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Divers hunting for lost artwork from the legendary Amber Room looted by the Nazis are to begin searching a WWII shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea after photos revealed unidentified paintings and possible artefacts. The 12-man team from the Baltictech diving group will spend 10 days off the coast of Gdansk, Poland, at the end of May at the site where the German steamer Karlsruhe was sank by a Royal Navy submarine in 1945. Tomasz Stachura from Baltictech told MailOnline that initial observations of the wreck had revealed several 'non-military crates' as well as what appears to be...

Bruno Dey, a 93-year-old former SS guard, said on Thursday he was sorry for his actions as he went on trial in Germany for complicity in the murder of more than 5,000 people at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Dey stands accused of abetting the murder of 5,230 people when he worked at the Stutthof camp near what was then Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland. While he insisted that he did not join the deadly operation voluntarily, he voiced regret for his actions. "That's what he said in his interrogation: He felt sorry for what he did,"...

The mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk, a well-known critic of his country's rightwing government, died on Monday, one day after he was stabbed by a man who rushed on stage during an open-air charity event. Thousands of people witnessed Sunday's attack on Pawel Adamowicz, 53, who was rushed to hospital where he underwent a five-hour long operation before succumbing to his injuries. He was stabbed in the heart and stomach. The 27-year-old suspect, who was arrested, is a Gdansk resident with convictions for bank robbery and had spent time in prison. Gdansk city press officer Dariusz Wołodźko said...

Top News Story U.S., Europe Must Forge Broader Alliance, Says State's Fried The Washington File, Embassy of the U.S., London: America and Europe must work together to support democratic development throughout the broader Middle East, just as they supported the democratic aspirations of pro-democracy movements in central and Eastern Europe, says the State Department’s Daniel Fried. Speaking in Paris September 1, the day after attending a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of Solidarity in Gdansk, Poland, Fried said the Polish people “achieved democracy through their own efforts, but they had support from abroad,” including from Western...

Over 9,000 people died in the Baltic Sea on January 30, 1945, in an attempt to evade the Red Army. The Wilhelm Gustloff was the largest shipwreck in history, but little is known about the catastrophe seven decades on. At around 9 p.m. on January 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler was speaking to the German people. In the packed dining hall of the luxury liner "Wilhelm Gustloff," as in most of the rest of the country, a radio was broadcasting Hitler's address, but the thousands of refugees from Pomerania and East and West Prussia who had struggled onto the ship weren't...

A bronze statue of St. John Paul II has been placed in the gardens of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, as “gift of the Russian people.” Sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, the president of the Russian Art Academy, said that the statue, which stands nearly 12 feet tall, shows the character of the Polish Pontiff as a man who “reflects the tragedy and contradictory character of the 20th century,” and a spiritual leader “who personified universal conscience.” Russian sculptor Tsereteli to open a monument to John Paul II at Notre-Dame de Paris (Interfax)

GDANSK, October 15, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Sunday, thousands of Poles joyfully marched for life and family with multi-colored banners and flags through the streets of the city where the Solidarity movement was founded. This was the fourth March for Life and Family to take place in Poland. Each year it is co-organized by Human Life International - Poland. The march began at the symbolic monument to the Shipyard Workers victims of communism, which displays three crosses with crucified anchors. Some of the marchers carried long strips of cloth on which was inscribed the full text of the Vatican document,...

"Black Thursday" is a historical drama about the tragic Polish workers riots of December 1970, directed by Antoni Krauze. The story is based on the riots by shipyard workers that erupted Polish port cities and the real life story of Brunon Drywa, a shipyard worker who died tragically during the riots from a gunshot in his back. Filming took place between February 16 and March 31. 2010, at historically authentic locations in Gdynia, Gdańsk and Warsaw. Interiors were filmed in a specially adapted harbor yard in Gdynia. The leading role of Brunon Drywa is played by Michał Kowalski accompanied by...

An ally who feared U.S. indifference. Tragedy In Smolensk: Lech Kaczynski was a Polish patriot and a friend of the West who believed in the defense of freedom and democracy. We don't have many friends like him, and we treated him shabbily. Numerologists might note the number 70 figured prominently in both the life and death of Poland's president. Kaczynski, 60, his wife Maria, an economist, and 95 others who died Saturday on their way to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the massacre of 22,000 Polish prisoners in the Katyn Forest in western Russia in 1940 by Stalin's secret...

Gdansk shipyard protests against Poland's incoming liberal government 29.10.2007 Several hundred workers of the legendary Gdansk shipyard have been rallying to protest what they fear will be a delay or even complete stop of the privatization of the shipyard, once the liberal Civic Platform party comes into power in Poland. Car tires were buring, fire crackers exploding and shipyard workers were chanting "Solidarity will win again" and "Liberals keep your hands off the shipyard". Trade union members have handed in a petition to proper authorities asking them not to interfere with the privatization process of the shipyard

A revolution in the city of solidarity Shipyards were the hard face of industrial Gdansk, but now Tom Lappin finds a city revelling in its hotchpotch of old and new culture, architectural splendour and retro bars So where is Anna’s crane? That’s one of several questions that spring to mind when you gaze on the site of the erstwhile Lenin shipyards in Gdansk, even if the area is now just another European postindustrial wasteland waiting for the funds to turn it into an office and leisure development. Back in July 1980, the dismissal of a crane operator called Anna Walentynowicz...

Gdansk councillors will not strip Grass of city honors 31.08.2006 The Gdansk city council has decided not to strip German writer Guenter Grass of his honorary Gdansk citizenship after hearing his letter explaining his membership in the notorious Waffen SS at the end of World War II. But local councilors of the ruling Law and Justice, who were for such a move, want to invite the writer to attend the nearest city council meeting. They argue Grass should personally explain to the people of Gdansk why he had hidden the truth for such a long time. They prepared an appeal...

POLAND’S tourism authority hit back at Michael O’Leary last night after the chief executive of Ryanair insulted one of the country’s most historic cities. The outspoken airline boss said there was nothing to recommend Gdansk except a shipyard wall, a reference to the city’s uprising against communism in the 1980s. He was explaining why he was unlikely to expand Ryanair significantly into Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics. Their peoples could not afford to fly to expensive cities in the West, while the region had little in the way of value for Western tourists, he said. “Take Gdansk. Who...