Judengasse

Until the mid-17th century, the name "Judengasse" (Jews' Lane) was used for a section of Milchkannengasse (Milk Jug Lane). Only after that time was it transferred to the present-day Judengasse. Exactly when this occurred cannot be determined; on maps the name appears for its current location from 1792 onward. In the Middle Ages, the lane is recorded from 1422 onward only by number, counted from Milchkannengasse, as "arta platea prima" (first narrow lane).

The designation "platea prima" derives from the fact that the streets on Granary Island (Speicherinsel) were initially numbered — once from the north toward Milchkannengasse, and a second time starting at Milchkannengasse heading south. Thus this lane was simply called "First Street." After 1643, the name Judengasse was transferred from what then became Milchkannengasse to this street.

Only in 1936 was this street too "Aryanized" — its Jewish name stripped away under Nazi racial policies. Nevertheless, at the end of 1939, a ghetto was established in one of the granaries right here for the 600 Jews still remaining in Danzig. The ghetto was dissolved around 1942.

After the war, only ruins remained in this lane, yet it was still marked on older city maps as ul. Spichrzowa. This changed in the 1950s — the ruins were demolished and it disappeared from city maps. Only at the end of the 1990s did it reappear on maps. Today a completely new development of this lane is being planned. In Polish it is now called Speichergasse (Granary Lane).