Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (, ; Central Marchian: ''Frankfort an de Oder,'' ) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

after

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Cottbus Cottbus () or (;) is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital, Potsdam. With around 100,000 inhabitants, Cottbus is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian ...

and

Brandenburg an der Havel Brandenburg an der Havel (; ) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, which served as the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg until it was replaced by Berlin in 1417. With a population of 72,040 (as of 2020), it is located on the banks of the ...

. With around 58,000 inhabitants, it is the largest German city on the

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

River, and one of the easternmost cities in Germany. Frankfurt sits on the western bank of the Oder, opposite the Polish town of Słubice, which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945, and called ''Dammvorstadt'' until then. The city is about east of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, in the south of the historical region

Lubusz Land Lubusz Land (; ) is a historical region and cultural landscape in Poland and Germany on both sides of the Oder river. Originally the settlement area of the Lechites, the swampy area was located east of Margraviate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg and ...

. Within Frankfurt's city limits lies the recreational area Lake Helenesee. The name of the city makes reference to the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

, and means '' Ford of the Franks'', and there appears a Gallic rooster in the coats of arms of Frankfurt and Słubice. The official name ''Frankfurt (Oder)'' and the older ''Frankfurt an der Oder'' are used to distinguish it from the larger city of

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. The city's

recorded history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world h ...

began in the 13th century as a West Slavic settlement. During its history, it was successively part of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

, the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg () was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that, having electoral status although being quite poor, grew rapidly in importance after inheriting the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 and then came ...

, the Bohemian Crown,

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

and Germany. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the eastern part of Frankfurt became again part of Poland under the terms of the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

and was renamed to Słubice, while the western part of Frankfurt became a border city of the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

in 1949. During the communist era, Frankfurt reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants at the end of the 1980s. Following

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, the population decreased significantly, but has stabilized in recent years at about 58,000 inhabitants. As of 2020, the city plays an important role in German–Polish relations and

European integration European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...

. Frankfurt is home to the

European University Viadrina European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) () is a university located at Frankfurt (Oder) in Brandenburg, Germany. It is also known as the University of Frankfurt (Oder). The city is on the Oder River, which marks the border between Germany ...

, which has a campus in Słubice, the Collegium Polonicum.

History

Middle Ages

FrankfurtOder asv2022-07 img10 Friedenskirche

Prior to 1249, a West Slavic settlement named Zliwitz along with the

was part of the

. The Piast duke Henry the Bearded granted Zliwitz staple rights in 1225. In 1226, construction of the St. Nicholas Church (today's ''Friedenskirche'') began. In 1249, the settlement became part of the

. The town of Frankfurt received its charter in 1253 at the Brandendamm. 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 the

Duchy of Pomerania The Duchy of Pomerania (; ; Latin: ''Ducatus Pomeraniae'') was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (''Griffins''). The country existed in the Middle Ages between years 1121–11 ...

. In 1319, Wartislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania, granted new privileges to the town. The town fell again to Brandenburg in 1324. In the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

, the town dominated the river trade between

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

and

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

. From 1373 to 1415, along with Brandenburg, it was part of the

Lands of the Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the states in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval and early modern periods with feudalism, feudal obligations to the List of Bohemian monarchs, Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted o ...

. In 1430, Frankfurt joined the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

. In 1432, the Czech Hussites captured the town.

Modern era

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. In April 1631, during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, Frankfurt was the site of the

Battle of Frankfurt an der Oder The Battle of Frankfurt an der Oder on 13 April 1631 took place during the Thirty Years' War. The Imperial city of Frankfurt an der Oder was taken by a Swedish army, the first town within the Empire to be occupied outside Pomerania, where Swed ...

between the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire or the Great Power era () was the period in Swedish history spanning much of the 17th and early 18th centuries during which Sweden became a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic regi ...

and the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. After a two-day siege, Swedish forces, supported by Scottish auxiliaries,Mackillop (2003), p.64 stormed the town and destroyed many buildings, e.g. the Georgen Hospital.Bröckling (1998), p.57 The result was a Swedish victory. By the end of the Thirty Years' War, the town's population had decreased from 12,000 inhabitants to 2,366 inhabitants. In the 16th century the oldest church of the town (today's ''Friedenskirche'') was secularized and was even used as a

granary A granary, also known as a grain house and historically as a granarium in Latin, is a post-harvest storage building primarily for grains or seeds. Granaries are typically built above the ground to prevent spoilage and protect the stored grains o ...

, and from the 17th century it served as the church of the French

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

. The city was briefly occupied by the

Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, in August 1759, in the prelude to the battle of Kunersdorf. With the dissolution of the

during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, Frankfurt became part of the Province of Brandenburg in 1815. In the 19th century, Frankfurt played an important role in trade. Centrally positioned in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

between Berlin and Posen (Poznań), on the river Oder with its heavy traffic, the town housed the second-largest annual trade fair (''Messe'') of the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (, from ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty entirely from a continuing unitary German ''Volk'' ("na ...

, surpassed only by that in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. One of the main escape routes for insurgents of the unsuccessful Polish

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

from partitioned Poland to the

Great Emigration The Great Emigration () was the emigration of thousands of Poles and Lithuanians, particularly from the political and cultural élites, from 1831 to 1870, after the failure of the November Uprising of 1830–1831 and of other uprisings such as ...

led through the city. In 1842, the Berlin–Frankfurt (Oder) railway was opened.

World War II and recent history

The SS '' Einsatzgruppe VI'' was formed in the town before it entered several Polish cities, including

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, Kalisz and

Leszno Leszno (, , ) is a historic city in western Poland, seat of Leszno County within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. It is the seventh-largest city in the province with an estimated population of 62,200, as of 2021. Leszno is a former residential cit ...

, to commit various crimes against Poles during the German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, which started

. During World War II the Germans brought numerous forced laborers, both men and women, from Poland and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

to the town. In early 1945, death marches of prisoners of various nationalities from the dissolved camps in Żabikowo and Świecko to the

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

passed through the city. There was no fighting for the town in 1945 during

even though the town was declared a fortress ('' Festung'') in an attempt to block the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

's route to Berlin. The nearly empty town was burned down by the Red Army. The postwar East German–Polish border ran along the Oder, separating the ''Dammvorstadt'' on the eastern bank – which became the Polish town of Słubice – from the rest of Frankfurt. While part of communist

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, Frankfurt was administered within Bezirk Frankfurt (Oder). It became part of the reconstituted state of Brandenburg with

in 1990. In the post-communist era, following the collapse of its main employer VEB Halbleiterwerk, Frankfurt has suffered from high

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

and low

economic growth In economics, economic growth is an increase in the quantity and quality of the economic goods and Service (economics), services that a society Production (economics), produces. It can be measured as the increase in the inflation-adjusted Outp ...

. 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 the Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics (IHPM) institute. Today, the towns of Frankfurt and Słubice have friendly relations and run several common projects and facilities. Poland joined the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

on 1 May 2004, and implemented the Schengen Agreement on 21 December 2007 leading to the removal of permanent border controls. In March 2008, the Jewish community of Frankfurt celebrated its first

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

dedication since

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. 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's

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...

-Lubavitch centre, where they danced with the

, which had been donated by members of the Chabad-Lubavitch community in Berlin.

Demography

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

European university

The Margraviate of Brandenburg's first university was Frankfurt's Alma Mater Viadrina, founded in 1506 by

Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg Joachim I Nestor (21 February 1484 – 11 July 1535) was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1499–1535), the fifth member of the House of Hohenzollern. His nickname was taken from King Nestor of Greek mythology. Biography Th ...

. An early chancellor, Bishop Georg von Blumenthal (1490–1550), was a notable opponent of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, as he remained a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Frankfurt also trained the noted archbishop Albert of Brandenburg around 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 King Frederick William III: Frederick William University of Berlin, presently

Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...

; and the Silesian Frederick William University in Breslau, presently the

University of Wrocław The University of Wrocław (, UWr; ) is a public research university in Wrocław, Poland. It is the largest institution of higher learning in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, with over 100,000 graduates since 1945, including some 1,900 researcher ...

. The university was refounded in 1991 with a European emphasis as the

Viadrina European University European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) () is a university located at Frankfurt (Oder) in Brandenburg, Germany. It is also known as the University of Frankfurt (Oder). The city is on the Oder River, which marks the border between Germany ...

, in close cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań; they jointly run the Collegium Polonicum in Słubice.

Transport

The Frankfurt (Oder) Bahnhof is a station served by the Berlin-Warszawa-Express and has regular regional connections to

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

and

. Within the city, there is a network of five tram lines.

Sport

1. FC Frankfurt is the town's local football team.

International relations

20-04-23-Fotoflug-Ostbrandenburg-RalfR-DSCF6705

Frankfurt (Oder), being located on the border to Poland, plays a special role in connection with German–Polish relations and

. The

has 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 to German–Polish integration in Frankfurt (Oder) is the Fforst House, a German-Polish student project, which has been granted support by the town's administration and by the Viadrina, having been described by the former president of the university, Gesine Schwan, as the place where "Europe begins".

Governance

Mayor and city council

The current mayor is René Wilke (independent, formerly Left) since 2018. The most recent mayoral election was held on 28 February 2018 and the results were as follows: ! rowspan=2 colspan=2, Candidate ! rowspan=2, Party ! colspan=2, First round ! colspan=2, Second round , - ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, René Wilke , align=left, The Left ( Greens/FBI) , 9,505 , 43.4 , 11,337 , 62.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Martin Wilke , align=left,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, 4,433 , 20.3 , 6,804 , 37.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Wilko Möller , align=left,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

, 3,726 , 17.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Markus Derling , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 3,116 , 14.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Jens-Marcel Ullrich , align=left, Social Democratic Party , 1,099 , 5.0 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 21,879 ! 99.1 ! 18,141 ! 99.0 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 205 ! 0.9 ! 176 ! 1.0 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 22,084 ! 100.0 ! 18,317 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 48,562 ! 45.5 ! 48,572 ! 37.7 , - , colspan=7, Source: City of Frankfurt (Oder
1st round2nd round
The city council governs the city alongside the mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 9 June 2024, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(AfD) , 22,600 , 28.7 , 9.9 , 13 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 18,030 , 22.9 , 3.0 , 11 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 12,449 , 15.8 , 7.0 , 7 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Social Democratic Party (SPD) , 9,990 , 12.7 , 2.4 , 5 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens/Development Initiative (Grüne/BI) , 4,802 , 6.1 , 5.9 , 3 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Frankfurt Citizens' Initiative/

Free Voters Free Voters (, FW) is a political party in Germany. It originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These a ...

(FBI–BVB/FW) , 4,135 , 5.2 , 1.2 , 2 , 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazine ...

, 3,871 , 4.9 , 1.3 , 2 , 0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 2,971 , 3.8 , 1.3 , 2 , 0 , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 78,848 ! 100.0 ! ! 46 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=2, Invalid ballots ! 547 ! 2.0 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ballots ! 27,238 ! 100.0 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 46,792 ! 58.2 ! 9.6 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
City of Frankfurt (Oder)

Twin towns – sister cities

Frankfurt (Oder) is twinned with: *

Gorzów Wielkopolski Gorzów Wielkopolski (), often abbreviated to Gorzów Wlkp. or simply Gorzów (formerly ), is a city in Geography of Poland, western Poland, located on the Warta, Warta River. It is one of the two principal cities and seats of the Lubusz Voivodes ...

, Poland (1975) *

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. From the late Middle Ages on, it developed into an important trading centre. At the begi ...

, Germany (1988) * Kadima-Tzoran, Israel (1997) *

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

, France (1976) * Słubice, Poland (1975) *

Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropoli ...

, Finland (1987) *

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

, Belarus (1991) * Vratsa, Bulgaria (2009) * Yuma, United States (1997)

Notable people

Public service and commerce

* Aaron ben Samuel (–1701), rabbi * Wilhelm Christian Benecke von Gröditzberg (1779–1860), German banker, merchant, estate owner and art collector * Robert von Puttkamer (1828–1900), Prussian statesman, he also introduced reforms in German

orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

. * Wilhelm von Wedell-Piesdorf (1837, 1915), Prussian politician * Hermann Wissmann (1853–1905), German explorer and administrator in Africa * Georg Michaelis (1857–1936),

Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal Cabinet of Germany, government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Government of Germany, ...

for a few months in 1917, grew up in Frankfurt (Oder). * Lucie Hein (1910–1965), East German politician (SED), she served as the senior mayor of Frankfurt 1960 to 1965. *

Gerhard Neumann Gerhard Neumann (October 8, 1917 – November 2, 1997) was a German-American aviation engineer and executive for General Electric's aircraft engine division (which today is called GE Aerospace). Born and raised in Germany, he went to Chin ...

(1917–1997), German-American aviation engineer and executive for

GE Aviation General Electric Company, doing business as GE Aerospace, is an American aircraft engine supplier that is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. It is the legal successor to the original General Electric Company founded in 1892, wh ...

* Zvi Aharoni (1921–2012), Israeli

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

agent instrumental in the capture of Adolf Eichmann * Dieter Sauberzweig (1925–2005), prominent commentator on German cultural politics (''Kulturpolitiker'') * Karl-Heinz Schröter (born 1954), German politician (Social Democratic Party) * Alexey Gordeyev (born 1955), Russian politician, served as the governor of

Voronezh Oblast Voronezh Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Voronezh. Its population was 2,308,792 as of the Russian Census (2021), 20 ...

from 2009. *

Manuela Schwesig Manuela Schwesig (; ' Frenzel, born 23 May 1974) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party serving as List of Ministers-President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Minister President of Mecklenburg-Vorpomm ...

(born 1974), German politician (SPD), fifth Minister‐President of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern * Franziska Giffey (born 1978), German politician, Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the Fourth Merkel Cabinet * René Wilke (born 1984), German politician, mayor of Frankfurt (Oder)

The arts

* Bartholomäus Ringwaldt (1532 – c. 1599), a German didactic poet and Lutheran pastor * Juste Chevillet (1729–1802), a French engraver, e.g. ''

Histoire Naturelle The ''Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi'' (; ) is an encyclopaedic collection of 36 large (quarto) volumes written between 1749–1804, initially by the Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, Comte ...

'' of

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French Natural history, naturalist, mathematician, and cosmology, cosmologist. He held the position of ''intendant'' (director) at the ''Jardin du Roi'', now ca ...

* Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811), a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. * Anton von Werner (1843–1915), a German painter of notable political and military events in the

. * 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 the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

* 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,

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

and Twitch streamer

Military

* Konstantin Schmidt von Knobelsdorf (1860–1936), a Prussian military officer and a general in WWI * Vizeadmiral Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz (1863–1933), a German admiral, German Naval attaché to Washington * Franz von Rintelen (1878–1949), a German Naval Intelligence officer in the United States during WWI. * Erich Hoepner (1886–1944), a German officer, served in both World Wars, executed for his role in the 20 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 Rudolf Hermann Brandt (2 June 1909 – 2 June 1948) was a German Schutzstaffel, SS officer from 1933–45 and a civil servant. A lawyer by profession, Brandt was the Personal Administrative Officer to ''Reichsführer-SS'' (''Persönlicher Referen ...

(1909–1948), German Nazi SS officer, executed for war crimes * Paul-Heinrich Dähne (1921–1945), a German Luftwaffe

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

* Günter Kießling (1925–2009), a German general in the Bundeswehr

Science

* Erdmann Copernicus (died 1573 while head of the university), German scholar, not related to the astronomer * Johann Sigismund Elsholtz (1623–1688), a German

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, pioneer in hygiene, nutrition and

holistic health Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices ...

* Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (1697–1770), a German-born Dutch

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

. * Karl August von Bergen (1704–1759), a German

and

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, he showed the distribution of cellular membranes in animals. * Heinrich Adolf von Bardeleben (1819–1895), a German

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

, used Joseph Lister's methodology for

antiseptic An antiseptic ( and ) is an antimicrobial substance or compound that is applied to living tissue to reduce the possibility of sepsis, infection, or putrefaction. Antiseptics are generally distinguished from ''antibiotics'' by the latter's abil ...

treatment of wounds. * Hermann Rudolph Aubert (1826–1892), a German

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...

, he researched

psychophysics Psychophysics is the field of psychology which quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimulus (physiology), stimuli and the sensation (psychology), sensations and perceptions they produce. Psychophysics has been described ...

and experimented dark adaptation * Georg Hermann Quincke (1834–1924), a German

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, modified the dissociation hypothesis of

Clausius Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius (; 2 January 1822 – 24 August 1888) was a German physicist and mathematician and is considered one of the central founding fathers of the science of thermodynamics. By his restatement of Nicolas Léonard Sadi Ca ...

. * Reinhold Wilhelm Buchholz (1837–1876), a German

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

who worked in

herpetology Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

carcinology Carcinology is a branch of zoology that consists of the study of crustaceans. Crustaceans are a large class of arthropods classified by having a hard exoskeleton made of chitin or chitin and calcium, three body regions, and jointed, paired appendag ...

and

ichthyology Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

* Heinrich Quincke (1842–1922), a German internist and

, introduced the lumbar puncture. * Friedrich Loeffler (1852–1915), a German

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology— a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically Pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learnin ...

at the University of Greifswald * Heinrich Seilkopf (1895–1968), a German

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

, in 1939 coined the term

jet stream Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow thermal wind, air currents in the Earth's Atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere. The main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are westerly winds, flowing west to east around the gl ...

for the weather phenomena originally discovered by Wasaburo Oishi. * Käthe Mende (1878–1963), a German sociologist.

Sport

* Hermann Weingärtner (1864–1919), a German gymnast, competed at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad () and commonly known as Athens 1896 (), were the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), wh ...

in Athens * Klaus Köste (1943–2012), a German gymnast, gold medalist in the vault at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

in Munich * Maik Bullmann (born 1967), a German Greco-Roman wrestler, competed at the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

* Sebastian Köber (born 1979), a German boxer, the Heavyweight bronze medalist at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

* Markus Thätner (born 1985), an amateur German Greco-Roman wrestler, competed at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

in Beijing * Florian Schmidt (born 1986), a German sport shooter, competed in the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Films set in Frankfurt

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'', a

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about a 1999 murder-by-neglect in Frankfurt, 2004) * ''No Exit'' (2004, documentary about

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

s) * ''Kombat Sechzehn'' (''Combat Sixteen'', 2005)

Climate

Gallery

File:FrankfurtOderRathaus.JPG, The Gothic town hall File:FFOArchive.JPG, The town archives and the C.P.E. Bach Concert Hall File:St Gertraud Frankfurt Exterior.jpg, St. Gertraud's Church File:FrankfurtOder asv2022-07 img26 Hauptpost.jpg, Neo-Gothic post office File:Oderbruecke.JPG, The Oder bridge linking Frankfurt with Słubice File:FrankfurtOderRiverView.JPG, View of northern Frankfurt river front File:Marienkirche Frankfurt (Oder) 2012.JPG,

Brick Gothic Brick Gothic (, , ) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Baltic region, Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resources of standing rock (though Glacial erratic, ...

St. Mary's Church File:GrosseScharrnstrasseFFO.JPG, Große Scharrnstraße, rebuilt in the late 1980s File:PaulinenhofFFO.jpg, The Paulinenhof settlement, built in the 1920s for

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

employees File:2006-02 Frankfurt (Oder) 32 Flutstein.jpg, The ''Flutstein'', Oderpromenade File:Pomnik Mikołaja Kopernika we Frankfurcie nad Odra.jpg,

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

monument File:Heinrich von Kleist Monument.jpg, Kleist Memorial File:Sowjetisches Ehrenmal FFO.jpg, Red Army monument

Notes

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* *Th
City of Frankfurt (Oder)
has a website (available in English translation as well as in German and in Polish) 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
* * *

(emergency banknotes) {{Authority control Members of the Hanseatic League Divided cities Populated places established in the 13th century 1220s establishments in Europe 13th-century establishments in Poland Germany–Poland border crossings Populated riverside places in Germany Urban districts of Brandenburg

History

Middle Ages

Modern era

World War II and recent history

Demography

European university

Transport

Sport

International relations

Governance

Mayor and city council

Twin towns – sister cities

Notable people

Public service and commerce

The arts

Military

Science

Sport

Films set in Frankfurt

Climate

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links