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Lower Silesia ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a historical and geographical region mostly located in Poland with small portions in the Czech Republic and Germany. It is the western part of the region of Silesia. Its largest city is Wrocław.
The first state to have a stable hold over the territory of what will be considered Lower Silesia was the short-lived Great Moravia in the 9th century. Afterwards, in the Middle Ages, Lower Silesia was part of Piast-ruled Poland. It was one of the leading regions of Poland, and its capital Wrocław was one of the main cities of the Polish Kingdom. Lower Silesia emerged as a distinctive region during the fragmentation of Poland in 1172, when the Duchies of Opole and Racibórz, considered Upper Silesia since, were formed of the eastern part of the Duchy of Silesia, and the remaining, western part was since considered Lower Silesia. The oldest Polish writing and first Polish print were created in the region. During the Ostsiedlung, the Piast rulers invited German settlers to settle in the region, which until then had a Polish majority. As a result, the region became largely German-speaking by the end of the 15th century.
With the Treaty of Trentschin the region fell under the overlordship of the Bohemian Crown in 1335 and thus became part of the Holy Roman Empire. Large parts remained under the rule of local Polish dukes of the Piast, Jagiellonian and Sobieski dynasties, some up to the 17th and 18th century. Briefly under the suzerainty of the Kingdom of Hungary, Lower Silesia fell to the Austrian Habsburg monarchy in 1526.
In 1742, Austria ceded nearly all of Lower Silesia to the Kingdom of Prussia in the Treaty of Berlin, except for the southern part of the Duchy of Neisse. Within the Prussian kingdom, the region became part of the Province of Silesia. In 1871, the Prussian-controlled portion of Lower Silesia was integrated into the German Empire. After World War I, Lower Silesia was divided, as small parts were reintegrated with Poland and Czechoslovakia, which both regained independence. In the interbellum, the Polish minority of the region was persecuted in the German-controlled part of the region.
After Germany's defeat in World War II in 1945, most of the region became once again part of Poland, while a smaller part west of the Oder-Neisse line became part of East Germany and Czech Lower Silesia (Jesenicko and Opavsko regions) remained as a part of Czechoslovakia. By 1949, almost the entire pre-war German population was expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. Poles displaced from the former Polish lands incorporated into the USSR settled in Lower Silesia after the war, as well as Polish settlers from other parts of Poland.
The region is known for its historic architecture of various styles, including many castles and palaces, well preserved or reconstructed , numerous , and historic burial sites of Polish monarchs and consorts (in Wrocław, Legnica and Trzebnica).
The southern border of Lower Silesia is mapped by the mountain ridge of the Western Sudetes and Central Sudetes Sudetes, which since the High Middle Ages formed the border between Polish Silesia and the historic region of the present-day Czech Republic. The Bóbr and Kwisa rivers are considered being the original western border with the , however, the Silesian Duchy of Żagań reached up to the Lusatian Neisse river, including two villages (Krauschwitz and Neudorf) on the western shore, which became Silesian in 1413.
The later Silesian Province of Prussia further comprised the adjacent lands of historic Upper Lusatia ceded by the Kingdom of Saxony after the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, its westernmost point could be found as far west as the small village of Lindenau (now belonging to the German state of Brandenburg). To the north, Lower Silesia originally stretched up to Świebodzin and Krosno Odrzańskie, which was acquired by the Margraves of Brandenburg in 1482. The Barycz river forms the border with historic Greater Poland in the northeast, the Upper Silesian lands lie to the southeast.
Administratively Polish Lower Silesia is shared between Lower Silesian Voivodeship (except for the Upper Lusatian counties of Lubań and Zgorzelec County, and former Bohemian Kłodzko), the southern part of Lubusz Voivodeship (i.e. the counties of Krosno Odrzańskie, Nowa Sól, Świebodzin, Żagań and Zielona Góra with the city of Zielona Góra, as well as western Opole Voivodeship (the counties of Brzeg County, Namysłów and Nysa County).
The tiny part of the former Duchy of Żagań on the western shore of the Neisse is today part of the Krauschwitz municipality in the Görlitz district of Saxony, the larger Upper Lusatian parts of Prussian Silesia ("Silesian Upper Lusatia") west of the Neisse comprised the town of Görlitz and the former district of Hoyerswerda, which today forms the northern part of the Saxon Görlitz and Bautzen districts as well as the southern part of the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district in Brandenburg. The southern part of the former Duchy of Nysa, which remained a part of Austrian Silesia after 1742, namely the Jeseník District and Heřmanovice, Mnichov and Železná, as well as parts of Vrbno pod Pradědem in the Bruntál District, today belongs to the Czech Republic.
Lower Silesia is bordered by Greater Poland and Lubusz Land in the north, Upper Silesia in the east, Moravia in the south-east, Bohemia and Kłodzko Land in the south, and Lusatia in the west.
The Lower Silesian section of the Sudetes comprises the Jizera Mountains (highest peak: Wysoka Kopa, ), where the tripoint with Upper Lusatia and Bohemia is located near the Smrk summit, along with the adjacent Giant Mountains (highest: border peak of Sněžka Śnieżka – highest mountain of Czech Republic, ); Rudawy Janowickie (Skalnik, ); Owl Mountains (Wielka Sowa, ); Stone Mountains (Waligóra ); Wałbrzych Mountains (Borowa Mountain ) and the Kaczawskie Mountains (Okole, ) with Ostrzyca, - they surround the Jelenia Góra valley, ; Ślęża Massif (Mount Ślęża ), massive of Orlické hory, Králický Sněžník south of Kłodzko, Rychlebské hory and Jeseníky (; Praděd, ).
The region of the lowlands is coated with a thick layer of glacial elements (sand, gravels, clay) that covers more diverse relief of the older ground. Generally flat and wide bottoms of the valleys are padded with river settlements. Slopes of the hills over are coated with fertile clays and therefore, to begin with, the Paleozoic era, they became the lands for people to settle and cultivate intensively. The later form of the economy caused almost complete deforestation of the slopes. Not only fertile grounds, but also the mild climate is conductive to the development of agriculture and market gardening. The annual average temperature of the Wrocław area is . The average temperature of the hottest month (July) is , and of the coldest month (January). The average amount of rainfall is , with its maximum in July and minimum in February. The snow layer disappears after 45 days. The winds, similar to those appearing in the West side of Poland, are West and Southwest.
Sudeten rivers are characterized by changeable water rates, and high pollution resulting from large industrialization of the area. The greatest rivers are Nysa Kłodzka, which is the source of drinking water for Wrocław (the water is drawn by special channel); Stobrawa River, Oława, Ślęza, Bystrzyca with its tributaries—Strzegomka and Piława; Widawa, Średzka Woda, Kaczawa with Nysa Szalona and Czarna Woda. There is also the largest right-bank tributary of the area, Barycz. The other quite large rivers, Bóbr, Kwisa, and Lusatian Neisse, flow into the Oder River beyond Lower Silesian borders. The majority of the rivers is regulated and their basins are improved, which is conductive to the proper water economy. The characteristic feature of the landscape of the lowland is the lack of lakes. The region of Legnica is the only place where a dozen or so of small lakes survived, but the majority of them is already disappearing. The largest one is Jezioro Kunickie (), Jezioro Koskowickie (), Jezioro Jaśkowickie () and Tatarak (). In contrast to the number of lakes, there are large groups of artificial ponds founded in the Barycz basin, in the Middle Ages. Their total area amounts around , and the largest ponds (Stary Staw, Łosiowy Staw, Staw Niezgoda, Staw Mewi Duży, and Grabownica) come to .
The primeval flora has been transformed significantly as a result of deforestation and cultivation. The largest forest complexes are Bory Dolnośląskie (), Bory Stobrawskie in Stobrawa and Widawa areas, and smaller fragments of forests in Barycz and Oder River valleys. These forests are kind of multi-species deciduous forests, occurring in fertile grounds. The Oder River valley is reach in groups of mixed forests (beech, oak, hornbeam, sycamore maple, and pine). These forests, with protected status, are: Zwierzyniec, Kanigóra near Oława, Dublany, Kępa Opatowicka near Wrocław, Zabór near Przedmoście, and Lubiąż. The other forest areas are The Natural Park in Orsk, the areas of Jodłowice, Wzgórze Joanny near Milicz, and Gola near Twardogóra. Such types of forest like those which are the mainstay for wild game or nurseries, are inaccessible because of permanent fire hazard. Territories partly accessible (marked specially) are located in areas of Góra Śląska, Oborniki Śląskie, Wołowa, in the Oder River valley, and in Wzgórza Niemczańsko-Strzelińskie.
The zone of mountain forest is divided into two belts: subalpine and lower subalpine forest. Above, there is a forestless zone divided into the subalpine belt with dwarf pine, and the alpine belt without shrubs. This vegetation is glacial; the former vegetation—from the Tertiary period—was destroyed by the climate of the Ice Age. Along with glaciation from the North, some tundra plants appeared, for example downy willow ( Salix lapponum) and cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus). The flora of Lower Silesia is strongly influenced by geological and climatic history. The vegetation is formed by species deriving from various geographic regions. Particular regions are represented by:
Despite transformation of the basic tree vegetation, the same form of undergrowth survived. There occurs: daphne mezereum, red elderberry, hazel, platanthera bifolia, sweet woodruff, Herb Paris, cranberry, wood sorrel, chickweed wintergreen, Common Cow-wheat and lily of the valley. The parts over 800 m are mainly covered with grasses, purple small-reeds, cranberries, and willow gentian.
In highlighted places, on meadows, and along roads, there occurs: spotted orchid, Ajuga, yellow archangel, arnica montana, sword-leaved helleborine, rosebay willowherb, Senecio vulgaris, and foxglove. Along riversides, there occurs white butterbur.
Pine forests are rich in spruces, which are permanently weakened by atmospheric factors. Frayed roots are easily infected by harmful fungus and . The most damaging is honey mushroom, with edible specimen, which grows in pulp, between the bark and timber, causing the death of tree. The other damaging fungus is bracket fungus, which destroys roots and trunks from the inside. The honey mushroom devastates the tree within a few months, and the bracket fungus, within a few years, as a result of mechanic changes in wood structure.
In the Neolithic (4000–1700 BC), began the process of transformation into a settled way of life. The first rural settlements were made, as people began to farm and breed animals. Mining, pottery, and weaving are dated to this period. Serpentinite quarries came into existence, of which Silesian hatchets were made, and near Jordanów Śląski, people extracted nephrite that was transformed into diverse tools. In the Bronze Age (1700–1500 BC), the evolution of different cultures developed to the existence of Unetice culture that affected the existence of Trzciniec culture. In the next periods since , it encompasses all of Europe.
The Bavarian Geographer () referred to the West Slavic Ślężanie (the other possible source of the region's Śląsk and later Silesia name), centered on Niemcza, and Dziadoszanie tribes, while a 1086 document issued by Bishop Jaromir of Prague listed the Zlasane, Trebovane, Poborane, and Dedositze. At the same time, Upper Silesia was inhabited by the Opolanie, Lupiglaa, and Golenshitse tribes. In the late 9th century, the territory was subject to the realm of Prince Svatopluk I and from about 906 came under the rule of the Přemyslid duke Spytihnev I of Bohemia and his successors Vratislaus I, the alleged founder of Wrocław (), and Boleslaus the Cruel.
In 1000 his son and successor Bolesław I Chrobry founded the Diocese of Wrocław, which, together with the Diocese of Kraków and Kołobrzeg, was placed under the Archbishopric of Gniezno in Greater Poland, founded by Emperor Otto III at the Congress of Gniezno in the same year. The ecclesial suzerainty of Gniezno over Wrocław lasted until 1821. After a temporary shift to Bohemia in the first half of the 11th century, Lower Silesia continued to be an integral part of the Polish state until the end of its fragmentation period when all Polish claims on this land were finally renounced in favor of the Bohemian kingdom in 1348.
Various Polish defensive battles against the invading Germans took place in the region in the Middle Ages, including the victorious battles of Niemcza in 1017 and Głogów and Psie Pole in 1109. In the early 12th century, Wrocław was named one of the three major cities of the Polish Kingdom alongside Kraków and Sandomierz in the oldest Polish chronicle, Gesta principum Polonorum. One of the largest battles of medieval Poland, the Battle of Legnica, during the first Mongol invasion of Poland was fought in the region 1241. Also a leading region of medieval Poland. The first-ever granting of town privileges in Polish history happened there, when Złotoryja was granted such rights in 1211 by Henry the Bearded. Medieval municipal rights modeled after Lwówek Śląski and Środa Śląska, both established by Henry the Bearded, became the basis of municipal form of government for several cities and towns in Poland, and two of five local Polish variants of medieval town rights. In the 13th century the Book of Henryków, a chronicle containing the oldest known text in Polish, was created in the region. In the Middle Ages, gold () and silver () were mined in the region, which is reflected in the names of the former mining towns of Złotoryja, Złoty Stok and Srebrna Góra. The city of Bolesławiec is a major center of pottery production since the Middle Ages, which the tradition of production of Bolesławiec pottery, also referred to as Polish pottery, cultivated to this day.
The Duchy of Silesia was first split into lower and upper parts in 1172 during the period of Poland's feudal fragmentation, when the land was divided between two sons of former High Duke Władysław II. The elder Bolesław the Tall ruled over Lower Silesia with his capital in Wrocław, and younger Mieszko Tanglefoot ruled over Upper Silesia with his capital at first in Racibórz, from 1202 in Opole. Later Silesia was divided into as many as 17 duchies. Main duchies of Lower Silesia:
In 1319, Duchy of Jawor, the southwesternmost duchy of Lower Silesia and fragmented Poland, under Duke Henry I of Jawor, expanded westward, reaching the towns of Görlitz/Zgorzelec, Senftenberg, Zittau and Ostritz.
As a result of the Ostsiedlung and the gradual assimilation of the Slavic population, Lower Silesia had become largely German-speaking by the end of the 15th century. In 1526, the region became part of the Habsburg monarchy when Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria succeeded King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia. Brandenburg contested the inheritance, citing a treaty made with Frederick II of Legnica, but Silesia largely remained under Habsburg control until 1742. In 1675 Duke George William of Legnica died at the Brzeg Castle, as the last male member of the Piast dynasty, which founded the Polish state in the 10th century. He was buried in Legnica (Legnica).
Two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the region in the 18th century and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route.
Most of Lower Silesia, except for the southern part of the Duchy of Neisse, became part of the Kingdom of Prussia after the Silesian Wars by the 1742 Treaty of Breslau. In 1813, several battles of the War of the Sixth Coalition were fought in the region, including the Battle of the Katzbach. In 1815, it became part of the Prussian Silesia Province, which was divided into the three Lower Silesian administrative regions () of Liegnitz, Breslau and , and Upper Silesian Oppeln (including the Lower Silesian districts of Neisse and Grottkau). Reichenbach, which covered the southern part of Lower Silesia, was dissolved and its territories split between Liegnitz and Breslau in 1820; Breslau, which thereafter covered the central part of Silesia is sometimes also referred to as Middle Silesia. The western Liegnitz region was enlarged by the incorporation of the Landkreise (districts) of (Lubań), , Rothenburg and, after 1825, , all seized from the Kingdom of Saxony after the Napoleonic Wars, as well as some small areas transferred from Crossen (Czerwiensk, Nietkow, Drehnow); the exclave of Schwiebus in the north, as well as few other small exclaves in the west, were transferred to Brandenburg Province. The formerly Bohemian County of Kladsko, which had been annexed along with Silesia in 1742, was attached to the Reichenbach region in 1818, becoming part of the central Breslau region upon Reichenbach dissolution in 1820.
The Polish secret resistance movement was active in the region in the 19th century. On 5 May 1848, a convention of Polish activists from the Prussian and Austrian partitions of Poland was held in Breslau. Breslau was 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.Pater, p. 407 Secret Polish correspondence, weapons, gunpowder and insurgents were transported through the region.Pater, pp. 405–406, 415 In June 1863 Breslau was officially confirmed as the seat of secret Polish insurgent authorities.Pater, p. 412 The Prussian police arrested a number of members of the Polish insurgent movement.Pater, pp. 414–415, 418
With the unification of Germany in 1871 Lower Silesia became part of the German Empire. At the beginning of the 20th century Lower Silesia had a small Polish-speaking area in the northeastern part of the district of Namslau (Namysłów), Groß Wartenberg (Syców) and Milicz (Milicz) and a Czech-speaking minority in the rural area around Strzelin (Strzelin). There were also Polish communities in large cities such as Breslau (Wrocław) and Grünberg (Zielona Góra). During World War I, the German government operated at least 24 forced labour camps for Allied prisoners of war in the region.
After the war, the bulk of Lower Silesia remained within Germany, the Bohemian part was included within Czechoslovakia, and a small part with Rychtal was reintegrated with Poland, which just regained independence. The German part was re-organized into the Province of Lower Silesia of the Free State of Prussia consisting of the Breslau and Liegnitz regions. In the interwar period, there were multiple instances of anti-Polish violence in the German part, and in 1920 a Polish consulate in Breslau was attacked and demolished by German nationalists. In the 1930 Reichstag elections, the Nazi Party achieved 24.1 % and 20.9 % respectively in the Lower Silesian administrative districts of Breslau and Liegnitz, far above the national average. In the 1930s Jews and Poles were increasingly persecuted in the German-controlled part of the region. Many place names were Germanised in order to erase traces of Polish origin, for example streets, squares, buildings and enterprises with the name Piast were forced to change their names (including the Piast castles in Brzeg and Wołów).
During the war, the Germans established the Gross-Rosen concentration camp with around 100 subcamps in the region, in which around 125,000 people of various nationalities, among them mostly Jews, Poles and citizens of the Soviet Union, were imprisoned, and around 40,000 died. Also several German prisoner-of-war camps, including Stalag VIII-A, Stalag VIII-C, Stalag VIII-E, Stalag Luft III, Oflag VIII-A, Oflag VIII-B, Oflag VIII-C, Oflag VIII-F, with numerous forced labour subcamps were located in the region, as well as various subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B POW camp. POWs of various nationalities were held in those camps, including Poles, Frenchmen, Belgians, Britons, Italians, Canadians, Americans, Greeks, Yugoslavians, Russians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Norwegians, Lithuanians, Slovaks, etc. There were also several Nazi prisons, other forced labour camps and a camp for kidnapped Polish children up to 5 years of age, who were deemed "racially worthless" in Wąsosz, where many died. Kamieniec Ząbkowicki was the place of Aktion T4 murders of mentally ill children by involuntary euthanasia. The Project Riese construction project, which cost the lives of many forced laborers of various nationalities, was conducted by Germany in the region.
The Polish resistance movement was active in the region, including the Home Army and Olimp organization.
In the final stages of the war it was the site of several death marches perpetrated by Germany.
In view of Polish claims to the area, a memorandum prepared by the United States Department of State in May 1945 recommended that the area stay with Germany because there was "no historic or ethnic justification" for granting this land to Poland.
However, as a result of Soviet insistence at the Potsdam Conference, the Western Allies agreed to the transfer of Lower Silesia to the People's Republic of Poland. These border shifts were agreed on pending a final peace conference with Germany which eventually never took place.
From 1945 to 1975 Lower Silesia was administered within the Wrocław Voivodeship. As a result of the Local Government Reorganisation Act (1975), Poland's administration was reorganized into 49 , four of them in Lower Silesia: Jelenia Góra, Legnica, Wałbrzych, and Wrocław Voivodeships (1975–1998). As a result of the Local Government Reorganisation Act of 1998, these four provinces were joined into the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (effective 1 January 1999), whose capital is Wrocław.
Following the Korean War, in 1953–1959, Poland admitted 1,000 North Korean orphans in the region.
The region has been hit by the 1997 Central European flood.
Due to these facts, some of the inhabitants of this region still consider themselves and cultivate Silesian customs. One of their special privileges is the right to use the Lower Silesian flag and coat of arms which is guaranteed to them by the Saxon Constitution of 1992. The Evangelical Church of Silesia in Upper Lusatia, meanwhile, merged with the one of Berlin and Brandenburg to form the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia.
The main Lusatian cities within the former Duchy of Jawor and province of Lower Silesia east of Lusatian Neisse, now within Lower Silesian Voivodship are:
The A4 motorway, A18 motorway and S3 expressway run through Lower Silesia.
The most widely visited city is Wrocław where the Festival of Good Beer is held every year on the second weekend of June.
Lower Silesia boasts three World Heritage Sites and 22 Historic Monuments of Poland:
There are several burial sites of Polish monarchs and dukes from the Piast dynasty, including at Brzeg, Henryków, Lubiąż, Nysa, Trzebnica, Żagań, and several in Legnica and Wrocław. The Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Krzeszów and Church of St. John the Baptist in Legnica contain entire Baroque mausoleums of the Piast dukes from the Świdnica and Legnica lines, respectively.
Other rather unique historic structures include the Skull Chapel in Kudowa-Zdrój and the Vang Stave Church in Karpacz. The Ducal Tower in Siedlęcin contains one of the best preserved medieval frescos in Poland, and the world's only in situ depiction of Sir Lancelot.
Other landmarks include: Kłodzko Fortress, Wambierzyce, Oleśnica Mała, Mount Ślęża, Table Mountains, Owl Mountains, Karkonosze, Main Sudetes Trail (440 km from Świeradów Zdrój to Prudnik), Barycz Valley Landscape Park.
There are various museums, including the major National Museum in Wrocław with the branch Racławice Panorama Museum, and the Archdiocese Museum in Wrocław, which contains the Book of Henryków. Wrocław also hosts the Post and Telecommunications Museum, Poland's chief museum dedicated to postal history. The Regional Museum in Środa Śląska holds the Środa Treasure, containing medieval gold and silver coins, jewellery and royal regalia, considered one of the most precious archaeological findings of 20th-century Europe. The Ossolineum in Wrocław is a National Institute and Library of great importance, and the Pan Tadeusz Museum, containing the manuscript of the Polish national epos, Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz, serves as its branch. Bolesławiec, center of pottery production since the Middle Ages, hosts the Museum of Ceramics. The former gold mines in Złoty Stok and Złotoryja, tin and cobalt mine in Krobica, coal mine in Nowa Ruda and uranium ore mine in Kowary are available for tourists.
World War II sites include the museums at the former Nazi German Gross-Rosen concentration camp and Stalag VIII-C and Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camps, and memorials at the sites of other Nazi camps and prisons and to the Polish resistance movement, etc. A portion of the underground structures built as part of the unfinished Nazi German Project Riese is available for tourists.
The garrison town of Żagań hosts Poland's oldest monument of Wojtek, the soldier bear of the Polish II Corps, whereas Świebodzin hosts the Christ the King Statue, one of the world's tallest Christ statues.
Notable centers of traditional meat production include the Giant Mountains and Sudetes Foothills, the towns of Niemcza, Sława and Rychtal, and villages around Nowe Miasteczko and Żagań, whereas centers of traditional cheese and quark production include the Central Sudetes, Siedlisko, Kamienna Góra and Zgorzelec.
A plethora of traditional Polish honey is produced in various places, especially in the Sudetes, Sudetes Foothills, Barycz River Valley, Lower Silesian and Stobrawa forests and Sulechów-Zielona Góra region.
There is a rich variety of breads, pastries and cakes, and additionally traditional local types of gingerbread are baked in Oleśnica, Przemków and Zielona Góra.
Lower Silesia is one of the wine growing regions of Poland, with one of the leading centers of Polish wine production being Zielona Góra. Other recognized traditional beverages include the Karkonoski Liqueur from the Giant Mountains, Trzebnicki Cider from the Trzebnickie Hills, Jarzębiak, a Polish fruit vodka made from rowan berries and other fruit ingredients, produced in Zielona Góra, and beer from Lwówek Śląski and Zielona Góra.
The village of Gościęcice has one of the largest sweet chestnut crops in Poland. Their cultivation dates back to the Middle Ages, when local Catholic monks used these chestnuts for medical purposes.
Every year in September, Wrocław Marathon is organized.
Various major international sports competitions were held in the region, including the EuroBasket 1963, EuroBasket 2009, 2009 Women's European Volleyball Championship, 2010 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships, UEFA Euro 2012, 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, 2016 European Men's Handball Championship, 2017 World Games.
World War II
In September 1939, at the start of World War II, Germany invaded and occupied the Polish part of the region. Already in 1939, the Germans carried out the first expulsions of Poles, and some died during their deportation to the more-eastern part of German-occupied Poland.
Geoffrey K. Roberts, Patricia Hogwood (2025). 9781847790323, Oxford University Press. . ISBN 9781847790323; ; Germany retained the small portion of the former Prussian Province of Lower Silesia to the west of the Oder-Neisse line.
Modern Poland
The remaining German population was expelled from the bulk of Lower Silesia east of the Neisse in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. Poles from Central Poland and the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union came to the region.
Population
At the close of the classical period the region was inhabited by Germanic Tribes, who during the Migration Period moved westward to the lands of modern Germany and France and were replaced in Lower Silesia by Lechites. Centuries later, German settlers came to Lower Silesia during the Late Middle Ages, attracted by newly founded towns to develop the region. Over time, the autochthonous Polish population became partly Germanisation and took up the German language as well, however, notable Polish communities survived, especially in northern Lower Silesia, and in larger cities. In year 1819, the Breslau Regency had 833,253 inhabitants, the majority of whom—755,553 (90%)—were German-speakers; with a Polish-speaking minority numbering 66,500 (8%); as well as 3,900 Czechs (1%) and 7,300 Jews (1%). U.S. Immigration Commission in 1911 classified Polish-speaking Silesians as ethnic Poles. After World War II, German inhabitants that had not fled the area due to the war, were expelled in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, and the region was resettled by Poles from former eastern Poland, which was annexed by the Soviet Union, as well as from other regions, making Polish minority majority again. In 1948–1954 Greeks and Macedonians, refugees of the Greek Civil War, came to Lower Silesia. They were temporarily admitted in five towns and villages in the region and afterwards finally settled in various cities and counties, although in the next decades some returned to Greece, and some emigrated to other countries.Wojecki, p. 84, 95 The largest Greek-Macedonian communities were located in Zgorzelec, Wrocław, Świdnica and Wałbrzych.Wojecki, p. 95
Cities and towns
Cities and towns with over 20,000 inhabitants:
Silesian traditions in Upper Lusatia
Eastern parts of Upper Lusatia also formed part of Silesia in the early 14th century, as part of the Duchy of Jawor of fragmented Poland, and again from 1815 to 1945, when the area was annexed from Saxony by Prussia and included within the Province of Silesia and later of Lower Silesia. During this time Silesian culture and the Silesian German dialect spread into this region with its centre Görlitz. The expulsion of the Germans from the east of the Oder-Neisse line led to an additional settlement of German Silesians in this region.
Towns
The main cities within the former province of Lower Silesia west of the Oder-Neisse line are (Upper Sorbian names in italics):
Transport
The international airport is located in Wrocław – Wrocław Airport.
Tourism
Lower Silesia is one of the most visited regions in Poland. It is famous for a large number of castles and palaces (more than 100), inter alia: Książ Castle, Czocha Castle, Grodziec Castle, Gola Dzierżoniowska Castle, Oleśnica Castle, Kamieniec Ząbkowicki Palace. There is also a lot in the Jelenia Góra valley.
Cuisine
In addition to traditional nationwide Polish cuisine, Lower Silesia has its own regional and local and beverages, which include especially various meat products (incl. various types of kiełbasa), , , beverages and various dishes and meals, officially protected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland.
Sport
Among the most accomplished sports clubs in Lower Silesia are football clubs Śląsk Wrocław, Zagłębie Lubin and Miedź Legnica, speedway clubs Falubaz Zielona Góra and Sparta Wrocław, basketball clubs Śląsk Wrocław, Basket Zielona Góra, Górnik Wałbrzych and handball club Śląsk Wrocław.
See also
Sources
External links
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