Frankfurt (Oder), also known asFrankfurt an der Oder (German:[ˈfʁaŋkfʊʁtʔandeːɐ̯ˈʔoːdɐ],lit.'Frankfurt on theOder';Central Marchian:Frankfort an de Oder,Polish:Frankfurt nad Odrą) is the fourth-largest city in the German state ofBrandenburg afterPotsdam,Cottbus andBrandenburg an der Havel. With around 58,000 inhabitants, it is the largest German city on theOder River, and one of the easternmost cities in Germany. Frankfurt sits on the western bank of the Oder, opposite the Polish town ofSłubice, which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945, and calledDammvorstadt until then. The city is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) east ofBerlin, in the south of the historical regionLubusz Land. Within Frankfurt's city limits lies the recreational area LakeHelenesee.
The name of the city makes reference to theFranks, and meansFord of the Franks, and there appears aGallic rooster in the coats of arms of Frankfurt and Słubice. The official nameFrankfurt (Oder) and the olderFrankfurt an der Oder are used to distinguish it from the larger city ofFrankfurt am Main.
During the communist era, Frankfurt reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants at the end of the 1980s. Following German reunification, the population decreased significantly, but has stabilized in recent years at about 58,000 inhabitants. As of 2020, the city plays an important role inGerman–Polish relations andEuropean integration. Frankfurt is home to theEuropean University Viadrina, which has a campus in Słubice, theCollegium Polonicum.
The town of Frankfurt received its charter in 1253 at theBrandendamm. The early settlers lived on the western banks of the Oder; later the town was extended to the eastern bank. After a war broke out over control of the region in 1319, the town came under the control of theDuchy of Pomerania. In 1319,Wartislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania, granted newprivileges to the town.[3] The town fell again to Brandenburg in 1324. In theLate Middle Ages, the town dominated the river trade betweenWrocław andSzczecin. From 1373 to 1415, along with Brandenburg, it was part of theLands of the Bohemian Crown. In 1430, Frankfurt joined theHanseatic League. In 1432, the CzechHussites captured the town.[4]
In the 16th century, many Polish exports, including grain, wood, ash, tar and hemp, were floated from western Poland via Frankfurt to the port of Szczecin, with the high Brandenburgian customs duties on Polish goods lowered in the early 17th century.[5]
In the 16th century the oldest church of the town (today'sFriedenskirche) was secularized and was even used as agranary, and from the 17th century it served as the church of theFrenchHuguenots.[9]
With the dissolution of theMargraviate of Brandenburg during theNapoleonic Wars, Frankfurt became part of theProvince of Brandenburg in 1815. In the 19th century, Frankfurt played an important role in trade. Centrally positioned in theKingdom of Prussia between Berlin andPosen (Poznań), on the river Oder with its heavy traffic, the town housed the second-largest annual trade fair (Messe) of theGerman Reich, surpassed only by that inLeipzig. One of the main escape routes for insurgents of the unsuccessful PolishNovember Uprising from partitioned Poland to theGreat Emigration led through the city.[11] In 1842, the Berlin–Frankfurt (Oder) railway was opened.[12]
In the post-communist era, following the collapse of its main employerVEB Halbleiterwerk, Frankfurt has suffered from highunemployment and loweconomic growth. Its population has fallen significantly from around 87,000 at the time of German reunification in 1990. The only remnant of semiconductor technology industries in Frankfurt by 2003 was theInnovations for High Performance Microelectronics (IHPM) institute.
Today, the towns of Frankfurt andSłubice have friendly relations and run several common projects and facilities. Poland joined theEuropean Union on 1 May 2004, and implemented theSchengen Agreement on 21 December 2007 leading to the removal of permanent border controls.
In March 2008, theJewish community of Frankfurt celebrated its firstTorah dedication sincethe Holocaust. The procession of the new Torah scroll began from the spot where the town's Frankfurter Synagogue stood prior to World War II, 500 meters from Germany's current border with Poland. Celebrants marched with the scroll into the town'sChabad-Lubavitch centre, where they danced with theTorah, which had been donated by members of the Chabad-Lubavitch community in Berlin.[17]
Development of population since 1875 within the current boundaries (blue line: population; dotted line: comparison to population development of Brandenburg state)
Recent population development and projections (population development before Census 2011 (blue line); recent population development according to theCensus in Germany in 2011 (blue bordered line); official projections for 2005–2030 (yellow line); for 2017–2030 (scarlet line); for 2020–2030 (green line)
Frankfurt (Oder): Population development within the current boundaries (2020)[18]
Aerial view of Frankfurt withSłubice across the Oder River
Frankfurt (Oder), being located on the border to Poland, plays a special role in connection withGerman–Polish relations andEuropean integration. TheEuropean University Viadrina has one of its buildings in Poland, in the neighbouring town of Słubice. The university also has a number of projects and initiatives dedicated to bringing Poland and Germany together, and offers its students pro bono Polish courses.
Another project that contributes toGerman–Polish integration in Frankfurt (Oder) is the Fforst House,[19] a German-Polish student project, which has been granted support by the town's administration[20] and by theViadrina,[21] having been described by the former president of the university,Gesine Schwan, as the place where "Europe begins".[22]
The current mayor isRené Wilke (independent, formerlyLeft) since 2018. The most recent mayoral election was held on 28 February 2018 and the results were as follows:
^Märkische Oderzeitung/Frankfurter Stadtbote, 7. Juli 2006, p. 15.
^Rymar, Edward (1979). "Rywalizacja o ziemię lubuską i kasztelanię międzyrzecką w latach 1319–1326, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem stosunków pomorsko-śląskch".Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka (in Polish).XXXIV (4). Wrocław:Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, WydawnictwoPolskiej Akademii Nauk: 481.
^Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom II (in Polish). Warszawa. 1881. p. 402.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Rutkowski, Jan (1923).Zarys gospodarczych dziejów Polski w czasach przedrozbiorowych (in Polish). Poznań. pp. 200–201.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
TheCity of Frankfurt (Oder) has a website (available in English translation as well as inGerman and inPolish) with some limited commerce and cultural information.
Slubice.pl – official site of Frankfurt's border town Słubice
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