Poland's Wedding to the Sea

Poland's Wedding to the Sea was a nationalist ceremony meant to symbolize restored Polish access to the Baltic Sea that was lost in 1793 by the Partitions of Poland. It was first performed on February 10, 1920, by General Józef Haller at Puck (Putzig). In the early spring of 1945, following the Polish-Soviet advance into Pomerania, a number of such ceremonies took place in several locations. The most famous 1945 Weddings to the Sea were performed by the soldiers of the Polish Army on March 17, 1945 in Mrzeżyno (Regamünde), and on March 18 in newly captured port of Kołobrzeg (Kolberg).

In October 1920, General Jozef Haller was named commandant of the Pomeranian Front of the Polish Army, a unit created to peacefully recover former German Empire’s province of Pomerelia, which was granted to the Second Polish Republic by the Versailles Treaty. On 18 January 1920, units of the 16th Infantry Division entered Torun (Thorn), and in the following days, Polish soldiers moved northwards, finally reaching the Baltic Sea coast on February 10. Their progress was slow but steady, with a few incidents of sabotage, carried out by the retreating Germans.

Early in the morning of February 10, General Haller and his staff, on the way from Torun (Thorn) to Puck, met at Danzig Hbf. rail station with members of Polish community of the Free City of Danzig. Haller, fearing a German provocation, stayed in the train, which was entered by Dr. Jozef Wybicki, grandson of Jozef Wybicki, who handed to him two platinum rings, funded by Polish families of Danzig. One of the rings was later thrown into the sea in Puck.

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