Wroclaw

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Wroclaw
Wroclaw
Wroclaw coat of arms
Breslau Wroclaw (Poland)
(51 ° 6 ′ 36 ″ N, 17 ° 1 ′ 56 ″ E)
Wroclaw
Wroclaw
Basic data
State : Poland
Voivodeship : Lower Silesia
Powiat : District-free city
Area : 293.00  km²
Geographical location : 51 ° 7 '  N , 17 ° 2'  E Coordinates: 51 ° 6 '36 "  N , 17 ° 1' 56"  E
Height : 105-155 m npm
Residents : 641,607
(Jun. 30, 2019)
Postal code : 50-041-54-612
Telephone code : (+48) 71
License plate : DW
Economy and Transport
Street : A4 / E40 ( Cologne - Dresden - Kiev )
E67 : Prague - Warsaw
Rail route : Railway line Szczecin – Wroclaw
Railway line Wroclaw – Poznan
Bytom – Wroclaw
railway line Berlin – Wroclaw railway line
Next international airport : Wroclaw Nicolaus Copernicus Airport
Gmina
Gminatype: Borough
Surface: 293.00 km²
Residents: 641,607
(Jun. 30, 2019)
Population density : 2190 inhabitants / km²
Community number  ( GUS ): 0264011
Administration (as of 2019)
Mayor : Jacek Sutryk
Address: Sukiennice 9
50-107 Wrocław
Web presence : www.wroclaw.pl



Wroclaw from the tower of the Elizabeth church

Breslau ( Polish Wrocław ? / I [ ˈvrɔtswaf ], Silesian Brassel, Latin Vratislavia or Wratislavia ), located in the south-west of Poland , is the fourth largest city in the country with 641,607 inhabitants (June 2019) after Warsaw , Krakow and Łódź , and the administrative seat of the powiat of the same name and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship . The actual number of residents is estimated at up to 825,000. Audio file / audio sample

As the capital of the historical region of Silesia , the independent city on the Oder ( Odra ) is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and a Protestant diocesan bishop . With numerous companies, universities, research institutes, theaters and museums, Wroclaw is the economic, cultural and scientific center of Lower Silesia .

In its eventful history, Breslau had a predominantly German-speaking population from the 13th century until the end of the Second World War. After the death of the last Piast Duke Heinrich VI. Breslau had Bohemia , and thus belonged to the HRR , temporarily also Hungary. Breslau later belonged to Austria , Prussia and the German Empire. In 1945, under the Potsdam Agreement , Wroclaw was placed under Polish administration, which deported the entire German population of the city. Wroclaw was then settled by new Polish citizens, most of whom came from central Poland or from parts of the country that had fallen to the Soviet Union. The de facto affiliation to Poland was also formally confirmed in 1991 with the two-plus-four contract . With its numerous historical buildings, parks and squares, the city is today a magnet for visitors from all over the world. Wroclaw 2012 was one of the venues of the European Football Championship and 2016 European Capital of Culture and Verleihungsort the European Film Awards .

geography

Topographic location

Wroclaw and its neighboring towns on a map from 1905

Breslau is located in the Lower Silesian lowlands on the upper reaches of the Oder at an altitude of 111 meters between the mountain range of the Katzengebirge in the north and the foothills of the Sudetes in the south. Four tributaries of the Oder flow through the urban area: Ohle ( Oława ) , Lohe ( Ślęza ) , Weide ( Widawa ) and Schweidnitzer Weistritz ( Bystrzyca ) . Built between numerous canals, the city lies on twelve islands, connected by 100 to 300 bridges, depending on the criteria used. Due to the numerous bridges and footbridges, the city is also known as the Venice of Poland.

Urban area

The city extends over an area of ​​293 square kilometers, of which 114 square kilometers (39%) are built-up. Of these, 29 square kilometers are purely residential. Wroclaw is the city with the most green spaces in Poland: every inhabitant has 25 m² of green space.

City structure

Map of boroughs

Wroclaw is divided into five districts, the administrative importance of which was largely reduced after the administrative reform in 1990 in favor of the city administration.

Borough expansion Area
in km²
Residents
June 30, 2008
Stare Miasto (old town) Old town with Nicolai and Schweidnitzer suburbs 6.8 54,884
Śródmieście (inner city) City center on the right of the Oder with Cathedral Island and Elbing 16, 0 122,647
Psie Pole (Hundsfeld) all suburbs north of the (new) Oder 97.7 92.904
Krzyki (Krieter) City center and suburbs south of the old Oder and old town 54.3 165,592
Fabryczna (Factory Quarter) Mixed areas, outskirts and suburbs in the west, to the left of the Oder 118.9 196.776

climate

Wroclaw is in the temperate zone . The climate in the region is characterized by cool winters and warm summers. The warmest month is July (Ø 25.5 ° C), January is the coldest month of the year (Ø 2.9 ° C). Wroclaw is one of the warmest cities in Poland. The climate in Wroclaw is similar to B. that of Berlin and in comparison has somewhat colder and drier winter months with a similar mean annual precipitation (Ø 539 mm). The cold record in Wroclaw is minus 32.0 degrees Celsius, measured on February 11, 1956. The previous maximum temperature was measured on August 8, 2015 with a maximum temperature of 38.9 ° C. The summer is warm with highs around 25 ° C; 25 ° C to 30 ° C is measured on an average of 56 days, and above 30 ° C on an average of 12 days. In addition, it is slightly changeable with occasional showers or thunderstorms, but this is also the sunniest time with seven to eight hours a day.

Wroclaw
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.
 
 
29
 
3
-3
 
 
24
 
5
-3
 
 
36
 
9
0
 
 
32
 
15th
4th
 
 
59
 
20th
8th
 
 
62
 
23
12th
 
 
95
 
26th
14th
 
 
59
 
25th
13
 
 
46
 
20th
9
 
 
36
 
14th
5
 
 
32
 
8th
1
 
 
29
 
4th
-2
Temperature in ° Cprecipitation in mm
Source: wetterkontor.de
Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Wroclaw
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 2.9 4.5 8.9 15.2 20.2 23.2 25.5 25.2 20.0 14.2 8.1 3.9 O 14.4
Min. Temperature (° C) −3.4 −2.7 0.0 3.8 8.4 11.8 13.8 13.3 9.3 5.1 1.2 −2.2 O 4.9
Temperature (° C) −0.1 0.9 4.3 9.6 14.4 17.5 19.7 19.2 14.5 9.4 4.6 1.0 O 9.6
Precipitation ( mm ) 29 24 36 32 59 62 95 59 46 36 32 29 Σ 539
Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 1.8 2.9 4.2 6.6 8.0 8.2 8.3 8.1 5.6 3.8 2.1 1.6 O 5.1
Rainy days ( d ) 8th 7th 7th 8th 9 9 10 10 7th 8th 8th 8th Σ 99
Humidity ( % ) 84 80 76 69 70 70 72 71 77 82 86 85 O 76.8
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
2.9
−3.4
4.5
−2.7
8.9
0.0
15.2
3.8
20.2
8.4
23.2
11.8
25.5
13.8
25.2
13.3
20.0
9.3
14.2
5.1
8.1
1.2
3.9
−2.2
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g
29
24
36
32
59
62
95
59
46
36
32
29
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: wetterkontor.de

history

Prehistory and first mention

The region of Silesia , in which Breslau is located, was first mentioned by Tacitus around the year 98 and by Ptolemy around 150 in his work on Germania magna . In the 4th and early 5th century in the area of the later Wroclaw who settled Wandalenstamm the Silinger . The Slavic tribe of the Slezanen settled on the Oder in the 6th century and built a castle complex on the Cathedral Island (an island in the center of Wroclaw between the branching branches of the Oder, whose original island location was lost in 1771 when an arm of the Oder was filled in) 10th century by the Bohemian prince Vratislav I (a Przemyslide also called Bratislava and Wratislaus ) was secured. Whether the name "Silesia" is derived from the Germanic Silinger tribe or the Slavic Slezan tribe is a matter of dispute.

The name Wortizlawa or Wratislawa was first mentioned around the year 900 and referred to a Slavic market town . It was on an island near three tributaries of the Oder. In 990 the Polish Piast Duke Mieszko I conquered Wroclaw and all of Silesia. His son Bolesław the Brave established the diocese of Wroclaw ( Gnesen Act ) in the year 1000 . At about the same time he had the first ducal castle built on Cathedral Island, for example on the site of the later St. Martin's Church. Shortly afterwards, the construction of the cathedral began within the castle complex. Even then, the fortified area around the castle was a small town in which around 1000 people lived.

In the battle against Bolesław III. Schiefmund was defeated by Emperor Heinrich V in 1109, and the battlefield became known as the Hundsfeld . After Bolesław's death in 1138, Wrocław became the capital of the Polish principality of Silesia, which was part of the Polish duchy of Silesia until 1201 . A little later, the first German settlers settled on the south bank of the river, on the site of the later university buildings. After the seniority principle applicable to Poland was weakened in 1202 , the constitutional connection between the Duchy of Silesia and Poland did not expire. The Silesian dukes Heinrich I (Duke from 1201, Princeps from 1232) and Heinrich II (from 1238) were senior dukes of Poland. When the Duchy of Silesia was divided under Boleslaw II (also a Polish Senior Duke) in 1249 , Wroclaw became the capital of the Duchy of Wroclaw . The first Duke of Breslau was Henry II's second-born son, Henry III . His son Henry IV was 1288-1290 the last senior duke of Poland before Przemysł II from Greater Poland , who then restored the Polish royal dignity.

Wroclaw was destroyed during the Mongol attacks in 1241, but was rebuilt by German settlers in the following 20 years. In 1261, Wroclaw received Magdeburg city rights .

The first labor dispute in the area of ​​the Holy Roman Empire is documented from Breslau from 1329 . The Gürtler journeymen agreed not to work for a master craftsman in town for a year. These in turn agreed that a fine would be paid to the city council who would give one of the strikers work or take him into his family. The reason for this labor dispute is unknown.

Among the Piasts

Church of St. Aegidien , built in 1220 - the oldest surviving building in the city
Founding document of the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium from 1267

After the city was conquered by Duke Mieszko I , the founder of the Piast dynasty in Poland , in 990, Wroclaw became part of the Kingdom of Poland . Ten years later, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III. by the act of Gniezno the diocese of Breslau as suffragan of the archbishopric of Gniezno . Previously, the future King Bolesław I had made a significant contribution to this. In 1138 the city of Wroclaw became the capital of the Duchy of Silesia under the seniorate constitution for the hereditary division of the empire . Afterwards, the descendants of Władysław the expellee , Bolesław the Tall One and Mieszko Kreuzbein, founded the Duchy of Wroclaw in 1163 . The unity of the partial principalities, the Seniorate of Poland, lost more and more power from this point on, as it was characterized by many internal unrest and disputes between individual princes. From then on, the senior council disintegrated more and more and the individual principalities became more and more independent from one another. Nevertheless, the connections of the Silesian line of the Piasts to their cousins ​​in the other Polish regions remained and Wroclaw continued to belong to Poland as part of the Duchy of Silesia as part of the Corona Regni Poloniae . Władysław fled to the Holy Roman Empire , where he was awarded the whole of Poland by the Empire on the court day at Kaina in Saxony in April 1146 and thus the feudal oath to the Roman-German King Konrad III. from the house of the Staufer cast off. He was a half-brother of Władysław's wife. Władysław had taken the oath to secure military support from the king, which would enable him to return to Krakow at a later date . However, the oath could not change the situation, as Władysław no longer had real power and influence in Poland. Furthermore, Silesia and thus also Wroclaw did not become part of the Kingdom of Bohemia and thus part of the Holy Roman Empire until the middle of the 14th century . Władysław died in Altenburg in 1159 without ever returning to his Polish homeland.

In the period 1163–1200, the ducal castle was built on the Oder on the later place of the university. From this point on, the city had three centers: the ducal residence with the Jewish city under its protection, the spiritual city on the sand and cathedral island and the newly created German merchant city around the ring . Prince Jarosław von Oppeln-Neisse , half-brother of Henry the Bearded , was elected bishop of the diocese of Breslau in 1198, which held secular power over the duchies of Ottmachau and Neisse . When he died in 1201, he bequeathed his principality to the Wroclaw Monastery. From then on, Breslau bishops became prince-bishops who had territorial power until 1811, but after that they were only titular prince-bishops. From 1241, after the invaded Mongols had withdrawn under Ögedei Khan , the city was rebuilt in the form of a grid. On December 16, 1261, Duke Heinrich III. of Silesia and its co-regent Wladislaw Breslau the Magdeburg city charter . Five years later, the name Bresslau was used for the first time for the city. In 1327, Henry VI. as the last Duke of Silesia from the house of the Piasts, with the participation of the Council, the King of Bohemia John of Luxembourg , also known as John the Blind , as his heir.

Under Bohemian and at times Hungarian sovereignty

City view in Schedel's world chronicle from 1493
Excerpt from the Synod of the Wroclaw Bishops from 1475.
This is the first book to be printed in Polish and published for the first time in Wroclaw.

After the death of the last Piast Duke Heinrich VI. in 1335 the duchy was the first "hereditary land" in Silesia to be owned by the Crown of Bohemia . The King of Bohemia appointed a governor who was entrusted with the administration of the area, so that the mayor of Wroclaw was also governor of Silesia until 1620. The Council of Breslau acted in this capacity from 1359 to 1635. Therefore he had a seat and also a vote in the Silesian Princely Congress . The city was destroyed by two major fires in 1342 and 1344 and then rebuilt. Four years after the second fire, the Namslau Treaty was signed. In it, Casimir the Great , King of Poland, and Charles IV as King of Bohemia recorded the reinforcement of the 1335 Treaty of Trenčín . This said that Casimir the Great would forever lay down all claims to Silesian territory and in return the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg would renounce the Polish royal title. Casimir later tried to revoke the Namslau contract with the Pope . After 1348 Charles IV had the south side of the old town on the other side of the Ohle laid out according to his own plan.

In 1418 the artisans rose against the patricians . During this uprising, seven councilors were murdered in the Wroclaw town hall. Ultimately, the then Bohemian and Roman-German King Sigismund had the revolt suppressed by force. 27 leaders were executed . In the meantime, the city achieved its greatest economic heyday in the almost hundred-year period from 1387 to 1474, where it was also recorded as a member of the Hanse trade association . Breslau as a city-state within a fiefdom of the Bohemian king was a Hanseatic city .

In 1453 the Catholic itinerant preacher and inquisitor Johannes Capistranus stayed in Wroclaw as part of his missionary trips. He gave some fiery speeches on the salt ring, which were directed against Hussites , Muslims and Jews, against opulence and life in abundance. Because of this, large crowds came from all different parts of Silesia and the other provinces of the Holy Roman Empire, from Poland, from Livonia and also from Courland. On behalf of the Bohemian King ( Ladislaus Postumus ), Capistranus investigated the desecration of the host that had been reported by a farmer . As a result, on May 2, 1453, all 318 Jews in and around Breslau were arrested and confessions were extorted through torture. Capistranus had 41 Jews burned at the stake and the rest expelled from the city. The property of the Jews was confiscated, which, according to Cohn, was the real reason for the pogrom . Because in the archive alone Cohn found eleven books with mortgage letters that had belonged to the Jews. There were also inventory lists of the other items the Jews owned. In 1455, the deportation of the Jews took place when the city of Wroclaw received from Ladislaus Postumus the securitized Privilegium de non tolerandis Judaeis (“Privilege to not tolerate Jews”), which de jure remained in force until 1744.

Eight years later, the citizens of Wroclaw defended themselves against the reign of the Hussite King George of Podebrady of Bohemia as sovereign in Silesia and thereupon came under the protection of Pope Pius II.

During the war against Bohemia in 1466, the city formed an alliance with the ruler of the Kingdom of Hungary, King Matthias Corvinus , who after eight years ruled Silesia and thus also Wroclaw as the Bohemian rival king. At that time, the newly won areas received a much stricter constitution than before. After Corvinus died in 1490, the city again became part of the Kingdom of Bohemia in the same year, which was ruled by the Jagiellonians from Poland-Lithuania , Władysław II and Ludwig II . Fifteen years later, in 1505, King Władysław II approved the establishment of a university in Wroclaw. However, this project was not implemented. In 1523 the Protestant theologian Johann Heß was appointed pastor of the Magdalenenkirche in the course of the ongoing Reformation, contrary to any objections and protests of the cathedral chapter . Another evangelical theologian, Ambrosius Moibanus , was appointed pastor of the Elisabethenkirche in 1525 , where he took over the management of the organization of the evangelical church in Silesia in cooperation with Johann Heß (the majority of the population of the city of Wroclaw was already Lutheran, which was prevalent there until 1945 Overdue faith).

Under the Habsburgs

City map from 1562

In 1526, King Ludwig II of Bohemia and Hungary died in the Battle of Mohács , whereupon the Habsburgs took over the Kingdom of Hungary and the countries of the Bohemian Crown and thus also Wroclaw and other hereditary lands in Silesia and retained them until 1741. Seven years later the first city ​​medicus was employed.

Between 1630 and 1670 Breslau was a center of German literature with the Silesian Poet School . In 1632 parts of the city were occupied by Saxon and Swedish troops during the Thirty Years War . In the same year, the city of Breslau unsuccessfully expressed its wish to separate from the Habsburg Empire and to be recognized as a free imperial city. At the same time there was a plague epidemic that killed 18,000 out of 40,000 citizens.

In the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Breslau was the only city to receive the right to practice Protestant religion.

Under the Hohenzollern

University building around 1760
Wroclaw Town Hall on the Great Ring , around 1736
Wroclaw during the siege in the Seven Years War
Prince Jérôme Bonaparte invades the city on January 7, 1807

A century later, Frederick the Great and his troops besieged the city for a year during the War of the Austrian Succession , until it finally surrendered on August 10, 1741. In the same year on November 7th, the Silesian estates paid homage to Frederick the Great under the leadership of the Consistorial President and Oelsner Governor Kaspar Leonhard Moritz von Prittwitz in the Breslau town hall .

After the First Silesian War in 1742, Archduchess Maria Theresa, in her capacity as Queen of Bohemia, handed over most of the Duchy of Silesia as sovereign property to the Prussian king , with a small part remaining as Austrian Silesia . The Schlesische Zeitung and the Korn-Verlag came into being in the same year. It existed with the daily newspaper until the beginning of 1945 and was re-established in Munich . The Silesian Cultural Works Foundation took over the publishing house in 1980.

In 1749 the powder tower exploded as a result of a lightning strike . 43 houses were completely destroyed, a further 52 buildings had to be demolished due to the damage. The disaster claimed 60 lives.

In 1750, the Prussian King Frederick the Great acquired the palace of the episcopal court chancellor Heinrich Gottfried von Spätgen, which he expanded into his Breslau residence . During the Seven Years' War the Battle of Breslau took place on November 22nd, 1757 , in which Karl Alexander von Lothringen and around 80,000 men attacked the 28,000 Prussian troops under the command of the Duke of Braunschweig-Bevern . Due to the strong superiority of the Habsburg troops, the Prussians withdrew to Glogau via Breslau . After the victory, Austrian associations besieged the city until the Prussian general Johann Georg von Lestwitz surrendered the city on the night of November 25th. In the same year, the Prussian army under Friedrich II began to siege the city after its victory over the numerically far superior Austrians in the battle of Leuthen , which led to the surrender by the city commandant of Bernegg on December 21, 1757. From 1760 the Enlightenment poet and playwright Gotthold Ephraim Lessing stayed in the city for five years as secretary to General Friedrich Bogislav Count von Tauentzien .

In 1793 journeyman riots broke out in Breslau, which are counted among the most important uprisings in the revolutionary decade in the Holy Roman Empire. The anger of an angry crowd was directed against the corrupt privy councilor and police director Carl Friedrich Werner . 100 riders of the Dolffs Cuirassier Regiment succeeded in removing the latter from the city in a carriage and preventing a lynching. In clashes with the military, 53 civilians were killed in the course of the unrest. In 1796 there was another, minor unrest. Subsequently, Friedrich Wilhelm III. a publicandum in which the official measures to be taken for the future in such a case were determined.

During France's campaign against Prussia, General Vandamme besieged the city with a corps that consisted mostly of Württemberg and Bavarians. The siege began on December 7, 1806. The Nikolai, Ohlauer and Schweidnitzer suburbs burned down. On January 7, 1807, after 29 days of bombardment, General von Thile surrendered . Troops of the Rhine Confederation conquered Breslau and kept it occupied until 1808. The demolition of the fortifications of Wroclaw lasted until 1810. The continental barrier imposed on Great Britain by Napoléon slowed the trade in canvases . As a result of the secularization edict of King Friedrich Wilhelm III. On October 30, 1810, monasteries and monasteries were also abolished in the Prussian part of Silesia . Characterized in Wroclaw originated from the sand pin the University Library Wroclaw . The Brandenburg University of Frankfurt was relocated to Breslau a year later. Then the local Jesuit University and the Viadrina merged and founded the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelms University in 1811 . Breslau experienced with Friedrich Wilhelm III. Appeal “ To My People ” the prelude to the wars of liberation . The Silesian privileged newspaper published it on March 20, 1813.

The last of the Prussian reforms begun in 1807 divided the state into provinces in 1815 and made Breslau the capital of the province of Silesia . In 1821 the Catholic diocese of Wroclaw gained independence from the Archdiocese of Gniezno , to which it had been subordinate since its foundation in 1000. In protest against the unification of the Reformed and Lutheran Churches in Prussia to form the Evangelical Church in Prussia , the Evangelical Lutheran (Old Lutheran) Church was founded in 1830 under the leadership of the Wroclaw University Professor of Theology Johann Gottfried Scheibel . However, the church was not recognized until 1845, subject to strict conditions imposed by the Prussian state. In the period from 1829-1840 the city began to decline in importance.

Industrialization and the German Empire

Suburban settlements and surrounding areas before 1842
(names in German - Polish place names introduced after 1945 are given in brackets)
View around 1850
City map from 1904
Suburbs of Wroclaw that have since been incorporated, including the village of
Gräbschen in the south-west and the town of Hundsfeld in the north-east, which was independent until 1928 , on a map from 1905

The establishment of various industrial companies in Wroclaw began in 1849: mills and breweries, oil mills and fuel factories , chemical and metal industries (for example the Gottfried Linke wagon construction company , railway wagon construction ) and also clothing, paper and furniture factories. The Jewish population group founded the Jüdisch-Theologische Rabbinerseminar Fränckel'scher Stiftung in 1854 in order to be able to train rabbis. Around 1890, Breslau was home to 17,750 people after Berlin, the largest Jewish community in the German Empire in terms of numbers. There were numerous grammar schools: the Maria Magdalenen grammar school , Elisabet grammar school , Johannes grammar school , Friedrich grammar school , the Realgymnasium am Zwinger, the Heilig Geist grammar school and the Jesuit grammar school St. Matthias grammar school . In 1880 the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts was founded. Likewise the opera, operetta house and various theaters, such as the later Lobe and Gerhard Hauptmann theaters. Important factories of textile, chemical, machine and wagon construction were built, for example that of the builders of the imperial court train, the Linke-Hofmann-Werke (later LHB, now part of Alstom). Like many German cities, Breslau experienced strong population growth in the second half of the 19th century due to the birth surplus, influx and the incorporation of suburbs. In 1842 100,000 inhabitants were reached; This made Breslau the fifth major city in the German Confederation after Vienna, Berlin, Prague and Hamburg . Accordingly, it was the third largest city in the German Empire in 1875 with 239,050 inhabitants , but only the fifth largest in 1900 with 422,709 inhabitants. In 1905, 423 residents lived in Wroclaw on one hectare of built-up area (i.e. the city area after deducting streets, squares, other traffic areas, courtyards, waterways, parks, agricultural areas, forests, etc.). This made Breslau, after Berlin, Schöneberg and Charlottenburg, the fourth most densely populated major German city at the time. In the same year (1905) the religions of the citizens were surveyed, with 57.5 percent of the residents professing the Protestant and 36.6 percent the Catholic faith. In a major fire in the Ursuline monastery in 1907, the roof structure of the church and the 65 m high tower burned out.

The results of a census in 1910 showed the following distribution of mother tongues:

  • 95.71 percent of the population stated German as their mother tongue,
  • 02.95 percent said the Polish language was
  • 00.68 percent said the Czech language was
  • 00.67 percent said the German and Polish languages.

In the same year, important structures such as the Kaiserbrücke and the Technical University (TH) were built. In 1913 there was an exhibition in the newly built Centennial Hall to commemorate the wars of liberation against Napoléon that had been waged 100 years earlier. In 1914 the concert hall was built by Hans Poelzig. The Queen Luise Memorial Church was built between 1913 and 1915 .

Weimar Republic

The expansion of Wroclaw through the Greater Wroclaw Act

In 1919 the province of Silesia was divided into the provinces of Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia , the capital of which was Wroclaw. The SPD politician Felix Philipp became the first upper president of the province. In 1921 the SPD achieved an absolute majority in the provincial state elections with 51.19 percent of the vote, the Catholic Center was the second strongest with 20.2 percent, the DVP third with 11.9 percent, the DDP fourth with 9.5 percent and the fifth strongest KPD with 3.6 percent. On April 1, 1928, the Greater Breslau Act led to the comprehensive incorporation of several cities, rural communities and manor districts around Breslau. In 1933, 625,198 people lived on 175 square kilometers, only the eighth largest population of any city in the German Empire .

The city played an important role in early German radio history. The Reichsender Schlesische Funkstunde , founded in 1924 , - together with its secondary stations - had around 200,000 listeners in the early 1930s. The program newspaper Schlesische Wellen was published with the editorial offices at Wallstrasse 1. Today, Radio Wrocław is broadcasting from the building of the Schlesische Funkstunde at Aleja Karkonoska .

The 20th German Fire Brigade Day took place in Breslau from July 5 to 13, 1928 .

Period of National Socialism and World War II

In the Reichstag election in March 1933 , the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) received 51.7 percent of the votes cast in the city. During the reign of the Nazi regime , Breslau gained importance as the seat of a party building . One of the first Nazi concentration camps , the Breslau-Dürrgoy concentration camp , was opened on April 28, 1933. The majority of the 200–400 prisoners were political prisoners, mostly NSDAP opponents from the SPD, KPD and the SAPD, which is strongly represented in Breslau . The camp was guarded by the SA ; the then Breslau police president and SA-Obergruppenführer Edmund Heines was responsible for the operation of the concentration camp. On August 10, 1933, the camp was closed and most of the inmates were deported to other camps. In the years 1934–1943, Hans Fridrich , who later became Deputy Head of the Military Administration in Belgium and the Netherlands, was Lord Mayor of Wroclaw. The German Reich Association for Physical Exercise hosted the German Gymnastics and Sports Festival in 1938 in Breslau.

New synagogue , destroyed in the November pogrom

During the November pogroms of 1938 ("Reichskristallnacht"), in which 400 Jews were murdered across Germany and 1,400 synagogues and other Jewish buildings and facilities were destroyed, SA troops set fire to the New Synagogue in Breslau , built in 1872 . Alongside the New Synagogue in Berlin, it was previously known as one of the most impressive synagogues in Germany. 2000 Jewish citizens were then taken into “ protective custody ” and deported to concentration camps in order to force them to emigrate and to “ Aryanize ” their property .

In November 1941, the final murder of the Jews who remained in Breslau began with the first deportation of 1,005 women, men and children. They were taken from their homes at around 6 a.m. on November 21, and they were taken in trucks to the Schießwerder assembly camp, from where they were deported to Kaunas in Lithuania on November 25 via the nearby Oder train station . There they were immediately after their arrival on November 29, 1941 in the so-called IX. Fort by members of the task force 3 under Karl Jäger shot. From mid-1944, two satellite camps of the Groß-Rosen concentration camp were set up in Breslau . The forced laborers from Camp I were used in the vehicle and engine works (FAMO) to manufacture aircraft engines; the exact number of prisoners is not known. Borsig and the Linke-Hofmann-Werke took over forced laborers from Camp II, in which 520 (according to other information between 700 and 1000) prisoners were imprisoned. The sub-camps were disbanded around seven months after their establishment due to the advance of the Red Army.

Destruction and bullet holes at the Wroclaw City Hall in 1945

On October 7, 1944, the city was the target of the first Allied air raids . However, the city did not experience any destruction comparable to that of other major German cities. That is why Breslau was often mockingly called the “Reichsluftschutzkeller”. According to the documents of the Small Consumer Group Statistics , which were obtained from the data of the food allocations and published by the Federal Statistical Office in 1953 , the civilian population in Wroclaw included 588,816 people in early February 1943, 592,724 in early February 1944, and 527,128 in early December 1944. This is inconsistent with the claim that the population swelled to one million in 1944. In 1944 Adolf Hitler declared the city of Breslau a " fortress ".

Plaque commemorating the surrender of the city at Villa Colonia

On 20 January 1945, eight days after the beginning of the Vistula-Oder Offensive of the Red Army , who issued Gauleiter of Lower Silesia Karl Hanke command to evacuate the city. In the same month the troops of the Soviet 3rd Guards Panzer Army under Pawel S. Rybalko and the Soviet 6th Army under Vladimir A. Glusdowski advanced in the direction of Wroclaw. In the course of the subsequent evacuation of all school children, who were mainly transported to Bohemia, around 75 percent of the total population fled the city. Thousands of people died while fleeing as a result of the Russian attacks on refugee treks and the cold winter.

Wroclaw was surrounded by the Lower Silesian operation of the Red Army on February 15 , with around 40,000 soldiers and 150,000 civilians remaining in the city area. Up until the end of the Battle of Breslau on May 6, two days before the German surrender , heavy house-to-house fighting took place in Breslau, in which around 20,000 civilians, 6,000 German and 7,000 Soviet soldiers were killed. During the battle, captured deserters were sentenced to death for "cowardice before the enemy" and executed. The fighting destroyed 65–80 percent of all buildings, including 400 monuments . Shortly after the occupation of Wroclaw by Soviet troops, there were attacks on the German civilian population, in particular a large number of rapes (see also: Soviet war crimes in World War II ). On May 9, the military authorities of the Red Army handed the city over to Poland under administrative law.

15 kilometers from the city center, in Nadolice Wielkie (Groß-Nädlitz), there is a German war cemetery with a peace park .

After the end of the war

Labor Day rally, May 1, 1982

In the first months after the end of the war, many residents returned to the city. On June 30, 1945, the crossings over the Oder-Neisse border were closed by the Polish authorities. In July there were about 300,000 German citizens in the city. These were from Breslau sold . In Wroclaw, the immigration of Polish civilians began, some of whom came from the areas east of the Curzon Line that had fallen to the Soviet Union as part of the “ West displacement of Poland ” . The Polish place name Wrocław became official. The German population was expelled by 1948. Numerous people moved to Wroclaw from central Poland. In the summer of 1946, 30,000 Polish residents had already settled, and the number of Germans can be assumed to be just above this, with a further downward trend.

The dissolution of the Evangelical Church of Silesia in the area east of the Oder-Neisse Line took place on October 31, its seat was moved to Görlitz . One month later, on December 4th, the head of the Evangelical Church in Silesia was also expelled. In 1948 there were 300,000 Polish and 7,000 German citizens living in Breslau. From 1955 the reconstruction of the inner city, which was destroyed by the Second World War, began. In the 1970s and 1980s, a large number of large housing estates emerged in the outskirts .

At the beginning of the 1980s, Wroclaw developed into an important center of Solidarność . On June 21, 1983 Pope John Paul II visited the Silesian metropolis. About half a million people attended a service in the southern Partynice settlement . In the same year, the opposition group Orange Alternative began painting dwarfs on houses and walls throughout the city to make their protest against the communist government clear. The Wroclaw dwarfs have been commemorating these actions throughout the city since the 1990s .

Third Polish Republic

Or flood in 1997 in the Osiedle Kozanów settlement in Wroclaw
Fan mile during the European Football Championship 2012 on the western square of the Great Ring

After the democratization process began in Poland and the real socialist system came to an end, a new era dawned in Wroclaw as well. Reconstruction began in 1990, which was now allowed to include German cultural heritage, and brought this into line with the city's now Polish identity. In May 1997 Pope John Paul II visited the city again as the World Eucharistic Congress was being held here.

Only two months later, the Oder flood devastated Breslau. In four days it rained as much in Silesia as it normally did in a month. A tidal wave came from the direction of the Czech Republic and Upper Silesia . To prevent the city from being flooded, the dikes in the south of the city should have been blown up. But protests by local residents and farmers prevented this, the authorities were overwhelmed with this situation and did not take any further action. Numerous parts of the city were flooded during the flood. The old town was also affected, although the Great Ring with the historic town hall was spared. Numerous residential buildings from the Wilhelminian era suffered severe damage and were threatened with demolition after the flood. Insurers and construction experts estimated the damage in the city at just under 200 million euros . After the flood, new flood protection measures were installed on the Oder to protect the city from future disasters.

Poland's accession to the EU in 2004 made it possible to use money from the Infrastructure Fund, which was used to renovate historic buildings and rehabilitate streets and local public transport. On 13 July 2006, took UNESCO , the Centennial Hall in the World Heritage List on.

The 2012 European Football Championship took place in Poland in 2012 . Wroclaw was chosen as the venue and received a new stadium, the Miejski Stadium, which opened in 2011 . In the same year 2012, the Sky Tower was completed and has been the tallest building in the city ever since. In the 21st century, Wroclaw is a major attraction for tourists from all over the world. About a million people visit the city every year. In 2015, Wroclaw was awarded the honorary title of “ Reformation City of Europe ” by the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe . In 2016, Wroclaw was the European Capital of Culture alongside the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián .

Demographics

Population development until 1945
year Residents Remarks
1756 054,744
1763 042.114 Time of the Seven Years War
1790 051,219
1800 064,500
1816 068,733 At the end of the year
1828 090,090 at the end of the year, including the military
1829 084.904 Without garrison, of which 57,693 Protestants, 22,355 Catholics and 4,856 Jews, garrison and relatives 5116 people
1837 088,869 At the end of the year
1843 097.939 at the end of the year, of which 63,171 Protestants, 28,429 Catholics and 6339 Jews
1850 114,000
1867 171,926 of which 100,004 Protestants, 58,415 Catholics, 12,574 Jews and 933 others
1871 207.997 on December 1st, of which 121,185 Protestants, 72,145 Catholics, 751 other Christians, 13,916 Jews; according to other data 208,025 and 211,037 inhabitants respectively
1875 239.050
1880 272.912
1885 299,640
1890 335.186 including 190,761 Protestants, 125,483 Catholics and 17,754 Jews
1900 422.709 (including 5,948 active military personnel) thereof 244,117 Evangelicals and 157,050 Catholics, about 5% Jews; 97.7% German nationality, 3103 people speak Polish alongside German , 5363 only Polish
1910 512.105 thereof 303,378 Evangelicals, 183,542 Catholics and 20,212 Jews; 6047 military personnel
1925 557.139 thereof 332,817 Protestants, 182,343 Catholics, 1,437 other Christians and 23,240 Jews
1933 625.198 of which 372,331 Protestants, 197,215 Catholics, 588 other Christians and 20,201 Jews
1939 620.976 of which 368,464 Protestants, 193,805 Catholics, 2,135 other Christians and 10,659 Jews
Population since the end of the Second World War
year 1946 1956 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1990 1999 2003 2008 2014 2015
Residents 171,000 400,000 431,800 475,000 526,000 579,900 617,700 640,600 650,000 638,000 632.200 633.105 (June 30) 634,404 (June 30)

Etymology of the city name

Timetable from 1850 of the Warsaw-Vienna railway with reference to the connections to Breslau ("Wrocław"), Berlin and Hamburg

The German and Polish names of the city are probably derived from the name of the Bohemian Duke Vratislav I , who temporarily ruled the city in the early 10th century and, according to legend, is the founder of the city. One of the first evidence for the name of the city can be found in the chronicle of the historian Thietmar von Merseburg from the early 11th century ("Iohannem Wrotizlaensem", "Wortizlava civitate"). The German place name "Breslau" is derived from Slavic .

Etymologically, the German name "Breslau" arose from the Slavic. This can be proven by comparing historical ecclesiastical and princely documents, in which numerous different variations of the place name can be found ("ecclesiam Wratislaviensem", "episcopus Wratizlauiensis", "Wrotizlaensis", "in foro Wratislaviensi", "Wroczlaviensi provincia", " Vrozlavia "," Wortizlaua "," Wrazslavie "," Vratislavia "," Wratizlavia "," Wratislavia "," Wratislawia "," Vratizlav "," Wratizlaw "," Wratislaw "," Wraislaw "," Vratizlau "," Wratizlau " , "Wratislau", "Wreczeslaw", "Wretslaw", "Wrezlaw", "Wrezlau", "dux de Werslaue", "Breczlaw", "Bretzlaw", "Bretlav", "Bretzlau", "Bretzla", "Brezslaw" , "Brezlaw", "Breßlaw", "Bresslaw", "Presslaw", "Breslow", "Breslou", "Breßlau", "Bresslau", "Breslau").

The new town, founded with German settlers at the instigation of the Slavic Piasts, took over the name of the neighboring episcopal city, the Polish version of which was shortened to "Wrocław" over time. The political amalgamation of the two cities did not take place until 1808.

Since the 19th century, only the form "Breslau" was used in the German-speaking area. The German Silesians often said "Prassel" or "Brassel". The replacement of the letter “W” by the letter “B” can be explained by the fact that the German settlers have reworked the found place name of Slavic origin to make it easier to pronounce. It is sometimes assumed that the German place initially had its own name, but this has not been passed down historically. The Polish place name "Wrocław" is derived from the personal name "Wrócisław". The name "Wrócisław" or "Vratislav" is a compound personal name. The first part (Polish “wrócić”, “wracać”, Czech “vraceti”, “vrátiti”) stands for “to come back”, “to restore”, “to plunge”, “to drive away”, “to flee”. The second part (“sław”) stands for “name”, “reputation”, “good reputation”, “fame”. With the exception of the period from 1938 to 1990, the first letter “W” of the city's founder has always appeared in the German and Polish coats of arms of the city of Breslau / Wrocław (see below under “Politics”, “ City arms”) .

politics

Mayor of the City

City president has been Jacek Sutryk since 2018. His predecessor was Rafał Dutkiewicz for 16 years . The 2018 election led to the following result:

  • Jacek Sutryk ( Koalicja Obywatelska ) 50.2% of the vote
  • Mirosława Stachowiak-Różecka ( Prawo i Sprawiedliwość ) 27.5% of the vote
  • Katarzyna Obara-Kowalska (Bezpartyjny Wrocław) 7.4% of the vote
  • Jerzy Michalak (Jerzy Michalak Election Committee) 6.9 & the votes
  • Zbigniew Antoni Jarząbek ( Kukiz'15 ) 2.4% of the vote
  • Marta Lempart ( Wiosna ) 2.3% of the vote
  • Remaining 3.3% of the vote

Sutryk was thus elected in the first ballot.

City council

Wroclaw has been the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship since 1999. The city council consists of 37 members and is directly elected. The 2018 city council election led to the following result:

  • Koalicja Obywatelska (KO) 35.0% of the vote, 17 seats
  • Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) 26.6% of the vote, 13 seats
  • Election Committee Rafał Dutkiewicz - Alliance for Wroclaw 14.2% of the vote, 7 seats
  • Bezpartyjny Wrocław 7.9% of the vote, no seat
  • Election Committee Jerzy Michalak 5.9% of the vote, no seat
  • Kukiz'15 3.6% of the vote, no seat
  • Partia Zieloni 2.7% of the vote, no seat
  • Election Committee for All 2.6% of the vote, no seat
  • Remaining 1.5% of the vote, no seat

City coat of arms

Development over the past 500 years
The Wroclaw Coat of Arms.PNG
1530-1938
Coat of arms of Breslau (1938) .png
1938-1945
Coat of arms Wroclaw 1948 1990.png
1948-1990
Herb wroclaw.svg
since 1990
  • The coat of arms given to the city by Emperor Charles V was used from 1530–1938 and 1945–1948 and was depicted on the Wroclaw flag before 1938. It's been back in use since 1990: Squared ; instead of a central shield covered with an erected silver bowl, in it the head of John the Baptist . In the first field in red on the left turned-over, gold -gekrönter, doppelschwänziger, silver Leo ( the Czech lion ), in the second field in a Gold black eagle's chest with an increasing silver crescent ( breast moon is busy) ( Silesian Adler ), in third field in gold a black "W" (from the city name Wratislavia and the city founder Wratislav), in the fourth field in red the head of John the Evangelist with a golden nimbus ; the neck section is covered by a golden breast ornament in the form of an overturned crown. Besides St. Hedwig, the two Johannes' are special patrons of the Silesian Church.
  • In the period of National Socialism , a city ​​coat of arms designed by the artist Mjölnir was used in 1938–1945 : Divided; above in gold a red armored black eagle, whose chest is covered with a soaring silver crescent moon (the Silesian eagle), below in red the Iron Cross with the year 1813.
  • Under the communist government of Poland from 1948–1990 a city coat of arms with the following image was used: on the right in red the half silver but uncrowned Polish eagle , on the left in gold the half black Silesian eagle.

Town twinning

The twelve twin cities of Wroclaw are

city country since
Breda Breda wapen.svg NetherlandsNetherlands Noord-Brabant, Netherlands 1991
Charlotte United StatesUnited States North Carolina, United States 1991
Dresden Dresden city arms GermanyGermany Saxony, Germany 1963, updated 1991
Guadalajara Escudo de Armas de Guadalajara (Jalisco) .svg MexicoMexico Jalisco, Mexico 1995
Hradec Králové (Königgrätz) Hradec Kralove CoA CZ.svg Czech RepublicCzech Republic Bohemia, Czech Republic 2003
Hrodna (Grodno) Coat of arms of Hrodna.svg BelarusBelarus Belarus 2003
Kaunas Coat of arms of Kaunas.svg LithuaniaLithuania Lithuania 2003
Lille Blason ville for Lille.svg FranceFrance Hauts-de-France, France 2013
Lviv (Lviv) Coat of arms of Lviv.svg UkraineUkraine Ukraine 2003
Ramat Gan Coat of arms of Ramat Gan.svg IsraelIsrael Tel Aviv, Israel 1997
Vienne department Blason département fr Vienne.svg FranceFrance Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France 1990
Vilnius Grand Coat of Arms of Vilnius.svg LithuaniaLithuania Lithuania 2014
Wiesbaden Coat of arms Wiesbaden.svg GermanyGermany Hessen, Germany 1987

Culture and sights

The Old Town Hall on the Great Ring is a Wroclaw landmark .
Puppet theater

theatre

Wroclaw has several theaters, such as the Polish Theater Wroclaw , an opera , an operetta, as well as a philharmonic orchestra, a music forum and a puppet theater.

Museums

The city has a large number of museums, some of which can look back on centuries of history. The largest and most famous is the National Museum of Fine Arts , founded in 1947 . Other major museums include the City Museum in the Royal Palace, Wrocław , the Raclawice Panorama , which was founded in 1814 Natural History Museum in the Botanical Garden , the Archdiocesan Museum , the Geological Museum , the Polish Museum of Architecture and the University Museum with Aula Leopoldina and mathematical tower .

Buildings

Sand Island and Cathedral Island (Wyspa Piasek / Ostrów Tumski)

Old town around the ring (Stare Miasto)

West side of the Breslauer Ring
City theater at night

Oława and Schweidnitzer suburbs (Przedmieście Oławskie i Świdnickie)

Southern Outskirts (Krzyki)

To the east (Śródmieście / Psie Pole)

Most Grunwaldzki (formerly Kaiserbrücke)
  • former Kaiserbrücke (now Polish most Grunwaldzki , suspension bridge , built 1908–1910 by Richard Plüddemann, Alfred von Scholtz and Karl Klimm)
  • formerly Kaiserstraße (now Polish plac Grunwaldzki ), between the Kaiserbrücke and the Fürstenbrücke. In 1945, by order of the NSDAP Gauleiter Karl Hanke, an entire district was razed to the ground in order to create an airfield through which the enclosed city was to be supplied from the air. However, due to the complete collapse of the German Air Force, only one aircraft landed on the airfield shortly before the end of the war, which brought a new uniform for Hanke.
    • Former settlement Kaiserstraße (now Polish Osiedle Grunwaldzkie ), high-rise buildings around 1968 by Jadwiga Grabowska-Hawrylak
    • Wroclaw University of Technology building
The former postal check office in Breslau seen from the west (see from the east), 2009

Sports

Football until 1945

Olympic Stadium in Breslau (1937 Hermann Göring Stadium ) with bell tower

The most successful club in Breslau was the United Breslau Sports Friends, founded in 1919 . He played in the top Southeast German soccer league and took part in the final round of the German championship seven times . The following football clubs also existed in Wroclaw: VfR 1897 , SC Schlesien , VfB 1898 , Breslauer SC 08 , Breslauer SpVg 02 , SC Germania 1904 , Breslauer FV 06 , SC Hertha , SC Vorwärts , the 1. FC , Minerva 1909 , SC Prussia , Union Wacker 08 , SC Alemannia 09 , Breslauer SpVgg 05 Komet , SV Stern , FV Rapid , SC Sturm 1916 Brockau , SC Minerva-Rasenfreunde 09 , the SC Hundsfeld , SV Strassenbahn , FC Eintracht 07 , SC Deutsch Lissa and LSV Immelmann .

On May 16, 1937, the then Hermann-Göring-Stadion (now Olympiastadion Breslau ) was the scene of the international match between the German and the Danish national team , with the German team showing one of their best performances and winning 8-0. As a result, it was named " Breslau-Elf " after the venue .

Other sports until 1945

Breslau-Grüneiche Cycle Track (1913)

Breslau hosted the German Gymnastics Festival twice : The 5th Gymnastics Festival planned for 1878 was canceled due to the assassination attempt on the Kaiser and was postponed to 1880 ( Frankfurt am Main ). The 8th General German Gymnastics Festival took place in Breslau from July 21st to 25th, 1894 . From July 26th to 31st, 1938 , the Jahrhunderthalle could be used during the German Gymnastics and Sports Festival , which was the 16th German Gymnastics Festival .

From 1886 to 1935, Breslau had a cycling track , on which German championships were held several times, as well as the European Standing Championship in 1911 .

Football after 1945

The most famous football club is Śląsk Wrocław (Schlesien Breslau) , which plays in the Polish Ekstraklasa . In 1977 and 2012 the club became Polish champions. Other football clubs play in the lower divisions (Ślęza Wrocław, Piast Żerniki, Wratislavia Wrocław, Parasol Wrocław, Orzeł Pawłowice, FC Wrocław Academy, Polonia Wrocław, Sparta Wrocław) and female KS AZS Wrocław .

Wroclaw is one of the four Polish cities that hosted the 2012 European Football Championship . The Miejski Stadium , which opened in September 2011, was built for this purpose .

Other sports after 1945

Śląsk Wrocław also has a basketball department and a handball department . Both in field handball (8 titles) and in indoor handball (15 titles between 1958 and 1997) Śląsk is the reigning Polish record champion. There are also volleyball teams and a speedway club called Sparta Wrocław , which races on the former Olympic Stadium .

The Wroclaw Marathon has been taking place since 1983 and is now one of the largest in Poland.

In July 2017, the city hosted the 2017 World Games .

Regular events

There are a number of festivals every year:

  • February: Festival of Modern Polish Classical Music has been held since 1962
  • Spring:
    • Good Beer Festival (May)
    • Jazz Festival "Jazz on the Odra" - " Jazz nad Odrą " (since 1964)
    • Port Wrocław Literature Festival (for 10 years)
    • KAN Festival of Alternative and Independent Cinema (since 1999)
    • International Media Art Biennale WRO
  • Summer: Festival for Organ and Chamber Music
  • June July:
    • Nowe Horyzonty - Film Festival
    • WrocławNonStop - festival of alternative music, art and theater
    • Buskerbus - international street theater festival
  • August: Guitar Festival
  • September: The world-famous Wratislavia Cantans Festival (since 1966)
  • October: Dialog Festival - international theater festival
  • November:
    • Wrocławskie Spotkania Teatrów Jednego Aktora (short: WROSTJA) - theater festival of monodramas (performances by only one actor at a time)
    • Wrocław Industrial Festival
  • Different times: OFFensiva - International Film Festival

nightlife

With 141,000 students from various state and private universities, Wroclaw is a lively city at night. Most of the pubs and clubs are located in the area around the old market square in the center of the city, the center of which is the town hall, also called the ring ( Rynek, Polish for market square). The Daytona Music Club and Studio 54 , for example, are well attended . Five minutes from the market square in Pasaż Niepolda (“Niepold Passage”) there are around a dozen bars and pubs, including the student bar Niebo (“Heaven”), the Celtic Pub , the Techno Club Metropolis and the Droga do Mekki clubs ("Road to Mecca") and Bezsenność ("Insomnia"). There is Cafe Maniana on Ulica Świętego Mikolaja (St. Nicholas Street) and the Chill-Out Bar on Ulica Kazimierza Wielkiego . Alternative bars include Łykend (“weekend”, ul. Podwale), Havana ( ul . Kolejowa) and Club PRL (on the market square). The Rura ("tube") is a jazz club on Ul. Łazienna near the market square with live concerts. Also worth mentioning is Club WZ , where events with well-known artists often take place in addition to the normal disco operation.

Economy and Infrastructure

overview

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Silesia Electricity Company was founded in Wroclaw .

Wroclaw has been establishing itself as a supraregional economic center in the triangle of Poland , Germany and the Czech Republic since the 1990s . The city actively recruits domestic and foreign investors as the innovation center of Poland, for example with the Futurallia fair , a conference for international economic development.

In a ranking of cities according to their quality of life, Wroclaw took 100th place out of 231 cities worldwide in 2018. The capital Warsaw ranked 82nd.

traffic

Road network in Wroclaw (2010 plan)

Road traffic

Wroclaw is connected to the Upper Silesian industrial area in the east via the A4 motorway , Krakow and supraregional with the Ukraine and in the west with Dresden . The motorway towards Dresden with border crossing Ludwigsdorf - Jędrzychowice . On the A18 is Berlin to reach across the border Olszyna ( Lubusz ) - forestry .

In addition, since August 2011, the city has had a motorway bypass (Autostradowa Obwodnica Wrocławia) , which should keep long-distance traffic outside the city center and thus reduce traffic jams in the city center. To the southwest of the city, the Wrocław-Południe motorway junction was completed, which is one of the largest motorway junctions in Poland and enables a connection between the A4 , A8 and S8 expressways . The most important inner-city roads are the inner city ring (Obwodnica Śródmiejska Wrocławia) and the east-west road . The eastern ring road (Wschodnia Obwodnica Wrocławia) is under construction (as of 2013).

Railway network in Wroclaw (until 2011)

Rail transport

The city is connected to Warsaw (by InterCity via Poznan , alternative connection via Łódź ), Szczecin , Berlin , Kiev , Prague , Budapest , Bratislava and Vienna by train via its main train station (Wrocław Główny) without changing trains .

Railway stations in Wroclaw

railway station Beginning Passenger / freight transport photo
Wrocław Brochów 1896 Yes / Yes Wrocław Dworzec Brochów sm (cropped) .jpg
Wrocław Gądów 1844 No / Yes
freight yard
WroclawGadow-budynek.jpg
Wrocław Główny 1856 Yes / Yes Wrocław Dworzec Główny.jpg
Wrocław Grabiszyn 2014 Yes / Yes Wrocław Grabiszyn 20-12-2014 photo 1.jpg
Wroclaw Klecina 1884 No Yes WroclawKlecinaPKP.jpg
Wroclaw Kowale 1922 No Yes Wroclaw Kowale train station 2014.jpg
Wrocław Kuźniki 1874 Yes / Yes Wrocław, Stacja kolejowa Wrocław Kuźniki - fotopolska.eu (275328) .jpg
Wrocław Leśnica 1844 Yes / Yes Wrocław, Stacja kolejowa Wrocław Leśnica - fotopolska.eu (212348) .jpg
Wrocław Mikołajów 1856 Yes / Yes Wrocław, Dworzec kolejowy Wrocław Mikołajów - fotopolska.eu (311050) .jpg
Wrocław Muchobór 1874 Yes / Yes Wroclaw-Muchobor-PKP.jpg
Wrocław Nadodrze 1868 Yes / Yes Wroclaw dworzec Nadodrze.jpg
Wrocław Nowy Dwór 1844 Yes / Yes Stacja.Wroclaw-Nowy.Dwor.jpg
Wroclaw Osobowice 1856 Yes / Yes Wroclaw-LipaPiotrowska-stacjaOsobowice.jpg
Wrocław Partynice 1884 No Yes Partynice.st.kol.jpg
Wrocław Pawłowice 1886 Yes No Stacja PKP Wroclaw Pawlowice 2014.JPG
railway station Beginning Passenger / freight transport photo
Wroclaw Popowice 1856 Yes / Yes WroclawPopowice (1) fotMichalDadello20150913.jpg
Wroclaw Pracze 1874 Yes / Yes Wrocław, Stacja kolejowa Wrocław Pracze - fotopolska.eu (292470) .jpg
Wrocław Psie Pole 1868 Yes / Yes Railway station Wroclaw Psie Pole 02.JPG
Wrocław Różanka 2015 Yes / Yes WK15 Wrocław Różanka (1) Travelarz.jpg
Wrocław Sołtysowice 1868 Yes / Yes Wroclaw Soltysowice train station 02.JPG
Wroclaw Stadium 2011 Yes / Yes Wrocław - Stadium - Węzeł przesiadkowy (7530401928) .jpg
Wrocław Swojczyce 1922 Yes / Yes Wroclaw Swojczyce train station 2014 P01.JPG
Wrocław Świebodzki 1842 No no Wroclaw dworzec Swiebodzki PKP.jpg
Wrocław Świniary 1856 Yes / Yes Railway Stop Wrocław Świniary (Poland, July 2013) .jpg
Wrocław Wojnów 1922 Yes / Yes Wroclaw Wojnow train station 2014 P04.JPG
Wrocław Wojszyce 1884 No Yes WroclawWojszyce.JPG
Wrocław Zachodni 1843 Yes / Yes St.kol.WroclawZachodni.JPG
Wrocław Zakrzów 1886 Yes / Yes Stacja PKP Wroclaw Zakrzow 2014.JPG
Wrocław Żerniki 1844 Yes / Yes Wroclaw Zerniki train station.JPG

Air travel

Copernicus Airport

Since Poland joined the EU , more and more international airlines have been flying to Wroclaw's Copernicus Airport , including the low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air and, since March 31, 2008, Deutsche Lufthansa . National airlines such as Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT and the regional airlines of eurolot also fly to the airport.

Local public transport

Trams and buses operate in Wroclaw . The first horse-drawn tram ran in 1877, electrification took place in 1893. Since 1945 the municipal transport company has been called Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne, or MPK for short . Today it operates 24 tram routes (all daily routes) and a total of 72 bus routes. Of these, 51 are day lines and 13 are night lines. The other lines are not always in operation. In Wroclaw the Polish trams of the types 105na from Konstal , also modernized versions of the 105na, which are designated as 105NWr , as well as 204WrAs and 205WrAs designated trams from the Breslau tram factory " Protram " operate . The newest tram in Wroclaw is the Škoda 16T and 19T . The brands Solaris , Ikarus , Jelcz , Volvo and Mercedes-Benz can be found on the buses . From 1913, the first trolleybus in what is now Poland in Breslau, the so-called Gleislose Lloyd-Bahn Brockau , ran for a short time .

Established businesses

In the years around the turn of the millennium and afterwards, numerous foreign investors settled in Wroclaw. Companies such as Cadbury Schweppes , IKEA , Auchan , Carrefour , Tesco , Toshiba , Makro Cash & Carry , Castorama and Cargill have opened branches near Autostrada 4 . The Bosch company employs around 700 people in Mirków, northeast on the outskirts of the city, and Toyota has built an engine factory in the neighboring municipality of Jelcz-Laskowice. Google , Siemens and SAP Polska have offices in Wroclaw. In 2006, GE Money Bank Germany, Austria and Switzerland opened a joint German-speaking service center with over 100 employees for the respective countries. The Credit Suisse has a service center in Wrocław. The Korean electronics company LG Electronics invested around 400 million złoty in a factory for the production of televisions and refrigerators by 2007 .

Other foreign investors such as Volvo , 3M , Whirlpool and Bombardier have entered into partnerships with local companies.

The city is also increasingly becoming a high technology center. Numerous IT, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have settled in the technology park, industrial park and EIT + set up by the city .

education

Old university building at night

There are eleven universities in Wroclaw:

The university ("Breslauer Leopoldina") is considered to be one of the most beautiful architectural monuments of the Austrian Baroque . The Aula Leopoldina (built 1728–1732) is located in the main building . This is Poland's largest baroque hall, one of the largest in Europe. The later Prussian royal palace in rococo and classicist style was built in the 18th and 19th centuries. Century and is only partially preserved. There, Friedrich Wilhelm III. on March 17, 1813 the call to my people and donated the Iron Cross .

There are also about 15 other secondary schools and a large number of language schools. At the end of 2006 there were a total of 141,388 students enrolled at the universities.

Personalities

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Wroclaw  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Wroclaw  travel guide
Wikisource: Wroclaw  - Sources and full texts
Wiktionary: Wroclaw  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wikiquote: Wroclaw  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. a b population. Size and Structure by Territorial Division. As of June 30, 2019. Główny Urząd Statystyczny (GUS) (PDF files; 0.99 MiB), accessed on December 24, 2019 .
  2. City website, Władze Wrocławia , accessed on January 22, 2019.
  3. ^ Poem A Gebirgsmadla ei Brassel. In: H. Tschampel: Poems in Silesian dialect. 5th edition. Schweidnitz, p. 62.
  4. Marcin Kruk: We Wrocławiu mieszka aż milion ludzi? To całkiem możliwe! In: wroclaw.naszemiasto.pl, February 26, 2020, accessed on September 1, 2020.
  5. a b Klaus Klöppel: Breslau - Lower Silesia and its thousand-year-old capital. 4th, updated and expanded edition. Edited by Bernd Schwenkros and Detlev von Oppeln. Trescher, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-89794-256-1 , p. 19.
  6. Główny Urząd Statystyczny: LUDNOŚĆ - STAN I STRUKTURA W PRZEKROJU TERYTORIALNYM. As of June 30, 2008 ( memento of September 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on June 6, 2016.
  7. Температура воздуха ( Memento from December 23, 2018 in the Internet Archive ). In: pogodaiklimat.ru, accessed June 29, 2018.
  8. Michael Sachs: 'Prince-Bishop and Vagabond'. The story of a friendship between the Prince-Bishop of Breslau Heinrich Förster (1799–1881) and the writer and actor Karl von Holtei (1798–1880). Edited textually based on the original Holteis manuscript. In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 35, 2016 (2018), authorized ISSN  2511-7122 , pp. 223–291, here: p. 240 (template ISSN  1863-6780 ).
  9. Klaus Klöppel: Breslau - Lower Silesia and its thousand-year-old capital. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Trescher, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-89794-158-8 , p. 23.
  10. ^ Heinrich Gottfried Gengler: Regesta and documents on the constitutional and legal history of German cities in the Middle Ages. Erlangen 1863, pp. 351–388 ( scan in Google book search).
  11. ^ AR: First labor dispute in Germany. Wroclaw 680 years ago. (No longer available online.) In: dkp-online.de. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013 ; Retrieved on July 2, 2019 (from Our Time . November 6, 2009).
  12. ^ Eberhard Günter Schulz : Birthday speech for Hans-Joachim Kempe on his 60th birthday. (Held on June 13, 1995 at Silesia Castle in Königswinter-Heisterbacherrott) In: Specialized prose research - Crossing borders. Volume 8/9, 2012/2013 (2014), pp. 553–557, here: p. 554.
  13. a b H. A. Pierer (Ed.): Supplements to the Universal Lexicon or Encyclopedic Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts. Volume 1. Altenburg 1841, pp. 701-704.
  14. Willy Cohn : Capistrano, a Breslau Jew enemy in a monk's robe. In: Menorah. Jewish family journal for science, art and literature. Vol. 4 (1926), No. 5 (May), pp. 262-265, here p. 264 ( PDF; 952 kB ).
  15. ^ Eberhard Günter Schulz : Birthday speech for Hans-Joachim Kempe on his 60th birthday. P. 554 f.
  16. ^ Eberhard Günter Schulz: Birthday speech for Hans-Joachim Kempe on his 60th birthday. P. 554.
  17. Johann Ernst Stieff: Historical and physical considerations on the effects of the lightning bolt that penetrated a powder tower in Breßlau on the 21st day of the fallow month in 1749. Breslau 1749 ( digitized version ).
  18. ^ Leonard Dorn: regimental culture and network. Dietrich Goswin von Bockum-Dolffs and the Cuirassier Regiment No. 1 in Breslau 1788–1805 (= United Westfälische Adelsarchive eV, publication no. 20). LWL Archive Office for Westphalia, Münster 2016, ISBN 978-3-9817202-1-1 , pp. 57–63.
  19. ^ Gerhard Scheuermann: The Breslau Lexicon. Volume I: A-L. Dülmen 1994, p. 709.
  20. Statistical Yearbook of German Cities , vol. 15 (1908), pp. 12–13 and pp. 45–46.
  21. ^ Queen Luise Memorial Church. Open road ( memento from January 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). In: breslau-wroclaw.de (private website with information on the K. L. Memorial Church , accessed on August 24, 2010); Memento accessed June 6, 2016.
  22. ^ National Socialism and Resistance in Breslau. A search for traces of local history. Exhibition of the Edith Stein House in Breslau, June 9th – 22nd. July 2007.
  23. The night the synagogues burned. Texts and materials prepared as building blocks for November 9, 1938. State Center for Political Education Baden-Württemberg . 1998, accessed December 28, 2014.
  24. Willy Cohn: No right, nowhere. Diary of the fall of Breslau Jewry 1933–1941 (= New Research on Silesian History. Volume 13). Edited by Norbert Conrads. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-412-32905-3 .
  25. Cf. on this: Willy Cohn: No right, nowhere. Diary of the fall of Breslau Jewry 1933–1941 (= New Research on Silesian History. Volume 13). Edited by Norbert Conrads. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-412-32905-3 ; see also: Wolfram Wette : Karl Jäger. Murderer of the Lithuanian Jews. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2011, p. 124 ff.
  26. Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistical Reports, Work No. VIII / 19/1, The civilian population of the German Empire 1940–1945. Results of the consumer group statistics. Wiesbaden 1953, p. 26.
  27. Wroclaw Chronicle. ( Memento from December 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: breslau-wroclaw.de, accessed on June 6, 2016.
  28. ^ Andreas R. Hofmann: The post-war period in Silesia. Social and population policy in the Polish settlement areas 1945–1948 (= contributions to the history of Eastern Europe. Volume 30). Böhlau, Köln / Weimar / Wien 2000, ISBN 3-412-07499-3 , p. 18 (also: Bochum, Universität, Dissertation, 1999).
  29. Cf. Gregor Thum : Stalingrad on the Oder. While Dresden sank to rubble under the Allied air raids, Silesian capital Breslau was destroyed by the Wehrmacht itself. In: Die Zeit , No. 10, March 3, 2005.
  30. Klaus Klöppel: Breslau - Lower Silesia and its thousand-year-old capital. 4th edition. 2014, pp. 33–34.
  31. ^ Wroclaw: Yesterday & Today. In: breslau-wroclaw.de, accessed on January 27, 2017.
  32. ^ Wrocław Stadium. ( Memento of December 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: stadionwroclaw.pl, accessed on January 27, 2017.
  33. On the importance of Wroclaw in the history of the Reformation, see the city portrait of the project Reformation Cities of Europe: Reformation City Wrocław / Breslau. Poland. In: reformation-cities.org/cities, accessed June 6, 2016.
  34. Klaus Klöppel: Breslau - Lower Silesia and its thousand-year-old capital. 2014, p. 35.
  35. a b c d e f Meyer's Large Conversation Lexicon. 6th edition. Volume 3. Leipzig / Vienna 1906, p. 396.
  36. ^ A b Johann Gottfried Hoffmann : The population of the Prussian state according to the results of the reports officially recorded at the end of 1837 in political, commercial and moral relations. Nicolaische Buchhandlung, Berlin 1839, p. 112 ( facsimile in the Google book search; in Fraktur ).
  37. Regensburger Zeitung , No. 171 of July 20, 1829, p. 1 ( online )
  38. Johann Georg Knie : Alphabetical-statistical-topographical overview of the villages, spots, cities and other places of the royal family. Prussia. Province of Silesia, including the margravate of Upper Lusatia, which now belongs entirely to the province, and the county of Glatz; together with the attached evidence of the division of the country into the various branches of civil administration. Graß, Barth and Comp., Breslau 1830, p. 900 ( facsimile in the Google book search; in Fraktur ).
  39. ^ Johann Georg Knie: Brief geographical description of Prussian Silesia, the County of Glaz and the Prussian Margraviate of Upper Lusatia or the entire province of Prussian Silesia: For use in schools. First ribbon. Breslau 1831, page 2 of chapter 1: District of the royal. Government of Breslau ( p. 190 of the e-copy of the Cyfrowa library ).
  40. Johann Georg Knie: Alphabetical-statistical-topographical overview of the villages, spots, cities and other places of the royal family. Preusz. Province of Silesia. 2., possibly and verb. Edition. Graß, Barth and Co., Breslau 1845, OCLC 311258376 , pp. 788-806 ( facsimile in the Google book search; in Fraktur ).
  41. ^ A b Gustav Neumann : Geography of the Prussian State. 2nd Edition. Volume 2. Berlin 1874, p. 197 ( preview in Google book search).
  42. ^ Royal Statistical Bureau: The municipalities and manor districts of the Province of Silesia and their population. Based on the original materials of the general census of December 1, 1871. Berlin 1874, pp. 80–81 ( facsimile in the Google book search).
  43. Ober-Post-Direktion Breslau (Ed.): Directory of all localities in the province of Silesia with evidence of the post offices through which the mailing is arranged and the districts concerned. E. Morgenstern, Breslau 1872, p. [2] ( facsimile in the Google book search).
  44. a b c d e f g h i Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. City and district of Breslau (Polish Wrocław). (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  45. ^ Breslau, Schlesien , in: Meyers Gazetteer (with an entry from Meyers Orts- und Verkehrslexikon, edition 1912, as well as an old map of the surroundings of Breslau and a modern city orientation plan in Polish lettering).
  46. Breslau - Wroclaw 1000–1763. In: deutscheundpolen.de/orte. Retrieved January 11, 2015 .
  47. H. Tiefenbach: <Art.> In: Herbert Jankuhn , Heinrich Beck (philologist) and others. (Ed.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . 2nd edition, Volume 3, de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1973–2007 (and 2 index volumes, published 2008), ISBN 3-11-016227-X , p. 442.
  48. Paul Hefftner: Urban Lutheran high school I. origin and meaning of the place names in urban districts Wroclaw. 1909, p. 9 ff.
  49. Result on the website of the electoral commission, accessed on July 18, 2020.
  50. Result on the website of the electoral commission, accessed on July 18, 2020.
  51. Wrocław. Heraldry of the World. Civic heraldry of Poland - Herbarz Miast Polskich. In: ngw.nl/heraldrywiki. Retrieved June 6, 2016 (English, March 1, 2016).
  52. Wroclaw website - Miasta partnerskie (Sister Cities)
  53. google.de/maps.
  54. google.de/maps.
  55. ^ International match Denmark - Germany, Hermann-Göring-Stadion Breslau, May 16, 1937 (poster). file1.npage.de, June 15, 2017, accessed June 15, 2017 .
  56. Football Chronicle, Football in Silesia 1900 / 01-1932 / 33, results and tables from the highest leagues of the Southeast German Football Association and the individual associations in the region. Published by DSfFS e. V. , Berlin 2007.
  57. ↑ Bike World . Sports album. A cycling yearbook. 12th vol., 1913, ZDB -ID 749618-7 , pp. 57-66.
  58. Oferta Klubów sportowych. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 15, 2010 ; accessed on January 11, 2015 .
  59. ^ Share of the Elektrizitäts-AG from 1923. (No longer available online.) In: mysafetycards.com. Archived from the original on June 6, 2016 ; accessed on July 2, 2019 (German, English, facsimile).
  60. City information. ( Memento of March 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: slaskwroclaw.info , accessed on March 13, 2009.
  61. Mercer's 2018 Quality of Living Rankings. Retrieved August 18, 2018 .
  62. Jak walczyć z autami w centrum miasta po otwarciu AOW. (No longer available online.) In: wroclaw.wyborcza.pl. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved on February 6, 2016 (Polish, no mementos).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / wroclaw.wyborcza.pl
  63. ↑ A comparison of all options for getting to Wroclaw. In: wroclawguide.com. Retrieved May 19, 2020 .
  64. Rozkład jazdy Wroclaw: MPK, DLA i inni przewoźnicy (= timetables Wroclaw: MPK, DLA and other airlines). In: mpk.wroc.pl. Retrieved June 28, 2020 .
  65. Transport Szynowy - Niezależna strona informacyjna. In: transportszynowy.pl/skladytram. Retrieved January 11, 2015 .