Görlitz
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Church towers in Görlitz. |
Görlitz (
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pronunciation, Lusatian:
Zhorjelc, Czech
Zhořelec, Polish:
Zgorzelec) is a town in
Germany on the river
Neiße, in the
Bundesland (Federal State) of
Saxony, opposite the Polish town of
Zgorzelec, with which it was united until
1945. Today it's the easternmost city in Germany.Historically it has belonged at times to the regions of
Lusatia and
Silesia.
The date of the town's foundation is unknown. It was first mentioned in
1071. At that time Görlitz was a small village named
Gorelic in the region of
Lusatia, that soon after became a part of
Bohemia. In the
13th century the village gradually became a city. In the following centuries it was a wealthy member of the
Six-City League of Upper Lusatia, consisting of the six Lusatian cities
Bautzen, Görlitz,
Kamenz,
Lauban,
Löbau and
Zittau.
After suffering for years in the
Thirty Years' War, the region of Upper Lusatia (including Görlitz) was passed over to
Saxony (
1635). In
1815, after the
Napoleonic Wars, the
Congress of Vienna decided to make Görlitz a part of
Prussia. Thus the city was a part of the Prussian province of
Silesia from 1815 to 1945.
When
Nazi Germany lost the
war, German troops blew up all bridges crossing the
Neiße. The redrawing of boundaries in
1945 – in particular the relocation of the German-Polish border to the
Oder-Neisse line – divided the town, the right bank becoming part of
Poland, and named
Zgorzelec in
1948, while the main portion became part of the German state of Saxony. When the
East German states were dissolved in
1952, Görlitz became part of the Dresden Bezirk (region), but the states were restored upon
German reunification in
1990.
Today Görlitz and Zgorzelec, two towns on opposite banks of the river, have friendly relations. Two bridges are rebuilt, one bus line connect the German and Polish parts of the town, and there is a common urban management, with annual common sessions of both town councils.
The town has a rich architectural heritage (gothic, renaissance, baroque, historicist, art nouveau), which was - in contrast to most other German cities - not destroyed during
World War II.
Görlitz is the hometown of current German
football players
Michael Ballack and
Jens Jeremies.
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Jakob Böhme - philosopher,
1575 born in a village near Görlitz.
*
Michael Ballack, footballer, recently signed to English Premier League club
Chelsea, current captain of the
German national team.
*
Johann Christoph Brotze*
Oskar Morgenstern*
Jens Jeremies, retired footballer, had played for
Bayern Munich and the
German national team.
*
Official website
