Opole

Polish: Opole

Oppelia, Oppolia

The name is scientifically traced back to the Slavic tribe of the Opolini (Opolans) of the 9th century, and in popular usage to the Polish word ‘pole’, meaning ‘field’ or ‘open space’.

Opole is situated at 50° 40' north latitude, 17° 55' east longitude, at an altitude of 154 metres, approximately 8 km south of the point where the River Malapane flows into the River Oder.

The town lies on either side of the River Oder on a plain and includes an island (Pascheke, Pascheka).

Silesia; Upper Silesia.

The Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska), comprising the Opole Voivodeship (Województwo opolskie), of which Opole has been the capital since its establishment in 1950. Within the Opole Voivodeship, the city constitutes a separate urban district (powiat miejski).

The coat of arms is divided from around 1300 to 1945: on the right, in blue, a half Piast eagle in gold with red armour, on the left, on a blue field, a half golden trefoil cross (a reference to the Holy Cross relic kept in the cathedral). The current coat of arms does not feature red battlements on the eagle. Above the shield, as a crest, is a five-pointed mural crown. Since around 1890, the flag has been yellow and blue with the town’s coat of arms in the yellow field; today it appears without the town’s coat of arms.

A Slavic settlement in the north of what would later become the island of Pascheke, dating from the 9th or 10th century, which became a castellany around the year 1000. Under Duke Casimir I of Opole-Racibórz, a member of the Piast dynasty, a settlement of German hospites (immigrants) was founded between 1211 and 1217 in the area of what would later become the Old Town; this was probably destroyed by the Mongols in 1241. A larger town was founded under German law after 1241, presumably under Duke Ladislaus of Opole-Racibórz, which was first referred to as a ‘civitas’ (town) in a disputed charter of 1254 and was granted the town charters of Neumarkt in 1327 and Magdeburg in 1410.

From 1281 to 1532, following the division of the Duchy of Opole-Racibórz amongst Ladislaus’s sons, Opole was the seat of the duchy of the same name, which from 1327 onwards was subject to the Crown of Bohemia and thus formed part of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th to the 15th century, the town itself was governed by the hereditary bailiffs of Opole. The town’s citizens began to exert greater influence over municipal affairs in the 15th century.

With the extinction of the Piast dynasty of the Opole line, the duchy passed to the Crown of Bohemia in 1532 and thus to the Habsburgs. Between 1551 and 1666, Opole was pledged as security by the Habsburgs on several occasions, most recently to Poland from 1645 to 1666. In 1742, following the First Silesian War, it passed to Prussia and became a district town. In 1809, local self-government began with the introduction of Stein’s Municipal Code for the propertied classes. In 1816, Opole became the administrative centre of the Silesian administrative district of the same name. This, together with its development into a railway junction from 1843 onwards, led to strong population growth; this was further bolstered by the incorporation of neighbouring areas from 1891. On 15 May 1899, Opole was elevated to the status of a municipal district in its own right as a result of this growth.

In the Reichstag, the Opole constituency was represented from 1867 to 1871 by (Liberal) Conservatives, from 1872 to 1907 by members of the Catholic Centre Party, and from 1907 to 1918 by the Pole Paweł Brandys (1869–1950). Brandys’ success, however, was due to the surrounding countryside; for example, in the town itself, he secured only 8.2 per cent of the vote in the Reichstag election on 12 January 1912. Following the first general local elections on 9 November 1919, 21 councillors represented German parties and three represented Polish parties.

On 28 February 1919, by Roman Dmowski (1864–1939), the Polish representative at the Paris Peace Conference, Roman Dmowski (1864–1939), and initially granted to Poland in the preliminary draft of the Treaty of Versailles, Opole – like most of Upper Silesia – was made subject to a plebiscite in the final version of the treaty. From February 1920 to July 1922, the city was the seat of the Inter-Allied Plebiscite Commission responsible for conducting this referendum, in which, on 20 March 1921, 20,816 voters in the Opole municipal district (95 per cent) voted for the German Reich and 1,098 (five per cent) for Poland; in the Opole rural district, 69.4 per cent voted for the German Reich and 30.6 per cent for Poland. On 22–23 March 1921, the Polish plebiscite commissioner Wojciech Korfanty (1873–1939) renounced any further claim to the urban district of Opole and the greater part of the rural district of Opole. The partition ruling of the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers of 20 October 1921 left the city and district of Opole entirely within the German Reich.

In order to counter Polish campaigning in the run-up to the plebiscite, on 14 October 1919 the province of Silesia was divided into two provinces, Lower and Upper Silesia, with the former administrative district of Opole forming the new province of Upper Silesia, with Opole as its capital and the seat of the provincial parliament. Furthermore, in 1920, the province of Upper Silesia was granted the right, should it remain part of Germany, to decide on secession from Prussia by means of an additional referendum. In this plebiscite, held on 3 September 1922 in Opole, 15,854 (94.4 per cent) voted to remain part of Prussia and 945 (5.6 per cent) voted for an independent Upper Silesia within the German Empire. This reflected the majority will of the electorate across the entire province.

The medieval tower of the Piast Castle and the ‘
’ provincial government building of Upper Silesia (
), erected between 1930 and 1934, now the Voivodeship Office.
[Photo: B. Störtkuhl]

Politically, the Centre Party dominated in Opole during the Weimar Republic, emerging as the strongest party in all Reichstag elections between 1919 and 1932. It was not until the Reichstag election of 5 March 1933 – which was no longer entirely free – that the NSDAP, which secured 42.1 per cent of the vote, became the dominant force. On 1 April 1938, the provinces of Lower and Upper Silesia were reunited, making Opole once again the seat of the Opole administrative district. On 1 April 1941, following the occupation of Poland, the province of Silesia was divided once more, with Opole again becoming part of Upper Silesia, though this time without serving as its capital. On 24 January 1945, troops of the Red Army’s 1st Ukrainian Front marched into the city centre, which had been almost completely evacuated by the Nazi authorities; the districts on the left bank of the Oder were occupied in March 1945. The city had suffered damage amounting to 25 per cent.

After the Second World War, the city came under Polish administration, as it lay east of the Oder–Neisse line. Although hardly any Germans now live in Opole itself, the city is regarded as the centre of the German minority in Poland. The city, which grew significantly as a result of immigration from the former eastern Poland, but also from central Poland, population growth and the incorporation of neighbouring areas, has managed to retain the status it attained in 1950 as the capital of a voivodeship through all the Polish administrative reforms, thereby continuing the tradition of being an administrative centre that dates back to the Prussian era.

From the first half of the 13th century until 1482 at the latest, the town’s administration was under the authority of the hereditary bailiffs of Opole. Lay judges are also thought to have existed from the 13th century onwards; their presence is considered certain from the granting of the Neumarkt Charter in 1327. A town council is thought to have existed as early as the mid-13th century; its existence, comprising four members, is considered certain for 1297, whilst the first mention by name of a councillor dates from 1387, with a term of office lasting one year. A mayor is first mentioned in 1409. By 1579 at the latest, the number of councillors had been increased to five. From the introduction of Baron vom Stein’s municipal code in 1809, there were 24 town councillors.

Trends in the city’s population figures:^[1]

* See the explanation in section 4.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the textile industry and the cloth trade were of great importance. It is assumed that relevant guilds existed in the 13th and 14th centuries, although the first documentary evidence of them dates from 1421. Furthermore, the court of the duchy required a workforce, apparently consisting mainly of people of lower social standing. Eight town fires during the 16th–18th centuries, as well as changes in the cloth trade, meant that the 17th century in Opole in particular was a period of economic decline. It was not until the town was designated an administrative centre in 1816, the opening of the first railway line in 1843 and the start of industrial quarrying of shell limestone for cement production in 1857 that a renewed economic upswing took place. Due to its cement production, the Opole region is also known as ‘White Upper Silesia’ (in contrast to ‘Black’ Upper Silesia – the industrial heartland – and ‘Green’ Upper Silesia – the agricultural areas in the south).

In the Middle Ages, it was predominantly citizens with German surnames who served on the town’s councils; from the 16th century onwards, those with Polish surnames also held such positions. There are no recorded instances of ethnic conflicts during the Middle Ages. Following the influx of Poles in the 16th century, there was a Polish-speaking majority in the town; however, with Opole’s elevation to the status of an administrative centre, a clear German-speaking majority re-emerged by the first half of the 19th century at the latest. During the German Empire, the proportion of the Polish-speaking population increased again due to immigration and the incorporation of surrounding areas; during the Weimar Republic, there was an influx of Germans from the Polish region of Eastern Upper Silesia and an exodus of Polish residents to Poland. After the end of the war, between 1945 and 1947, large sections of the German population were expelled; however, some Germans managed to have themselves recognised as Poles (‘Autochthones’) and, on this basis, remained in the city.

The Church of the Cross, consecrated in 1223, became the parish church of Opole and a collegiate chapter. In addition, a Franciscan monastery was founded in the 13th century, and a Dominican monastery was probably established in the 14th century. Protestantism arrived in 1525; from 1557 to 1604, Protestant services were held in the abandoned Dominican monastery. In 1625, as part of the Counter-Reformation, the Protestant church was closed. Under Prussian rule from 1742, the proportion of Protestants rose again; in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the structure of the religious communities remained fairly stable:^[2]

Jewish residents are first mentioned in 1349; a ducal privilege was granted in 1427, and the Jews were expelled in 1563. During the Prussian period, Jews began to settle here once more, a trend which intensified following the introduction of freedom of settlement as part of the Prussian reforms. In the 1850s and 1860s, the proportion of the Jewish population reached its peak; during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic, it declined. After 1933, the majority of the Jewish population were forced to emigrate, deported or murdered.

In 1972, Pope Paul VI established the Diocese of Opole.

With the founding of the University of Opole (Uniwersytet Opolski) in 1994 and the upgrading of the Polytechnic to a Technical University (Politechnika Opolska) in 1996, Opole gained two universities within a very short space of time.

The Groszowy Bridge (Most groszowy), bearing the city coat of arms,
, which leads from the Old Town across the millrace to Pascheke Island
. [Photo: B. Conrad]

Alongside the religious buildings, the core of which dates back to the Middle Ages – such as the Bergel Church, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and the Franciscan Church – the town hall, built between 1820 and 1822 (tower 1860–1864), built in the Florentine Renaissance style, is also counted amongst the city’s architectural monuments. In 1934, the tower collapsed and was subsequently rebuilt by 1936. The Piast Castle was demolished between 1928 and 1930, with the exception of one tower.

German-language official gazettes: Official Gazette of the District President in Opole (1816–1945); Opole City Gazette (1828–1841), or Stadt-Blatt (1841–1899), or Stadt-Blatt for the publication of official notices of the Opole City District (1899–1938). German-language newspapers: Wochenblatt für Stadt und Land (1864–1890) or Oppelner Zeitung (1890–1935); *Oppelner Nachrichten* (1895–1935); *Oberschlesische Tageszeitung* (1925–1936), later *OS-Tageszeitung* / *Oppelner Nachrichten* (1936–1944); *Oberschlesische Nachrichten* (1990–1991) or *Oberschlesische Zeitung* (1991–1995) or *Schlesisches Wochenblatt* (1995–2011) or *Wochenblatt* (since 2011).

As well as being a castellany in the Middle Ages, Opole was a garrison town from 1670, with some interruptions, until 1945.

The majority of researchers (Dziewulski, Veldtrup) believe that a document relating to the town charter of 1254, which was previously thought to be genuine, is a forgery.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Opole was caught up in the maelstrom of the ‘struggle for national identity’, which did not spare historians on either side (Steinert, Dziewulski and Hawranek). Polish historians thus sought to prove that Opole had been a binational town of Polish origin. It was rightly pointed out that the category of ‘bilinguals’ had been introduced into the Prussian censuses from 1890 onwards with the aim of reducing the proportion of the Polish-speaking population. Conversely, Polish historiography – particularly during the People’s Republic – ignored the fact that the proportion of Polish votes in elections and referendums was consistently much lower than the proportion of Polish speakers, and that, consequently, a Polish mother tongue and a sense of belonging to Germany in Upper Silesia were by no means mutually exclusive. The figures from the 1921 plebiscite, often cited in this context (including in Dziewulski and Hawranek’s history of the city of Opole) as supposed counter-evidence, which claim a significantly higher proportion of votes in favour of Poland among residents compared with those who had moved away but were also eligible to vote, are forged and can be traced back to the Polish Plebiscite Committee.

• Władysław Dziewulski, Franciszek Hawranek (eds.): Opole. Monografia miasta [Oppeln. A Monograph of the City]. Opole 1975.
• Krystian Heffner, Wolfgang Kreft (eds.): Opole, Oppeln. Marburg 2011 (Historical-Topographical Atlas of Silesian Towns, Vol. 2).
• Franz Idzikowski: History of the City of Oppeln. Oppeln 1863.
• Walter Kuhn: Oppeln. In: Hugo Weczerka (ed.): Handbook of Historical Sites. Silesia. 2nd ed. Stuttgart 2003 (Kröners Taschenausgabe 316), pp. 378–385.
• Walter Kuhn: The Two Foundings of Opole. In: Journal of Eastern Studies 26 (1977), pp. 244–270.
• Bernard Linek, Krzysztof Tarka: Opole Through the Centuries. Historiography in the Face of New Methods of Urban Historical Research. Opole 2008.
• Günther Schiedlausky, Rolf Hartmann, Hilde Eberle (eds.): The Architectural and Artistic Monuments of the Opole Urban District. Breslau 1939 (The Architectural and Artistic Monuments of Silesia 4).
• Otto Spisla: Opole in the Storms of Time. Opole w zawirowaniach czasu. Translated into Polish by Peter Baron. Ratingen-Hösel [1996].
• Alfred Steinert: Opole. In: Heinz Stoob (ed.), Peter Johanek (ed.): The Silesian City Book. Revised edition. Stuttgart et al. 1995 (German City Book, Revised Edition, 1), pp. 317–323.
• Dieter Veldtrup: Prosopographical Studies on the History of Opole as a Ducal Capital in the Middle Ages. Berlin 1995 (Publications of the Haus Oberschlesien Foundation, Regional Studies Series 7).

• www.opole.pl/ (Opole City Council website)
• www.herder-institut.de/staedteatlas-schlesien (Historical-topographical atlas of Silesian towns [including an entry on Opole], edited by Peter Haslinger, Wolfgang Kreft, Grzegorz Strauchold and Rościsław Żerelik)

[1] Sources: 12th century: Kuhn: *The Two Foundations of Opole*, p. 249; c. 1350: Veldtrup: *Prosopographical Studies*, p. 375; 1756: Felix Triest: Topographical Handbook of Upper Silesia. Vol. 1. Breslau 1864, p. 45; 1550–1700, 1799–1871, 1939–1985: Steinert: Opole, p. 319; 1890–1933: Wiesław Lesiuk: Ludność Opola i jej struktura [The Population of Opole and its Structure]. In: Dziewulski, Hawranek (eds.): Opole, p. 264; 2002–2010: Website of the Polish Central Statistical Office (GUS/Główny Urząd Statystyczny), 2002: demografia.stat.gov.pl/BazaDemografia/NSP2002.aspx (accessed 2 May 2012), here Link 4, line 408; 2010: www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/PUBL_l_ludnosc_stan_struktura_31_12_2010.pdf (accessed 2 May 2012), p. 42.

[2] Source for the figures for the years 1821 to 1910: Lesiuk: Ludność Opola, p. 268; 1861: Trieste: Topographical Handbook (note 1), p. 54; 1925: Statistics of the German Reich. Vol. 401. Berlin 1930, p. 362; 1933: Statistics of the German Reich. Vol. 451. Berlin 1936, p. 48.

Benjamin Conrad: Oppeln/Opole. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2012. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/54359.html (as at 19 February 2021).