Two cities and a river

1 - The river flows peacefully along. You can see a bridge and the towers of a church, with houses and streets on both banks. A peaceful yet unusual scene. The river not only forms the border between two countries, but also separates two places that were a single city until just a few decades ago. Today, the city of Görlitz in Germany lies on the western side. On the eastern bank, we are in the city of Zgorzelec in Poland. 2 - Until 1945, both places formed the German city of Görlitz in the province of Silesia. The river is called the Neisse. A few kilometres further on, it joins the Oder, which takes in other tributaries before finally flowing into the Baltic Sea.

3 - On 1 September 1939, German soldiers invaded neighbouring Poland on Adolf Hitler's orders. Hitler ordered the bombing of English cities and sent his troops into other European countries. In June 1941, they invaded the Soviet Union, which included the countries now known as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. At first, German troops conquered vast areas. But from January 1943, they were forced to retreat. 4 - English and American aircraft now dropped bombs on German cities. They brought death and destruction. Soldiers were not the only ones killed; women, children and the elderly also died. From the east, the Soviet Union's "Red Army" advanced ever further, while from the west American and British soldiers liberated first Western Europe, then western Germany.5 - By the end of the war, more than 50 million people had lost their lives. Terrible crimes had been committed by Germans, especially against Jews. On 8 May 1945, Germany was finally defeated. Many cities had been destroyed, and the country was occupied by soldiers from the USA, England, the Soviet Union and France. Hitler took his own life a few days before the end of the war.

6 - American President Truman, British Prime Minister Churchill, and Soviet dictator Stalin met at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam in the summer of 1945. They decided that Germany had to surrender all its territory east of the Oder and Neisse rivers, most of it to Poland. 7 - The city of Görlitz was also affected. The smaller eastern part of the city had once been connected to the western part by seven bridges. German soldiers destroyed all the bridges on the second-to-last day of the war. After the Potsdam Conference, almost all Germans living east of the Oder and Neisse had to leave their homes, including the residents of the eastern part of Görlitz. 8 - The Polish government settled people here mainly from eastern Poland, which had to be ceded to the Soviet Union. Several thousand Greeks also settled here temporarily. They had fled their homeland during a civil war between 1946 and 1949 and sought refuge in Poland. The new city was given the Polish name Zgorzelec. 9 - Today, Zgorzelec has just over 30,000 residents, while the German city of Görlitz has about 56,000. Both cities still have many historic buildings from the long history of Görlitz, which was once a very wealthy city. Many of these buildings have been restored in recent years. Görlitz is now considered one of Germany’s most beautiful cities.

10 - Despite their difficult history, the two towns are trying to build a good relationship. Until 2004, there was only one bridge over the Neisse. Then the Old Town Bridge was built, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to cross back and forth. Poland and Germany are now members of the European Union. Today, people can travel from one country to the other without showing a passport or entry permit. 11 - Görlitz and Zgorzelec now jointly call themselves the “European City.” They trust that ties between the two towns will develop peacefully and with mutual respect in the future.