Frankfurt (Oder)

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Coordinates: 52°21′N 14°33′E

Frankfurt (Oder)
Image:Wappen Frankfurt an der Oder.jpg	Image:Lage Frankfurt (Oder).png

Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	urban district
Population	64,429 source (2005)
Area	147.61 km²
Population density	436 /km²
Elevation	40 m
Coordinates	52°21′ N 14°33′ E
Postal code	15201-15236
Area code	0335
Licence plate code	FF
Website	http://www.frankfurt-oder.de/

Frankfurt (Oder) [ˈfraŋkfʊrt] is a city in Brandenburg, Germany located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice. It is referred to as Frankfurt (Oder) (or Frankfurt an der Oder), to distinguish it from the larger city of Frankfurt am Main.

Population: 64,399 (January 2005).

1 History
2 European university
3 Films set in Frankfurt
4 Gallery
5 External links

[edit] History

The town of Frankfurt was chartered in 1253 at the free ford (frank furt means a free crossing) known as 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 late medieval times the town dominated the trade on the river between Wrocław (Breslau) and Szczecin (Stettin). In 1430 Frankfurt joined the Hanseatic League, but was a member for only a short time.

In the 19th century, Frankfurt played an important role in trade. Centrally positioned in the Kingdom of Prussia between Berlin and Poznań (Poland), and on the heavily-trafficked river Oder, the city housed the second-largest annual trade fair (Messe) of the German Reich, surpassed only by that in Leipzig.

There was intense fighting for the city in 1945 when the city was declared a fortress (Festung) in an attempt to block the Soviets' route to Berlin. The postwar German-Polish border ran along the Oder, separating the Dammvorstadt on the eastern bank from the rest of Frankfurt; it became the Polish town of Słubice.

Today, the towns now have friendly relations and run several common projects and facilities. Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, and intends to implement the Schengen Agreement in coming years, 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.

[edit] European university

Main article: Viadrina European University

Prussia's university was founded in Frankfurt in 1506. It was founded by the Elector of Brandenburg. An early chancellor, Bishop Georg von Blumenthal (1490-1550), was a notable opponent of the Reformation, as he remained a Catholic. The university was closed in 1811, and its assets divided between the new universities in Berlin (today's Humboldt University) and Breslau (University of Wrocław).

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

[edit] Films set in Frankfurt

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

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

[edit] Gallery

The Gothic town hall	Viadrina European University, with the tower of the Marienkirche	The city archives and the C.P.E. Bach Concert Hall	The Oderturm, tallest building in Frankfurt
The neo-Gothic post office	The Friedenskirche	The Oder bridge joining Frankfurt with Słubice	View of northern Frankfurt riverfront
Main railway station	Große Scharrnstraße, rebuilt in the late 1980s	View from the Oderturm	The Paulinenhof settlement, built in the 1920s for railway employees