State Archives in Gdańsk, State archives in Gdańsk, Poland
The State Archives in Gdańsk on Wałowa Street houses administrative documents, private letters, maps, and photographs from northern Poland's past. The building holds materials spanning many centuries of the region's history.
The institution was established in 1901 and initially received documents from Königsberg about West Prussia before the building opened in 1903. After World War II, new collections were added that document the more recent history of the city and region.
The archive's official names track the city's rulers: Royal State Archives for West Prussia under the German Empire, National Archives of the Free City of Danzig from 1920 to 1939, then Reich Archives Danzig. Since 1983 it has been the State Archives in Gdańsk. The building at Wałowa 5, formerly Hansaplatz, carries a dark sign panel above its round-arched gateway.
The archives are open Monday through Friday, with document requests accepted between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM. Visitors should plan ahead and know which specific records they want to consult, as retrieving materials takes time.
The archive's building on Wałowa Street opened in December 1902 and was formally inaugurated on 14 February 1903. In March 1945 the building and most of the stored records burned; only files kept in the cellars survived. About half of the pre-war holdings were later recovered from Germany and the Soviet Union between 1947 and 1965.
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