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Hel
View of Hel and the BalticView of Hel (top) and timber framed heritage houses (bottom)
FlagCoat of arms
HelShow map of Pomeranian VoivodeshipHelShow map of PolandHelShow map of Baltic Sea
Coordinates: 54°36′42″N 18°48′29″E / 54.61167°N 18.80806°E / 54.61167; 18.80806
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Pomeranian
County	Puck
Gmina	Hel (urban gmina)
Established	12th century
Town rights	1351–1872, 1963
Government
• Mayor	Mirosław Wądołowski
Area
• Total	21.27 km (8.21 sq mi)
Population
• Total	3,276
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	84-150
Area code	+48 58
Car plates	GPU
Voivodeship roads
Website	https://www.hel.eu/

Hel is a seaside resort city in Puck County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, located on the tip of the Hel Peninsula, some 33 kilometres (21 miles) from the Polish mainland.

History

Early developments

The Kashubian village of Hel was first mentioned in 1198 as a centre of herring trade area named Gellen. In one of the Danish chronicles of 1219 it is mentioned that a damaged ship of King Valdemar II the Victorious was set ashore on an "Island of Hel". By the 13th century the village became one of the most important trade centres of the area, competing with the nearby town of Gdańsk. It was then that the village was granted city rights by Duke Świętopełk II the Great of Pomerania. The privileges were later confirmed in 1378 when the town came under the rule of the Teutonic Knights.

Initially the town was some 1.5 km (1 mi) from its present-day centre. It contained a church, hospital, city house, two market places, several guest houses and a small port. However, during the 15th century the peninsula started to shrink through marine erosion and soon the town was moved to a safer place. In 1417 St Peter's Church was built in the town, devoted to the patron saint of fishermen. Hel experienced a period of growth, but was later left behind by the faster-growing city of Gdańsk. In 1466 King Casimir IV of Poland granted the town as a fief to the rulers of Gdańsk, which ended the century-long struggle for economical domination over the Gdańsk Bay. In 1526 King Sigismund I the Old withdrew all privileges previously granted to Hel and sold the town and the peninsula to the city authorities of Gdańsk. Since then Hel's fate was tied to the fortunes of its bigger neighbour.

In the 17th and 18th centuries prolonged warfare and a series of natural disasters severely damaged the town. It was severely depopulated and in 1793 it was annexed by Prussia in the Second Partition of Poland. In 1872 the government of the newly formed German state abolished the city rights granted to Hel six centuries previously. After that the village of Hela (as it is called in German) lost much of its significance.

Modern times

The period of decline was halted in 1893 when a fishing harbour was built in the village. It provided a shelter for fishing vessels, but also became a popular destination for weekend trips of the inhabitants of Danzig and Zoppot (Sopot). In 1896 the village was granted the status of a sea-side resort.

As a result of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles Poland was re-established as an independent nation. Hel, before the war a predominately German village (93% in 1905), became again part of Poland. In 1921 a new railway was built along the peninsula connecting the town to the mainland. The authorities of the Pomeranian Voivodeship also planned to build a road to the village, but the peninsula was found too narrow at the time. Soon Hel became one of the most important tourism centres in Polish Pomerania. New suburbs of villas were built for tourists, as well as a new church, school, fishing institute and geophysical observatory. In addition, the village became one of the two main naval bases of the Polish Navy. The harbour was expanded and in 1936 the president declared the peninsula a "Fortified Area" under jurisdiction of the Polish Army. The naval base was expanded significantly and a battery of coastal artillery was built to provide cover for the military facilities.

During the invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, the Hel Peninsula was one of the longest-defended pockets of Polish Army resistance. Approximately 3,000 soldiers of the Coastal Defence Group (Grupa Obrony Wybrzeża) units under Kmdr Włodzimierz Steyer defended the area until 2 October 1939. Shortly before capitulation, Polish military engineers detonated a number of torpedo warheads, which separated the peninsula from the mainland transforming it into an island. Afterwards, Hel was occupied by Germany. Already in 1939, the occupiers carried out the first expulsion of Poles, who were then enslaved as forced labour of new German colonists in various places in the region. During the occupation, the Kriegsmarine used the Hel naval base to train U-boat crews. At the end of the war the village was the last part of Polish soil to be liberated: the German units encircled there only surrendered on 14 May 1945, six days after Germany had capitulated.

After the war the village yet again became a naval base. In 1960 a road linking Hel with Jastarnia on the mainland was built. Three years later city rights were reintroduced. Since then the tourist industry started to recover and several hotels, guest houses and pensions were built. In 1996 the Polish Navy sold all remaining parts of the peninsula to the civilian authorities and only a small naval base is there today.

The harbour now serves primarily as a yacht marina, though there are some fishing boats and ferries to Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia in the summer.

Sights and culture

Hel houses a sea life biological laboratory and there are interesting examples of naval armament and equipment exhibited throughout the town. There is popular beach along the shore between the inner and outer harbour walls, with a seal sanctuary (the Fokarium) just behind it. There is a Fishing Museum, Hel [pl] that forms part of the National Maritime Museum, Gdańsk in an old church on the sea front.

The most easterly edge of Hel, which was once a military territory, can now be accessed by the general public making it possible to walk all the way around the peninsula.

Hel is the setting for the Polish crime series Zbrodnia (2014–2015 ) "The Crime" in English.

Climate

Hel has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb). Its peninsular location generates a unique climate in Poland and more similar with the northwest of Europe.

Images of Hel

• The beach, looking roughly south towards the harbour wall
• The harbour as seen from the dockside
• The Fisheries Museum, in the former St Peter and Paul church
• Hel Fortified Area
• Looking roughly north-west along Ulica Wiejska in the centre of Hel
• wz. 08/39 naval mine in the open-air museum of naval equipment
• Parsons' turbine from the Polish Navy destroyer ORP Wicher

Notes

1. ; Template:Lang-csb; Template:Lang-de

References

1. "BIP Hel".
2. "Wybory samorządowe 2018".
3. Gemeindelexikon für die Provinz Westpreussen: auf Grund der Materialien der Volkszählung vom 1. Dezember 1905 und anderer amtlicher Quellen (Berlin 1908), p.101 f.
4. Wardzyńska, Maria (2017). Wysiedlenia ludności polskiej z okupowanych ziem polskich włączonych do III Rzeszy w latach 1939-1945 (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. p. 54. ISBN 978-83-8098-174-4.
5. "Marmucommerce chemical information". Archived from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
6. "Marmucommerce chemical information". Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
7. "Hel climate: Average Temperature, weather by month, Hel weather averages – Climate-Data.org". en.climate-data.org. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
8. "Hel (12135) – WMO Weather Station". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 29 May 2015. Archived 27 December 2018, at the Wayback Machine.

External links

• Official website
• "Hela Tavern" – the biggest Hela fan site
• A sailor's guide
• German guns on the Peninsula Hel

v t e Gminas of Puck County
Urban gminas	Puck (seat) Hel Jastarnia
Urban-rural gminas	Jastarnia Władysławowo
Rural gminas	Kosakowo Krokowa Puck

v t e Places on the Baltic coast of Poland
Bay of Pomerania Świnoujście Uznam Międzyzdroje Wolin Wolin National Park Grodno Międzywodzie Dziwnów Dziwnówek Trzebiatowski Coast Łukęcin Pobierowo Pustkowo Trzęsacz Rewal Niechorze Pogorzelica Mrzeżyno Rogowo Dźwirzyno Grzybowo Kołobrzeg Slovincian Coast Sianożęty Ustronie Morskie Pleśna Gąski Sarbinowo Chłopy Mielno Unieście Łazy Dąbkowice Dąbki Bobolin Żukowo Morskie Darłowo includes Darłówko Wicie Jarosławiec Wicko Morskie Modlinek Ustka Orzechowo Poddąbie Dębina Rowy Rówek Czołpino Slovincian Łeba Osetnik Kopalino Lubiatowo Białogóra Dębki Karwia Ostrowo Jastrzębia Góra Cape Rozewie Rozewie Chłapowo Władysławowo includes Cetniewo Chałupy Kuźnica Jastarnia Jurata Hel Hel Peninsula Coastal Landscape Park Swarzewo Puck Bay of Puck Błądzikowo Rzucewo Osłonino Rewa Mechelinki Gdynia Sopot Gdańsk includes Wyspa Portowa Wyspa Sobieszewska Bay of Gdańsk Mikoszewo Jantar Stegna Sztutowo Kąty Rybackie Skowronki Krynica Morska includes Przebrno Nowa Karczma Vistula Spit Vistula Spit canal

• Cities and towns in Pomeranian Voivodeship
• Puck County
• Resorts in Poland