Imperial Shipyard

The Imperial Shipyard is defined by the massive, red-brick Kaiserliche Werft buildings, topped with jagged, sawtooth roofs that dominate the industrial skyline. These structures date back to the late nineteenth century when this site served the German Imperial Navy. It became the birthplace of the Solidarity movement decades later. In August of nineteen eighty, crane operator Anna Walentynowicz was fired for her union activities, sparking the strike that eventually dismantled the communist regime in Poland and across the entire Eastern Bloc.