Silesia

Silesia
Silesia
Historical region
	Flag Coat of arms
	Austrian Silesia,; before 1740 Prussian annexation Prussian Silesia, 1871 Oder riverBasemap shows modern national borders.
	Coordinates: 51°36′N 17°12′E / 51.6°N 17.2°E
Country	Poland; Czech Republic; Germany;
Largest city	Wrocław
Area
• Total	40,000 km2 (20,000 sq mi)
Population
• Total	c. 8,000,000
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Silesia (Polish: Śląsk; German: Schlesien; Latin: Silesia; Silesian: Ślůnsk) is a historical region of Poland. From 1742 to 1945, it was a province in the east of Prussia and later Germany. In 1945, all of Poland was occupied by the Soviet Red Army. In the following years, the communist occupant enacted laws that in effect chased away all of the remaining owners.

Geography

Silesia is along the upper and middle Oder River, upper Vistula River, and along the Sudetes and the Carpathian Mountains.

The highest point of Silesia is the Śnieżka, in the Sudetes.

Cities

Here is a list of cities in Silesia with a population of over 20,000 in 2015:

	Name	Population	Area	Administrative	Historic subregion
1	Wrocław	632,067	293 km² (113 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
2	Katowice	304,362	165 km² (64 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
3	Ostrava*	287,968	214 km² (83 sq mi)	Moravian-Silesian Region	Czech Silesia/Moravia
4	Gliwice	185,450	134 km² (52 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
5	Zabrze	178,357	80 km² (31 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
6	Bielsko-Biała*	173,699	125 km² (48 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia/Lesser Poland
7	Bytom	173,439	69 km² (27 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
8	Ruda Śląska	141,521	78 km² (30 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
9	Rybnik	140,173	148 km² (57 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
10	Tychy	128,799	82 km² (32 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
11	Opole	120,146	97 km² (37 sq mi)	Opole Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
12	Zielona Góra	118,405	58 km² (22 sq mi)	Lubusz Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
13	Wałbrzych	117,926	85 km² (33 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
14	Chorzów	110,761	33 km² (13 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
15	Legnica	101,992	56 km² (22 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
16	Jastrzębie-Zdrój	91,235	85 km² (33 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
17	Jelenia Góra	81,985	109 km² (42 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
18	Mysłowice	75,129	66 km² (25 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
19	Lubin	74,053	41 km² (16 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
20	Havířov	71,200	32 km² (12 sq mi)	Moravian-Silesian Region	Czech Silesia
21	Głogów	68,997	35 km² (14 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
22	Siemianowice Śląskie	68,844	25 km² (10 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
23	Kędzierzyn-Koźle	63,194	124 km² (48 sq mi)	Opole Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
24	Żory	62,038	65 km² (25 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
25	Tarnowskie Góry	60,957	84 km² (32 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
26	Świdnica	59,182	22 km² (8 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
27	Opava	57,676	91 km² (35 sq mi)	Moravian-Silesian Region	Czech Silesia
28	Piekary Śląskie	57,148	40 km² (15 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
29	Frýdek-Místek*	56,450	52 km² (20 sq mi)	Moravian-Silesian Region	Czech Silesia/Moravia
30	Racibórz	55,930	75 km² (29 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
31	Görlitz**	55,255	68 km² (26 sq mi)	Free State of Saxony	Historically part of Lusatia, Görlitz was considered part of Lower Silesia in years 1319–1329 and 1815–1945
32	Karviná	52,128	57 km² (22 sq mi)	Moravian-Silesian Region	Czech Silesia
33	Świętochłowice	51,824	13 km² (5 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
34	Wodzisław Śląski	48,731	50 km² (19 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
35	Nysa	44,899	27 km² (10 sq mi)	Opole Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
36	Mikołów	39,776	79 km² (31 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
37	Nowa Sól	39,721	22 km² (8 sq mi)	Lubusz Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
38	Bolesławiec	39,603	24 km² (9 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
39	Knurów	39,090	34 km² (13 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
40	Oleśnica	37,303	21 km² (8 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
41	Brzeg	36,980	15 km² (6 sq mi)	Opole Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
42	Cieszyn	35,918	29 km² (11 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
43	Czechowice-Dziedzice	35,684	33 km² (13 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
44	Třinec	35,002	85 km² (33 sq mi)	Moravian-Silesian Region	Czech Silesia
45	Dzierżoniów	34,428	20 km² (8 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
46	Hoyerswerda/Wojerecy**	33,843	96 km² (37 sq mi)	Free State of Saxony	Historically part of Lusatia, Hoyerswerda was considered part of Lower Silesia in years 1825–1945
47	Oława	32,240	27 km² (10 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
48	Zgorzelec**	31,890	16 km² (6 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Historically part of Lusatia, Zgorzelec was considered part of Lower Silesia in years 1319–1329 and 1815–1945
49	Bielawa	31,186	36 km² (14 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
50	Kluczbork	24,207	12 km² (5 sq mi)	Opole Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
51	Lubliniec	24,105	89 km² (34 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
52	Krnov	24,079	44 km² (17 sq mi)	Moravian-Silesian Region	Czech Silesia
53	Jawor	23,650	19 km² (7 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
54	Żagań	23,235	40 km² (15 sq mi)	Lubusz Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
55	Świebodzice	23,197	30 km² (12 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
56	Nowa Ruda	22,823	37 km² (14 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
57	Polkowice	22,535	24 km² (9 sq mi)	Lower Silesian Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
58	Łaziska Górne	22,413	21 km² (8 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
59	Świebodzin	21,963	11 km² (4 sq mi)	Lubusz Voivodeship	Lower Silesia
60	Rydułtowy	21,741	15 km² (6 sq mi)	Silesian Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
61	Prudnik	21,472	21 km² (8 sq mi)	Opole Voivodeship	Upper Silesia
62	Bohumín	21,340	31 km² (12 sq mi)	Moravian-Silesian Region	Czech Silesia

* Only partly in Silesia

Famous people

There are many famous people who were born in Silesia:

Writers, poets and playwrights like Andreas Gryphius, Martin Opitz, Fürst von Pückler-Muskau, Carl Hauptmann, Gerhart Hauptmann (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1912), Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, Gustav Freytag
Members of the German Resistance such as Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke
Military officers like Manfred von Richthofen, Erwin von Witzleben
Painters like Adolph von Menzel
Philosophers like Jakob Böhme
Actors like Dieter Hildebrandt, Victor de Kowa, Ludwig M. Lommel, Wolfgang Neuss, Willy Fritsch, Hanna Schygulla, Georg Thomalla
Politicians like Paul Löbe (SPD), Klaus Töpfer (CDU), Manfred Kanther (CDU), Ferdinand Lassalle, Erich Mende (FDP)
Scientists like Hans G. Dehmelt (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1989), Paul Ehrlich (Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1908), Friedrich Bergius (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1931), Max Born (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1954), Fritz Haber (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1918), Reinhard Selten (Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 1994), Konrad Bloch (Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1964), Bernhard Grzimek, Johannes Winkler, Maria Goeppert-Mayer (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1963), Kurt Alder (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1950), Otto Stern (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1943)
Builder and architects like Carl Gotthard Langhans
Musicians like Katja Ebstein, Roy Etzel, Michael Jary

Gallery

First map of Silesia (1561)
City hall of Breslau, Germany between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900. View from the east.
Krummhuebel, Church of Wang (German: Kirche Wang) between 1890 and 1905.
Postcard of the market square in the city of Oppeln in 1904.
Hotel "Haus Oberschlesien" (transl.: Upper Silesia House) in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany, 1928

Other websites

http://www.schlesien-lm.de - official website of the Landsmannschaft Schlesien
http://www.schlesierbund.de - Schlesierbund from Nürnberg, Germany
http://www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/provinz_schlesien.htm - Deutsche Schutzgebiete - Provinz Schlesien

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