Frankfurt (Oder)

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfort an de Oder
Town
Clockwise from top: St Mary's Church, Church of Peace, skyline with St Mary's, Oder Towerand city hall, view of the Oderfrom City Bridge, St Gertrude's Church, view of the city from Słubice
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfort an de Oder
Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfort an de Oder Show map of Germany Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfort an de Oder Show map of Brandenburg
Coordinates:52°20′31″N14°33′06″E / 52.341944°N 14.551667°E /52.341944; 14.551667
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Urban district
Government
•Lord mayor(2018–26)	René Wilke[1](Left)
Area
• Total	147.61 km2(56.99 sq mi)
Highest elevation	135 m (443 ft)
Lowest elevation	19 m (62 ft)
Population (2022-12-31) [2]
• Total	58,230
• Density	390/km2(1,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00(CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00(CEST)
Postal codes	15201–15236
Dialling codes	0335
Vehicle registration	FF
Website	www.frankfurt-oder.de

Frankfurt (Oder), also known asFrankfurt an der Oder(German:[ˈfʁaŋkfʊʁtʔandeːɐ̯ˈʔoːdɐ],lit.'Frankfurt on theOder';Central Marchian:Frankfort an de Oder,Polish:Frankfurt nad Odrą) is the fourth-largest city in the German state ofBrandenburgafterPotsdam,CottbusandBrandenburg an der Havel. With around 58,000 inhabitants, it is the largest German city on theOderRiver, and one of the easternmost cities in Germany. Frankfurt sits on the western bank of the Oder, opposite the Polish town ofSłubice, which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945, and calledDammvorstadtuntil then. The city is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) east ofBerlin, in the south of the historical regionLubusz Land. Within Frankfurt's city limits lies the recreational area LakeHelenesee.

The name of the city makes reference to theFranks, and meansFordof the Franks, and there appears aGallic roosterin the coats of arms of Frankfurt and Słubice. The official nameFrankfurt (Oder)and the olderFrankfurt an der Oderare used to distinguish it from the larger city ofFrankfurt am Main.

The city'srecorded historybegan in the 13th century as aWest Slavicsettlement. During its history, it was successively part of theKingdom of Poland, theMargraviate of Brandenburg,the Bohemian Crown,Prussiaand Germany. AfterWorld War II, the eastern part of Frankfurt became again part of Poland under the terms of thePotsdam Agreementand was renamed toSłubice, while the western part of Frankfurt became a border city of theGerman Democratic Republicin 1949.

During the communist era, Frankfurt reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants at the end of the 1980s. FollowingGerman reunification, the population decreased significantly, but has stabilized in recent years at about 58,000 inhabitants. As of 2020, the city plays an important role inGerman–Polish relationsandEuropean integration. Frankfurt is home to theEuropean University Viadrina, which has a campus in Słubice, theCollegium Polonicum.

Prior to 1249, aWest Slavicsettlement named Zliwitz along with theLubusz Landwas part of theKingdom of Poland. ThePiastdukeHenry the Beardedgranted Zliwitzstaple rightsin 1225.^[3]In 1226, construction of the St. Nicholas Church (today'sFriedenskirche) began. In 1249, the settlement became part of theMargraviate of Brandenburg.

The town of Frankfurt received its charter in 1253 at theBrandendamm. The early settlers lived on the western banks of the Oder; later the town was extended to the eastern bank. After a war broke out over control of the region in 1319, the town came under the control of theDuchy of Pomerania. In 1319,Wartislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania, granted newprivilegesto the town.^[4]The town fell again to Brandenburg in 1324. In theLate Middle Ages, the town dominated the river trade betweenWrocławandSzczecin. From 1373 to 1415, along with Brandenburg, it was part of theLands of the Bohemian Crown. In 1430, Frankfurt joined theHanseatic League. In 1432, the CzechHussitescaptured the town.^[5]

In the 16th century, many Polish exports, including grain, wood, ash, tar and hemp, were floated from western Poland via Frankfurt to the port of Szczecin, with the high Brandenburgian customs duties on Polish goods lowered in the early 17th century.^[6]

In April 1631, during theThirty Years' War, Frankfurt was the site of theBattle of Frankfurt an der Oderbetween theSwedish Empireand theHoly Roman Empire.^[7]After a two-day siege, Swedish forces, supported byScottishauxiliaries,^[8]stormed the town and destroyed many buildings, e.g. theGeorgen Hospital.^[7]The result was a Swedish victory.^[7][8]By the end of the Thirty Years' War, the town's population had decreased from 12,000 inhabitants to 2,366 inhabitants.^[9]

In the 16th century the oldest church of the town (today'sFriedenskirche) was secularized and was even used as agranary, and from the 17th century it served as the church of theFrenchHuguenots.^[10]

The city was briefly occupied by theRussian Imperial Armyduring theSeven Years' War, in August 1759, in the prelude to thebattle of Kunersdorf.^[11]

With the dissolution of theMargraviate of Brandenburgduring theNapoleonic Wars, Frankfurt became part of theProvince of Brandenburgin 1815. In the 19th century, Frankfurt played an important role in trade. Centrally positioned in theKingdom of Prussiabetween Berlin andPosen (Poznań), on the river Oder with its heavy traffic, the town housed the second-largest annual trade fair (Messe) of theGerman Reich, surpassed only by that inLeipzig. One of the main escape routes for insurgents of the unsuccessful PolishNovember Uprisingfrom partitioned Poland to theGreat Emigrationled through the city.^[12]In 1842, the Berlin–Frankfurt (Oder) railway was opened.^[13]

TheEinsatzgruppe VIwas formed in the town before it entered several Polish cities, includingPoznań,KaliszandLeszno, to commit variouscrimes against Polesduring the Germaninvasion of Poland, which startedWorld War II.^[14]During World War II the Germans brought numerousforced laborers, both men and women, from Poland and theSoviet Unionto the town.^[15]In early 1945,death marchesof prisoners of various nationalities from the dissolved camps inŻabikowoandŚwieckoto theSachsenhausen concentration camppassed through the city.^[16][17]There was no fighting for the town in 1945 duringWorld War IIeven though the town was declared a fortress (Festung) in an attempt to block theRed Army'sroute to Berlin. The nearly empty town was burned down by the Red Army. The postwarEast German–Polish borderran along the Oder, separating theDammvorstadton the eastern bank – which became the Polish town of Słubice – from the rest of Frankfurt. While part of communistEast Germany, Frankfurt was administered withinBezirk Frankfurt (Oder). It became part of thereconstituted stateof Brandenburg withGerman reunificationin 1990.

In the post-communist era, following the collapse of its main employerVEB Halbleiterwerk, Frankfurt has suffered from highunemploymentand loweconomic growth. Its population has fallen significantly from around 87,000 at the time of German reunification in 1990. The only remnant of semiconductor technology industries in Frankfurt by 2003 was theInnovations for High Performance Microelectronics(IHPM) institute.

Today, the towns of Frankfurt andSłubicehave friendly relations and run several common projects and facilities. Poland joined theEuropean Unionon 1 May 2004, and implemented theSchengen Agreementon 21 December 2007 leading to the removal of permanent border controls.

In March 2008, theJewish communityof Frankfurt celebrated its firstTorahdedication sincethe 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'sChabad-Lubavitch centre, where they danced with theTorah, which had been donated by members of the Chabad-Lubavitch community in Berlin.^[18]

• 
  Development of population since 1875 within the current boundaries (blue line: population; dotted line: comparison to population development of Brandenburg state)
• 
  Recent population development and projections (population development before Census 2011 (blue line); recent population development according to the Census in Germanyin 2011 (blue bordered line); official projections for 2005–2030 (yellow line); for 2017–2030 (scarlet line); for 2020–2030 (green line)

Frankfurt (Oder): Population development
within the current boundaries (2020) ^[19]

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1875 43,491 — 1890 50,108 +0.95% 1910 59,905 +0.90% 1925 62,044 +0.23% 1933 65,717 +0.72% 1939 66,962 +0.31% 1946 54,153 −2.99% 1950 55,514 +0.62% 1964 60,163 +0.58% 1971 64,484 +1.00% 1981 81,009 +2.31% 1985 85,593 +1.39% 1989 87,126 +0.44% 1990 86,171 −1.10% 1991 85,357 −0.94%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1992 84,937 −0.49% 1993 83,850 −1.28% 1994 82,323 −1.82% 1995 80,807 −1.84% 1996 79,784 −1.27% 1997 77,891 −2.37% 1998 75,710 −2.80% 1999 73,832 −2.48% 2000 72,131 −2.30% 2001 70,308 −2.53% 2002 68,351 −2.78% 2003 67,014 −1.96% 2004 65,242 −2.64% 2005 63,748 −2.29% 2006 62,594 −1.81%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2007 61,969 −1.00% 2008 61,286 −1.10% 2009 60,625 −1.08% 2010 60,330 −0.49% 2011 59,063 −2.10% 2012 58,537 −0.89% 2013 58,018 −0.89% 2014 57,649 −0.64% 2015 58,092 +0.77% 2016 58,193 +0.17% 2017 58,237 +0.08% 2018 57,873 −0.63% 2019 57,751 −0.21% 2020 57,015 −1.27%

The Margraviate of Brandenburg's first university was Frankfurt's Alma Mater Viadrina, founded in 1506 byJoachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg. An early chancellor, BishopGeorg von Blumenthal(1490–1550), was a notable opponent of theProtestant Reformation, as he remained aCatholic. Frankfurt also trained the noted archbishopAlbert of Brandenburgaround 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 KingFrederick William III: Frederick William University of Berlin, presentlyHumboldt University; and the Silesian Frederick William University inBreslau, presently theUniversity of Wrocław.

The university was refounded in 1991 with a European emphasis as theViadrina European University, in close cooperation with theAdam Mickiewicz Universityin Poznań; they jointly run theCollegium Polonicumin Słubice.

TheFrankfurt (Oder) Bahnhofis a station served by theBerlin-Warszawa-Expressand has regular regional connections toMagdeburgandCottbus. Within the city, there is a network of fivetram lines.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2021)

1. FC Frankfurtis the town's local football team.

Frankfurt (Oder), being located on the border to Poland, plays a special role in connection withGerman–Polish relationsandEuropean integration. TheEuropean University Viadrinahas 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 toGerman–Polish integrationin Frankfurt (Oder) is the Fforst House,^[20]a German-Polish student project, which has been granted support by the town's administration^[21]and by theViadrina,^[22]having been described by the former president of the university,Gesine Schwan, as the place where "Europe begins".^[23]

Frankfurt (Oder) istwinnedwith:^[24]

• Aaron ben Samuel(c. 1620–1701), a rabbi
• Wilhelm Christian Benecke von Gröditzberg(1779–1860), a German banker, merchant, estate owner and art collector
• Robert von Puttkamer(1828–1900), a Prussian statesman, he also introduced reforms in Germanorthography.^[25]
• Wilhelm von Wedell-Piesdorf(1837|1915), Prussian politician
• Hermann Wissmann(1853–1905), a German explorer and administrator in Africa
• Georg Michaelis(1857–1936), wasChancellor of Germanyfor a few months in 1917, grew up in Frankfurt (Oder).
• Lucie Hein(1910–1965), an East German politician (SED), she served as the senior mayor of Frankfurt 1960 to 1965.
• Gerhard Neumann(1917–1997), a German-American aviation engineer and executive forGE Aviation
• Zvi Aharoni(1921–2012), an IsraeliMossadagent instrumental in the capture ofAdolf Eichmann
• Dieter Sauberzweig(1925–2005), a prominent commentator on German cultural politics (Kulturpolitiker)
• Karl-Heinz Schröter(born 1954), a German politician (Social Democratic Party)
• Alexey Gordeyev(born 1955), a Russian politician, served as the governor ofVoronezh Oblastfrom 2009.
• Manuela Schwesig(born 1974), a German politician (SPD), fifthMinister‐President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Franziska Giffey(born 1978), a German politician,Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youthin the Fourth Merkel Cabinet
• René Wilke(born 1984), a German politician, mayor of Frankfurt (Oder)

• Bartholomäus Ringwaldt(1532 – c. 1599), a Germandidactic poetand Lutheran pastor
• Juste Chevillet(1729–1802), a French engraver, e.g.Histoire NaturelleofGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
• Heinrich von Kleist(1777–1811), a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist.^[26]
• Anton von Werner(1843–1915), a German painter of notable political and military events in theKingdom of Prussia.^[27]
• Marie Goslich(1859–1936), a German journalist, photographer and magazine editor
• Herbert Bohme(1907–1971), a German poet who wrote poems and battle hymns for theNazi Party
• René Pawlowitz(born 1975), a German electronic music producer and DJ
• Claudia Hiersche(born 1977), a German host and actress, known for her portrayal of a lesbian TV soap opera character
• Anne Pätzke(born 1982), a German illustrator and writer
• Finch(born 1990), a German rapper,battle rapper,YouTuberandTwitch streamer

• Konstantin Schmidt von Knobelsdorf(1860–1936), a Prussian military officer and a general in WWI
• VizeadmiralHubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz(1863–1933), a German admiral, German Naval attaché to Washington
• Franz von Rintelen(1878–1949), a GermanNaval Intelligenceofficer in the United States during WWI.
• Erich Hoepner(1886–1944), a German officer, served in both World Wars, executed for his role in the20 July Plot
• Fritz-Hubert Gräser(1888–1960), a German general in the Wehrmacht
• Theodor Busse(1897–1986), a German Army officer during WWI and WWII
• Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer(1900–1981), a German admiral, naval adjutant to Adolf Hitler during WWII
• Rudolf Brandt(1909–1948), German Nazi SS officer, executed for war crimes
• Paul-Heinrich Dähne(1921–1945), a German Luftwaffeflying ace
• Günter Kießling(1925–2009), a German general in the Bundeswehr

• Erdmann Copernicus(died 1573 while head of the university), German scholar, not related to the astronomer
• Johann Sigismund Elsholtz(1623–1688), a Germannaturalist, pioneer in hygiene, nutrition andholistic health
• Bernhard Siegfried Albinus(1697–1770), a German-born Dutchanatomist.^[28]
• Karl August von Bergen(1704–1759), a Germananatomistandbotanist, he showed the distribution of cellular membranes in animals.
• Heinrich Adolf von Bardeleben(1819–1895), a Germansurgeon, used Joseph Lister's methodology forantiseptictreatment of wounds.
• Hermann Rudolph Aubert(1826–1892), a Germanphysiologist, he researchedpsychophysicsand experimenteddark adaptation
• Georg Hermann Quincke(1834–1924), a Germanphysicist, modified the dissociation hypothesis ofClausius.
• Reinhold Wilhelm Buchholz(1837–1876), a Germanzoologistwho worked inherpetology,carcinologyandichthyology
• Heinrich Quincke(1842–1922), a Germaninternistandsurgeon, introduced thelumbar puncture.
• Friedrich Loeffler(1852–1915), a Germanbacteriologistat theUniversity of Greifswald
• Heinrich Seilkopf(1895–1968), a Germanmeteorologist, in 1939 coined the termjet streamfor the weather phenomena originally discovered byWasaburo Oishi.
• Käthe Mende(1878–1963), a Germansociologist.

• Hermann Weingärtner(1864–1919), a German gymnast, competed at the1896 Summer Olympicsin Athens
• Klaus Köste(1943–2012), a German gymnast, gold medalist in the vault at the1972 Summer Olympicsin Munich
• Maik Bullmann(born 1967), a German Greco-Roman wrestler, competed at the1992and1996 Summer Olympics
• Sebastian Köber(born 1979), a German boxer, the Heavyweight bronze medalist at the2000 Summer Olympics
• Markus Thätner(born 1985), an amateur German Greco-Roman wrestler, competed at the2008 Summer Olympicsin Beijing
• Florian Schmidt(born 1986), a German sport shooter, competed in the2008and the2012 Summer Olympics

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

• Halbe Treppe(Grill Point, 2002)
• Lichter(Distant Lights, 2003)
• Die Kinder sind tot(The Children Are Dead, adocumentaryabout a 1999 murder-by-neglect in Frankfurt, 2004)
• No Exit(2004, documentary aboutNeo-Nazis)
• Kombat Sechzehn(Combat Sixteen, 2005)

• 
  The Gothic town hall
• 
  The town archives and the C.P.E. Bach Concert Hall
• 
  St. Gertraud's Church
• 
  Neo-Gothic post office
• 
  The Oder bridge linking Frankfurt with Słubice
• 
  View of northern Frankfurt river front
• 
  Brick GothicSt. Mary's Church
• 
  Große Scharrnstraße, rebuilt in the late 1980s
• 
  The Paulinenhof settlement, built in the 1920s for railwayemployees
• 
  The Flutstein, Oderpromenade
• 
  Nicolaus Copernicusmonument
• 
  Kleist Memorial
• 
  Red Army monument

• Helenesee
• Hohenwalde
• Stadtarchiv Frankfurt (Oder)
• Trams in Frankfurt (Oder)
• Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Straße

• Bröckling, Ulrich; Sikora, Michael (1998).Armeen und ihre Deserteure: Vernachlässigte Kapital einer Militärgeschichte der Neuzeit(in German). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.ISBN3-525-01365-5. Retrieved27 August2009.
• Mackillop, Andrew; Murdoch, Steve (2003).Military governors and imperial frontiers c. 1600-1800: A study of Scotland and empires. BRILL.ISBN90-04-12970-7. Retrieved27 August2009.

• Frankfurt an der Odertravel guide from Wikivoyage
• TheCity of Frankfurt (Oder)has a website (available in English translation as well as inGermanand inPolish) with some limited commerce and cultural information.
• Slubice.pl– official site of Frankfurt's border town Słubice
• Frankfurt.pl&Slubice.de– a student project
• Tram-ff.de
• "Frankfort-on-the-Oder".The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
• "Frankfort-on-the-Oder".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. IX (9th ed.). 1879.
• "Frankfort-on-the-Oder".Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
• Frankfort a.d.O. Notgeld(emergency banknotes)