
Silesia facts for kids
Silesia | |
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Location | |
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Administration | |
Country: | Poland |
State: | |
Province: | Śląsk |
German name: | Schlesien |
Capital: | Wroclaw, Katowice, Opole |
Basic statistics | |
Area: | 40,319.2 km² |
Population: | 4,868,764 (1939) |
Time zone: | UTC+1 (MEZ) |
Website: |
Silesia (Polish: Śląsk; German: Schlesien; Latin: Silesia; Silesian: Ślůnsk) is a historical region of Poland. Between 1742 – 1945, it was the eastern part of Germany and was a Prussian province. In 1945, all of Poland country was occupied by the Soviet Red Army. In the following years, the occupant enacted laws that in effect chased away the remaining all of owners (communism).
Contents
Geography
Silesia is along the upper and middle Oder River, upper Vistula River, and along the Sudetes mountains and the Carpathian Mountains.
The highest point of Silesia is the Śnieżka - in the Sudetes mountains.
Administrative region of Wroclaw (Breslau), 1914
Cities
The largest cities of Silesia (Population of 1939):
Name | Population |
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Wrocław | 630,041 |
Katowice | 127,044 (1931) |
Zabrze | 126,211 |
Gliwice | 117,323 |
Chorzów | 102,349 (1931) |
Bytom | 100,891 |
Zgorzelec | 93,823 |
Legnica | 83,701 |
Walbrzych | 64,072 |
Opole | 52,992 |
Racibórz | 50,000 |
Other Cities are: Brzeg, Boleslawiec, Kozle, Zabkowice Slaskie, Klodzko, Głogów, Strzelce Opolskie, Zielona Gora, Zlotoryja, Jelenia Gora, Glubczyce, Nysa, Swidnica, Trzebnica
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 such as 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
Images for kids
