Wrocław; Silesian: Brassel

Polish: Wrocław

Latin: Vratislavia; Czech: Vratislav

The name of the town is thought to be derived from the personal name of the Bohemian Duke Vratislav I, the founder of Breslau. The chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg writes of ‘Wrotizlawa’. ‘Breßlau’ is first attested in 1266. According to Norman Davies, over 50 variants of the place name have been recorded.^[1]

Wrocław is situated in the Lower Silesian Lowlands at the confluence of the Ohle/Oława and the Oder/Odra, at 51° 7' North, 17° 2' East. The city stretches along both banks of the Oder and along its tributaries: the Ohle, the Lohe/Ślęza, the Weistritz/Bystrzyca and the Weide/Widawa.

Lower Silesia

With a population of 633,000 (as of 2010), Wrocław is the fourth-largest city in the Republic of Poland, the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship/Województwo Dolnośląskie and the Wrocław County (Powiat Wrocławski), as well as a city with independent administrative status and the economic, political and cultural centre of Lower Silesia. With around 140,000 students, Wrocław is one of Poland’s largest academic centres. Wrocław is also the centre of the Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław, the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Wrocław, the Orthodox Diocese of Wrocław-Szczecin, the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Wrocław-Gdańsk, the Diocese of Wrocław of the PolishCatholic (Old Catholic) Church, and a Jewish community.

The German-language version of Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse’s 2002 history of Breslau, entitled *Die Blume Europas* (*The Flower of Europe* ), takes its title from a name given to the city dating back to around 1600. In his *Breslo-Graphia*, published in 1613, Nicolaus Henel von Hennenfeld quotes the humanist Valens Acidalius, who, at the end of the 16th century, praised Wrocław as *Flos sacer Europae *.

During his visit to Wrocław in 1997, Pope John Paul II coined the phrase describing Wrocław as the ‘City of Encounters’ (miasto spotkań). The city has used this designation in its self-promotion ever since.

(For all periods, see also Silesia)

When the diocese was founded in the year 1000, Wrocław belonged to the realm of the Polish Piasts. From 1138 onwards, the city was ruled by the dukes of the Silesian Piast line. Numerous new churches and monasteries – including St Mary on the Sand, St Adalbert and St Vincent on the Elbing/Ołbin – were founded in the 12th century under the patronage of Peter Wlast. Under Bishop Walther de Malonne, who hailed from near Liège, Walloon settlers were brought to Wrocław, and in 1158 work began on a new three-nave cathedral modelled on Lyon Cathedral, to replace the previous wooden structure.

Alongside the ecclesiastical centre on Cathedral Island and the Piast ducal castle, with a Jewish settlement on the left bank of the Oder, the city of merchants and craftsmen around the Ring was re-planned and rebuilt with a regular street grid following the Mongol invasion of 1241. Settlers and monks from Western Europe, particularly from central and southern Germany, were recruited. In 1261, Breslau was granted Magdeburg city rights and, thanks to its favourable location on the River Oder and at the junction of the international trade routes known as the Amber Road and the High Road, it quickly developed into a major trading centre.

The demolition of the fortifications between 1807 and 1810 brought about lasting changes to the city: the suburbs were incorporated into the city limits, and the population rose sharply. Secularisation and the founding of the university in 1810 had a profound impact on the city’s religious and cultural life. In 1813, King Frederick William III, who was residing in Breslau, called from here for resistance against Napoleon.

During the Second World War, Breslau initially remained unscathed. The city was declared a fortress from 25 August 1944. In February, the Red Army laid siege to the city and launched an attack on 1 April. The district around the Scheitniger Stern was destroyed to make way for the construction of an airfield (‘Rollfeld’), resulting in heavy human casualties. Following heavy street fighting, the city surrendered on 6 May. 70 per cent of Breslau’s buildings had been destroyed; in the south and west, the figure was as high as 90 per cent. On 9 May 1945, Breslau was placed under Polish administration.

By 1948, a complete population exchange had taken place: German residents were expelled, expropriated and forcibly resettled. New residents arrived from various regions of Poland, primarily from Central Poland and the former Polish eastern territories, from which they themselves had been expelled. New residents from Lemberg/L’viv/Lwów, including many intellectuals who continued Lemberg’s traditions particularly in the academic sphere, had a formative influence on the cultural life of Polish Breslau. In 1948, the International Peace Congress of Intellectuals convened at the Centennial Hall; its aim was to establish the ‘regained territories’ in the collective consciousness of intellectuals, and it was used for propaganda purposes.

In the 1980s, as part of the nationwide Polish opposition movement centred on the Free Trade UnionSolidarity (Solidarność), various groups emerged in Wrocław, such as the student ‘happening’ movement ‘Alternative in Orange’ (Pomarańczowa Alternatywa).

Since the end of the communist regime, Wrocław has undergone rapid change in all areas and has been extensively restored. The city suffered a setback as a result of the 1997 Oder flood disaster, but thanks to a solidarity-based relief effort by the local population, the city’s cultural heritage was largely preserved. Wrocław gained a new sense of identity and community, which included an open approach to the city’s multi-ethnic and multi-denominational history. Poland’s accession to the EU on 1 May 2004 strengthened its European orientation.

Wrocław has been nominated as the European Capital of Culture for 2016.

Ever since the town was founded in the 13th century, there has been a tradition of craftsmen and artisans in Breslau, which found expression in a well-developed system of guilds and trade associations. The main trading centres were the markets on the Ring, Salzring and Neumarkt. In the 19th century, the regulation of the River Oder (1844) and the city’s development into a railway hub in the 1850s encouraged the establishment of factories and large enterprises, including those in the chemical and metalworking industries (such as the Gottfried Linke carriage-building works, later known as Linke-Hofmann-Werke). At the beginning of the 20th century, the construction of the Jahrhunderthalle and the exhibition grounds was intended to create a contemporary forum for a modern commercial and industrial centre. After 1989, Wrocław developed into one of Poland’s leading economic centres; numerous new companies set up there (in the IT, automotive and electrical sectors).

During the Thirty Years’ War, the city lost half its population. By the mid-19th century, the population had exceeded 100,000 and Breslau became a major city. The population continued to rise as a result of a series of new municipal annexations.

In the 19th century, a broad political spectrum was represented in Breslau. Citizens and workers founded numerous associations that campaigned for freedom and democracy, economic progress and social legislation; an independent, organised labour movement took shape in Breslau. Ferdinand Lassalle (1825–1864), a native of Breslau, became the founder and first president of the General German Workers’ Association in Leipzig in 1863. In the Reichstag and local elections of 1919, the SPD won over 50 per cent of the vote in Breslau. During the economically difficult 1920s, characterised by high unemployment, it lost influence to radical parties. In the last free Reichstag elections in 1932, the National Socialists were the strongest party with over 40 per cent of the vote, whilst the Social Democrats managed only just over 20 per cent. After Hitler’s rise to power, many political opponents – including Paul Löbe – were sent to the Breslau-Dürrgoy concentration camp.

In 1914, of the city’s 543,000 inhabitants, 57 per cent were Protestants, 38 per cent were Catholics and 5 per cent were Jews.

The Diocese of Wrocław, which has existed from the year 1000 to the present day, is a key constant in the city’s history. In 1420, Jan Krasa, a Hussite from Prague, was burnt at the stake in Wrocław, which at that time belonged to the Bohemian Crown. In the 16th century, with the support of the city council, Wrocław became a stronghold of the Reformation; Johannes Hess held the first Protestant service on 21 October 1523 in St Mary Magdalene’s Church. By 1537, Wroclaw was Lutheran, with the exception of the monasteries and churches on Cathedral Island, and thus stood in religious opposition to the Catholic Habsburg sovereign, who sought to promote the Counter-Reformation in Wroclaw through the founding of the Leopoldina Jesuit Academy.

The city and university libraries house extensive historical collections of books and journals in German and Latin, originating from Silesian monasteries and schools or from collections such as that of the patron Thomas Rehdiger. Historical Polish literature is preserved in particular by the Ossolineum National Institute^[4] , including the pre-posthumous collection of Władysław Bartoszewski. After 1945, the archives of Wrocław and Silesia were largely consolidated into the State Archives in Wrocław (Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu), including the surviving records of the former City Archives. In addition, there are the Archdiocesan, City and Building Archives at the Museum of Architecture, as well as the archives of the University (1811–1945), the Technical University (1910–1945) and the Polish University of Wrocław from 1945 onwards. The Jewish Community Archive is housed at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

Theatre performances (mystery plays) had been staged in Breslau since the 14th century. Later, school theatre groups from the Magdalenen and Elisabeth Grammar Schools, as well as the Jesuit College, put on performances. German, English and Italian travelling theatre companies performed there, and the actor Franz Schuch (1716–1763) founded the popular ‘Kalte Asche’ theatre in 1754. Alongside numerous smaller stages, the Municipal Theatre (now the Opera House) was established in 1841, followed by the Lobe Theatre in 1869. After 1945, Wrocław developed into a centre for experimental theatre (Kalambur, Henryk Tomaszewski’s pantomime theatre, Jerzy Grotowski’s Laboratory). From 1946 to 1955, the Lower Silesian (from 1950: State) Jewish Theatre was active in Wrocław.

From around 1100, the subjects of the Trivium and Quadrivium were taught at the Cathedral School. The Magdalene School and the Elizabeth School (founded in 1267 and 1293 respectively) were granted grammar school status around 1600. Monastic schools continued to exist after the Reformation; following secularisation, only the Cathedral School remained under church control. The Prussian minister Carl Georg Friedrich von Hoym pushed through the establishment of a school for Jewish pupils (the Wilhelmschule, 1791–1848). The Nazi regime closed denominational schools in 1940. School education for Jewish children was completely banned from 1 July 1942. After the end of the war, the reconstruction of the Polish school system in Breslau began in 1945.

In 1505, the Polish King Władysław II agreed to the founding of a university, but the attempt failed due to opposition from the University of Kraków. Although the Protestant city rejected the Jesuits and the process of recatholisation, the Jesuit Academy, founded by Leopold I and comprising Schools of theology and philosophy, opened in 1702. Following secularisation, the Friedrich-Wilhelms University was re-established in 1811 from the dissolved Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) and the Leopoldina in Breslau (1911–1945: Silesian Friedrich-Wilhelms University). In addition to the two schools of theology, it also offered schools of Law, medicine and philosophy, with new degree programmes such as geography, history, modern philology, music and the natural sciences, and, from 1841, the first chair of Slavic languages and literatures in Germany. Nobel laureates such as Paul Ehrlich (Medicine, 1908) and Fritz Haber and Friedrich Bergius (Chemistry, 1918 and 1931 respectively) are associated with the university.

Until around the end of the 19th century, the guilds – which had their origins in the Middle Ages – were important social organisations. A vibrant club scene (including political, commercial, choral, trade, gymnastics and shooting clubs) and student fraternities also developed in Breslau. During the Nazi era, the German Singers’ Festival of 1937 and the German Gymnastics and Sports Festival of 1938 were held in Breslau.

The city of Breslau boasts many parks and green spaces for leisure and recreation. An exhibition site was established in Scheitnig/Szczytniki (Breslauer Messe AG since 1916). The Zoological Garden and a Japanese Garden were created here in 1864–1865 as part of the Centenary Exhibition of 1913.

The Breslau dialect (Brasselsche Mundoart) is a Silesian regional dialect that was spoken in Breslau until the flight and expulsion of the Germans and is now critically endangered. Karl von Holtei wrote well-known poems in the Breslau dialect. According to legend, the Devil placed a typical Silesian dumpling (Kließla) on the Klößeltor gate on Cathedral Island and had it turned to stone.

Numerous church buildings on Cathedral Island and Sand Island (St Ägidius’ Church, the Cathedral, St Cross’ Church and St Sand’s Church) and in the Old Town (St Mary Magdalene’s, St Elizabeth’s and St Dorothea’s Churches) date back to the Middle Ages. Art treasures such as altars, sculptures (such as the ‘Beautiful Madonnas’ of the Breslau type) and liturgical objects in a wide variety of styles and from various periods are preserved in churches or museums, particularly from the Gothic and Baroque periods. The historic Town Hall, with its museum collections, is the city’s most important secular building. The most significant buildings from the Baroque period are the main university building, with the Aula Leopoldina, and the University Church. The architect of the theatre (now the opera house) and the ‘Zum Weißen Storch’ synagogue was Carl Ferdinand Langhans (1782–1869), a native of Breslau. Since the Middle Ages, stately patrician houses had been built along the Ring; around 1900, Art Nouveau merchant’s houses were also added.

The oldest surviving fragment of musical notation from Wrocław is an antiphon dating from the early 13th century. The musical history of Wrocław (cantors, composers, organists and other musicians; organs) is closely linked to the major churches (the cathedral, monastery churches and town churches) and their schools. In 1817, the Royal Academic Institute for Church Music was affiliated with the new university. Wrocław’s largest organ, with over 200 stops, was built for the Centennial Hall (1913). With its radio orchestra, radio choir and symphony orchestra, Wrocław Radio had an influence far beyond the city’s borders between 1924 and 1933.

New street names and monuments, as instruments of historical policy and the culture of remembrance, also mark political turning points in Wrocław. For instance, in Prussian Breslau, the historic Salzring was renamed Blücher-Platz (Solny) in 1827; under the Nazis, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße became Straße der SA (ul. Powstańców Śląskich), whilst in the People’s Republic of Poland, Dominikanerplatz was renamed Feliks-Dzierżyński-Platz from 1951 to 1989. In 1956, the Lviv monument to Aleksandr Fredro (dating from 1879) was erected in Polish Wrocław to replace the destroyed monument to King Frederick William III (1861) on the Ring.

Following the National Socialists’ selectively ideological perceptions and portrayals of the city’s history as ‘always German’ and the Communists’ portrayal of it as ‘always Piast’, German and Polish historians began, after 1989, to re-establish Silesia in the collective memory as a ‘bridge region’ in East Central Europe. The diverse elements and influences that had shaped Wrocław over the course of some thousand years were presented by the British historian Norman Davies, together with Roger Moorhouse, in their book *Microcosm*, which turned the ‘lost city of German history’ into the topic of conversation amidst a sort of ‘pro-Wrocław’ wave. Gregor Thum wrote about the complete population exchange following the Second World War. In the city, which lay in ruins and was alien to its new inhabitants, ‘the entire drama of 20th-century Europe’ was condensed. Wrocław’s multi-ethnic and multicultural history is now part of the city’s self-image.

• Ernst Badstübner, Dietmar Popp, Andrzej Tomaszewski, Dethard von Winterfeld (eds.), Sławomir Brzezicki, Christine Nielsen (comp.): Dehio Handbook of Art Monuments in Poland. Silesia. Munich, Berlin 2005, pp. 1032–1153.

• Norbert Conrads: Wrocław – Identities and Cultural Memory. In: Matthias Weber, Burkhard Olschowsky, Ivan Petranský, Attila Pók, Andrzej Przewoznik (eds.): Places of Memory in East-Central Europe. Experiences of the Past and Perspectives. Munich 2011 (Publications of the Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe 42), pp. 139–157.
• Norman Davies, Roger Moorhouse: The Flower of Europe. Breslau – Wrocław – Vratislavia. The History of a Central European City. Munich 2002.
• Rafał Eysymontt, Jerzy Ilkosz, Agnieszka Tomaszewicz, Jadwiga Urbanik (eds.): Leksykon Architektury Wrocławia [Architectural Lexicon of Breslau]. Wrocław 2011.
• Jerzy Ilkosz: The Centennial Hall and the Exhibition Grounds in Breslau – The Work of Max Berg. Munich 2006.
• Teresa Kulak: Wrocław in History and in the Memory of Poles. In: Matthias Weber, Burkhard Olschowsky, Ivan Petranský, Attila Pók, Andrzej Przewoznik (eds.): Places of Memory in East-Central Europe. Experiences of the Past and Perspectives. Munich 2011 (Publications of the Federal Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe 42), pp. 159–176.
• Maciej Łagiewski: 1000 Years of Wrocław. Wrocław 2009 (German-language edition: ibid.: 1000 Years of Breslau. Wrocław 2009).
• Gregor Thum: The Foreign City – Breslau 1945. Berlin 2003.

• "Wratislavia Antiqua" Studies in the History of Wrocław. Research Group on Medieval and Early Modern Wrocław. Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław [Studies on the History of Breslau. Research Group on Medieval and Early Modern Breslau. Institute of Archaeology, University of Wrocław]. URL: wratislavia.archeo.uni.wroc.pl/.
• Detlef Haberland (ed.): The “Silesiographia” and “Breslo-Graphia” by Nicolaus Henel von Hennenfeld. Wrocław 2011 (e-biblioteka historyczna 3). URL: www.bkge.de/Publikationen/Online/Editionen/.
• https://www.difmoe.eu/search?collections=vc:cae773e6-3e4a-4578-b1bb-3cf5f19a8c82 (Wrocław Collection on www.difmoe.eu)
• www.7cudow.eu/ (7 Cudów Wrocławia i Dolnego Śląska, 7 Wonders of Wrocław and Lower Silesia – digital version of the 2016 exhibition featuring numerous artefacts, in Polish and English).
• www.herder-institut.de/bildkatalog/wikidata/Q1799 (Images of Breslau/Wrocław in the image archive of the Herder Institute, Marburg)

[1] Davies, Moorhouse: The Flower of Europe, p. 28.

[2] 1550–1939, source: Heinrich Bartsch: The Towns of Silesia (within the 1937 borders). Dortmund 1977, p. 54ff.

[3] 1946–2002, Source: Statistical Office in Wrocław: www.stat.gov.pl/wroc/67_378_PLK_HTML.htm

[4] For information on the Ossolineum, see Silesia/3. History and Culture, section ‘Special cultural institutions’.

Maria Luft: Breslau/Wrocław. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2012. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/54182.html (as at 30 July 2021).