictine monk Jan Canaparius wrote his biography.

In the records he referred to "urbs Gyddanyzc" as the place where the saint was believed to have baptised a large number of the newly converted, and it was the first time when the city was mentioned in the documents.
In the 12th century Gdańsk was already a large settlement with several hundred homesteads, an open market, harbour, wharf, and defence bulwark. In 1263 Gdańsk obtained city rights, and in 1282 became a part of Poland, as Pomeranian princes bestowed their land to Przemysł II, Prince of Poland. In 1308 the Teutonic Knights captured the castle and murdered the population, what is known as "the Gdańsk slaughter ". Under their rule the city was developing very quickly and joined the Union of Hanseatic Towns.

In 1454 Gdańsk became a part of Poland again and gained numerous privileges. From the time of the Protestant Reformation the tolerant city and its vicinities would give shelter to various religious dissidents, like Dutch Mennonites, Scots, Huguenots and Jews found. In 1580 the most famous Protestant school was raised to the status of an Academic Gymnasium and became the pride of the city. That ancient Gdańsk, affluent and recognized in Europe, a melting pot of nations, cultures, faiths, and tongues, the most international Polish city, formed a unique community of diversity. In 1793 Prussian forces annexed the city. In 1807 French troops under the Napoleon took the city over, and until 1814, when Gdańsk came back under the Prussian rule, its status was a Free City.
In June 1919, under the Versailles Treaty Gdańsk became a Free City again. Until 1933 Gdańsk was a multinational mixture with dominating German, Polish and Jewish elements. Later the Nazi terror began. In September 1939 the city was annexed to Germany. Recaptured by the Soviet troops of the in March 1945, Gdańsk was a sea of ruins.

After the war Gdańsk was a scene of important anti-communist events. In December 1970 many workers were shot after the strike. Contemporary historians consider the "Gdańsk August "of 1980 the breakthrough that triggered the process of decomposition of the post-war order on the Old Continent. The mass strikes staged then led to signing the famous August Agreement at the Gdańsk Shipyard. This formed a crack in the block that gradually led to the emergence of a new political map of Europe. Gdańsk became the city the world will always associate with free trade unions, "Solidarity ", and the winner of the Nobel peace prize and first President of the III Republic of Poland - Lech Wałęsa.