Poznan

Poznań (pôz'nänyə), Ger. Posen (pō'zən), city (1994 est. pop. 589,300), capital of Weilkopolskie prov., W central Poland, port on the Warta River. It is an important industrial and railway center and is the site of a major international trade fair. Manufactures include machinery, metals, and chemicals. Founded before the advent of Christianity in Poland, it became (968) the first Polish episcopal see and a nucleus of the Polish state. It remained in Poland until the second partition (1793), when it passed to Prussia. Poznań was included in the grand duchy of Warsaw in 1807, again passed to Prussia in 1815, and reverted to Poland in 1919. In World War II it was annexed to Germany, and thousands of Poles were expelled. The city is a Roman Catholic see (created 1821) and has a university (founded 1919). Since 1922 it has been the site of an annual international spring fair. In 1956 a workers' strike at a metallurgical plant in Poznań spread to other cities and led to changes in the high-ranking leadership of the Polish Communist party. The city has many old churches and museums with important art objects. Its most notable buildings are a Gothic cathedral (badly damaged in World War II) and a 16th-century city hall. A city-province, it is also the capital of Poznań prov.