As was common in the Lower Town, this lane was also traversed lengthwise by a drainage ditch, and both sides of the street bore different names: the side toward the Mottlau was called Katzengasse (Cat Lane) in 1650, the opposite side Sperlingsgasse (Sparrow Lane). So the cats only had to hop over the ditch to catch the sparrows (those old Danzigers had a sense of humor!). From 1763, the entire lane was then called Sperlingsgasse. The humor (though rather unintentional) continued in 1945: the lane was given the name of a current hero, a Polish general. When this hero fell out of fashion, the lane was condemned on October 30, 1953 to bear the name of the German chief communist Ernst Thälmann. Only in recent times (the 1990s) does the humor seem to have deserted today's Danzigers, for the street is once again simply called ul. Wróbla = Sparrow Lane. But: today is not all days; some nonsense will return, without a doubt.

History