Frankfurt (Oder)

Frankfurt

Frankfurt an der Oder in July 2011

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Coat of arms
Frankfurt
Coordinates: 52°21′N 14°33′E / 52.350°N 14.550°E / 52.350; 14.550Coordinates: 52°21′N 14°33′E / 52.350°N 14.550°E / 52.350; 14.550
Country Germany
State Brandenburg
District Urban district
Government
 • Lord Mayor Martin Wilke (Ind.)
Area
 • Total 147.61 km2 (56.99 sq mi)
Elevation 19-135 m (−424 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)[1]
 • Total 58,092
 • Density 390/km2 (1,000/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 15201–15236
Dialling codes 0335
Vehicle registration FF
Website www.frankfurt-oder.de
Frankfurt, 16th century
Frankfurt and Słubice next to each other.
View from the Oderturm

Frankfurt (Oder) (German pronunciation: [ˈfʁaŋkfʊɐ̯t], also Frankfurt an der Oder, abbreviated Frankfurt a. d. Oder, Frankfurt a. d. O., Frankf. a. d. O.) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice, which was part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s, it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants. The number dropped below 70,000 in 2002 and was just above 60,000 in 2010.[2]

The official name Frankfurt (Oder) and the older Frankfurt an der Oder are used to distinguish it from the larger city of Frankfurt am Main.

History

The town of Frankfurt received its charter in 1253 at the Brandendamm, although the settlement is probably considerably older. The early settlers lived on the western banks of the Oder; later the town was extended to the eastern bank (today's Słubice). In the late Middle Ages, the town dominated the river trade between Breslau (Wrocław) and Stettin (Szczecin). In 1430, Frankfurt joined the Hanseatic League, but was a member for only a short time.

In April 1631, during the Thirty Years' War, Frankfurt was the site of the Battle of Frankfurt an der Oder between the Swedish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.[3] After a two-day siege, Swedish forces, supported by Scottish auxiliaries,[4] stormed the town.[3] The result was a Swedish victory.[3][4]

The city was briefly occupied by the Russian Imperial Army during the Seven Years' War, in August 1759, in the prelude to the battle of Kunersdorf.[5]

With the dissolution of the Margraviate of Brandenburg during the Napoleonic Wars, Frankfurt became part of the Province of Brandenburg in 1815. In the 19th century, Frankfurt played an important role in trade. Centrally positioned in the Kingdom of Prussia between Berlin and Posen (Poznań), on the river Oder with its heavy traffic, the town housed the second-largest annual trade fair (Messe) of the German Reich, surpassed only by that in Leipzig.

There was no fighting for the town in 1945 during World War II even though the town was declared a fortress (Festung) in an attempt to block the Red Army's route to Berlin. The nearly empty town was burned down. The postwar German-Polish border ran along the Oder, separating the Dammvorstadt on the eastern bank - which became the Polish town of Słubice - from the rest of Frankfurt. While part of communist East Germany, Frankfurt was administered within Bezirk Frankfurt (Oder). It became part of the reconstituted state of Brandenburg with German reunification in 1990.

Today, Frankfurt and Słubice have friendly relations and run several common projects and facilities. Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, and implemented the Schengen Agreement on December 21, 2007 leading to the removal of permanent border controls.

In the post-communist era, Frankfurt has suffered from high unemployment and low economic growth. Its population has fallen significantly from around 87,000 at the time of German reunification in 1990.

FC Viktoria Frankfurt is the town's local football team.

In March 2008, the Jewish community of Frankfurt celebrated its first Torah dedication since the Holocaust. The procession of the new Torah scroll began from the spot where the town's Frankfurter Synagogue stood prior to World War II, 500 meters from Germany's current border with Poland. Celebrants marched with the scroll into the town's Chabad-Lubavitch centre, where they danced with the Torah, which had been donated by members of the Chabad-Lubavitch community in Berlin.

Demography

Frankfurt (Oder):
Population development within the current boundaries (2013)[6]
Year Population
1875 43 491
1890 50 108
1910 59 905
1925 62 044
1933 65 717
1939 66 962
1946 54 153
1950 55 514
1964 60 163
1971 64 484
Year Population
1981 81 009
1985 85 593
1989 87 126
1990 86 171
1991 85 357
1992 84 937
1993 83 850
1994 82 323
1995 80 807
1996 79 784
Year Population
1997 77 891
1998 75 710
1999 73 832
2000 72 131
2001 70 308
2002 68 351
2003 67 014
2004 65 242
2005 63 748
2006 62 594
Year Population
2007 61 969
2008 61 286
2009 60 625
2010 60 330
2011 59 063
2012 58 537
2013 58 018
2014 57 649
2015 58 092

European university

The Margraviate of Brandenburg's first university was Frankfurt's Alma Mater Viadrina, founded in 1506 by Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg. An early chancellor, Bishop Georg von Blumenthal (1490–1550), was a notable opponent of the Protestant Reformation, as he remained a Catholic. Frankfurt also trained the noted archbishop Albert of Brandenburg around 1510, who also became a vocal opponent of the Reformation. The university was closed in 1811, and its assets divided between two new universities founded under King Frederick William III: Frederick William University of Berlin, presently Humboldt University; and Silesian Frederick William University in Breslau, presently the University of Wrocław.

The university was refounded in 1991 with a European emphasis as the Viadrina European University, in close cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań; they jointly run the Collegium Polonicum in Słubice.

International relations

Frankfurt (Oder), being located on the border to Poland, plays a special role in connection with German-Polish relations and European integration. The European University Viadrina has one of its buildings in Poland, in the neighbouring town of Słubice. The university also has a number of projects and initiatives dedicated to bringing Poland and Germany together, and offers its students pro bono Polish courses. Another project that contributes to German-Polish integration in Frankfurt (Oder) is the Fforst House, a German-Polish student project, which has been granted support by the town's administration[7] and by the Viadrina,[8] having been described by the former president of the university, Gesine Schwan, as the place where "Europe begins".[9]

Twin towns and sister cities

Frankfurt (Oder) is twinned with:

Films set in Frankfurt

In recent years, Frankfurt has been the setting for several notable German films:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bevölkerung im Land Brandenburg nach amtsfreien Gemeinden, Ämtern und Gemeinden 31. Dezember 2015 (Fortgeschriebene amtliche Einwohnerzahlen auf Grundlage des Zensus 2011)". Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). 2016.
  2. ↑ "Bevölkerungsprognose (Ergänzungsbericht)" (PDF) (in German). Kommunalen Statistikstelle der Stadt Frankfurt (Oder). February 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-28. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  3. 1 2 3 Bröckling (1998), p.57
  4. 1 2 Mackillop (2003), p.64
  5. ↑ Anisimov, Evgeniǐ Viktorovich (1|995) Empress Elizabeth: Her Reign and Her Russia, 1741-1761. Academic International Press, p. 132. ISBN 0875691404
  6. ↑ Detailed data sources are to be found in the Wikimedia Commons.Population Projection Brandenburg at Wikimedia Commons
  7. ↑ Ad-hoc-news.de
  8. ↑ Euv-frankfurt-o.de
  9. ↑ Berlinonline.de

Bibliography

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