Zgorzelec

Coordinates: 51°09′00″N 15°00′30″E / 51.15000°N 15.00833°E / 51.15000; 15.00833
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Zgorzelec
Panorama of the city
Townhouses at Daszyńskiego Street
Municipal House of Culture
Paderewski Park
Polish-Saxon post milestone on the Postal Square
  • From top, left to right: Panorama of the city
  • Townhouses at Daszyńskiego Street
  • Municipal House of Culture
  • Paderewski Park
  • Polish-Saxon post milestone on the Postal Square
Car plates
DZG
ClimateCfb
Websitezgorzelec.eu

Zgorzelec ([zɡɔˈʐɛlɛt͡s] , German: Görlitz[a], Upper Sorbian: Zhorjelc [ˈzhɔʁʲɛlts], Lower Sorbian: Zgórjelc, Czech: Zhořelec) is a town in southwestern Poland with 30,374 inhabitants (2019). It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the seat of Zgorzelec County and of Gmina Zgorzelec (although it is not part of the territory of the latter, as the town is an urban gmina in its own right). Zgorzelec is located on the Lusatian Neisse river, on the Polish-German border adjoining the German town of Görlitz, of which it constituted the eastern part up to 1945.

History

Up until 1945, the modern-day towns of Zgorzelec and Görlitz were a single entity; their history up to that point is shared. The date of the town's foundation is unknown.[2]

Middle Ages

In the

Poland, and later on, became part of Bohemia
again.

In the following centuries, from 1346, it was a wealthy member of the

Muscovy in the east,[2] and in 1510 King Sigismund I the Old
allowed free trade in all of Poland and Lithuania for the town.

Modern period

The Tricycle Mill in the 1920s

After suffering for years in the Thirty Years' War, the region of Upper Lusatia (including Görlitz) passed to Saxony (1635), whose Electors were also Kings of Poland from 1697. One of the two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the city at that time.[6]

In 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna awarded Görlitz to the Kingdom of Prussia and subsequently the city became part of the German Empire in 1871. The city was a part of the Prussian province of Silesia from 1815 to 1919.

20th century

During World War I, the Germans operated a prisoner-of-war camp in present-day Zgorzelec, in which initially Russian, French and British POWs were held, and then from 1916 to 1919 around 6,500 Greek soldiers were interned.[7] After the abolition of the Kingdom of Prussia in the aftermath of World War I, Görlitz became a part of the newly established Province of Lower Silesia in the Free State of Prussia.

Memorial to the victims of the German Stalag VIII-A POW camp

On August 26, 1939, a few days before Germany invaded Poland and sparked World War II, a temporary prisoner-of-war camp intended for Poles was established in present-day Zgorzelec, which was soon converted into the large Stalag VIII-A POW camp.[8] The first 8,000 Polish POWs were brought to the camp on September 7, 1939.[9] Also Polish civilians, including women, were held in the camp, which served as a transit camp for Poles, who were deported to Germany either to forced labour or to Nazi concentration camps.[10] Among them were especially Polish activists and intelligentsia from Silesia, Greater Poland and Pomerania, arrested during the Intelligenzaktion.[9] After being brought to the town in freight trains, the prisoners were marched from the train station to the camp, while the local German population and Hitler Youth stood in lines and insulted them.[9] Poor sanitary conditions led to frequent epidemic outbreaks in the camp.[11] During the war also POWs of various other nationalities were held in the camp, including the Czechs, Lithuanians, Jews, French, Belgians, Russians, Italians, Britons, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Yugoslavs, Slovaks, Americans. The French composer Olivier Messiaen was one of its inmates.[12][13] Most POWs were evacuated by the Germans in February 1945 in a death march, during which POWs who either were unable to walk or tried to escape were murdered.[14]

Miejski Dom Kultury is one of the cultural and community centers of Zgorzelec, and the place of signing of the Treaty of Zgorzelec

In the wake of German defeat, operation groups arrived in the town on May 10 an May 12 1945 on the right Oder bank of Görlitz to secure Polish takeover of the town district. Polish administration was officially implemented on May 21,[15] On June 2, 1945, Polish military closed the bridge in Görlitz to block Germans from returning to their homes in Silesia. Early morning on June 21, the Polish ordered the Germans to leave their homes on the eastern part of Görlitz. [15]

The

Oder-Neisse line as the Polish-East German border divided Görlitz (lying on the Lusatian Neisse) between the two countries. The German part retained the name Görlitz, while the Polish part became Zgorzelice,[15] later changed to Zgorzelec. New Polish and Greek settlers arrived in the town and the town was polonized. Zgorzelec had a difficult start as a Polish town because almost all of the infrastructure facilities were locate in the part remaining German.[15]

The

Greek refugees of the Greek Civil War, mainly communist partisans, were allowed into Poland and settled mainly in Zgorzelec. There were Greek schools, a Greek retirement home, and even a factory reserved for Greek employees. The majority of these refugees later returned to Greece, but a part remains to this day (see Greeks in Poland). The Greek community of Zgorzelec was instrumental in the building of The Orthodox Church of Saints Constantine and Helen in 2002. Since 1999, an annual international Greek Song Festival has been held in Zgorzelec.[16]

In 1972, the Polish-East German border was opened for visa-free travel, resulting in intense movement between Zgorzelec and Görlitz, which lasted until 1980, when East Germany unilaterally closed the border due to anti-communist protests and the emergence of the Solidarity movement in Poland. Until 1975 Zgorzelec was administratively located in the Wrocław (Lower Silesian) Voivodeship, and in 1975–1998 it was located in the Jelenia Góra Voivodeship.

Recent history

Reconstructed Postal Square, seen from the river

Since the

fall of communism in 1989, Zgorzelec and Görlitz have developed a close political relationship. Two of the numerous bridges over the Neisse river that had been blown up by retreating German forces in World War II have been rebuilt, reconnecting the two towns with one bus line. There is also common urban management and annual common sessions of both town councils. In 2006 the towns jointly applied to be the European Capital of Culture in 2010. It was hoped that the jury would be convinced by the concept of Polish-German cooperation, but the award fell to Essen
, with Görlitz/Zgorzelec in second place.

Sights

Polish Second Army
Panorama of Zgorzelec from Görlitz

Transport

Zgorzelec railway station

Zgorzelec is served by two railway stations, Zgorzelec in the southern part of the town, and Zgorzelec Miasto in the eastern part.

Sports

Euroleague for the first time. The local football team is Nysa Zgorzelec [pl
]. It competes in the lower leagues.

Notable residents

Twin towns – sister cities

Zgorzelec is twinned with:[18]

Gallery

  • Aerial view of Zgorzelec
    Aerial view of Zgorzelec
  • Town Hall
    Town Hall
  • Wheelwright Croft
    Wheelwright Croft
  • Amphitheatre of Zgorzelec
    Amphitheatre of Zgorzelec
  • Muzeum Łużyckie
    Muzeum Łużyckie
  • District court
    District court
  • Andrzej Błachaniec Park
    Andrzej Błachaniec Park
  • Park Ujazdowski
    Park Ujazdowski
  • Bulwar Grecki (Greek Boulevard)
    Bulwar Grecki (Greek Boulevard)
  • Piłsudskiego Street
    Piłsudskiego Street
  • Saint Joseph church
    Saint Joseph church
  • Śniadecki Brothers Liceum (high school)
    Śniadecki Brothers Liceum (high school)

Notes

  1. ^ After the war, the German name Görlitz usually refers only to the western, German part of the city.

References

  1. ^ "Population. Size and structure and vital statistics in Poland by territorial division in 2019. As of 30th June". stat.gov.pl. Statistics Poland. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "History of Zgorzelec and Görlitz". Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  3. ^ Bena, Waldemar (2006). Szlakiem grodzisk słowiańskich i średniowiecznych zamków (in Polish and German). Zgorzelec. pp. 9–10.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ "Plemiona polskie". Encyklopedia Internautica (in Polish). Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  5. ^ Gustav Köhler, Der Bund der Sechsstädte in der Ober-Lausitz: Eine Jubelschrift, G. Heinze & Comp., Görlitz, 1846, p. 30 (in German)
  6. ^ "Informacja historyczna, Dresden-Warszawa". Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Als Tausende Griechen in Görlitz Zuflucht suchten". LR Online (in German). Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  8. ^ Joanna Lusek, Albrecht Goetze, Stalag VIII A Görlitz. Historia – teraźniejszość – przyszłość, "Łambinowicki rocznik muzealny" Tom 34, Opole, 2011, p. 27 (in Polish)
  9. ^ a b c Lusek, Goetze, p. 28
  10. ^ Lusek, Goetze, p. 27-28
  11. ^ Lusek, Goetze, p. 29
  12. ^ "European Center Memory, Education, Culture". Meetingpoint Music Messiaen e.V. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Stalag VIII A". Meetingpoint Music Messiaen e.V. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  14. ^ Lusek, Goetze, p. 44
  15. ^ a b c d Elżbieta Opiłowska. Kontinuitäten und Brüche deutsch-polnischer Erinnerungskulturen : Görlitz-Zgorzelec 1945 - 2006 (Thesis) (in German). Frankfurt (Oder), Univ.
  16. ^ "Ambasada Grecji w Warszawie – Grecy w Polsce". www.greece.pl. Archived from the original on 2 March 2003. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
  17. ^ Suchy przysłał list, retrieved 13 April 2022
  18. ^ "Miasta Partnerskie". zgorzelec.eu (in Polish). Zgorzelec. Retrieved 4 March 2020.

External links