|
|
|
| Home Page > Travelogues > Germany > Brandenburg > Frankfurt an der Oder
If you are looking for Germany's big city of Frankfurt, click here for Frankfurt am Main. Germany had a number of cities and towns that
repeat names, and they typicall At the turn of the 20th Century, Frankfurt an der Oder was part
of Prussia, the expansive German empire that reached through much of western
Poland and followed the East Sea to the Baltics. Frankfurt straddled both
banks of the river. But after World War II, the Oder River was used to
establish the border between Germany and Poland. Once Germany was divided
between West and East (the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or DDR), Frankfurt
itself was divided, and its
Communism would treat Frankfurt an der Oder and western Poland a little differently. While the Soviets stamped out the Prussian influences east of the Oder (see Sulecin), Frankfurt on the west bank stayed German in culture but simply fell to decay, and its downtown was built up with a number of cookie-cutter utilitarian buildings. Many of these could be seen in the first photo, taking from the top of the Oderturm. The large buildings below the church were once a common gray but have since been repainted. Traveling around Frankfurt, I was reminded of another former
East German city -- Jena in the central state of Thueringen.
Both cities had much in common. They both had some of their old towns
preserved on a limited basis from the War, but the reunification of Germany
brought a building spree of new modernized steel and glass structures. The Oderturm and its Also, both Jena and Frankfurt were trying very hard to establish their own identities in the new face of Europe. In this regard, Frankfurt an der Oder had a particular advantage due to its location. With Poland set to join the European Union in 2004, Frankfurt happened to be on the major stop on the twice-daily express trains running between Berlin and Warsaw, therefore its future as a commercial center between the respective countries looked quite promising. Indeed, promise was what I saw a lot of in Frankfurt.
Reconstruction and renovation efforts were underway all across the west bank,
especially near the city's university where boardwalks and riverside gardens are
being built. Many of
Another very impressive structure that I was able to tour at length was the Viadrina University main building, whose entrance stood across the street from the Oderturm. The Viadrina was a major international university that partnered with universities from thirty different countries (including four in the US, Texas A&M being the most prominent). The building, with its new library facilities and other obvious signs of modernization, was very impressive. I also had the chance to tour Frankfurt's main church, the Marienkirche, whose interior is shown in
the fifth photo. Unfortunately, the Marienkirche was no longer quite herself,
having been destroyed during the War and never fully rebuilt. Though the Marienkirche was
made of red brick, the tower was renovated, in a way, by the Soviets. T I paid a brief visit to the small town of Slubice, Poland across the Oder River. This was partly to get the across-the-river views of Frankfurt, and partly just to see how the Poland side contrasted. As it turned out, Slubice was undergoing a similar facelift as Frankfurt, but there was little that suggested the two cities were once one. The surrounding area had a number of open areas and parks, and several islands were connected by bridge to the Frankfurt side near the University, allowing students a nice quiet place to relax and study. Indeed, quiet was a good word to describe Frankfurt an der Oder. It certainly distinguished it from its namesake cousin on the Main River in the west. I wouldn't describe it as an absolute must-see for those traveling between Germany and Poland, but for university students it seemed like a rather nice place to attend school. Trip taken 3 May 2003 -- Page last updated 11 April 2006 -- (C) 2003 Tom Galvin |
|
y resolved them by adding an identifier such as
state name, nearby river or other monument. For example, there was more
than one Rothenburg -- the famous 
east
bank territory would become Slubice (sloo-BEET-suh), Poland.
associated shopping mall (second photo) was Frankfurt's -- an ultramodern
facility with a beautiful interior and all the modern brands available from
across Europe. As Frankfurt still did not have its original marketplace
intact as other former Eastern cities did (see 
Frankfurt's
remaining landmarks already got facelifts. The city's major
museum, die Kleist, looked pristine with its new coat of white and gray paint,
though the entire lawn around it was completely dug up. Frankfurt's
"Freedom Bell" (a bell tower that was a gift from the Soviets... haw
haw) had been polished. And Frankfurt's Town Hall (third photo) and Art
Museum has been cleaned up.
hese
renovations included the use of white
concrete as patching material and removing all the stained glass windows
shipping them to museums
across Russia (some were being prepared to be returned from St. Petersburg, so I
was told). As the fifth photo shows, the original bell was mounted on a
brick pedestal for viewing, and a number of the concrete placards still
remained. The elaborate decor on the side entrance was all that remained
of the exterior. Nowadays, a makeshift wooden roof protected
the interior until a full restoration could be done. When that would occur
was unknown to me at the time.
