Zgorzelec | |
|---|---|
 Panorama of the city  Daszyńskiego Street  Municipal House of Culture  Paderewski Park  Polish-Saxon post milestone | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Zgorzelec | |
| Coordinates:51°09′00″N15°00′30″E / 51.15000°N 15.00833°E /51.15000; 15.00833 | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship |  Lower Silesian |
| County | Zgorzelec |
| Gmina | Zgorzelec(urban gmina) |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Rafał Gronicz (KO) |
| Area | |
• Total | 15.88 km2 (6.13 sq mi) |
| Population (2019-06-30[1]) | |
• Total | 30,374 |
| • Density | 1,900/km2 (5,000/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 59–900 to 59–903 |
| Car plates | DZG |
| Climate | Cfb |
| Website | zgorzelec |
Zgorzelec ([zɡɔˈʐɛlɛt͡s] ⓘ, German:Görlitz,[a]Upper Sorbian:Zhorjelc[ˈzhɔʁʲɛlts],Czech:Zhořelec) is a town inLower Silesian Voivodeship, in southwesternPoland, with 30,374 inhabitants (2019).[2] It is the seat ofZgorzelec County and ofGmina Zgorzelec (although it is not part of the territory of the latter, as the town is an urbangmina in its own right).
Zgorzelec is located on theLusatian Neisse river, on the Polish-German border adjoining the German town ofGörlitz, of which it constituted the eastern part up to 1945. Through its history it has been at various times under German, Polish, Czech and Hungarian rule. In recent history, it became known as the location of a majorGerman-operated prisoner-of-war camp forAllied soldiers of various nationalities duringWorld War II, the place of signing of theTreaty of Zgorzelec, and the home of the successfulTurów Zgorzelecbasketball team, which played in theEuroleague andEuroCup.
Up until 1945, the modern-day towns of Zgorzelec andGörlitz were a single entity; their history up to that point is shared. The date of the town's foundation is unknown.[3]
In theEarly Middle Ages, the area was inhabited by the Bieżuńczanie tribe,[4] one of the oldPolish tribes,[5] which together with theSorbianMilceni tribe, with which it bordered in the west, was subjugated in 990 by theMargraviate of Meissen, afrontier march of theHoly Roman Empire. It was conquered by Polish Duke, and future King,Bolesław I the Brave in 1002, whose goal was to decisively unite all Polish tribes, and remained part ofPoland during the reign of the first Polish kings Bolesław I the Brave andMieszko II Lambert until 1031, when the region fell again to the Margraviate of Meissen. Zgorzelec/Görlitz was first mentioned in a document from the King ofGermany, and laterHoly Roman Emperor,Henry IV in 1071 as a small village named Goreliz in the region ofUpper Lusatia.[3] In 1075, the region, within theHoly Roman Empire, passed to rule of theDuchy of Bohemia (kingdom from 1198). In the 13th century the village gradually turned into a town. It became rich due to its location on theVia Regia, an ancient and medieval trade road. In 1319 it became part of thePiast-ruledDuchy of Jawor, the southwesternmost duchy of fragmented Poland, and later on, became part ofBohemia and theHoly Roman Empire again.
In the following centuries, from 1346, it was a wealthy member of theSix-City League of Upper Lusatia, consisting of the six Lusatian citiesBautzen, Görlitz,Kamenz,Lubań,Löbau andZittau. The town ofGorlice in southern Poland was founded during the reign ofCasimir the Great in 1354 byethnic German colonists from Görlitz, in the last phases ofeastward settlement by Germans (in this case byWalddeutsche). In 1469, along with the Lusatian League, the town recognized the rule of KingMatthias Corvinus and passed toHungary, and in 1490 it fell back to Bohemia then ruled by Polish princeVladislaus Jagiellon.[6] The town brokered international trade between German states in the west andPoland,Lithuania, Hungary andMuscovy in the east,[3] and in 1510 KingSigismund I the Old allowed free trade in all of Poland and Lithuania for the town.
After suffering for years in theThirty Years' War, the region of Upper Lusatia (including Görlitz) passed toSaxony (1635), whoseElectors were also Kings of Poland from 1697. One of the two main routes connectingWarsaw andDresden ran through the city at that time.[7]
In 1815, after theNapoleonic Wars, theCongress of Vienna awarded Görlitz to theKingdom of Prussia and subsequently the city became part of theGerman Empire in 1871. The city was a part of the Prussian province ofSilesia from 1815 to 1919.
DuringWorld War I, the Germans operated aprisoner-of-war camp in present-day Zgorzelec, in which initiallyRussian,French andBritish POWs were held, and then from 1916 to 1919 around 6,500Greek soldiers wereinterned.[8] After the abolition of the Kingdom of Prussia in the aftermath ofWorld War I, Görlitz became a part of the newly establishedProvince of Lower Silesia in theFree State of Prussia.
On 26 August 1939, a few days beforeGermany invaded Poland and sparkedWorld War II, a temporaryprisoner-of-war camp intended forPoles was established in present-day Zgorzelec, which was soon converted into the largeStalag VIII-A POW camp.[9] The first 8,000 Polish POWs were brought to the camp on 7 September 1939.[10] Also Polish civilians, including women, were held in the camp, which served as a transit camp for Poles, who were deported to Germany either toforced labour or toNazi concentration camps.[11] Among them were especially Polish activists andintelligentsia fromSilesia,Greater Poland andPomerania, arrested during theIntelligenzaktion.[10] After being brought to the town infreight trains, the prisoners were marched from the train station to the camp, while the local German population andHitler Youth stood in lines and insulted them.[10] Poor sanitary conditions led to frequent epidemic outbreaks in the camp.[12] During the war also POWs of various other nationalities were held in the camp, including theCzechs,Lithuanians,Jews, French,Belgians, Russians,Italians, Britons,Canadians,Australians,New Zealanders,South Africans,Yugoslavs,Slovaks,Americans. The French composerOlivier Messiaen was one of its inmates.[13][14] Most POWs were evacuated by the Germans in February 1945 in adeath march, during which POWs who either were unable to walk or tried to escape were murdered.[15] In November 1941, also the Stalag 368 POW camp was founded in the town, but was relocated toBeniaminów in the following months.[16]
In the wake of German defeat, operation groups arrived in the town on 10 to 12 May 1945 on the right Oder bank of Görlitz to secure Polish takeover of the town district. Polish administration was officially implemented on 21 May.[17] On 2 June 1945, Polish military closed the bridge in Görlitz to block Germans from returning to their homes inSilesia. Early in the morning on 21 June, the Polish ordered the Germans to leave their homes on the eastern part of Görlitz.[17]
ThePotsdam Conference confirmed Polish rule and henceforth, theOder-Neisse line as the Polish-East German border divided Görlitz (lying on theLusatian Neisse) between the two countries. The German part retained the nameGörlitz, while the Polish part was initially known by its other historic Polish name Zgorzelice,[18][17] later changed to the also historic name[19][20] Zgorzelec. Polish and Greek settlers arrived in the town. Zgorzelec had a difficult start as a Polish town because almost all of the infrastructure facilities were located in the part remaining German.[17] TheTreaty of Zgorzelec, betweenPoland andEast Germany, was signed in the town's community center in 1950.
Starting in 1948, some 10,000Greekrefugees of the Greek Civil War, mainly communistpartisans, 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 (seeGreeks in Poland). The Greek community of Zgorzelec was instrumental in the building ofThe Orthodox Church of Saints Constantine and Helen in 2002. Since 1999, an annual international Greek Song Festival has been held in Zgorzelec.[21]
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 theSolidarity movement in Poland. Until 1975 Zgorzelec was administratively located in the Wrocław (Lower Silesian) Voivodeship, and in 1975–1998 it was located in theJelenia Góra Voivodeship.
Since thefall 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 theEuropean 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 toEssen, with Görlitz/Zgorzelec in second place.
Zgorzelec is served by two railway stations,Zgorzelec in the southern part of the town, andZgorzelec Miasto in the eastern part.
The A4 motorway passes just to the north of Zgorzelec. The town can be accessed from exit 1 of the A4.
Turów Zgorzelec men's basketball team until 2018 played in thePolish Basketball League (top division). In2014 Turów won its only national championship and qualified to theEuroleague for the first time. The localfootball team isNysa Zgorzelec [pl]. It competes in the lower leagues.
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