Gdańsk trams have been named after Willy Drost and Erich Volmar. Earlier reports by historians are now being confirmed, supported by German NSDAP archives declassified by the United States. The list of members of the German Nazi Party has also revealed additional noteworthy names.
For years, the local authorities in Gdańsk have commemorated Germans who were connected with the city before World War II. Their names are engraved on monuments and also appear on municipal trams. This has been happening despite clear objections from historians, who have long pointed out that the biographies of these figures contain dark chapters that, in their view, should disqualify them from public commemoration.
“In front of the National Museum stands a monument honoring Willy Drost, a member of the NSDAP. A tram has also been named after him. It turns out that to this day we are still riding several other trams whose patrons were members of Hitler’s party from the early 1930s,” wrote Krzysztof Puternicki, an editor at TV Republika, on platform X.
These findings have been confirmed thanks to NSDAP archives disclosed by the United States. Among the members of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party were, among others, Willy Drost and Erich Volmar.
Will the patrons be changed?
The name of Adolf Butenandt had also appeared on trams, but Gdańsk authorities revoked his patronage after it was revealed that the biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate had been a member of the Nazi Party.
This has not been the case with Drost’s patronage, despite the passage of years since the Germans themselves revealed his affiliation with the Nazi movement.