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Population: 66,151 (June 30, 2004).
The town of Frankfurt (Oder) was founded in the 13th century (local government charter in 1253) at the river crossing known as the Brandendamm. The early settlers lived on the western banks of the Oder; later the town was extended to the eastern banks (which are today Polish). In late medieval times the town dominated the trade on the river between Wroclaw (Breslau) and Szczecin (Stettin). In 1430 Frankfurt joined the Hanseatic League, but was a member only for a short time.
In the 19th century, Frankfurt (Oder) played an important role in trade. Centrally positioned in the Kingdom of PrussiaThe word Prussia ( German: Preussen (Preussen Polish: Prusy Lithuanian: Prusai Latin: Borussia has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad exclave of Russia between BerlinBerlin [ bɛrˈliːn ] is the national capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,387,404 inhabitants (as of September 2004); down from 4. 5 million before World War II. Berlin is located on the rivers Spree and Havel in the northea and PoznanPoznan (pronounce: Media:Poznan. ogg|['pzna]]], German Posen see also other names) is a city in west-central Poland with over 578,000 inhabitants (1999). Located by the Warta River, it is one of the oldest Polish cities, an important historical centre and ( Poland), and on the trafficked river Oder, the city housed the second largest annual trade fair (Messe) of the German Reich, surpassed only by that in LeipzigLeipzig [ˈlaiptsɪç] ( Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk is the largest city in the federal state ( Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. The name is derived from the Slavic word (see Sorbian) Lipsk (settlement where the linden trees stand). It is s. This is in sharp contrast to the Frankfurt (Oder) of the Cold WarThe Cold War (c. 1945- 1991) was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between groups of nations practicing different ideologies and political systems. On one side was the Soviet Union and its allies, often referred to as the E.
There was intense fighting for the city in 1945Events January January 5 The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland. January 7 British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge. January 12 World War II: when the Germans made it a fortress blocking the Soviets from taking the direct route to Berlin. After World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough Frankfurt was located on the new Polish border; the quarters on the eastern banks became the Polish town of Slubice.
Both towns are now in friendly relations and run several common projects and facilities. After Poland joined the European Union on May 1, 2004, Frankfurt (Oder) stopped being a border town. Despite this in the post-communist era the town has been quite poor with high unemployment. Its population has fallen significantly from around 87,000 at the time of German reunification in 1990.
Frankfurt housed a university between 1506 and 1811. It was refounded in 1991 under the old name, but with a European emphasis, as the Viadrina European University, which in several respects is a common German-Polish university.
Frankfurt (Oder) is not to be confused with another city called Frankfurt, the much larger Frankfurt am Main.