Gliwice

Gliwice
Main Square and City Hall
Flag Coat of arms
Gliwice
Coordinates: 50°17′N 18°40′E / 50.283°N 18.667°E / 50.283; 18.667
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Silesian
County	city county
Established	13th century
Town rights	1250
Government
- Mayor	Zygmunt Frankiewicz
Area
- City	133.88 km2 (51.7 sq mi)
Highest elevation	278 m (912 ft)
Lowest elevation	200 m (656 ft)
Population (2008)
- City	197,393
- Density	1,474.4/km2 (3,818.7/sq mi)
- Urban	2,746,000
- Metro	5,294,000
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	44-100 to 44-164
Area code(s)	+48 32
Car plates	SG
Website	http://www.um.gliwice.pl

Gliwice [gliˈvit​͡sɛ] ( listen) (German: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Gliwice is the west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population of 2 million. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder).

Situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since its formation in 1999, Gliwice was previously in Katowice Voivodeship. Gliwice is one of the cities of a 2.7 million conurbation known as the Katowice urban area and is within the larger Silesian metropolitan area, which has a population of about 5,294,000 people^[1]. The population of the city is 197,393 (2008)^[2].

History

Late Middle Ages

Gleiwitz was first mentioned as a town in 1276 and was ruled during the Middle Ages by the Silesian Piast dukes. It became a possession of the Bohemia crown in 1335, passing with that crown to the Austrian Habsburgs as Gleiwitz in 1526.

Early Modern Age

Because of the vast expenses incurred by the Habsburg Monarchy during their 16 century wars against the Ottoman Empire, Gleiwitz was leased to Friedrich Zettritz for the meager amount of 14,000 thalers. Although the original lease was for a duration of 18 years, it was renewed in 1580 for 10 years and in 1589 for an additional 18 years.

During the mid 18th century Silesian Wars, Gliwice was taken from Austria by the Kingdom of Prussia along with the majority of Silesia. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Gleiwitz was administered in the Prussian district of Tost-Gleiwitz within the Province of Silesia in 1816. The city was incorporated with Prussia into the German Empire in 1871 during the unification of Germany. In 1897 Gleiwitz became its own Stadtkreis, or urban district.

Industrialization

Gleiwitz began to develop into a major city through industrialization during the 19th century. The town's ironworks fostered the growth of other industrial fields in the area. During the late 19th century Gleiwitz had: 14 distilleries, 2 breweries, 5 mills, 7 brick factories, 3 sawmills, a shingle factory, 8 chalk factories and 2 glassworks.

Other features of the 19th century industrialized Gleiwitz were a gasworks, a furnace factory, a beer bottling company, and a plant for asphalt and paste. Economically, Gleiwitz opened several banks, Savings and loan associations, and bond centers. Its tram system was completed in 1892, while its theater was opened in 1899; until World War II, Gleiwitz' theatre featured actors from through Europe and was one of the most famous theatres of entire Germany. The city's population in 1875 was 14,156.

20th century

Main street – Zwycięstwa

According to the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, Gleiwitz's population in 1905 was 61,324. By 1911 it had two Protestant and four Roman Catholic churches, a synagogue, a mining school, a convent, a hospital, two orphanages, and a barracks. Gleiwitz was the center of the mining industry of Upper Silesia. It possessed a royal foundry, with which were connected machine factories and boilerworks. Other industrialized areas of the city had other foundries, meal mills, and factories producing wire, gas pipes, cement, and paper.

After the end of World War I, clashes between Poles and Germans occurred during the Silesian Uprisings. Ethnically Polish inhabitants of Upper Silesia wanted to incorporate the city not into Germany, but into the Second Polish Republic. The differences between Germans and Poles led to the First & Second Silesian Uprisings, and German resistance against them. Seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict, the League of Nations held a plebiscite on March 20, 1921 to determine which country the city should belong to. In Gleiwitz, 32,029 votes (78.7% of given votes) were for remaining in Germany, Poland received 8,558 (21.0%) votes, and 113 (0.3%) votes were declared invalid. The total voter turnout was listed as 97.0%. This prompted the Third Silesian Uprising, which then forced the League of Nations to arbitrate. It determined that three Silesian towns: Gleiwitz/Gliwice, Hindenburg/Zabrze and Beuthen/Bytom would remain in Germany, and the rest of Upper Silesia with its main town of Katowice (Kattowitz) would join restored Poland.

An attack on a radio station in Gleiwitz on August 31, 1939, staged by the German secret police, served as a pretext for Nazi Germany to invade Poland, which marked the start of the Second World War. The city was placed under Polish administration according to the 1945 Potsdam Conference and thus part of the Silesian-Dabrowa Voivodeship. Most of the German population was expelled to Germany as stated by the Potsdam Conference and replaced with Poles.

Gliwice – Wszystkich Świętych Church.

Castle in Gliwice.

Radio station Gliwice wooden tower

Higher education and science

Gliwice is a major applied science hub for the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union. Gliwice is a seat of:

• Silesian University of Technology with about 32,000 students (Politechnika Śląska)
• Akademia Polonijna of Częstochowa, branch in Gliwice
• Gliwice College of Entrepreneurship (Gliwicka Wyższa Szkoła Przedsiębiorczości)
• Polish Academy of Sciences (Polska Akademia Nauk)
  • Institute of Theoretical And Applied Computer Science
  • Institute of Chemical Engineering
  • Carbochemistry branch
• Other (commercial or government funded) applied research centers:
  • Oncological Research Center (Centrum Onkologii)
  • Inorganic Chemistry Research Institute (Instytut Chemii Nieorganicznej)
  • Research Institute of Refractory Materials (Instytut Materiałów Ogniotrwałych)
  • Research Institute for Non-Ferrous Metals (Instytut Metali Nieżelaznych)
  • Research Institute for Ferrous Metallurgy (Instytut Metalurgii Żelaza)
  • Welding Research Institute (Instytut Spawalnictwa)

Sports

• Piast Gliwice – men's football team playing in Orange Ektraklasa (since season 2008/2009),
• Carbo Gliwice – men's football team,
• Sośnica Gliwice – women's handball team playing in Polish Ekstraklasa Women's Handball League: 10th place in 2003/2004 season.
• Gliwickie Towarzystwo Koszykówki – men's basketball team.
• P.A. Nova Gliwice – men's futsal team playing in 1st league (4 times Champion of Poland).

Politics

Bytom/Gliwice/Zabrze constituency

Members of Parliament (Sejm) elected from Bytom/Gliwice/Zabrze constituency

• Brzeziński Jacek, PO
• Chłopek Aleksander, PiS
• Gałażewski Andrzej, PO
• Głogowski Tomasz, PO
• Kaźmierczak Jan, PO
• Martyniuk Wacław, LiD
• Religa Zbigniew, PiS
• Sekuła Mirosław, PO
• Szarama Wojciech, PiS
• Szumilas Krystyna, PO

Municipal politics

President of city (Mayor) – Zygmunt Frankiewicz

Buildings

• The Gliwice Radio Tower of Radiostacja Gliwicka ("Radio Station Gliwice") in Szobiszowice is the only remaining radio tower of wood construction in the world, and with a height of 118 metres, is perhaps the tallest remaining construction made out of wood in the world.

• Gliwice Trynek narrow-gauge station is a protected monument. The narrow-gauge line to Raciborz via Rudy closed in 1991 although a short section still remains as a museum line.

• Castle in Gliwice dates back to the Middle Ages and hosts a museum

International relations

Twin towns—Sister cities

Gliwice is twinned with the following cities:

Famous people

Gliwice

• John Baildon, Scottish engineer
• Richard Fritz Behrendt, German sociologist
• Horst Bienek, German author of novels about Upper Silesia
• Wolfgang Bittner, German author
• William Blandowski, zoologist, photographer
• Lothar Bolz, foreign affairs minister of the communist German Democratic Republic
• Jerzy Buzek, professor of chemistry, prime minister of Poland 1997–2001, MEP since 2004 and president of European Parliament since 2009
• Walther Busse von Colbe, German economist
• Ernst Degner, German Grand Prix motorcycle racer and designer
• Gottfried Bermann Fischer, German publisher
• Eugen Goldstein, German scientist
• Hans Hanke, German military officer (World War Two).
• Alfred Hauptmann, German psychiatrist and neurologist of Jewish origin
• Rudolf Herrnstadt, German communist
• Hans Kneifel, German author
• Richard Kubus, German football player
• Emanuel Larisch, German communist politician
• Paul Latussek, Vice-president of the Association of German expellees (1992–2001)
• Monika Lindner, director of the Austrian television ORF
• Zbigniew Messner, professor and former rector of Economic Academy in Katowice, deputy prime minister of People's Republic of Poland 1983–1985, prime minister 1985–1988
• Gustav Neumann, German chess player
• Lukas Podolski, German (Polish born) football player
• Tadeusz Różewicz, Polish poet and writer
• Oskar Troplowitz, pharmacist and owner of Nivea skin creams
• Leo Yankevich, poet and translator
• Agnes Wabnitz, feminist
• Richard Wetz, composer
• Christoph Zöpel, German politician (SPD)
• Wojciech Kocyan, pianist
• Erich Peter Wohlfarth, German physicist
• Krystian Zimerman, Polish born, internationally famous pianist
• Stanisław Sojka, musician
• Katarzyna Groniec, vocalist
• Agata Buzek, actress, daughter of Jerzy Buzek
• Adam Zagajewski, poet
• Zofia Rydet, photographer
• Jerzy Lewczyński, photographer

Literature

• Max Lamla: Merkwürdiges aus meinem Leben (1917-1999), Saarbrücken 2006, ISBN 3-00-018964-5
• Boleslaw Domanski (2000) "The Impact of Spatial and Social Qualities on the Reproduction of Local Economic Success: The Case of the Path Dependent Development of Gliwice", in: Prace Geograficne, zesyt 106, Cracow, pp 35–54.
• B. Nietsche, Geschichte der Stadt Gleiwitz (1886)
• Seidel, Die königliche Eisengiesserei zu Gleiwitz (Berlin, 1896)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gliwice

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Gleiwitz.

• http://www.um.gliwice.pl/
• http://web.archive.org/web/20060207063913/http://www.gliwice.uc.gov.pl/
• http://www.polsl.pl/
• http://www.gliwice.pl/
• http://www.gliwice.com/
• http://www.gliwice.zobacz.slask.pl/
• http://www.forumgliwice.com/
• http://aegee.gliwice.pl/new/en/documents/travel_guide/ – Travel Guide

v • d • e Counties of Silesian Voivodeship City counties Katowice (capital) • Bielsko-Biała • Bytom • Chorzów • Częstochowa • Dąbrowa Górnicza • Gliwice • Jastrzębie-Zdrój • Jaworzno • Mysłowice • Piekary Śląskie • Ruda Śląska • Rybnik • Siemianowice Śląskie • Sosnowiec • Świętochłowice • Tychy • Zabrze • Żory Land counties Będzin • Bielsko • Bieruń-Lędziny • Cieszyn • Częstochowa • Gliwice • Kłobuck • Lubliniec • Mikołów • Myszków • Pszczyna • Racibórz • Rybnik • Tarnowskie Góry • Wodzisław • Zawiercie • Żywiec

v • d • e Gliwice County Seat (not part of the county): Gliwice Urban gminas Knurów • Pyskowice Urban-rural gminas Gmina Sośnicowice • Gmina Toszek Rural gminas Gmina Gierałtowice • Gmina Pilchowice • Gmina Rudziniec • Gmina Wielowieś

Coordinates: 50°17′N 18°40′E / 50.283°N 18.667°E / 50.283; 18.667