Wrocław

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Wrocław, (Polish pronunciation: [:vrɔʦwaf]ⓘ, Czech: Vratislav, German: Breslauⓘ, Latin: Wratislavia or Vratislavia) is the capital of Lower Silesia in southwestern Poland, situated on the Oder River (Odra). As of 2004, the city's population was estimated to be 638,000. It is the principal city of the Lower Silesia region and the administrative seat of the Lower Silesian Voivodship (since 1999), previously of Wrocław Voivodship. The city is also a separate city-county.

Etymology

Wrocław was first recorded in Thietmar's chronicle: John, bishop of Wrocław, a newly established Polish diocese, is mentioned in the year 1000 (Johannem Wrotizlaensem) as was later the city itself (as Wortizlawa). The first municipal seal says: Sigillum civitatis Wracislavie, and a simplified city name is given in 1175 as in Wrezlawe.

Early records show that the medieval city name was Wrocisław in Polish, Vratislav in Czech, or Prezla in Middle High German which means Wrocisław/Vratislav's town. The Polish name was later phonetically simplified in two stages: Wrocisław->Wrotsław->Wrocław, and this simplified name has been used since the 12th century. The Czech spelling was used in Latin documents, Wratislavia or Vratislavia, but Polish pronunciation was also influential as shown in the spelling of Wracislavia. The German version of the name —Breslau— was used as the official name when the city was a major city in eastern Germany.

The town square in Wrocław

The city is traditionally believed to be named after a person called Wrocisław/Vratislaw, although it is unclear what, if any, connection exists to a Czech duke called Vratislav I. It is also possible the city was named after the tribal duke of the Silesians, or after the early owner of the city, called Vratislav. There is also another version that city was named after Polish duke Wrócisław, in old Polish language it means "he will be back famous".

The name of the city may be an issue among German and Polish nationalists. Despite claims that the use of Breslau is considered as highly unpopular or even offensive among the present Polish inhabitants, the city's website says Willkommen in Wrocław/Breslau in its German version [1], and uses only Breslau in the following text.

Name variations used in other languages:

History

Feudal era

Town Breslau and surrounding villages (today: quarters of Wrocław) in 1900
Source: http://www.breslau-wroclaw.de

Situated at a long existing trading place, a city was first recorded in the 10th century as Vratislavia (Wratislaw) (the origin of its various later names) after Vratislav I. The settlement was conquered by the Piast duke Mieszko I in the 990s. Already a place of some importance, it became the capital of Silesia in 1138, where Silesians had founded a settlement south of the river. During the Mongol invasion in 1241 most of the population of the city was evacuated. The settlement was then sacked and burned by the Mongols, but they had no time to besiege the castle where the rest of the burghers found refuge.

Salt Market (Plac Solny)

Documents of the time refer to the town by many variants of the name, including Bresslau, Presslau, Breslau and Wratislaw. The restored Wrocław town was given Magdeburg Rights in 1262. The first illustration of the city was published in the Schedelsche Weltchronik in 1493.

Under direct overlordship of the Holy Roman Empire, the emperors granted government positions to members of various ducal and royal dynasties. The city was a member of the Hanseatic League of northern European trading cities. During much of the Middle Ages Wrocław was ruled by its dukes from the Piast dynasty. Although the city was not part of its principality, the bishop of Breslau was a prince-bishop since Bishop Preczlaus of Pogarell (1341-1376) bought the Duchy of Grottkau from Duke Bolesław of Brieg and added it to the episcopal territory of Neisse, after this the bishops of Breslau had the titles of Prince of Neisse and Duke of Grottkau, and took precedence of the other Silesian rulers.

In 1335, it was incorporated with almost the entirety of Silesia into the Kingdom of Bohemia and was part of it until the 1740s; from 1526, it was ruled by the Empire's Habsburg dynasty. By this time the inhabitants, although often of Polish ancestory, had become mainly German in speech. The overwhelming majority became Lutheran Protestants during the Reformation, but they were forcibly suppressed during the Catholic Reformation by the Jesuits, who were working with the support of the Habsburg rulers.

City Hall

After the extinction of local Piast rulers in 1675, the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria inherited Wrocław. They resorted to forceful conversion of the city to back to Catholicism. During the War of the Austrian Succession in the 1740s, Silesia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia's claims were derived from the agreement, rejected by Habsburgs, between the Piast rulers of the Duchy and the Hohenzollerns who secured the Prussian succession after the extinction of the Piasts.

Modern history

After the demise of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Prussia became member of German Confederation with only all these territories inhabited by Germans. In 1813 the King of Prussia, Frederick William III gave a speech "An mein Volk" ("to my people") at Breslau as a signal that Prussia will join Russia in fighting Napoleon. Two years before, in 1811, the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität (Breslau University) was reestablished. In 1871 Germany was unified. Breslau became the sixth largest city of Germany and a major industrial centre, notably of linen and cotton manufacture, more than tripling in population between 1860 and 1910 to over half a million. Its municipal boundaries were greatly extended in 1928.

Many of the city's 10,000 Jews were killed during the Nazi genocide of World War II. As the Red Army was approaching the city in February 1945, Breslau was declared a fortress by Gauleiter Hanke. When it was almost already too late, he finally stopped preventing the evacuation of the women and children. During his poorly organised march temperatures were about -20°C. In the icy snowstorms, around 18,000 froze to death, mostly children. Some 200,000 civilians remained in the city. To build fortifications, slave labour was needed to augment civilian workers, and concentration camp prisoners were forced to help.

To re-supply the fortress, the population was given the order to construct a military airfield. A modern residential district, around the Kaiserstraße (now Plac Grunwaldzki) was razed for that purpose. Those of the people who refused to work there were threatened with being shot as deserters. According to the estimation of an eyewitness, approximately 13,000 died under enemy fire on the airfield alone. In the end, the only plane to take off was that of a fleeing Gauleiter Hanke.

Following the battle of Breslau, two thirds of the city was destroyed. Some 40,000 Breslauers lay dead in the ruins. After a siege of nearly three months, the strategically relatively unimportant "Festung Breslau" surrendered on May 7, the last major city in eastern Germany to fall.

Wrocław town square and St Elisabeth church

Like almost all of Silesia, Breslau was placed under Polish administration according to the terms of the agreement reached at the Potsdam Conference. Most of the surviving German inhabitants were expelled to one of the post-war German states between 1945 and 1949 or left voluntarily. However, as with other Lower Silesian cities a considerable German presence remained until the late 1950s. In fact, the last German school in the city was not closed until 1963. Wrocław was resettled by Poles either from the small towns and villages of central Poland or those expelled by the Soviets from territories lost by Poland to the USSR. Many of these were from Lwów (now L'viv, Ukraine), Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuania) and Grodno (now Hrodna, Belarus).

Hala Ludowa

Gradually the old city was restored to its beauty. Nearly all of the monumental buildings were preserved. Now it is a uniquely European city of present-day Poland, with its architecture echoing that in Austria, Bohemia, or Prussia. Wrocław's Gothic style is originally Silesian; its Baroque style owes much to court builders of Habsburg Austria (Fischer von Erlach, Ch. Tausch); and Wrocław still has a number of buildings by eminent German modernist architects, such as Hans Poelzig or Max Berg, the famous Jahrhunderthalle (Hala Ludowa) by Berg (1911–13) being the most important.

Destruction in the center of the city after 1997 flooding

In July 1997, the city was hit by a severe flooding of the Oder River. In 2005, the city was hit by a freak storm that felled a number of trees and killed three people. The storm was local and did not affect any other major cities.

Significant events in the 20th century

External links with photo galleries, mostly in Polish

Historical population


1800: 64,500 inhabitants
1831: 89,500 inhabitants
1850: 114,000 inhabitants
1852: 121,100 inhabitants
1880: 272,900 inhabitants
1900: 422,700 inhabitants
1910: 510,000 inhabitants
1925: 555,200 inhabitants
1933: 625,198 inhabitants
1939: 629,565 inhabitants
1946: 171,000 inhabitants
1956: 400,000 inhabitants
1960: 431,800 inhabitants
1967: 487,700 inhabitants
1970: 526,000 inhabitants
1975: 579,900 inhabitants
1980: 617,700 inhabitants
1990: 640,577 inhabitants
1999: 650,000 inhabitants
2003: 638,000 inhabitants

Notable places and buildings

Prominent people from Wrocław

City Hall
Cathedral in Ostrów Tumski
Aula Leopoldina

Nobel Prize laureates from Wrocław

listed chronologically, by year of award

University of Wrocław

Education

Today's Wrocław has ten state-run universities, including:

as well as numerous private institutions of higher education, including

Economy and transportation

Wrocław's major industries were traditionally the manufacture of railroad cars and electronics. The city is served by Wrocław International Airport and a river port.

Major corporations

  • Volvo Polska sp. z o.o., Wrocław
  • Siemens, Wrocław
  • Hewlett Packard, Wrocław
  • Grupa Lukas, Wrocław
  • AB SA, Wrocław
  • Polifarb Cieszyn-Wrocław SA, Wrocław
  • KOGENERACJA S.A., Wrocław
  • Impel SA, Wrocław
  • Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy SA, Wrocław
  • Telefonia Dialog SA, Wrocław
  • Wrozamet SA, Wrocław
  • American Restaurants sp. z o.o., Wrocław
  • Hutmen SA, Wrocław
  • MPEC Wrocław SA, Wrocław
  • SAP Polska
  • Hologram Industries Polska

Government & Politics

Administrative divisions

Wrocław is divided into five boroughs, called dzielnice:

Municipal politics

Sports

File:Idea Slask Wroclaw.jpg

There are many popular professional sports teams in the Wrocław area. The most popular sport today is probably basketball, thanks to Idea Śląsk Wrocław, the award-winning men's basketball team (former Polish champions, 2nd place in 2004). Amateur sports are played by thousands of Wrocław citizens and also in schools of all levels.

Men's professional teams

File:Slask wroclaw herb.jpg

Women's professional teams

File:Wroclaw rynek skating night small.jpg
A skating rink in the Rynek (Market Square), December 2003

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wrocław.

Sources and references

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

  • Encyklopedia Wrocławia. Wrocław 2001
  • Wrocław jego dzieje kultura. Warszawa 1978
  • G. Scheuermann. Das Breslau-Lexikon. Dülmen 1994
  • K.Maleczyński, M.Morelowski, A.Ptaszycka, Wrocław. Rozwój urbanistyczny. Warszawa 1956
  • W.Długoborski, J.Gierowski, K.Maleczyński, Dzieje Wrocławia do roku 1807., Warszawa 1958
  • Microcosm, Portrait of a Central European City, by Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse (Jonathan Cape, 2002) ISBN 0224062433 (ISBN 8324001727 – Polish translation)

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