Hel | |
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Peninsula | |
 Hel Peninsula as seen fromLandsat satellite in 2000 | |
  Hel | |
| Coordinates:54°38′30″N18°46′53″E / 54.64167°N 18.78139°E /54.64167; 18.78139 | |
| Country | Poland |
| Voivodeship | Pomeranian |
| County | Puck |
Hel Peninsula orHel Spit (Polish pronunciation:[xɛl]ⓘ;Polish:Półwysep Helski, Mierzeja Helska;Kashubian:Hélskô Sztremlëzna;German:Halbinsel Hela,Putziger Nehrung) is a 35-kilometre-long (22 mi)sand barpeninsula in northern Poland separating theBay of Puck from the openBaltic Sea. It is located inPuck County of thePomeranian Voivodeship.
The name of the peninsula might come from either theOld Polish wordhyl/hel, meaning "empty or exposed place", or theGermanic wordheel, which is derived from the form of the peninsula and the fact that the area was first settled by theGoths, anEast Germanic tribe.[1]
The width of the peninsula varies from approximately 300 metres (980 ft) nearJurata to 100 metres (330 ft) in the most narrow part to over 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) at the tip. Since the peninsula is formed entirely ofsand, it is frequently turned into an island by winter storms. Until the 17th century, the peninsula was a chain of islands that formed a strip of land only in the summer.[citation needed]
A road and a railroad run along the peninsula from the mainland to the town at the furthest point,Hel, a popular tourist destination. Other towns, ports, and tourist resorts areJurata,Jastarnia,Kuźnica,Chałupy, andWładysławowo.
Bus transport on the peninsula consists of only one route, the 669. The route was originally numbered 666, which played on the biblicalnumber of the beast and the similarity of the name "Hel" to the English word "hell". This raised complaints from Catholic groups which found the numbering blasphemous.[2][3] The number was changed in 2023.[4]
The Hel Peninsula was part ofPolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth before it was annexed byPrussia in 1772. From 1772 to 1919, it was known by its German nameHela. After the peninsula became part of theSecond Polish Republic afterWorld War I, it acquired considerable military significance as part of thePolish Corridor and was turned into afortified region, with a garrison of about 3,000. In the course of theBattle of Hel in 1939, Polish forcesdynamited the peninsula at one point and turned it into an island.
During the years ofGerman occupation of Poland (1939–1945), Hel's defenses were further expanded, and a battery of three40.6 cm SK C/34 gun was constructed, but the guns were soon moved to theAtlantic Wall inoccupied France. Hel peninsula remained in German hands until the end ofWorld War II, when the defending forces surrendered on 14 May 1945, six days after Germany capitulated.
After the war, when the peninsula again became part of Poland, it continued to have military significance, with much of its area reserved for military use. Additional gun batteries were built in the 1940s and the 1950s. Many of the fortifications and batteries are open to tourists today, but some areas of the peninsula still belong to thePolish Armed Forces.
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