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85-516: Wałbrzych ( Polish: [ˈvawbʐɨx] ; German : Waldenburg ; Silesian : Wałbrzich ; Lower Silesian : Walmbrig or Walmbrich ; Czech : Valbřich or Valdenburk ) is a city located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship , in southwestern Poland , seat of Wałbrzych County . Wałbrzych lies approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) southwest of the voivodeship capital Wrocław and about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from

170-460: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it

255-694: A forced labour subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp, a forced labour camp for Jewish men and women, two subcamps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp , intended for Jews, located in the present Gaj and Książ districts, and a Nazi prison. It was conquered by the Soviet Red Army on 8 May 1945 – coincidentally, the day World War II in Europe ended . After World War II , Waldenburg became again part of Poland under border changes demanded by

340-402: A second language , and 75–100   million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220   million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90   million people, or 16% of

425-587: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become

510-556: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from

595-577: A manor built in the 17th century, was destroyed in the 19th century. Nevertheless, the region became part of Poland after the establishment of the state under the Piast dynasty in the 10th century and during the fragmentation of the realm , it was part of various Polish-ruled duchies, the last of which was the Duchy of Świdnica until 1392, later it was also part of the Bohemian Crown and Hungary . The settlement

680-453: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained

765-548: A new castle built from 1288 to 1292 and took his residence here, adding Lord of Książ to his titles. The burgraviate included the neighbouring settlements of Świebodzice , Szczawno , and Pełcznica . When the last Świdnica duke Bolko II the Small died in 1368 without children, the castle's estates passed to the Luxembourg king Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia , the son of Bolko's niece Anne , while his widow Agnes of Habsburg reserved

850-679: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In

935-475: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it

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1020-469: Is Wrocław airport located 70 km from the city, in the closer distance, about 10 km, is located light aircraft landing ground in Świebodzice . Including date of incorporation into the city Members of Parliament ( Sejm ) elected from Wałbrzych constituency: There are many semi-professional or amateur football clubs (like Czarni Wałbrzych , Juventur Wałbrzych , Podgórze Wałbrzych , Gwarek Wałbrzych and one basketball club (KS Dark Dog plays in

1105-580: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as

1190-547: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German

1275-546: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic

1360-472: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German

1445-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25   million speak it as

1530-520: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in

1615-595: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as

1700-559: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are

1785-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and

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1870-587: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as

1955-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German

2040-510: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c.  1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period

2125-565: Is the highest peak of the Wałbrzych mountains. There are seven city parks in the city, and in the main city park ( King Jan III Sobieski Park) is the only mountain shelter in Poland, located in the city center PTTK Harcówka. Protected areas in Wałbrzych There are several natural monuments in the city; among them is the coat of arms oak, a descendant of the oak which was the inspiration for

2210-566: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish

2295-481: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers

2380-673: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to

2465-627: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as

2550-497: The Czech border. Wałbrzych has the status of municipality. Its administrative borders encompass an area of 85 km (33 sq mi) with 110,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the voivodeship and the 33rd largest in the country. Wałbrzych was once a major coal mining and industrial center alongside most of Silesia . The city was left undamaged after World War II and possesses rich historical architecture; among

2635-522: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share

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2720-473: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language

2805-514: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout

2890-724: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in

2975-644: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c.  765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in

3060-800: The Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference and was renamed to its historic Polish name Wałbrzych. Many of the Germans living in the city fled or were expelled in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement . The town was repopulated by Poles expelled from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union , particularly from Borysław , Drohobycz and Stanisławów , as well as Poles returning from France and Belgium and from forced labour in Germany. Wałbrzych

3145-640: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung

3230-536: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit.   ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this

3315-503: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and   Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German

3400-462: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from

3485-549: The usufruct for herself. After her death in the year 1392, King Wenceslaus, also King of the Romans since 1376, seized the Duchy of Świdnica and obtained Książ Castle. As Agnes, contrary to her limited real rights, had sold the Książ estates, the castle passed through many hands. In 1401 it was obtained by the Bohemian noble Janko of Chotěmice (d. after 1442), who later rose to a governor of

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3570-586: The 1960s and the schools with German as the language of instruction gradually closed. The remaining German-speakers had little contact with the German spoken and written language and the local German-Silesian dialect became moribound . The city was relatively unscathed by the Second World War, and as a result of combining the nearby administrative districts with the town and the construction of new housing estates, Wałbrzych expanded geographically. From 1975 to 1998 it

3655-747: The Central Sudeten Mountains , near the border with the Czech Republic and Germany. The city is located by the Pełcznica River at 450–500 m above sea level in a picturesque structural basin of Wałbrzych above which there are wooded ranges of the Wałbrzych Mountains . The highest elevation in the city is Mount Borowa, also known as the Black Mountain, 853 m (2798 ft) above sea level , with an observation tower since 2007, which

3740-714: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In

3825-718: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of

3910-475: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of

3995-447: The German states; the invention of the printing press c.  1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of

4080-675: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by

4165-646: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are

4250-1008: The Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German

4335-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c.  thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c.  1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy

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4420-496: The Polish 3rd league). Wałbrzych is twinned with: Bibliography German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and

4505-409: The Polish army in 1939. Supervised by SS and Organisation Todt personnel, the building complex at Fürstenstein became part of the vast underground Project Riese complex, presumably a projected Führer Headquarter and a future abode for Adolf Hitler . Construction works were carried out under inhumane conditions by forced labourers and inmates of Gross-Rosen concentration camp . The castle

4590-431: The area was first mentioned in 1536. The settlement was transformed into an industrial centre at the turn of the 19th century, when coal mining and weaving flourished. As a result of the First Silesian War the city was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742, and subsequently became part of Germany in 1871. In 1843 the city obtained its first rail connection, which linked it with Breslau (now Wrocław , Poland). In

4675-430: The castle until 1944. From the mid 16th century onwards the premises were rebuilt in a lavish Renaissance style. During World War II , the castle was seized by the Nazi regime in 1944. Count Hans Heinrich XVII of Hochberg, Prince of Pless , had moved to England in 1932 and become a British citizen; moreover, his brother Count Alexander of Hochberg , also a Polish citizen and owner of Pszczyna Castle , had joined

4760-410: The city There are two main directions of passenger railways in the city, which include: There are railway stations throughout the city: Wałbrzych Miasto, Wałbrzych Fabryczny, Wałbrzych Szczawienko, Wałbrzych Centrum , and Wałbrzych Główny , from which from May to the end of September, the starting station for weekend holiday connections to Meziměstí / Adršpach-Teplice Rocks . The nearest airport

4845-431: The city's predecessor, Lasogród, was an early medieval Slavic settlement whose inhabitants engaged in hunting, honey gathering, and later agriculture. Lasogród eventually developed into a defensive fort, the remains of which were destroyed in the 19th century during expansion of the city. However, some German sources say no archaeological or written records support notions of an early West Slavic or Lechitic settlement nor

4930-505: The coat of arms of the city, as evidenced by a nearby stone with the inscription " Stadteiche gapflanzt 1933 antstelle der Wappeneiche " ('City oak planted in 1933 in place of the coat of arms oak'). The mildest winter in the city was in 2006/2007 and 1992/1993 National roads [REDACTED] ( A4 autostrada / Bielany Wrocławskie-Świdnica-Wałbrzych-Golińsk- Czech border) Voivodeship roads [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] There are 14 bus lines in

5015-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with

5100-404: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in

5185-432: The early 20th century a glassworks and a large china tableware manufacturing plant, which are still in operation today, were built. During World War I , the Germans operated three forced labour camps for Allied prisoners of war in the city. In 1939 the city had about 65,000 inhabitants. During World War II , the Germans established and operated labour units for Italians from the Stalag VIII-A prisoner-of-war camp ,

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5270-435: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of

5355-473: The exact translation of the original Polish ‘forest castle’ Waldenburg (also referred to the castle Nowy Dwór, translated into German as: Burg Neuhaus ), whose ruins stand south of the city; the name came to be used for the entire settlement. It first appeared in the 15th century. The modern Polish name Wałbrzych comes from the German name Walbrich , a late medieval variation of the older names Wallenberg or Walmberg . Polish sources indicate

5440-431: The existence of a castle before the late 13th century. They also denounce the idea that during the Middle Ages the area of Wałbrzych was part of an unpopulated Silesian forest, known as the Silesian Przesieka . In April 2022, a coin hoard was discovered near Wałbrzych dating from the first half of the 13th century. According to 17th-century Polish historian Ephraim Naso, Wałbrzych was a small village by 1191. This assertion

5525-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,

5610-417: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of

5695-401: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Ksi%C4%85%C5%BC Castle A first fortification at the site was destroyed by the Bohemian forces of King Ottokar II in 1263. The Silesian duke Bolko I the Strict (d. 1301), ruler in Świdnica and Jawor , had

5780-403: The most recognizable landmarks is the Książ Castle , the largest castle of Lower Silesia and the third-largest in Poland. In 2015 Wałbrzych became widely known due to the search for an allegedly buried Nazi gold train , which however was not found. According to the city's official website, the earliest Polish name of the settlement was Lasogród ('forest castle'). The German name is also

5865-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted

5950-423: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from

6035-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation

6120-541: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,

6205-496: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in

6290-543: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during

6375-579: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching

6460-601: The Świdnica-Jawor lands. During the Hussite Wars , the castle was captured by the insurgents and occupied in 1428–1429. After Janko's death, the Bohemian king George of Poděbrady acquired Książ from his descendants and transferred the administration to the Moravian general Birka of Nasiedle . In 1466 Hans von Schellendorf obtained the castle from the Bohemian Crown. It was renamed Schloss Fürstenstein. The second castle complex

6545-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of

6630-530: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially

6715-557: Was devastated in 1482 by Georg von Stein, a military commander in the service of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus while his forces campaigned in Silesia. Stein granted Frederick von Hochberg the estates, his descendant Konrad I von Hochberg obtaining the castle hill in 1509. The von Hochberg family were elevated to the rank of Freiherren (Baron) in 1650, Graf (Count) in 1666, and Imperial counts ( Reichsgrafen ) in 1683, and owned

6800-485: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which

6885-629: Was first mentioned as a town in 1426, but it did not receive the rights to hold markets or other privileges due to the competition of nearby towns and the insignificance of the local landlords. Subsequently, the city became the property of the Silesian knightly families, initially the Schaffgotsches in 1372, later the Czettritzes, and from 1738, the Hochberg family, owners of Książ Castle . Coal mining in

6970-504: Was one of the few areas where a number of Germans were held back as they were deemed indispensable for the economy, e.g. coal mining. Also Greeks , refugees of the Greek Civil War , settled in Wałbrzych in the 1950s. After the Treaty of Zgorzelec , remaining Germans were treated less harshly and an ethnic German society was established in 1957. The cultural activities however disappeared by

7055-514: Was rejected by 19th-century German sources and by German historian Hugo Weczerka, who says the city was founded between 1290 and 1293, and was mentioned as Waldenberc in 1305. He places the city near Nowy Dwór (German: Neuhaus ), built by Bolko I the Strict of the Silesian Piasts . The city website, however, cites the building of the castle as a separate event in 1290. A part of Nowy Dwór castle,

7140-569: Was subsequently occupied by Red Army forces in the wake of the Vistula–Oder Offensive in 1945. A memorial marks the site of the Fürstenstein subcamp . Parts of the historic building structure were demolished during reconstruction; numerous artefacts were stolen or destroyed during the Soviet occupation. After the war the castle complex was taken over by communist authorities and served as

7225-401: Was the capital of Wałbrzych Voivodeship . At the beginning of the 1990s, because of new social and economic conditions, a decision was made to close down the town's coal mines. In 1995, a Museum of Industry and Technology was set up on the facilities of the oldest coal mine in the area, KWK THOREZ. The 2005 the film The Collector was filmed in and around Wałbrzych. Wałbrzych is located in

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