Chrzanów ( [ˈxʂanuf] ) is a town in southern Poland with 35,651 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999) and is the seat of Chrzanów County .
111-451: It is impossible to establish a reliable date for the foundation of the town. A stronghold existed on the site, which was later raised to the rank of a castellany . The earliest documents which corroborate the existence of Chrzanów castellany come from the late 12th century when, in around 1178, Chrzanów castellany was annexed to Silesia by order of Duke Casimir II the Just . In the second half of
222-549: A West Slavic tribe, settled on the Oder river and erected a fortified gord on Ostrów Tumski . Wrocław originated at the intersection of two trade routes , the Via Regia and the Amber Road . Archeological research conducted in the city indicates that it was founded around 940. In 985, Duke Mieszko I of Poland conquered Silesia, and constructed new fortifcations on Ostrów. The town
333-574: A fortress ( Festung ), to be held at all costs. An attempted evacuation of the city took place in January 1945, with 18,000 people freezing to death in icy snowstorms of −20 °C (−4 °F) weather. In February 1945, the Soviet Army approached the city and the German Luftwaffe began an airlift to the besieged garrison. A large area of the city centre was demolished and turned into an airfield by
444-476: A free noble or a ministerialis , but either way, he administered the castle as a vassal . A ministerialis , was wholly subordinate to a lord and was under his control. Ministeriales replaced free nobles as castellans of Hohensalzburg under Conrad I of Abensberg ’s tenure as Archbishop of Salzburg from 1106 to 1147, beginning with Henry of Seekirchen in the 1130s. In the Medieval Kingdom of Hungary
555-507: A green crown-shaped half-wreath). In the left field were the coat of arms of Poland . In 1964 the flag of Chrzanów was adopted. During the session of the City Council on 21 May 1964 it was decided that the city colours would be blue and red put in two horizontal stripes, exactly like the colours of the Polish national flag. It seems quite probable that the choice of colours had been determined by
666-608: A major centre of science; Johannes Brahms later wrote his Academic Festival Overture to thank the university for an honorary doctorate awarded in 1879. In 1821, the (Arch)Diocese of Breslau withdrew from dependence on the Polish archbishopric of Gniezno, and Breslau became an exempt see. In 1822, the Prussian police discovered the Polonia Polish youth resistance organization and carried out arrests of its members and searches of their homes. In 1848, many local Polish students joined
777-640: A mob. The number of Poles as a percentage of the total population fell to just 0.5% after the re-emergence of Poland as a state in 1918, when many moved to Poland. Antisemitic riots occurred in 1923. The city boundaries were expanded between 1925 and 1930 to include an area of 175 km (68 sq mi) with a population of 600,000. In 1929, the Werkbund opened WuWa ( German : Wohnungs- und Werkraumausstellung ) in Breslau-Scheitnig, an international showcase of modern architecture by architects of
888-470: A settlement belonging to Governor Piotr Włostowic (also known as Piotr Włast Dunin ) was built, and another on the left bank of the River Oder, near the present site of the university. While the city was largely Polish, it also had communities of Bohemians (Czechs), Germans , Walloons and Jews . In the 13th century, Wrocław was the political centre of the divided Polish kingdom. In April 1241, during
999-843: A traditional, realistic picture of a pigeon, without an olive branch, was created on a napkin at the Monopol Hotel in Wrocław during the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace . In 1963, Wrocław was declared a closed city because of a smallpox epidemic . In 1982, during martial law in Poland , the anti-communist underground organizations Fighting Solidarity and Orange Alternative were founded in Wrocław. Wrocław's dwarves , made of bronze, famously grew out of and commemorate Orange Alternative. In 1983 and 1997, Pope John Paul II visited
1110-520: Is a university city with a student population of over 130,000, making it one of the most youth-oriented cities in the country. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the University of Wrocław , previously the German Breslau University, has produced nine Nobel Prize laureates and is renowned for its high quality of teaching. Wrocław also possesses numerous historical landmarks, including
1221-481: Is a term denoting a district administered by a castellan. Castellanies appeared during the Middle Ages and in most current states are now replaced by a more modern type of county subdivision. The word is derived from castle and literally means the extent of land and jurisdiction attached to a given castle. There are equivalent, often cognate, terms in other languages. Examples of French châtelainies include
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#17328948168821332-599: Is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship . The history of the city dates back over 1,000 years; at various times, it has been part of the Kingdom of Poland , the Kingdom of Bohemia , the Kingdom of Hungary , the Habsburg monarchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany , until it became again part of Poland in 1945 as the result of territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II . Wrocław
1443-800: The -Vr- sound being replaced over time by -Br- , and the suffix -slav- replaced with -slau- . These variations included Wrotizla , Vratizlau , Wratislau , Wrezlau , Breßlau or Bresslau among others. A Prussian description from 1819 mentions two names of the city – Polish and German – stating "Breslau (polnisch Wraclaw)”. In other languages, the city's name is: German : Breslau [ˈbʁɛslaʊ] ; Silesian German : Brassel ; Yiddish : ברעסלוי , romanized : Bresloi ; Silesian : Wrocław ; modern Czech : Vratislav [ˈvracɪslaf] ; Hungarian : Boroszló [ˈborosloː] ; Hebrew : ורוצלב , romanized : Vrotsláv ; and Latin : Wratislavia or Vratislavia . People born or resident in
1554-533: The 1st Ukrainian Front . The town escaped serious damage in this last chapter of its war history (about one-fourth of the town was damaged). The population decreased by almost half. From 30 January 1945 the town was administered first by the Town Council and then by the National Town Council. Due to ruthless political methods, local administration was soon seized by the local and incoming communists, although
1665-735: The Battle of Hundsfeld , stopping the German advance into Poland. The medieval chronicle, Gesta principum Polonorum (1112–1116) by Gallus Anonymus , named Wrocław, along with Kraków and Sandomierz , as one of three capitals of the Polish Kingdom. Also, the Tabula Rogeriana , a book written by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154, describes Wrocław as one of the Polish cities, alongside Kraków, Gniezno , Sieradz , Łęczyca and Santok . By 1139,
1776-714: The Duchy of Silesia . One of the most important events during this period was the foundation of the Diocese of Wrocław in 1000. Along with the Bishoprics of Kraków and Kołobrzeg , Wrocław was placed under the Archbishopric of Gniezno in Greater Poland , founded by Pope Sylvester II through the intercession of Polish duke (and later king) Bolesław I the Brave and Emperor Otto III , during
1887-606: The English Channel . The Constable of the Tower of London and those castellans subordinate to the dukes of Normandy were responsible for their administration. Vivian Lipman posits four reasons for this: the castles provided defence, they were centres of administration, their dungeons were used as prisons, and castellans could turn to the Jewish community to borrow money as usury was forbidden to Catholics. A castellany , or castellania,
1998-556: The French Revolution . During the 19th and 20th centuries, châtelain was used to describe the owner of a castle or manor house, in many cases a figure of authority in his parish, akin to the English squire . In Germany the castellan was known as a Burgmann , or sometimes Hauptmann ("captain"), who reported to the lord of the castle, or Burgherr , also often known as the burgrave ( Burggraf ). The burgmann may have been either
2109-541: The Greater Poland uprising against Prussia. On 5 May 1848, a convention of Polish activists from the Prussian and Austrian partitions of Poland was held in the city. On 10 October 1854, the Jewish Theological Seminary opened. The institution was the first modern rabbinical seminary in Central Europe. In 1863 the brothers Karl and Louis Stangen founded the travel agency Stangen, the second travel agency in
2220-669: The Lodz Voivodeship , and Wojnicz now in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Otmuchów in Silesia . In France, castellans (known in French as châtelains ) who governed castellanies without a resident count , acquired considerable powers such that the position became hereditary. By the tenth century, the fragmentation of power had become so widespread that in Mâcon , for instance, where
2331-736: The Main Market Square , Cathedral Island , Wrocław Opera , the National Museum and the Centennial Hall , which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The city is also home to the Wrocław Zoo , the oldest zoological garden in Poland. Wrocław is classified as a Sufficiency global city by GaWC . It is often featured in lists of the most livable places in the world, and was ranked 1st among all medium and small cities by fDi Intelligence in 2021. In 1989, 1995 and 2019 Wrocław hosted
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#17328948168822442-747: The Officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem . Anselm was the first such castellan, c. 1110. A castellan was established in Valletta on the island of Malta. In the Kingdom of Poland and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , castellans ( Polish : Kasztelan ) were the lowest rung of the territorial administration of the country and deferred to voivodes (with the exception of the Burgrave of Kraków (Polish Burgrabia krakowski ) who had precedence over
2553-646: The Polish Legion , but three Legions' envoys were arrested by the Germans in November 1914 and deported to Austria, and the organization soon ended its activities in the city. During the war, the Germans operated seven forced labour camps for Allied prisoners of war in the city. Following the war, Breslau became the capital of the newly created Prussian Province of Lower Silesia of the Weimar Republic in 1919. After
2664-674: The Seven Years' War at the Battle of Breslau , but they were unsuccessful. The Venetian Italian adventurer, Giacomo Casanova , stayed in Breslau in 1766. During the Napoleonic Wars , it was occupied by the Confederation of the Rhine army. The fortifications of the city were levelled, and monasteries and cloisters were seized. The Protestant Viadrina European University at Frankfurt an der Oder
2775-611: The Voivode of Kraków ). Castellans were in charge of a subdivision of a voivodeship called the castellany (Polish Kasztelania ) until the 15th-century. From then on castellanies, depending on their size, either became provinces , or in the case of smaller domains were replaced by powiats and the castellan role became honorific and was replaced in situ by a Starosta . Castellans in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were of senatorial rank and were often appointed from
2886-716: The Western Allies to place the southern Polish-German boundary on the Eastern Neisse , which meant post-war Germany would have been allowed to retain approximately half of Silesia, including those parts of Breslau that lay on the west bank of the Oder. However, the Soviet government insisted the border be drawn at the Lusatian Neisse farther west. The city's German inhabitants who had not fled, or who had returned to their home city after
2997-520: The first Mongol invasion of Poland , the city was abandoned by its inhabitants and burnt down for strategic reasons. During the battles with the Mongols Wrocław Castle was successfully defended by Henry II the Pious . In 1245, in Wrocław, Franciscan friar Benedict of Poland , considered one of the first Polish explorers, joined Italian diplomat Giovanni da Pian del Carpine , on his journey to
3108-479: The "ban" – that is, to hear court cases and collect fines, taxes from residents, and muster local men for the defence of the area or the realm. There are similarities with a lord of the manor . Castellans had the power to administer all local justice, including sentencing and punishments up to and including the death penalty, as when, in 1111, the Salzburg castellan caught the minister fomenting armed rebellion and had
3219-563: The 125th anniversary of the German Wars of Liberation against Napoleon's invasion. During the invasion of Poland , which started World War II , in September 1939, the Germans carried out mass arrests of local Polish activists and banned Polish organizations, and the city was made the headquarters of the southern district of the Selbstschutz , whose task was to persecute Poles . For most of
3330-554: The 13th century it was reunited with the Duchy of Kraków . In 1241 the wooden stronghold of Chrzanów was put to the torch by Mongol hordes invading Poland from the east. The town of Chrzanów was rebuilt according to the Magdeburg Law in the mid-14th century under the reign of King Casimir III the Great . However it seems that it was not surrounded by defence walls. It is believed that Chrzanów
3441-424: The 16th century King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland bestowed a new privilege on the town, allowing for four extra fairs. Various guilds were active in the town: weavers', tailors', shoemakers', smiths', butchers' and others. Ancient Chrzanów's speciality was trading cattle, as here was a customs house for exports of cattle to Silesia and ore trade which was mined and smelted by Chrzanów's burghers. In 1640 Chrzanów
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3552-462: The 9th century, as fortifications improved and kings had difficulty making their subordinates pay their taxes or send the military aid they demanded, castellans grew in power, holding their fiefdoms without much concern for their overlord's demands. This changed as kings grew in power and as the Holy Roman Emperors replaced recalcitrant vassals with rival ministerial appointments. Usually
3663-664: The Cracovian Senator and MP from Chrzanów Jan Mieroszewski. In 1856 Mieroszewski decided to sell his Chrzanów estate to a group of Wrocław entrepreneurs, one of whom, Emanuel Loewenfeld, soon became the sole owner. In 1846 a revolt broke out in Kraków. Outside Cracow Austrian troops were also engaged in battle at Chrzanów where in February 1846 a 15-troop squad commanded by the owner of Kwaczała estate, Józef Patelski, victoriously attacked Austrian troops forcing them to withdraw. The revolt
3774-908: The European Youth Meetings of the Taizé Community , the Eucharistic Congress in 1997, and the 2012 European Football Championship . In 2016, the city was a European Capital of Culture and the World Book Capital . Also in that year, Wrocław hosted the Theatre Olympics , World Bridge Games and the European Film Awards . In 2017, the city was host to the IFLA Annual Conference and the World Games . In 2019, it
3885-640: The German Empire, Breslau eventually became one of the strongest support bases of the Nazi Party , which in the 1932 elections received 44% of the city's vote, their third-highest total in all Germany. After Hitler 's appointment as German Chancellor in 1933, political enemies of the Nazis were persecuted, and their institutions closed or destroyed. KZ Dürrgoy , one of the first concentration camps in Nazi Germany ,
3996-433: The Germans in February 1943. On 29 April 1942 the Germans hanged seven Jews in Krzyska Street in Chrzanow. The seven Jews were accused of illegally baking bread. The victims were Israel Gerstner (bakery owner), Chaim Gerstner, Szymszen Gerstner, Szaja Szpangelet, Fajwel Waloman, Israel Frisz and an unknown man from Olkusz. German occupation was terminated on 24 January 1945 when Chrzanów was taken over by Soviet troops of
4107-401: The Gniezno Congress. In the years 1034–1038 the city was affected by the pagan reaction in Poland . The city became a commercial centre and expanded to Wyspa Piasek (Sand Island), and then onto the left bank of the River Oder . Around 1000, the town had about 1,000 inhabitants. In 1109 during the Polish-German war , Prince Bolesław III Wrymouth defeated the King of Germany Henry V at
4218-439: The Józef Piłsudski Children's House, a new building of Chrzanów Secondary School etc.), a residential area between Henry Avenue and Oświęcimska St. and housing estates at Kolonia Fabryczna and Rospontowa constructed for the employees of Fablok works. The population of the town in 1921 was 12,244 and 18,106 according to the 1931 census. In 1939 the number of residents was 22,000. With the outbreak of World War II (1 September 1939)
4329-405: The Lowenfeld family. This initiated dynamic development of the town in S-W direction and intensive urbanization of the neighbourhood continued in the interwar period. In 1911 Chrzanów Secondary School was founded. Following Austria-Hungary 's collapse in 1918 Chrzanów with the rest of Galicia was reunited with the Republic of Poland . In the years 1919-1939 Chrzanów and Chrzanów County belonged to
4440-420: The Polish-Russian war which broke out in 1792, Chrzanów was occupied by Russian (1792–1793) and Prussian troops (1793–1795). In 1795, following the third partition of Poland-Lithuania , Chrzanów was annexed to Galicia in the Habsburg Empire . In the period 1795-1809 Chrzanów was a part of Austrian Galicia . In 1809, as a result of the war between Austria and the Duchy of Warsaw , West Galicia with Chrzanów
4551-428: The Province of Cracow (Voivodeship) in the Second Polish Republic. In the interwar years further industrialization of the town followed. In the 1920s Stella ceramic works and Fablok , the First Locomotive Factory in Poland, were founded. Many residents found employment there. The interwar years was the period of dynamic urbanization. A number of public buildings were constructed then (the Józef Piłsudski County Hospital,
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4662-421: The Province of Katowice until 1999. Since 1999 Chrzanów has been a county seat in Małopolskie, or Lesser Poland Voivodeship . Detailed data as of 31 December 2021: The ancient coat of arms of Chrzanów, the St Nicholas, was created perhaps in the 14th century simultaneously with granting the Magdeburg Rights to Chrzanów. The oldest preserved seals of the town of Chrzanów are charged with an effigy of St Nicholas,
4773-443: The Silesian branch of the Werkbund. In June 1930, Breslau hosted the Deutsche Kampfspiele , a sporting event for German athletes after Germany was excluded from the Olympic Games after World War I. The number of Jews remaining in Breslau fell from 23,240 in 1925 to 10,659 in 1933. Up to the beginning of World War II, Breslau was the largest city in Germany east of Berlin . Known as a stronghold of left wing liberalism during
4884-416: The Wrocław bishops. In the 16th century, the Breslauer Schöps beer style was created in Breslau. The Protestant Reformation reached the city in 1518 and it converted to the new rite. However, starting in 1526 Silesia was ruled by the Catholic House of Habsburg . In 1618, it supported the Bohemian Revolt out of fear of losing the right to religious freedom . During the ensuing Thirty Years' War ,
4995-410: The banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe , roughly 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the Sudeten Mountains to the south. As of 2023 , the official population of Wrocław is 674,132 making it the third largest city in Poland. The population of the Wrocław metropolitan area is around 1.25 million. Wrocław is the historical capital of Silesia and Lower Silesia . Today, it
5106-399: The campaign which ended at the Battle of Leipzig . The Confederation of the Rhine had increased prosperity in Silesia and in the city. The removal of fortifications opened room for the city to expand beyond its former limits. Breslau became an important railway hub and industrial centre, notably for linen and cotton manufacture and the metal industry. The reconstructed university served as
5217-435: The castellan of Uxelles annexed first Briançon , then Sennecey-le-Grand and finally l'Épervière. In other areas, castellans did not manage to rise to noble status and remained the local officer of a noble. During the Ancien Régime , castellans were heads of local royal administration, and their power was further delegated to their lieutenants. All remaining lordships and local royal administrators were suppressed during
5328-419: The castellan was called "várnagy", and in the Latin chronicles he appeared as "castellanus". The lord of the castle had very similar functions to those in German lands. In Hungary the King initially designated castellans from among his court for the administration of castles and estates. Later designation of castellans devolved to the most powerful noblemen. At one time there was a castellan nominated from among
5439-405: The castellanies of Ivry-la-Bataille , Nonancourt , Pacy-sur-Eure , Vernon and Gaillon , all in Normandy, which under in the treaty of Issoudun of 1195, after a war with King Richard I of England , were acquired for the French crown by Philip Augustus . Examples of castellanies in Poland include: Łęczyca and Sieradz (both duchies at one time), Spycimierz , Rozprza , Wolbórz now in
5550-427: The castellany was the basic unit of governance, there was no effective administrative level above it, so that the counts of Mâcon were largely ignored by their subordinate castellans from about 980 to 1030. In the 12th century châtelains had become "lords" in their own right and were able to expand their territories to include weaker castellanies. Thus the castellan of Beaujeu was able to take over lands in Lyons , or
5661-438: The centre of German Baroque literature and was home to the First and Second Silesian school of poets. In 1742, the Schlesische Zeitung was founded in Breslau. In the 1740s the Kingdom of Prussia annexed the city and most of Silesia during the War of the Austrian Succession . Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa ceded most of the territory in the Treaty of Breslau in 1742 to Prussia. Austria attempted to recover Silesia during
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#17328948168825772-408: The city are known as " Wrocławians " or "Vratislavians" ( Polish : wrocławianie ). The now little-used German equivalent is " Breslauer ." In ancient times, there was a place called Budorigum at or near the site of Wrocław. It was already mapped on Claudius Ptolemy 's map of AD 142–147. Settlements in the area existed from the 6th century onward during the migration period . The Ślężans ,
5883-462: The city at the time at 20,000 to 30,000. The population was 58% Protestant, 37% Catholic (including at least 2% Polish) and 5% Jewish (totaling 20,536 in the 1905 census). The Jewish community of Breslau was among the most important in Germany, producing several distinguished artists and scientists. From 1912, the head of the university's Department of Psychiatry and director of the Clinic of Psychiatry ( Königlich Psychiatrischen und Nervenklinik )
5994-416: The city was occupied by Saxon and Swedish troops and lost thousands of inhabitants to the plague . The Emperor brought in the Counter-Reformation by encouraging Catholic orders to settle in the city, starting in 1610 with the Franciscans , followed by the Jesuits , then Capuchins , and finally Ursuline nuns in 1687. These orders erected buildings that shaped the city's appearance until 1945. At
6105-407: The city's defenses. Important landmarks were inaugurated in 1910, the Kaiser bridge (today Grunwald Bridge ) and the Technical University , which now houses the Wrocław University of Technology . The 1900 census listed 98% of the population as German-speakers, with 5,363 Polish-speakers (1.3%), and 3,103 (0.7%) as bilingual in German and Polish, although some estimates put the number of Poles in
6216-440: The city's name as Wrotizlava and Wrotizlaensem , characteristic of Old Polish -ro-, unlike Old Czech -ra- . In the Polish language , the city's name Wrocław derives from the given name Wrocisław , which is the Polish equivalent of the Czech Vratislav. Also, the earliest variations of this name in the Old Polish language would have used the letter l instead of the modern Polish ł . The Old Czech language version of
6327-449: The city, as well as Polish slave labourers, organised a resistance group called Olimp . The organisation gathered intelligence, carrying out sabotage and organising aid for Polish slave workers. In September 1941 the city's 10,000 Jews were expelled from their homes and soon deported to concentration camps. Few survived the Holocaust . As the war continued, refugees from bombed-out German cities, and later refugees from farther east, swelled
6438-399: The city, so that today the proportion of the Polish population compared to that of the Germans is the reverse of what it was a hundred years ago. Traces of the German past, such as inscriptions and signs, were removed. In 1948, Wrocław organized the Recovered Territories Exhibition and the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace . Picasso 's lithograph, La Colombe (The Dove),
6549-420: The city. After the outbreak of the uprising in 1863, the Prussian police carried out mass searches of Polish homes, especially those of Poles who had recently come to the city. The city's inhabitants, both Poles and Germans, excluding the German aristocracy, largely sympathized with the uprising, and some Germans even joined local Poles in their secret activities. In June 1863 the city was officially confirmed as
6660-485: The communists themselves constituted a tiny fraction of the politically active residents. In 1949 Chrzanów had almost 15,000 residents, increasing to 20,000 in 1960, to over 30,000 in 1975 and to 53,000 in 1993. After 1945 new enterprises were created in the town (e.g. a dairy, a cold storage plant, a slaughterhouse) and new residential areas (housing estates Północ - from 1961, Południe - from 1979, Trzebińska and so on) and cultural centres (e.g. County Cultural Centre,
6771-509: The construction of which was initiated in 1959, and Chrzanów Museum founded in 1960). In 1970-71 a new town centre was constructed focusing around the Millennium Square ( Plac Tysiąclecia ) and the Victory and Liberty Monument. In 1975, following an administrative reform abolishing counties ( powiaty ), Chrzanów ceased to be a county seat. Further, the town was detached from its original Province of Cracow, to which it belonged since restoration of Poland's independence after World War I, and annexed to
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#17328948168826882-445: The death of Henry VI the Good , to John of Luxembourg . His son Emperor Charles IV in 1348 formally incorporated the city into the Holy Roman Empire . Between 1342 and 1344, two fires destroyed large parts of the city. In 1387 the city joined the Hanseatic League . On 5 June 1443, the city was rocked by an earthquake, estimated at magnitude 6, which destroyed or seriously damaged many of its buildings. Between 1469 and 1490, Wrocław
6993-492: The death of her brother, Roger. Similarly, Agnes became the castellan of Harlech Castle upon the death of her husband John de Bonvillars in 1287. The title of "governor" is retained in the English prison system , as a remnant of the medieval idea of the castellan as head of the local prison. During the Migration Period after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (third to sixth century), foreign tribes entered Western Europe, causing strife. The answer to recurrent invasion
7104-412: The defenders. By the end of the three-month siege in May 1945, half the city had been destroyed. Breslau was the last major city in Germany to surrender, capitulating only two days before the end of the war in Europe. Civilian deaths amounted to as many as 80,000. In August the Soviets placed the city under the control of German communists . Following the Yalta Conference held in February 1945, where
7215-401: The delegate became known as the alcaide pequeno (little alcaide ) or the alcaide-menor (minor alcaide). Wroc%C5%82aw Wrocław ( Polish: [ˈvrɔt͡swaf] ; German : Breslau [ˈbʁɛslaʊ] ; also known by other names ) is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia . It lies on
7326-416: The dominant colours in the old arms of Chrzanów featuring St Nicholas, and that is why such colours were adopted. In 2009 a new flag of Chrzanów was introduced. It consists of 3 vertical stripes: a broad white one, centrally located and featuring the city's arms and two narrower pale blue stripes flanking the central stripe on both sides. Main road connections from the town include connection with Kraków (to
7437-410: The duties of a castellan consisted of military responsibility for the castle's garrison , maintaining defences and protecting the castle's lands, combined with the legal administration of local lands and workers including the castle's domestic staff. The responsibility applied even where there was no resident castellan at the castle, or if he was frequently absent. A castellan could exercise the power of
7548-433: The east) and Katowice (to the west) via the A4 highway or via the national road number 79. There are also two voivodeship roads starting from Chrzanów: road number 933 (going south-west) to Oświęcim , Pszczyna and Jastrzębie-Zdrój and road number 781 (going south-east) to Andrychów . Rail connection links Chrzanów to Kraków (to the east), Oświęcim and Czechowice-Dziedzice (south-west). There are two rail stops in
7659-484: The end of the Thirty Years' War, however, it was one of only a few Silesian cities to stay Protestant. The Polish Municipal school opened in 1666 and lasted until 1766. Precise record-keeping of births and deaths by the city fathers led to the use of their data for analysis of mortality, first by John Graunt and then, based on data provided to him by Breslau professor Caspar Neumann , by Edmond Halley . Halley's tables and analysis, published in 1693, are considered to be
7770-402: The fall of the Duchy of Warsaw (1815) the arms of the Duchy was adopted as the arms of Chrzanów. It is unclear why the ancient and traditional arms were not restored. The arms of the Duchy of Warsaw, adopted after 1815 as the arms of Chrzanów, were a shield divided in half and placed under a royal crown. In the right field of the shield were the arms of Saxony (black and golden stripes divided by
7881-479: The first true actuarial tables, and thus the foundation of modern actuarial science . During the Counter-Reformation, the intellectual life of the city flourished, as the Protestant bourgeoisie lost some of its dominance to the Catholic orders as patrons of the arts. One of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the city in the 18th century and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route. The city became
7992-566: The forced deportations from Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union in the east region, some of whom came from Lviv ( Lwów ), Volhynia , and the Vilnius Region . However, despite the prime role given to re-settlers from the Kresy , in 1949, only 20% of the new Polish population actually were refugees themselves. A small German minority (about 1,000 people, or 2% of the population) remains in
8103-515: The fourth camp. Many prisoners died, and the remaining were evacuated to the main camp of Gross-Rosen in January 1945. There were also three subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp , and two Nazi prisons in the city, including a youth prison, with multiple forced labour subcamps. In 1945, the city became part of the front lines and was the site of the brutal Siege of Breslau . Adolf Hitler had in 1944 declared Breslau to be
8214-522: The handball team named TS Fablok. In 1991 they had 8th place in the country handball league. Chrzanów is twinned with: Castellan Philosophers Works A castellan , or constable , was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe . Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from castellanus . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1194, Beatrice of Bourbourg inherited her father's castellany of Bourbourg upon
8325-526: The junction of the Via Regia and the Amber Road. With the influx of settlers, the town expanded and in 1242 came under German town law . The city council used both Latin and German , and the early forms of the name Breslau , the German name of the city, appeared for the first time in its written records. Polish gradually ceased to be used in the town books, while it survived in the courts until 1337, when it
8436-522: The name was used in Latin documents, as Vratislavia or Wratislavia . The city's first municipal seal was inscribed with Sigillum civitatis Wratislavie . By the 15th century, the Early New High German variations of the name, Breslau , first began to be used. Despite the noticeable differences in spelling, the numerous German forms were still based on the original West Slavic name of the city, with
8547-541: The nearby village of Muchobór Wielki (present-day a district of Wrocław), and in December 1474 a ceasefire was signed according to which the city remained under Hungarian rule. The following year was marked by the publication in Wrocław of the Statuta Synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensium (1475) by Kasper Elyan, the first ever incunable in Polish, containing the proceedings and prayers of
8658-539: The new geopolitics of Central Europe were decided, the terms of the Potsdam Conference decreed that along with almost all of Lower Silesia, the city would again become part of Poland in exchange for Poland's loss of the city of Lwów along with the massive territory of Kresy in the east, which was annexed by the Soviet Union . The Polish name of Wrocław was declared official. There had been discussion among
8769-496: The nobility, but not exclusively so. In Portugal, a castellan was known as an Alcaide . Later, the role of the alcaide became an honorary title awarded by the King of Portugal to certain nobles. As the honorary holder of the office of alcaide did not often live near the castle, a delegate started to be appointed to effectively govern it in his place. An honorary holder of the office became known as alcaide-mor (major alcaide ) and
8880-399: The offender blinded, "as one would a serf". Later the castellan came to serve as the representative of the people of his castellany. So happened in the case of the castellan of Bruges , when the burghers stood up for more privileges and liberties from the counts of Flanders . A particular responsibility in western Europe concerned jurisdiction over the resident Jewish communities bordering
8991-576: The patron-saint of the local church, who holds a crosier in his right hand and a book in his left and wears bishop's vestments and a bishop's mitre on his head. Next to St Nicholas the Półkozic crest is seen which was the arms of the Ligęza Family, the former owners of Chrzanów. This coat of arms had been used by the town until c. 1809, when the authorities of the Duchy of Warsaw to which Chrzanów belonged to then, annulled all municipal coats-of-arms. Following
9102-693: The population to nearly one million, including 51,000 forced labourers in 1944, and 9,876 Allied PoWs. At the end of 1944 an additional 30,000–60,000 Poles were moved into the city after the Germans crushed the Warsaw Uprising . During the war the Germans operated four subcamps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in the city. Approximately 3,400–3,800 men were imprisoned in three subcamps, among them Poles, Russians , Italians , Frenchmen , Ukrainians , Czechs , Belgians , Yugoslavs , Dutchmen , Chinese , and about 1,500 Jewish women were imprisoned in
9213-523: The region, the city council's ability to govern independently had increased. In 1274 prince Henry IV Probus gave the city its staple right . In the 13th century, two Polish monarchs were buried in Wrocław churches founded by them, Henry II the Pious in the St. Vincent church and Henryk IV Probus in the Holy Cross church . Wrocław, which for 350 years had been mostly under Polish hegemony , fell in 1335, after
9324-486: The seat of secret Polish insurgent authorities. In January 1864, the Prussian police arrested a number of members of the Polish insurgent movement. The Unification of Germany in 1871 turned Breslau into the sixth-largest city in the German Empire . Its population more than tripled to over half a million between 1860 and 1910. The 1900 census listed 422,709 residents. In 1890, construction began of Breslau Fortress as
9435-560: The seat of the Mongol Khan near Karakorum , the capital of the Mongol Empire , in what is considered the first such journey by Europeans. After the Mongol invasion the town was partly populated by German settlers who, in the ensuing centuries, gradually became its dominant population. The city, however, retained its multi-ethnic character, a reflection of its importance as a trading post on
9546-575: The surrounding areas are annexed to the newly created state. In 1838 Chrzanów had 4078 residents: 2009 of the Roman-Catholic and 2069 of the Jewish faith. The period of the Free City of Cracow was a time of prosperity and rapid development for Chrzanów and its residents. In this period ownership of the town changed again. The former owner, Duke Albert Casimir of Saxe-Cieszyn, bequeathed the town to Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria (1822), who in turn sold it to
9657-506: The town itself was renamed Krenau . Jewish residents were resettled to a ghetto , created in 1941. It was not surrounded by walls, like in other Polish towns, nevertheless the Jews were not allowed to venture outside the ghetto. From 1942 the Germans started sending Chrzanów's Jews to the death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau . The last transport of Jews from Chrzanów to Birkenau was organized by
9768-400: The town was flooded with refugees from Upper Silesia . In the morning of 3 September Polish local government was evacuated from the town, as well as many residents. The following day, after a number of short skirmishes with the Polish troops, the town was occupied by German troops. In November 1939 when the town with the western half of the county was annexed directly to Nazi Germany , Chrzanów
9879-478: The town. Chrzanów has, among others, seven primary schools, two secondary schools, a secondary technical school, a music school and the Academy of Business and Marketing ( Wyższa Szkoła Przedsiębiorczości i Marketingu ). The town has a number of sports venue, including a large sport hall. The main sports club is Fablok Chrzanów , founded in 1926 and sponsored by the locomotive company Fablok. The company also sponsored
9990-574: The war had ended, were expelled between 1945 and 1949 in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement and were settled in the Soviet occupation zone or in the Allied Occupation Zones in the remainder of Germany. The city's last pre-war German school was closed in 1963. The Polish population was dramatically increased by the resettlement of Poles, partly due to postwar population transfers during
10101-744: The war the Polish community began holding masses in Polish at the Church of Saint Anne, and, as of 1921, at St. Martin's and a Polish School was founded by Helena Adamczewska. In 1920 a Polish consulate was opened on the Main Square. In August 1920, during the Polish Silesian Uprising in Upper Silesia , the Polish Consulate and School were destroyed, while the Polish Library was burned down by
10212-412: The war, the fighting did not affect the city. During the war, the Germans opened the graves of medieval Polish monarchs and local dukes to carry out anthropological research for propaganda purposes, wanting to demonstrate German " racial purity ." The remains were transported to other places by the Germans, and they have not been found to this day. In 1941 the remnants of the pre-war Polish minority in
10323-774: The world. The city was an important centre of the Polish secret resistance movement and the seat of a Polish uprising committee before and during the January Uprising of 1863–1864 in the Russian Partition of Poland. Local Poles took part in Polish national mourning after the Russian massacre of Polish protesters in Warsaw in February 1861, and also organized several patriotic Polish church services throughout 1861. Secret Polish correspondence, weapons, and insurgents were transported through
10434-519: Was Alois Alzheimer and, that same year, professor William Stern introduced the concept of IQ . In 1913, the newly built Centennial Hall housed an exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the historical German Wars of Liberation against Napoleon and the first award of the Iron Cross . The Centennial Hall was built by Max Berg (1870–1947), since 2006 it is part of the world heritage of UNESCO. The central station (by Wilhelm Grapow, 1857)
10545-569: Was a particularly hard period for Chrzanów. As a result of wars waged at the time the town was looted on several occasions by the Swedes (1655–1657), the Austrians who fought against them (1657), by Transylvanian troops of Prince George Rákóczi and by Polish troops as well. During the Great Northern War Chrzanów was plundered and put to the torch by Swedish troops of King Charles XII . During
10656-520: Was an open town. The local church was mentioned for the first time in documents in the tax-register of Peter's Pence , 1325-1328. From the time of its construction in the 14th century until 1640 the town was the property of the Ligęza family of the Półkozic coat of arms. In the mid-15th century Chrzanów had c. 430 residents and in the 17th century some 650. At least from the early 15th century a parish school existed next to Chrzanów's Church of St Nicholas . In
10767-530: Was annexed to the Duchy of Warsaw. During this period ownership of the town also changed. From 1804 to 1822 Chrzanów was owned by Duke Albert Casimir of Saxe-Cieszyn , son of the late King of Poland, Augustus III of Saxony. Following the fall of Napoleon , a treaty among Austria, Prussia and Russia was concluded during the Congress of Vienna resulting in creation of the Free City of Kraków on 3 May 1815. Chrzanów and
10878-525: Was banned by the new rulers, the German-speaking House of Luxembourg . The enlarged town covered around 60 hectares (150 acres), and the new main market square , surrounded by timber-frame houses, became the trade centre of the town. The original foundation, Ostrów Tumski , became its religious centre. The city gained Magdeburg rights in 1261. While the Polish Piast dynasty remained in control of
10989-472: Was built joining Cracow with Vienna and this one ran through Chrzanów. In 1852 a zinc and lead ore mine "Matilda" was opened in the direct vicinity. Chrzanów entered the age of rapid industrialization. With it the number of residents grew. In 1870 the town had 6,323 inhabitants, 7,712 in 1890, 10,000 in 1900 and 11,572 in 1910. Henry Avenue ( Aleja Henryka ) was built in 1893 following a purchase of land situated between modern Henry Avenue and Oświęcimska St. from
11100-541: Was doomed, however, and in September 1846 Chrzanów with the entire Free City of Cracow was annexed to the Austrian Kingdom of Galicia. In 1853/54 Galicia was divided into counties (powiaty) and Chrzanów became a seat of a county. In 1847 the first part of the railway running through Chrzanów County was built: from Cracow to Silesia with railway stations in Krzeszowice , Trzebinia and Szczakowa . In 1856 another section
11211-534: Was established around Breslau to serve industrial concerns, including FAMO , Junkers , and Krupp . Tens of thousands of forced laborers were imprisoned there. The last big event organized by the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise , called Deutsches Turn-und-Sportfest (Gym and Sports Festivities), took place in Breslau from 26 to 31 July 1938. The Sportsfest was held to commemorate
11322-574: Was made a county town in the Katowice region of the Province of Upper Silesia . In 1940 the German authorities began expropriating Polish families from better houses in the town. These were given to German officials, military, policemen and German settlers from Romania. The Nazis started removing any Polish traces in the town with particular pettiness. Public buildings and shops had all signs written in Polish removed and all streets received German names. In 1941
11433-461: Was mentioned by Thietmar explicitly in the year 1000 AD in connection with its promotion to an episcopal see during the Congress of Gniezno . During Wrocław's early history, control over it changed hands between the Duchy of Bohemia (1038–1054), the Duchy of Poland and the Kingdom of Poland (985–1038 and 1054–1320). Following the fragmentation of the Kingdom of Poland , the Piast dynasty ruled
11544-460: Was named a UNESCO City of Literature . The origin of the city's name is disputed. The city was believed to be named after Duke Vratislav I of Bohemia from the Czech Přemyslid dynasty , who supposedly ruled the region between 915 and 921. However, modern scholars and historians dispute this theory; recent archeological studies prove that even if Vratislav once ruled over the area, the city
11655-459: Was not founded until at least 20 years after his death. They suggest that the founder of the city might have simply been a local prince who only shared the popular West Slavic name with the Bohemian Duke. Further evidence against Czech origin is that the oldest surviving documents containing the recorded name, such as the chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg from the early 11th century, records
11766-549: Was one of the biggest in Germany and one of the first stations with electrified railway services. Since 1900 modern department stores like Barasch (today "Feniks") or Petersdorff (built by architect Erich Mendelsohn) were erected. During World War I , in 1914, a branch of the Organizacja Pomocy Legionom ("Legion Assistance Organization") operated in the city with the goal of gaining support and recruiting volunteers for
11877-462: Was part of the Kingdom of Hungary , and king Matthias Corvinus was said to have had a Vratislavian mistress who bore him a son. In 1474, after almost a century, the city left the Hanseatic League. Also in 1474, the city was besieged by combined Polish-Czech forces. However, in November 1474, Kings Casimir IV of Poland , his son Vladislaus II of Bohemia , and Matthias Corvinus of Hungary met in
11988-475: Was relocated to Breslau in 1811, and united with the local Jesuit University to create the new Silesian Frederick-William University ( German : Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität , now the University of Wrocław ). The city became a centre of the German Liberation movement against Napoleon, and a gathering place for volunteers from all over Germany. The city was the centre of Prussian mobilisation for
12099-611: Was set up in the city in 1933. The Gestapo began actions against Polish and Jewish students (see: Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau ), Communists , Social Democrats , and trade unionists . Arrests were made for speaking Polish in public, and in 1938 the Nazi-controlled police destroyed the Polish cultural centre. In June 1939, Polish students were expelled from the university. Also many other people seen as "undesirable" by Nazi Germany were sent to concentration camps . A network of concentration camps and forced labour camps
12210-466: Was taken over by Andrzej Samuel Dembiński. Then in 1649 it was inherited by his granddaughter Katarzyna Grudzińska, and in 1675 by the Stadnicki family. In 1731 it went to Józef Kanty Ossoliński. In 1654 King John II Casimir bestowed upon Chrzanów the privilege of holding extra fairs and in 1781 a similar privilege was bestowed on the town by King Stanislaus II Augustus . The second half of the 17th century
12321-403: Was to create fortified areas which evolved into castles . Some military leaders gained control of several areas, each with a castle. The problem lay in exerting control and authority in each area when a leader could only be in one place at a time. To overcome this, they appointed castellans as their trusted vassals to manage a castle in exchange for obligations to the landlord, often a noble. In
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