This is one of the most unexpected facts in literary history: the creator of James Bond gave his main villain his own birth date and Polish citizenship.
Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the son of a Pole and a Greek, began his «biography» in Gdynia. Now the city’s residents and fans of the series want to erect a bronze statue in his honor. The project is already ready, and the plaster model will soon be shown to the public.
James Bond is known to everyone. But he has a no less famous enemy — Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of the «SPECTRE» organization and one of the most famous villains in cinema. It turns out he has Polish, or rather Gdynia roots.
According to the world of Ian Fleming, Blofeld was born on May 28, 1908, in Gdynia. Interestingly, Ian Fleming — the author of Bond — was also born on that same day. This is not a coincidence: he «gifted» the villain his birth date.
Blofeld first appears in detail in the novel «Thunderball.» There he is depicted as a native of Gdynia and the future head of SPECTRE and the main enemy of agent 007.
With the 100th anniversary of Gdynia, the idea arose to immortalize this fictional character. Professor Wojciech Senchawa from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk is creating a project for a bronze sculpture, which they want to place at the Seaside Boulevard.
The project is entirely public. Funds are being raised through the Patronite platform. About 270,000 zlotys are needed, but so far only a small amount has been collected — 592 zlotys. Since May 30, the plaster model can already be viewed at the Nadmorski hotel in Gdynia. Later, the sculpture is planned to be cast in bronze and installed in the park by the Seaside Boulevard, near Ejsmonda Street.
