For centuries, Poles were part of the history of Wrocław, the capital city of Silesia. That did not change, even when its borders and its nationality did. For a long time, you could still hear Polish being spoken on the city’s streets and in the surrounding villages. However, the situation changed around the turn of the 18th and 19th century: The Polish-speaking population began to adapt and the German language, which was taught in schools and used by the authorities, gradually replaced the Polish language. But Wrocław retained its appeal as a centre of economic and cultural life and the city’s appeal increased as it enjoyed significant development in the 19th century. More and more Poles came from Wielkopolska, Upper Silesia and Pomerania to the metropolis on the banks of the Oder. For many generations of Poles, the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Silesia, which was founded in 1811, was the place where they received their education. After the Polish state was founded in 1918, the situation for the Poles changed radically. Some of them decided to live inside the new Polish borders and left Wrocław. A Polish consulate was opened in Wrocław. After the war, the Polish secular and church organisations resumed their work in the city. The Union of Poles in Germany, whose branch was established in the city in 1923, played a key role in organisational life. The outbreak of the Second World War, the arrest of Polish activists and the seizure of Polish property brought the history of Poles in Breslau to an end.
Mediathek Sorted
Memorial plaque in Wrocław
Memorial plaque in Wrocław
Memorial plaque for Wojciech Cybulski and Władysław Nehring
St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
Memorial plaque in Wrocław
Memorial plaque in Wrocław
Memorial plaque for Wojciech Cybulski and Władysław Nehring
St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław, next to it the monument to Pope John XXIII
St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
Memorial plaque with the "Truths of Poles under the Rodło Sign".
St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław, next to it the monument to Pope John XXIII
St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
Memorial plaque with the "Truths of Poles under the Rodło Sign".
Die Gedenktafel wurde 1983 gestiftet durch die Gesellschaft "Towarzystwo Miłośników Wrocławia"
St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
View of the St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
View of the St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
Die Gedenktafel wurde 1983 gestiftet durch die Gesellschaft "Towarzystwo Miłośników Wrocławia"
St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
View of the St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
View of the St. Martin's Church (Kościół św. Marcina) in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Öffentliche Ausstellung über die Polonia in Breslau
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Öffentliche Ausstellung über die Polonia in Breslau
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
Exhibition in public space about the Polonia in Wrocław
The memorial plaque for Edmund Bojanowski
The memorial plaque for Jan Evangelista Purkyne
The Plaque for Wojciech Korfanty
The Plaque for Wojciech Korfanty
The memorial plaque for Edmund Bojanowski
The memorial plaque for Jan Evangelista Purkyne
The Plaque for Wojciech Korfanty
The Plaque for Wojciech Korfanty
The plaque commemorates the Polish students who fought in the January uprising
The plaque commemorates the Polish students who fought in the January uprising
The main building of the University of Wrocław
The main building of the University of Wrocław
The plaque commemorates the Polish students who fought in the January uprising
The plaque commemorates the Polish students who fought in the January uprising
The main building of the University of Wrocław
The main building of the University of Wrocław
The fencing fountain
The street "Ulica Biskupia" in Wrocław
University of Wrocław
The plaque commemorates the concert by Fryderyk Chopin in Wrocław
The fencing fountain
The street "Ulica Biskupia" in Wrocław
University of Wrocław
The plaque commemorates the concert by Fryderyk Chopin in Wrocław
The plaque the concert by Fryderyk Chopin in Wrocław
Monument to Fryderyk Chopin in Wrocław
Monument to Fryderyk Chopin in Wrocław
Monument to Fryderyk Chopin in Wrocław
The plaque the concert by Fryderyk Chopin in Wrocław
Many representative of the Polish intelligentsia were represented in the metropolis on the banks of the Oder. They were motivated by contact with Korn publishing house (it offered over 180 Polish literature titles). Korn published their own books and bought new publications. The Ferdinand Hirt bookshop specialised in the sale of Polish books. It is estimated that Wrocław was the sixth biggest Polish publishing town behind Warsaw, Vilnius, Kraków, Lviv and Poznań. In total, 2,000 titles were published in the city in the 19th century.
Polish landowners came to Wrocław from Wielkopolska and Pomerania to attend trade fairs. They stayed in hotels and visited restaurants in the city. The theatre, the opera and concerts drew a great deal of attention. Polish artists from Poznań or Kraków performed on the stages of Wrocław. In 1830, Fryderyk Chopin, who was enjoying a short stay in Wrocław, gave a piano concert for a select audience.
Just how important Polish guests were to hoteliers and restaurateurs can be evidenced by the fact that adverts for their services were also printed in the Warsaw press. One of the owners of the famous guest house “Unter der Goldenen Gans”, whose guests also included Fryderyk Chopin, informed their visitors:
“Polish and French are spoken in this hotel and we offer newspapers in these languages”.
Restaurants went to the effort of putting on Polish menus and even the wait staff spoke Polish. Access to the restaurant was encouraged by signs in the Polish language. Such a proliferation of the Polish language was neither surprising not did it meet with opposition. The personalities from Polish culture in Wrocław included Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Wincenty Pol, Klementyna Tańska Hoffmanowa and Józef Ignacy Kraszewski.
For centuries, Poles were part of the history of Wrocław, the capital city of Silesia.
In the 19th century, Wrocław was on the travel itinerary of many well known Poles. The young composer and pianist Frederic Chopin (1810–1849) came here a number of times.
Selmar Cerini (real name Salomo Izich-ha-Kohen Steifmann) was born into an orthodox Jewish Polish family on 15th December 1860 in Wólka near Warschau, at the time part of the Russian partition sector....
