OPPELN (

See also:

• POLISH

Polish, Oppolie)  , a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia, lies on the right bank of the Oder, 51 M . S.E. of Breslau, on the railway to Kattowitz, and at the junction of lines to Beuthen, Neisse and Tarnowitz . Pop . (1905) 30,769: It is the seat of the provincial administration of Upper Silesia, and contains the oldest Christian church in the district, that of St Adalbert, founded at the close of the loth century . It has two other churches and a ducal 15th-century palace on an island in the Oder . The most prominent among the other buildings are the offices of the district authorities, the town hall, the normal seminary and the hospital of St Adalbert . The Roman Catholic gymnasium is established in an old Jesuit college . The industries of Oppeln include the manufacture of Portland cement, machinery, beer, soap, cigars and lime; trade is carried on by rail and river in cattle, grain and the vast mineral output of the district, of which Oppeln is the chief centre . The upper classes speak German, the lower Polish . Oppeln was a flourishing place at the beginning of the Il th century, and became a town in 1228 . It was the capital of the duchy of Oppeln and the residence of the duke from 1163 to 1532, when the ruling family became extinct . Then it passed to Austria, and with the rest of Silesia was ceded to Prussia in 1742 .

See Idzikowski, Geschichte der Stadt Oppeln (Oppeln, 1863) ; and

Vogt, Oppeln beim Eintritt in das Jahr 1900 (Oppeln, 1900) .