Danzig
A Drawing of the Danzig waterfront from a 1687 book
Danzig (modern Gdansk) is the major seaport of Poland. Prior to 1500, Danzig was part of the Hanseatic League of Trading Cities and very much involved in trade.
After the defeat of the
Teutonic Knights by the Polish king, the city was given the exclusive right to export Polish grain. This made the city very wealthy. Here are pictures of the waterfront and the grain exchange.
Click here to see the details in the waterfront picture using Adobe Acrobat.
Click here to see the details in the grain exchange picture using Adobe Acrobat.
Click here to find out more about how the grain was transported to Danzig.
In those days the population was largely German but had also Polish residents and traders from other nations. It was one of the first regions to embrace the reformation. As early at 1522,
St Peter and Paul's in Danzig had converted.
Pastor Martin Remus (born in
Grossenheim, Saxony) arrived in 1586. He entered University of Leipzig in 1572 and was a teacher at the Gymnasium in Stolp in 1580 and ordained in Stolp in 1586. His Leipzig classmate Jacob Fabricius, a Pastor in Danzig, probably invited him. He first served in the Vistula delta village of Reichenberg (click here for Reichenberg), then at the great Marienkirche church above in Danzig (click here for Marienkirche), and then lastly at St Peter and Paul's outside the Danzig city walls. This era was characterized with religious tumult and the three clicks above will take you also through the career and travails of Martin Remus. See the genealogy of Martin's family by clicking here. Or see his genealogy in an interactive format.His eldest sons and grandsons went to German universities and became doctors. One such descendent was Dr George Remus who built a house in the Danzig suburb of Langfuhr in the late 1700's. This was a wealthy area with lots of nice homes. It was damaged by Napoleon in 1813 and totally destroyed in the Second World War. The area is now modern homes and big stores. Other sons of Martin were involved in establishing trading in Gold and Silver in Danzig. These early families were associated with
St Catherine's and St Elisabeth's in addition to the churches mentioned above.
Click here for a detailed old city map in Adobe Acrobat format.
Click here for a detailed old area map in Adobe Acrobat format.
Click here for some pictures from the modern city.
Click here for some drawings of the city in the old days.
There were 8 Remus families in the City Directory of Danzig at the start of the Second World War.
Click here for a site map for the Danzig area.
Would you like to see this area yourself?
Please send any information and queries to Bill Remus at
August 9, 2004