Gdańsk of the 1920s and 1930s: An essay about those who were here as if only for a moment

Abstract

It is said that life is made up of little things. I collected accounts from letters and roughs, sorted through the notes on page margins. I gave them a close look experiencing sadness. And then I glued them meticulously together, creating my story about the people who visited Gdańsk in the twenties and thirties of the last century. My heroes were walking along the streets of the Old Town, strolling on the beach; they were talking, reading something, listening to music and thinking about the past. Their voices, which reached me from the other side, sounded like a familiar chord, forced me to stop and reflect on our common fate, on our relationships with other people and the places we come to, if only for a short time. In my story, there appear the world­‑renowned Russian writer Dmitri Merejkovski, the eminent painter Max Beckmann, as well as quotes from The Twelve Chairs by the Pietrov brothers and forgotten Israel Rabon. We can see Gdańsk through the eyes of a nine­‑year­‑old Jewish girl, who arrived here to spend her holidays. She was excited; she had already visited her grandmother in Białystok earlier, but this journey was different – she was going abroad. Looking at the buildings decorated with long red swastika flags, she could not foreknow what, in the near future, the ominous and cruel fate would bring. It was “a wonderful journey” – that’s what she wrote about it. During the war she lost almost her entire family. The twenties and thirties, the city and the people, so long ago… Perhaps it is not worth dwelling on all that. No? And us, what is going to be left of us?