Sperlingsgasse

As was customary in the Lower City, this lane too was traversed lengthwise by a drainage ditch, and both sides of the street bore different names: the side facing 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 onward, the entire lane was called Sperlingsgasse. The humor (albeit rather involuntary) continued in 1945: the lane was given the name of a current hero, a Polish general. When this hero fell out of fashion, on 30.10.1953 it was condemned to bear the name of the top German 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 quite ordinarily called ul. Wróbla = Sparrow Lane. But: today is not all days, some nonsense will return again, no question.