This alley of the Lower Town had not only been traversed lengthwise by a ditch, as many others in this area, which caused the two sides to bear different names — it was also, following the custom of the time, named differently by section. The above-mentioned names thus always applied in the past only to one side of a section. Specifically: between Kasernengasse and Reitergasse, the eastern side was called Reussengasse; between Reitergasse and Strandgasse, the western side was called Schilfgasse and the same section's eastern side Gänsegasse; between Strandgasse and Sperlingsgasse, the western side was called Schwanengasse and the same section's eastern side Lindengasse. Only the stretch between Rosengasse and Kolkowgasse was called Weidengasse around 1650. On 18th-century maps one then sees this name extended to the entire western side from Strandgasse to Sperlingsgasse, while the opposite side still bears the name Schwanengasse. Both sides of the section Strandgasse to Kasernengasse bear the name Hintergasse at this time. From 1814 onward the uniform and "bilateral" name Weidengasse was used. This name was also transferred to the extension of this alley to Langgarten, which was built in 1874. The origin of all these old names should be clear — except for Reussengasse. The name is said to come from visitors from Eastern Europe who used to stay at a guesthouse located here until the 19th century. After the war, the Polish renaming commission made an amusing mistake with this alley. They confused the tree willow (Weide) with the pasture (Weide), so that this alley is today called, in translation, Meadow Lane, while the old Meadow Lane is now called Willow Lane. Bohdan Szermer, a 1945 employee of the Polish city administration, explains this error as follows: "When the streets of the Lower Town were being renamed, the workers who nailed up the street signs mixed things up and nailed the signs reading 'Willow Lane' in Meadow Lane and the ones reading 'Meadow Lane' in Willow Lane. When the error was noticed some time later and they wanted to correct it, the residents protested — they had already gotten used to the names, had informed their families and acquaintances of the addresses, and had in some cases (as craftsmen and shop owners) already ordered stamps. And so it stayed that way." (Bohdan Szermer: "The First Year in Danzig. Fragment." Published in: 30 Tage No. 3 (41). Translated by R. Kowald)

History