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Opole

BASIC FACTS
Establishment: 9th century
City rights: 1217
Area: 96,2 sq. Km
Elevation: 176 m
Population: around 130 000
Unemployment rate: 5,3 %
Significant employers: Opolgraf, Zott, Ovita Nutricia, Braas, Animex, Aluprof
Average wage: 2800 PLN
Official website: www.opole.pl

TRANSPORT & ACCOMODATION COSTS
Single public transport ticket - 1,05 PLN
Monthly ticket - 40-57,50 PLN
Taxi fares - 2-3 PLN / km
A single room monthly rent - 250-600 PLN
A single room flat rent - 850 PLN
A double room flat rent - 1200 PLN

HISTORY
Opole developed since the 10th century as the regional capital of the Slavic Opolanie. Their first settlements were on the Wyspa Pasieka island in the middle of the Odra. At the end of the century Silesia became part of Poland and was ruled by the Piast dynasty; the land of the pagan Opolanie was conquered by Duke Bolesław I in 1012/1013. From the 11th-12th centuries it was also a castellany. After the death of Duke Władysław II the Exile, Silesia was divided in 1163 between two Piast lines- the Wrocławska line in Lower Silesia and the Opolsko-Raciborska of Upper Silesia; Opole became the capital of the latter duchy in 1217. In 1281 Upper Silesia was divided further between the heirs of the dukes, and the Duchy of Opole was established.

While German merchants had earlier established a colony in Opole at the crossing of the Oder, German peasants began arriving in 1217. Opole received German town law in 1254, which was expanded with Neumarkt law in 1327 and Magdeburg rights in 1410. Along with most of Silesia, in 1327 the Duchy of Opole came under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Bohemia, itself part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1521 the Duchy of Racibórz (Ratibor) was inherited by the Duchy of Opole, by then already known by the German name Oppeln. With the death of King Louis II of Bohemia at the Battle of Mohács, Silesia was inherited by Ferdinand I, placing Oppeln under the sovereignty of the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria. The Habsburgs took control of the region in 1532 after the line of local Piast dukes died out. Beginning in 1532 the Habsburgs pawned the duchy to different rulers (see Dukes of Opole). With the abdication of King John II Casimir of Poland as the last Duke of Opole in 1668, the region passed to the direct control of the Habsburgs.

King Frederick II of Prussia conquered most of Silesia from Austria in 1740 during the Silesian Wars; Prussian control was confirmed in the Peace of Breslau in 1742. From 1816-1945 Opole was the capital of Regierungsbezirk Oppeln within Prussia. The city became part of the German Empire during the unification of Germany in 1871.

After the defeat of Imperial Germany in World War I, a plebiscite was held on March 20, 1921 in Oppeln to determine if the city would be in the Weimar Republic or become part of the Second Polish Republic. 20,816 (94.7%) votes were cast for Germany, 1,098 (5.0%) for Poland, and 70 (0.3%) votes were declared invalid. Voter participation was 95.9%. However, at the time the voting population consisted only of ethnic Germans.

Oppeln was the administrative seat of the Province of Upper Silesia from 1919-1939. With the defeat of Poland in the Invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II in 1939, eastern Upper Silesia was readded to the Province of Upper Silesa and Oppeln lost its status as provincial capital to Katowice (renamed Kattowitz again).

After the end of the Second World War in 1945, Oppeln was transferred from Germany to Poland according to the Potsdam Conference, and given its old Slavic name of Opole. Opole became part of the Katowice Voivodeship from 1946-1950, after which it became part of the Opole Voivodeship. Unlike other parts of historical eastern Germany ceded to remapped Poland, Opole and the surrounding region's German population remained and was not forcibly expelled as elsewhere, even though many ethnic Germans with right to German citizenship left to West Germany to flee the communist Eastern Bloc. Today Opole, along with the surrounding region, is known as a centre of the German-speaking Silesian minority in Poland.