Full text: Cost of living in German towns

DANTZIG. 16Õ 
. 
too the competition of the railway is being felt more and more every year. Of a 
total of £746,000 worth of timber brought to Dantzig by river and rail in 1905 
more than half was exported to the United Kingdom. 
The staple manufactures of Dantzig are most concerned with the prepara 
tion of the products of forestry and agriculture, and are represented by 
wood-sawing mills, corn-grinding mills, oil mills, sugar refineries, breweries and 
distilleries. But there are also important ship-building yards (including an 
Imperial shipyard) employing nearly 6,000 men, together with the machine shops 
and repairing works necessary for these industries. Lately a rail way-waggon 
works employing about 400 men, a rolling mill, and a screw, nut and rivet 
factory have been established. The rolling mill and the factory employ between 
them about 1,000 men. 
With its activities as a centre of trade and industry, Dantzig combines those 
of an important military station (it has a garrison of about 10,000 men), and in 
this respect it resembles Königsberg. While, however, the latter town is still 
completely encircled by a ring of moated fortifications, which impede its natural 
expansion to meet the needs of a growing population, Dantzig has, within the 
last 12 years, been partially relieved of this artificial restriction through the 
purchase by the Municipality from the military authorities of a portion of the land 
on the northern and western periphery previously occupied by the ramparts. 
All that is modern in Dantzig is therefore to be found in that part of the town. 
With the ramparts and moats remaining intact on the south and east, and with 
the Vistula on the north, the town is still surrounded by water to the extent of 
about three-fourths of its circumference. 
The centre of the town is traversed from south-east to north-west by two 
arms of the Mottlau, which form an island about half a mile in length and 250 
yards wide at the centre, the shores of which are lined with high-gabled 
granaries. This part of Dantzig, known as the Warehouse Island (Speicherinset), 
is the centre of the commercial—as distinct from the industrial—activity of the 
town and its rough cobble-paved streets, rendered noisy by the traffic of heavy 
wagons and vans, have a character distinct from that of the streets of what may 
be called the mainland, that is to say, of the Old Town or City proper, bordering 
on the western side of the left arm of the Mottlau, and of the somewhat more 
modern residential district within the fortification on the south-east of the right 
arm of that river. 
The river-front on the City side contrasts with that of the opposite 
Speicherinsel in having no "warehouses but many small shops especially of the 
marine store kind. A feature of this part of Dantzig is that it squays are used 
as a market place for fish, fruit and vegetables, in which the stalls are represented 
by moored river craft. From the quays a number of parallel streets run inland 
towards the north-west, and these with their cross streets form the City of 
Dantzig of mediæval times. The limits of the ancient town are still indicated 
on the north and south by the names of the streets, which have superseded the 
ancient moats, viz., the Altstädtischer Graben and the Vorstädtischer Graben 
respectively. 
The stream of vehicular traffic across the Old Town from the western 
side to the river front is to a certain extent impeded by ancient gateways at 
the waterside and of several of the streets. In these streets, moreover, the 
space available for vehicles is greatly reduced by the balustraded stone terraces 
(JSßWZäog) which are peculiar to old Dantzig, and which project far into the 
cobbled madway from the doors of the old houses on either side. The houses 
themselves, formerly occupied by the families of wealthy merchants, have in 
the course of time been convened into tenement houses, a purpose for which 
the narrow frontage and relatively great depth of their sides renders them 
peculiarly unsuitable, especially when, as frequently happens, a number of the 
front rooms are let as offices. 
The largest industrial establishments of Dantzig, including the great Govern 
ment and private shipbuilding yards, are situated outside the line of the 
demolished fortifications on the northern side of the town close to the river 
Vistula, and of the industrial undertakings inside the existing circumvallation 
the most important belong either to the Stete or the Municipality, e.g the 
Royal Small Arms Factory and Ordnance Works on the south-east, and the
	        
Waiting...

Note to user

Dear user,

In response to current developments in the web technology used by the Goobi viewer, the software no longer supports your browser.

Please use one of the following browsers to display this page correctly.

Thank you.