Gdansk – Sobieszewo


Barely twenty kilometres east of Gdansk at Sobieszewo, the Nazi Governor and Danzig Gauleiter Albert Forster, had a holiday house. It was within a wooded area yet close to the coast and the sea. The house, in comparison with other prominent Nazi leaders, was modest in size. But like other Nazi leaders, Forster had provided himself with stolen goods and furnished his house with looted stuff. Forster was also fond of hunting and arranged hunting parties both for himself and guests in the forests around. Adjacent to the house, there is also said to have been a protective bunker in the event of air strikes.

Current status: Preserved (2021).

Location: 54°20' 34.53" N 18°52' 23.96" E

Get there: Car.

My comment:

The house is empty and located in a lush forest area, surrounded by fences and guarded by a security company. When I was there, I was fortunate with some assistance to persuade the guard on duty to let me go in and photograph the exterior of the house. The house itself is not as big as one might think but it is in need of renovation. How it looks inside, I don’t know. Most likely it is in private ownership and hopefully someone can get the funds to renovate it. But on the other hand, it is the house in this condition that makes it still retains some of the history that really makes it worth visiting.

Follow up in books: Miller, Michael D: Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and their Deputies, 1925-1945 (2012).