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Silesia (German: Schlesien; Latin: Silesia; Silesian: Ślůnsk) is a historical region in central Europe. It is located in the eastern of Germany and was a prussian province (1742 – 1945). In 1945, all of Silesia was occupied by the Soviet Red Army. Thereby the most of the German people had fled or were murdered.
Geography
Silesia is located along the upper and middle Oder River, upper Vistula River, and along the Sudeten mountains and the Carpathian Mountains. The capital city is Breslau.
Silesia has three parts: district of Liegnitz, district of Breslau, district of Oppeln (between 1919 and 1938 the district Oppeln was called 'Oberschlesien').
The highest point of Silesia is the Schneekoppe - located in the Sudeten mountains.
Administrative regions of Silesia
Silesia is divided in 3 administrative regions ( Regierungsbezirk):
These administrative regions consist of the following administrative districts:
- Liegnitz
- Urban districts: Görlitz, Liegnitz
- Rural districts: Bolkenhain, Bunzlau, Freystadt, Glogau, Goldberg-Haynau, Görlitz, Grünberg, Hirschberg, Hoyerswerda, Jauer, Landeshut, Lauban, Liegnitz , Löwenberg, Lüben, Rothenburg, Sagan, Schönau, Sprottau
- Breslau
- Urban districts: Breslau, Brieg und Schweidnitz
- Rural districts: Breslau, Brieg, Frankenstein, Glatz, Groß Wartenberg, Guhrau, Habelschwerdt, Militsch, Münsterberg, Namslau, Neumarkt, Neurode, Nimptsch, Öls, Ohlau, Reichenbach, Schweidnitz, Steinau, Strehlen, Striegau, Trebnitz, Waldenburg, Wohlau)
- Oppeln
- Urban districts: Beuthen, Gleiwitz, Kattowitz, Königshütte, Oppeln, Ratibor
- Rural districts: Beuthen, Cosel, Falkenberg, Gleiwitz, Groß Strehlitz, Grottkau, Hindenburg, Kattowitz, Königshütte, Kreuzburg, Leobschütz, Lublinitz, Neisse, Neustadt, Oppeln, Pleß, Ratibor, Rosenberg, Rybnik, Tarnowitz
Administrative region of Breslau, 1914:
Cities
The largest cities of Silesia (Population of 1939):
| Name |
Population |
| Breslau |
630,041 |
| Kattowitz |
127,044 (1931) |
| Hindenburg |
126,211 |
| Gleiwitz |
117,323 |
| Königshütte |
102,349 (1931) |
| Beuthen |
100,891 |
| Görlitz |
93,823 |
| Liegnitz |
83,701 |
| Waldenburg |
64,072 |
| Oppeln |
52,992 |
| Ratibor |
50,000 |
Other Cities are: Brieg, Bunzlau, Cosel, Frankenstein, Glatz, Glogau, Groß-Strehlitz, Grünberg, Goldberg, Hirschberg, Leobschütz, Neiße, Schweidnitz, Trebnitz
History
Some important history facts of silesia:
| Dates |
Events |
| 300 BC - 350 AD |
The Vandals - a Germanic people - locate between the Oder River and the Netze. The Silingers - a part of the Vandals - gives Silesia its name. |
| around the common era |
Marbod, the king of Marcomanni, creates the first Germanic empire which includes Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. |
| 1163 AD |
Silesia comes to the German-minded sons Ladislaus II. Silesia get more and more German people. |
| 1201-1238 AD |
Silesia is German in language, culture and colony. |
| 1335 |
Silesia is part of the Bohemian monarchy. |
| 24 August 1335 |
King Kasimir III. of Poland forgo of Silesia for ever and ever (agreement of Trentschin) |
| 1526 |
Silesia is part of the Habsburg empire. |
| 1742 |
King Friedrich II. claims Silesia - Silesia is become part of the Prussia monarchy. |
| 1813 |
Silesia is the start point of the liberation war against Napoleon. |
| 14.10.1919 |
Upper silesia become an own province. |
| 1919-1921 |
Polish military tries to occupy the east upper silesia. German Freikorps (corps of volunteers) can force back the polish interlopers. |
| 20.03.1921 |
Two thirds of the Silesia people votes for Germany. |
| May 1921 |
Against the voting the Polish military occupies the Annaberg in Upper Silesia. The German Freikorps can force back the polish interlopers again. |
| 1922 |
Upper Silesia is split in a German part and a Polish part. A fateful mistake gainst for the European history. A contravention against the public voting and a crime against the German people and the public law. |
| 1938 - 1941 |
Upper and Lower Silesia were merged to a single province again. |
| 1945 |
After the World War II. Silesia comes to Poland for further administration. A peace treaty for Germany will manage the future of this beautiful country - Silesia. |
Famous people
There are many famous people who were born in Silesia:
- Writers, poets and playwrights like Andreas Gryphius, Martin Opitz, Fürst von Pückler-Muskau, Carl Hauptmann, Gerhart Hauptmann (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1912), Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, Gustav Freytag
- Members of the German Resistance such as Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke,
- Military officers such as Manfred von Richthofen, Erwin von Witzleben
- Painters like Adolph von Menzel
- Philosophers like Jakob Böhme
- Actors like Dieter Hildebrandt, Victor de Kowa, Ludwig M. Lommel, Wolfgang Neuss, Willy Fritsch, Hanna Schygulla, Georg Thomalla
- Politicians like Paul Löbe (SPD), Klaus Töpfer (CDU), Manfred Kanther (CDU), Ferdinand Lassalle, Erich Mende (FDP)
- Scientists like Hans G. Dehmelt (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1989), Paul Ehrlich (Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1908), Friedrich Bergius (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1931), Max Born (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1954), Fritz Haber (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1918), Reinhard Selten (Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 1994), Konrad Bloch (Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1964), Bernhard Grzimek, Johannes Winkler, Maria Goeppert-Mayer (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1963), Kurt Alder (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1950), Otto Stern (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1943)
- Builder and architects like Carl Gotthard Langhans
- Musicians like Katja Ebstein, Roy Etzel, Michael Jary
Gallery
First map of Silesia (1561)
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City hall of Breslau, Germany between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900. View from the east.
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Krummhuebel, Church of Wang (german: Kirche Wang) between 1890 and 1905.
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Postcard of the market square in the city of Oppeln in 1904.
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Hotel "Haus Oberschlesien" (transl.: Upper Silesia House) in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany, 1928
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Other websites
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