1.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Germany
–
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
3.
States of Germany
–
Germany is a federal republic consisting of sixteen federal states. Since todays Germany was formed from a collection of several states, it has a federal constitution. The remaining 13 states are called Flächenländer, the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 was through the unification of the western states created in the aftermath of World War II. West Berlin, while not part of the Federal Republic, was largely integrated and considered as a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum, Baden, Württemberg-Baden, in 1957, the Saar Protectorate rejoined the Federal Republic as the Saarland. Federalism is one of the constitutional principles of Germany. After 1945, new states were constituted in all four zones of occupation, in 1949, the states in the three western zones formed the Federal Republic of Germany. This is in contrast to the development in Austria, where the Bund was constituted first. The use of the term Länder dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919, before this time, the constituent states of the German Empire were called Staaten. Today, it is common to use the term Bundesland. However, this term is not used officially, neither by the constitution of 1919 nor by the Basic Law of 1949, three Länder call themselves Freistaaten, Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia. He summarizes the arguments for boundary reform in Germany. The German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation, too many Länder also make coordination among them and with the federation more complicated. But several proposals have failed so far, territorial reform remains a topic in German politics. Federalism has a tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states numbering more than 300 around 1796, the number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars. After the Congress of Vienna,39 states formed the German Confederation, the new German Empire included 25 states and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. The empire was dominated by Prussia, which controlled 65% of the territory, after the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles, the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation
4.
Brandenburg
–
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federated states of Germany. It lies in the northeast of the country covering an area of 29,478 square kilometers and has 2.48 million inhabitants, the capital and largest city is Potsdam. Brandenburg surrounds but does not include the capital and city-state Berlin forming a metropolitan area. Brandenburg is one of the states that was re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former East Germany. Governed by the Hohenzollern dynasty from 1415, it contained the future German capital Berlin, after 1618 the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia were combined to form Brandenburg-Prussia, which was ruled by the same branch of the House of Hohenzollern. In 1701 the state was elevated as the Kingdom of Prussia, Brandenburg is situated in territory known in antiquity as Magna Germania, which reached to the Vistula river. By the 7th century, Slavic peoples are believed to have settled in the Brandenburg area, the Slavs expanded from the east, possibly driven from their homelands in present-day Ukraine and perhaps Belarus by the invasions of the Huns and Avars. They relied heavily on river transport, the two principal Slavic groups in the present-day area of Brandenburg were the Hevelli in the west and the Sprevane in the east. Beginning in the early 10th century, Henry the Fowler and his successors conquered territory up to the Oder River, Slavic settlements such as Brenna, Budusin, and Chośebuz came under imperial control through the installation of margraves. Their main function was to defend and protect the eastern marches, in 948 Emperor Otto I established margraves to exert imperial control over the pagan Slavs west of the Oder River. Otto founded the Bishoprics of Brandenburg and Havelberg, the Northern March was founded as a northeastern border territory of the Holy Roman Empire. However, an uprising of Wends drove imperial forces from the territory of present-day Brandenburg in 983. The region returned to the control of Slavic leaders, the Roman Catholic Church brought bishoprics which, with their walled towns, afforded protection from attacks for the townspeople. With the monks and bishops, the history of the town of Brandenburg an der Havel, in 1134, in the wake of a German crusade against the Wends, the German magnate, Albert the Bear, was granted the Northern March by the Emperor Lothar III. He formally inherited the town of Brandenburg and the lands of the Hevelli from their last Wendish ruler, Pribislav, after crushing a force of Sprevane who occupied the town of Brandenburg in the 1150s, Albert proclaimed himself ruler of the new Margraviate of Brandenburg. Albert, and his descendants the Ascanians, then made progress in conquering, colonizing, Christianizing. Within this region, Slavic and German residents intermarried, during the 13th century, the Ascanians began acquiring territory east of the Oder, later known as the Neumark. In 1320, the Brandenburg Ascanian line came to an end, under the Luxembourgs, the Margrave of Brandenburg gained the status of a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire
5.
Districts of Germany
–
A German district is an administrative subdivision known as Landkreis, except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where it is known simply as Kreis. Most major cities in Germany are not part of a rural district, in this context, those cities are referred to as Kreisfreie Stadt or Stadtkreis. Rural districts are at a level of administration between the German states and the municipal governments. They correspond to level 3 administrative units of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, previously, the similar title Reichskreis was given to groups of states in the Holy Roman Empire. The related term Landeskommissariat was used for administrative divisions in some German territories until the 19th century. The majority of German districts are rural districts of which there are 295, cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not usually belong to a district, but take over district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept of independent cities. These are known as urban districts —cities which constitute a district in their own there are currently 107 of them. As of 2011, approximately 25 million people live in these 107 urban districts, in North Rhine-Westphalia, there are some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants which are not urban districts, for example Recklinghausen, Siegen, Paderborn, Bergisch Gladbach, Neuss and Moers. Nevertheless, these cities take over many district responsibilities themselves, although they are part of a larger rural district. Midsize towns can perform particular administrative functions of the district as well, the classification as midsize town is usually based on a towns registered population, but varies from state to state. Aachen, Hanover and Göttingen retain certain rights of an urban district, urban districts have these responsibilities and also those of the municipalities. The district council is the highest institution of a district and is responsible for all fundamental guidelines of regional self-administration. This council is elected every five years, except in Bavaria where it is elected every six years. Usually the administrative seat of a district is located in one of its largest towns. However, district council and administrative seat of rural districts are not situated within the district proper. Most of those districts are named after this central city as well. Moers is the biggest city in Germany that is neither an urban district, in parts of northern Germany, Landrat is also the name of the entire district administration, which in southern Germany is known as Kreisverwaltung or Landratsamt. In urban districts similar administrative functions are performed by a mayor, rural districts in some German states have an additional administrative commission called Kreisausschuss
6.
Oder-Spree
–
Oder-Spree is a Kreis in the eastern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are the district Märkisch-Oderland, the district-free city Frankfurt, Poland, the districts Spree-Neiße and Dahme-Spreewald, the district is named after the two major rivers in the district - the Spree river forms a large bend within the district, the Oder river constitutes the eastern border. The district was created in 1993 by merging the districts Eisenhüttenstadt, Beeskow and Fürstenwalde, the capital of the district is Beeskow, but Fürstenwalde is the biggest town, with a population of 31.000 people. Official website Website Beeskow Website Eisenhüttenstadt Website Fürstenwalde Website Schöneiche
7.
Burgomaster
–
The name in English was derived from the Dutch burgemeester. In some cases, Burgomaster was the title of the head of state and head of government of a sovereign city-state, contemporary titles are commonly translated into English as mayor. Bürgermeister, in German, in Germany, Austria, and formerly in Switzerland, in Switzerland, the title was abolished mid-19th century, various current titles for roughly equivalent offices include Gemeindepräsident, Stadtpräsident, Gemeindeamtmann, and Stadtamtmann. Oberbürgermeister is the most common version for a mayor in a big city in Germany, the Ober- prefix is used in many ranking systems for the next level up including military designations. The mayors of cities, which comprise one of Germanys 112 urban districts usually bear this title. Urban districts are comparable to independent cities in the English-speaking world, however, also the mayors of some cities, which do not comprise an urban district, but often used to comprise one until the territorial reforms in the 1970s, bear the title Oberbürgermeister. In the Netherlands nominated by the council but appointed by the crown. In theory above the parties, in practice a high-profile party-political post, bourgmestre in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Democratic Republic of the Congo Bürgermeister Burmistras, derived from German. Burmistrz, a title, derived from German. The German form Oberbürgermeister is often translated as Nadburmistrz, the German-derived terminology reflects the involvement of German settlers in the early history of many Polish towns. Borgmästare, kommunalborgmästare, the title is not used in Sweden in present times, boargemaster Pormestari In history in many free imperial cities the function of burgomaster was usually held simultaneously by three persons, serving as an executive college. One of the three being burgomaster in chief for a year, the second being the prior burgomaster in chief, präsidierender Bürgermeister is now an obsolete formulation sometimes found in historic texts
8.
The Left (Germany)
–
The Left, also commonly referred to as the Left Party, is a democratic socialist and left-wing populist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism, since mid-2012, its co-chairs have been Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger. Its parliamentary group is the third largest among the four groups in the German Bundestag, the Left is a founding member of the Party of the European Left, and is the largest party in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group in the European Parliament. According to official party figures, the Left Party had 63,784 registered members as of December 2013, after protests, the party was forced to give up its monopoly of power on 1 December 1989. Honeckers successor, Egon Krenz, resigned two days later, and Gysi was named party chairman, by the end of 1989, the last hardline members of the partys Central Committee had either resigned or been pushed out. In 1990, 95% of SEDs 2.3 million members had left the party, by the time of a special congress in December 1989, the party was no longer a Marxist–Leninist party, though neo-Marxist and communist minority factions continued to be part of the party. At the congress, the party adopted a program of democratic reform, Gysi remained its leader, and soon became one of the most well-known faces within German politics. By the end of February, the PDS had expelled most of the remaining prominent Communist-era leaders from its ranks - including Honecker and Krenz. However, this was not enough to save the party when it faced the voters at the 18 March general election, the first free election in East Germany. The party came in a distant third with only 16. 4% of the vote, behind the East German branches of the West German-based Christian Democratic Union and Social Democratic Party. The two major parties formed a coalition, led by the Alliance for Germany, built around the East German CDU. In the first all-German Bundestag elections in 1990, the PDS won only 2. 4% of the nationwide vote, under normal circumstances, a party must win at least five percent of the vote to qualify for mixed member proportional representation in the Bundestag. However, for the 1990 elections only, an exception allowed eastern-based parties to qualify for list representation if they won at least five percent of the vote in the former East Germany. Also, Gysi was elected from a Berlin-area district, representatives elected directly through the First Vote are always guaranteed a seat regardless of their partys national vote. As a result, the PDS entered the 1990 Bundestag with 17 deputies led by Gysi, in the 1994 federal election the PDS managed to increase its share of the vote to 4.4 percent. e. More importantly, Gysi was reelected from his Berlin-area seat, and this allowed the PDS to qualify for MMP even though it came up just short of the five percent threshold. The PDS thus entered the new Bundestag with a caucus of 30 deputies. In 1998, the party reached its highest result to date, with 37 deputies elected on 5. 1% of the national vote, gysis resignation in 2000 after losing a policy debate with leftist factions brought conflict to the PDS
9.
Central European Summer Time
–
It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
10.
Vehicle registration plate
–
A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or a license plate, is metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the owner within the issuing regions database. The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered, the next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well, the third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. In the vast majority of jurisdictions, the government holds a monopoly on the manufacturing of vehicle registration plates for that jurisdiction. Thus, it is illegal for private citizens to make and affix their own plates. Alternately, the government will merely assign plate numbers, and it is the owners responsibility to find an approved private supplier to make a plate with that number. In some jurisdictions, plates will be assigned to that particular vehicle for its lifetime. If the vehicle is destroyed or exported to a different country. Other jurisdictions follow a policy, meaning that when a vehicle is sold the seller removes the current plate from the vehicle. Buyers must either obtain new plates or attach plates they already hold, as well as register their vehicles under the buyers name, a person who sells a car and then purchases a new one can apply to have the old plates put onto the new car. One who sells a car and does not buy a new one may, depending on the laws involved, have to turn the old plates in or destroy them. Some jurisdictions permit the registration of the vehicle with personal plates, in some jurisdictions, plates require periodic replacement, often associated with a design change of the plate itself. Vehicle owners may or may not have the option to keep their original plate number, alternately, or additionally, vehicle owners have to replace a small decal on the plate or use a decal on the windshield to indicate the expiration date of the vehicle registration. Plates are usually fixed directly to a vehicle or to a frame that is fixed to the vehicle. Sometimes, the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the service centre or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can also purchase customized frames to replace the original frames, in some jurisdictions licence plate frames are illegal
11.
Ironworks
–
An ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i. e. the singular of ironworks is ironworks, Ironworks succeed bloomeries when blast furnaces replaced former methods. An integrated ironworks in the 19th century usually included one or more blast furnaces, after the invention of the Bessemer process, converters became widespread, and the appellation steelworks replaced ironworks. The processes carried at ironworks are usually described as ferrous metallurgy and this is derived from the Greek words sideros - iron and ergon or ergos - work. This is a term in English, and it is best regarded as an anglicisation of a term used in French, Spanish. Ironworks is used as a term covering works undertaking one or more iron-producing processes. A thin film of metal oxide forms on the anode in the intense heat, the oxide forms a protective layer that prevents excess consumption of the base metal. It was usually necessary for there to be a preliminary refining process in a coke refinery, after puddling, the puddled ball needed shingling and then to be drawn out into bar iron in a rolling mill. The mills operating converters of any type are better called steelworks, ironworks referring to former processes, a tinplate works - where rolling mills made sheets of iron, which were coated with tin. A plating forge with a hammer, a lighter hammer with a rapid stroke rate, enabling the production of thinner iron, suitable for the manufacture of knives, other cutlery. A cementation furnace might be used to convert the bar iron into steel by the cementation process. Most of these processes did not produce finished goods, further processes were often manual, including Manufacturing by blacksmiths or more specialist kind of smith. It might be used in shipbuilding, in the context of the iron industry, the term manufacture is best reserved for this final stage. Ancient iron extraction site consisting of mines and three clay built furnaces, darkhill Ironworks, in the Forest of Dean, England
12.
German language
–
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
13.
Town
–
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size definition for what constitutes a town varies considerably in different parts of the world, the word town shares an origin with the German word Zaun, the Dutch word tuin, and the Old Norse tun. The German word Zaun comes closest to the meaning of the word. An early borrowing from Celtic *dunom, in English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed. In England, a town was a community that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications. In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, in Old Norse tun means a place between farmhouses, and is still used in a similar meaning in modern Norwegian. If there was any distinction between toun and burgh as claimed by some, it did not last in practice as burghs, for example, Edina Burgh or Edinburgh was built around a fort and eventually came to have a defensive wall. In some cases, town is a name for city or village. Sometimes, the town is short for township. A places population size is not a determinant of urban character. In many areas of the world, as in India at least until recent times, in the United Kingdom, there are historical cities that are far smaller than the larger towns. Some forms of settlement, such as temporary mining locations, may be clearly non-rural. Towns often exist as governmental units, with legally defined borders. In the United States these are referred to as incorporated towns, in other cases the town lacks its own governance and is said to be unincorporated. Note that the existence of a town may be legally set forth through other means. In the case of planned communities, the town exists legally in the form of covenants on the properties within the town. Australian geographer Thomas Griffith Taylor proposed a classification of towns based on their age, although there is no official use of the term for any settlement. In Albanian qytezë means small city or new city, while in ancient times small residential center within the walls of a castle
14.
Poland
–
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
15.
Terrace (geology)
–
In geology, a terrace is a step-like landform. A terrace consists of a flat or gently sloping surface, called a tread, that is typically bounded one side by a steeper ascending slope. The tread and the descending slope together constitute the terrace. Terraces can also consist of a tread bounded on all sides by a riser or scarp. A narrow terrace is called a bench. The sediments underlying the tread and riser of a terrace are also commonly, terraces are formed in various ways. Fluvial terraces are remnants of the floodplain of a stream or river. They are formed by the downcutting of a river or stream channel into, the most common sources of the variations in rivers and streams that create fluvial terraces are vegetative, geomorphic, and hydrologic responses to climate. More recently, the modification of rivers and streams and their watersheds by cultural processes have result in the development of terraces along many rivers. Kame terraces are formed on the side of a valley and are the deposits of meltwater streams flowing between the ice and the adjacent valley side. A marine terrace represents the shoreline of a sea or ocean. The formation of a marine terrace follows this process, A wave cut platform must be carved into bedrock. Although this is the first step to the process for the formation of a marine terrace, after the wave cut platform is formed it must be removed from interaction with the high wave energy. This process happens by either change in sea level due to glacial-interglacial cycles or tectonically rising landmasses, when the wave cut has been raised above sea level it is preserved. The terraces are most commonly preserved in flights along the coastline, a lake terrace represents the former shoreline of either a nonglacial, glacial, or proglacial lake. Given the smaller size of lakes relative to the size of marine water bodies, lake terraces are overall significantly narrower. However, not all lake terraces are relict shorelines, in case of the lake terraces of ancient ice-walled lakes, some proglacial lakes, and alluvium-dammed lakes, they often represent the relict bottom of these lakes. Finally, glaciolacustrine kame terraces are either the relict deltas or bottoms of ancient ice marginal lakes, in geomorphology, a structural terrace is a terrace created by the differential erosion of flat-lying or nearly flat-lying layered strata
16.
Urstromtal
–
Urstromtäler are an element of the glacial series. The term is German and means ancient stream valley, although often translated as glacial valley, it should not be confused with a valley carved out by a glacier. More accurately some sources call them meltwater valleys or ice-marginal valleys, important for the emergence of the Urstromtäler is the fact that the general lie of the land on the North German Plain and in Poland slopes down from south to north. Thus the ice sheet that advanced from Scandinavia flowed into a rising terrain, the meltwaters could therefore only flow for a short distance southwards over the sandurs before having to find a way to the North Sea basin that was parallel to the ice margin. At that time, the area that is now the North Sea was dry as a result of the low level of the sea, as elements of the glacial series, Urstromtäler are intermeshed with sandur areas for long stretches along their northern perimeters. It was over these outwash plains that the meltwaters poured into them, Urstromtäler are relatively uniformly composed of sands and gravels, the grain size can vary considerably, however. Fine sand dominates especially in the sections of the Urstromtal sediments. The thickness of the Urstromtal sediments also varies a great deal, Urstromtäler have a wide and very flat valley bottom that is between 1.5 and 20 kilometres wide. The valley sides, by contrast are only a few to a few metres high. The bottom and the edges of an Urstromtal may have significantly altered by younger processes. In the post-glacial period, many Urstromtäler became bogs due to their low lying situation, in Central Europe there are several Urstromtäler from various periods. The meltwaters of the three above-mentioned Weichselian Urstromtäler flowed successively through this valley towards the North Sea basin, the term Rhine Urstromtal for the Rhine valley from Düsseldorf to its mouth on the North Sea is disputed. The Rhine was certainly a route for meltwaters during the Saale glaciation, the structure of the valley is however clearly older and was formed by recent tectonics. In the Alpine glaciation zone of Central Europe the term Urstromtal is not used, in this region, the Danube and, periodically, the Rhine carried the meltwaters away. Some sections of the main valleys have been given their own names. The Lusatian Urstromtal and the Aller Urstromtal are parts of the Breslau-Magdeburg-Bremen Urstromtal, the Baruth, Berlin and Eberswalde Urstromtäler are common short names for the associated sections of the Urstromtal in Brandenburg. In addition to the main valleys there are also numerous smaller meltwater valleys. Their appearances is similar to that of the great Urstromtäler, and they are also not linked to a sandur and a terminal moraine
17.
Oder
–
The Oder is a river in Central Europe. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, the river ultimately flows into the Szczecin Lagoon north of Szczecin and then into three branches that empty into the Gulf of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea. Ptolemy knew the modern Oder as the Συήβος – a name derived from the Suebi. While he also refers to an outlet in the area as the Οὐιαδούα Ouiadoua, the name Suebos may be preserved in the modern name of the Świna river – an outlet from the Szczecin Lagoon to the Baltic. In the Old Church Slavonic language, the name of the river is Vjodr, the Oder is 854 kilometres long,112 km in the Czech Republic,742 km in Poland and is the second longest river in Poland. It drains a basin of 118,861 square kilometres,106,056 km2 of which are in Poland,7,217 km2 in the Czech Republic, channels connect it to the Havel, Spree, Vistula system and Kłodnica. It flows through Silesian, Opole, Lower Silesian, Lubusz, and West Pomeranian voivodeships of Poland, the main branch empties into the Szczecin Lagoon near Police, Poland. The Szczecin Lagoon is bordered on the north by the islands of Usedom, between these two islands, there is only a narrow channel going to the Bay of Pomerania, which forms a part of the Baltic Sea. The largest city on the Oder is Wrocław, in Lower Silesia, the Oder is navigable over a large part of its total length, as far upstream as the town of Koźle, where the river connects to the Gliwice Canal. The upstream part of the river is canalized and permits larger barges to navigate between the sites around the Wrocław area. Further downstream the river is flowing, passing the towns of Eisenhüttenstadt. Downstream of Frankfurt the river Warta forms a connection with Poznań. At Hohensaaten the Oder–Havel Canal connects with the Berlin waterways again, near its mouth the Oder reaches the city of Szczecin, a major maritime port. The river finally reaches the Baltic Sea through the Szczecin Lagoon, the river in Germania Magna was known to the Romans as the Viadrus or Viadua in Classical Latin, as it was a branch of the Amber Road from the Baltic Sea to the Roman Empire. In German language it was and is called the Oder, written in older records as Odera or Oddera in Medieval Latin documents and it was mentioned in the Dagome iudex, which described territory of the Duchy of Poland under Mieszko I of Poland ca. 990, as a part of western frontier. Before Slavs settled along its banks, Oder was an important trade route, a document of the Bishopric of Prague mentions Zlasane, Trebovyane, Poborane, and Dedositze in Silesia. In the 13th century, the first dams were built to protect agricultural lands, the Finow Canal, built for the first time in 1605, connects Oder and Havel
18.
Frankfurt (Oder)
–
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice, which was part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s, it reached a peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants. The number dropped below 70,000 in 2002 and was just above 60,000 in 2010, the official name Frankfurt and the older Frankfurt an der Oder are used to distinguish it from the larger city of Frankfurt am Main. 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. In the late Middle Ages, the town dominated the trade between Breslau and Stettin. In 1430, Frankfurt joined the Hanseatic League, but was a member for only a short time, in April 1631, during the Thirty Years War, Frankfurt was the site of the Battle of Frankfurt an der Oder between the Swedish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. After a two-day siege, Swedish forces, supported by Scottish auxiliaries, the result was a Swedish victory. The city was occupied by the Russian Imperial Army during the Seven Years War, in August 1759. With the dissolution of the Margraviate of Brandenburg during the Napoleonic Wars, in the 19th century, Frankfurt played an important role in trade. There was no fighting for the town in 1945 during World War II even though the town was declared a fortress in an attempt to block the Red Armys route to Berlin, the nearly empty town was burned down. The postwar 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, Frankfurt was administered within Bezirk Frankfurt. It became part of the state of Brandenburg with German reunification in 1990. Today, Frankfurt and Słubice have friendly relations and run several common projects, Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, and implemented the Schengen Agreement on December 21,2007 leading to the removal of permanent border controls. In the post-communist era, Frankfurt has suffered high unemployment. Its population has fallen significantly from around 87,000 at the time of German reunification in 1990, FC Viktoria Frankfurt is the towns local football team. In March 2008, the Jewish community of Frankfurt celebrated its first Torah dedication since the Holocaust, the procession of the new Torah scroll began from the spot where the towns Frankfurter Synagogue stood prior to World War II,500 meters from Germanys current border with Poland. Celebrants marched with the scroll into the towns Chabad-Lubavitch centre, where they danced with the Torah, the Margraviate of Brandenburgs first university was Frankfurts Alma Mater Viadrina, founded in 1506 by Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg. An early chancellor, Bishop Georg von Blumenthal, was an opponent of the Protestant Reformation
19.
Berlin
–
Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
20.
Ideal city
–
An ideal city is the concept of a plan for a city that has been conceived in accordance with the dictates of some rational or moral objective. The ground plans of cities are often based on grids or other geometrical patterns. Several attempts to develop ideal city plans are known from the Renaissance, the concept dates at least from the period of Plato, whose Republic is a philosophical exploration of the notion of the ideal city. Examples of the cities include Filaretes Sforzinda, a description of which was included in his Trattato di Architettura. The city of Sforzinda was laid out within an eight-pointed star inscribed within a circular moat, further examples may have been intended to have been read into the so-called Urbino and Baltimore panels, which show Classically influenced architecture disposed in logically planned piazzas. The physical design component of the famous Oglethorpe Plan remains preserved in the Savannah Historic District, late nineteenth-century examples of the ideal city include the Garden city movement of Sir Ebenezer Howard, realised at Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City in England. Poundbury, Prince Charles architectural vision established in Dorset, is among the most recent examples of ideal city planning, Ideal town Oglethorpe Plan Media related to Ideal city at Wikimedia Commons
21.
Joseph Stalin
–
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. Holding the post of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he was effectively the dictator of the state. Stalin was one of the seven members of the first Politburo, founded in 1917 in order to manage the Bolshevik Revolution, alongside Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky, Sokolnikov, and Bubnov. Among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who took part in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and he managed to consolidate power following the 1924 death of Vladimir Lenin by suppressing Lenins criticisms and expanding the functions of his role, all the while eliminating any opposition. He remained General Secretary until the post was abolished in 1952, the economic changes coincided with the imprisonment of millions of people in Gulag labour camps. The initial upheaval in agriculture disrupted food production and contributed to the catastrophic Soviet famine of 1932–33, major figures in the Communist Party and government, and many Red Army high commanders, were arrested and shot after being convicted of treason in show trials. Stalins invasion of Bukovina in 1940 violated the pact, as it went beyond the Soviet sphere of influence agreed with the Axis, Germany ended the pact when Hitler launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Despite heavy human and territorial losses, Soviet forces managed to halt the Nazi incursion after the decisive Battles of Moscow, after defeating the Axis powers on the Eastern Front, the Red Army captured Berlin in May 1945, effectively ending the war in Europe for the Allies. The Soviet Union subsequently emerged as one of two recognized world superpowers, the other being the United States, Communist governments loyal to the Soviet Union were established in most countries freed from German occupation by the Red Army, which later constituted the Eastern Bloc. Stalin also had relations with Mao Zedong in China and Kim Il-sung in North Korea. On February 9,1946, Stalin delivered a public speech in which he explained the fundamental incompatibility of communism and capitalism. He stressed that the system needed war for raw materials. The Second World War was but the latest in a chain of conflicts which could be broken only when the economy made the transformation into communism. Stalin led the Soviet Union through its post-war reconstruction phase, which saw a significant rise in tension with the Western world that would later be known as the Cold War, Stalin remains a controversial figure today, with many regarding him as a tyrant. However, popular opinion within the Russian Federation is mixed, the exact number of deaths caused by Stalins regime is still a subject of debate, but it is widely agreed to be in the order of millions. Joseph Stalin was born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, the Russian-language version of his birth name is Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Ioseb was born on 18 December 1878 in the town of Gori, Georgia and his father was Besarion Jughashvili, a cobbler, while his mother was Ekaterine Keke Geladze, a housemaid. As a child, Ioseb was plagued with health issues
22.
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
–
The partys dominant figure from 1950 to 1971, and effective leader of East Germany, was Walter Ulbricht. In 1953, an uprising against the Party was met with violent suppression by the Ministry of State Security and the Soviet Army. In 1971, Ulbricht was succeeded by Erich Honecker who presided over a period in the development of the GDR until he was forced to step down during the 1989 revolution. The partys last leader, Egon Krenz, was unsuccessful in his attempt to retain the SEDs hold on political governance of the GDR and was imprisoned after German reunification, the SEDs long-suppressed reform wing took over the party in the fall of 1989. In hopes of changing its image, on 16 December it renamed itself the Party of Democratic Socialism, abandoning Marxism–Leninism and it received 16. 4% of the vote in the 1990 parliamentary elections. In 2007, the PDS merged with Labour and Social Justice into The Left, official East German and Soviet histories portrayed this merger as a voluntary pooling of efforts by the socialist parties. However, there is evidence that the merger was more troubled than commonly portrayed. By all accounts, the Soviet occupation authorities applied pressure on the SPDs eastern branch to merge with the KPD. The newly merged party, with the help of the Soviet authorities, however, these elections were held under less-than-secret conditions, thus setting the tone for the next four decades. A truer picture of the SEDs support came with the elections in Berlin. In that contest, the SED received less than half the votes of the SPD, the bulk of the Berlin SPD remained aloof from the merger, even though Berlin was deep inside the Soviet zone. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany directly governed the areas of Germany following World War II. Also reported was a deal of difficulty in convincing the masses that the SED was a German political party. Soviet intelligence claimed to have a list of names of an SPD group within the SED that was covertly forging links with the SPD in the West, a problem for the Soviets that they identified with the early SED was its potential to develop into a nationalist party. At large party meetings, members applauded speakers who talked of nationalism much more than when they spoke of solving social problems, although it was nominally a merger of equals, from the beginning the SED was dominated by Communists. By the late 1940s, the SED began to purge most recalcitrant Social Democrats from its ranks, by the time of East Germanys formal establishment in 1949, the SED was a full-fledged Communist party—essentially the KPD under a new name. It began to develop along lines similar to other Communist parties in the Soviet bloc, over the years, the SED gained a reputation as one of the most hardline parties in the Soviet bloc. When Mikhail Gorbachev initiated reforms in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, the party organisation was based on, and co-located with, the institutions of the German Democratic Republic
23.
Combine (enterprise)
–
Combine is a term for industrial business groups or conglomerates in the socialist countries and particularly the former Soviet Union. Examples include VEB Kombinat Robotron, a manufacturer, and IFA. It has several related forms, A large industrial enterprise that combines several different enterprises that are related to other by a technological process or through an administration. Example, a metallurgy combine combines all forms of such as factories, mines. A combination of educational-developmental institutions of different levels such as an institute, combination of various enterprises as one of the forms of monopoly. Комбiнат at a dictionary of the Ukrainian language
24.
Planned community
–
A planned community, or planned city, is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in an ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are less frequent in these communities, the term new town refers to planned communities of the new towns movement in particular, mainly in the United Kingdom. It was also common in the European colonization of the Americas to build according to a plan either on ground or on the ruins of earlier Native American cities. C. in the United States. In Egypt, a new capital city east of Cairo has been proposed, the federal administrative centre of Malaysia, Putrajaya, is also a planned city. Abu Dhabi and some of the recently built cities in the Persian Gulf region are also planned cities, prior to the boom, these were just villages or towns. The city of Gaborone was planned and constructed in the 1960s, in 2012, President Teodoro Obiang decided to move the capital to a new jungle site at Oyala. Konza Technology City is a city that is hoped to become a hub of African science. The capital, Abuja, is a city and was built mainly in the 1980s. Upon completion, the new city which is still under development is anticipating 250,000 residents, centenary City, in the Federal Capital Territory, is another planned smart city under development. The city is designed to become a major tourist attraction to the country, a list of Nigerian cities and neighbourhoods that went through a form of planning are as follows, Abuja, one of the most populous planned cities, and the fastest growing city in the world. Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State Lekki, a new city in Lagos State Lekki Free Zone, a trade zone in the Lekki Orange Island. Victoria Island in Lagos, Lagos State A number of cities were set up during the apartheid-era for a variety of ethnic groups, Planned settlements set up for white inhabitants included Welkom, Sasolburg and Secunda. Additionally the majority of settlements in South Africa were planned in their early stages, some settlements were also set up for non whites such as the former homeland capital of Bhisho. Naypyidaw is the capital of Myanmar, also known as Burma and it is administered as the Naypyidaw Union Territory, as per the 2008 Constitution. On 6 November 2005, the capital of Burma was officially moved to a greenfield 3.2 km west of Pyinmana, and approximately 300 km north of Yangon. The capitals official name was announced on 27 March 2006, Burmese Armed Forces Day, much of the city was still under construction as late as 2012. As of 2009, the population was 925,000, which makes it Burmas third largest city, after Yangon, famous examples are Changan in Tang dynasty and Beijing
25.
Wehrmacht
–
The Wehrmacht was the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1946. It consisted of the Heer, the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe, after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler’s most overt and audacious moves was to establish the Wehrmacht, a modern armed forces fully capable of offensive use. In December 1941, Hitler designated himself as commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, the Wehrmacht formed the heart of Germany’s politico-military power. In the early part of World War II, Hitlers generals employed the Wehrmacht through innovative combined arms tactics to devastating effect in what was called a Blitzkrieg, the Wehrmachts new military structure, unique combat techniques, newly developed weapons, and unprecedented speed and brutality crushed their opponents. Closely cooperating with the SS, the German armed forces committed war crimes and atrocities. By the time the war ended in Europe in May 1945, only a few of the Wehrmacht’s upper leadership were tried for war crimes, despite evidence suggesting that more were involved in illegal actions. The German term Wehrmacht generically describes any nations armed forces, for example, the Frankfurt Constitution of 1848 designated all German military forces as the German Wehrmacht, consisting of the Seemacht and the Landmacht. In 1919, the term Wehrmacht also appears in Article 47 of the Weimar Constitution, establishing that, from 1919, Germanys national defense force was known as the Reichswehr, a name that was dropped in favor of Wehrmacht on 21 May 1935. In January 1919, after World War I ended with the signing of the armistice of 11 November 1918, in March 1919, the national assembly passed a law founding a 420, 000-strong preliminary army, the Vorläufige Reichswehr. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were announced in May, the army was limited to one hundred thousand men with an additional fifteen thousand in the navy. The fleet was to consist of at most six battleships, six cruisers, submarines, tanks and heavy artillery were forbidden and the air-force was dissolved. A new post-war military, the Reichswehr, was established on 23 March 1921, General conscription was abolished under another mandate of the Versailles treaty. The Reichswehr was limited to 115,000 men, and thus the armed forces, under the leadership of Hans von Seeckt, though Seeckt retired in 1926, the army that went to war in 1939 was largely his creation. Germany was forbidden to have an air-force by the Versailles treaty, nonetheless and these officers saw the role of an air-force as winning air-superiority, tactical and strategic bombing and providing ground support. That the Luftwaffe did not develop a strategic bombing force in the 1930s was not due to a lack of interest, but because of economic limitations. The leadership of the Navy led by Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, officers who believed in submarine warfare led by Admiral Karl Dönitz were in a minority before 1939. By 1922, Germany had begun covertly circumventing the conditions of the Versailles Treaty, a secret collaboration with the Soviet Union began after the treaty of Rapallo. Major-General Otto Hasse traveled to Moscow in 1923 to further negotiate the terms, Germany helped the Soviet Union with industrialization and Soviet officers were to be trained in Germany
26.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
27.
German reunification
–
The end of the unification process is officially referred to as German unity, celebrated on 3 October. Following German reunification, Berlin was once designated as the capital of united Germany. The East German regime started to falter in May 1989, when the removal of Hungarys border fence with Austria opened a hole in the Iron Curtain and it caused an exodus of thousands of East Germans fleeing to West Germany and Austria via Hungary. The united Germany is the continuation of the Federal Republic. For political and diplomatic reasons, West German politicians carefully avoided the term reunification during the run-up to what Germans frequently refer to as die Wende, after 1990, the term die Wende became more common. The term generally refers to the events led up to the actual reunification, in its usual context. When referring to the events surrounding unification, however, it carries the connotation of the time. However, anti-communist activists from Eastern Germany rejected the term Wende as it was introduced by SEDs Secretary General Egon Krenz, the capital city of Berlin was divided into four occupied sectors of control, under the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Germans lived under such imposed divisions throughout the ensuing Cold War, into the 1980s, the Soviet Union experienced a period of economic and political stagnation, and they correspondingly decreased intervention in Eastern Bloc politics. In 1987, US President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at Brandenburg Gate challenging Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down this wall that had separated Berlin. The wall had stood as an icon for the political and economic division between East and West, a division that Churchill had referred to as the Iron Curtain. In early 1989, under a new era of Soviet policies of glasnost, perestroika and taken to more progressive levels by Gorbachev. Further inspired by images of brave defiance, a wave of revolutions swept throughout the Eastern Bloc that year. In May 1989, Hungary removed their border fence and thousands of East Germans escaped to the West, however, events rapidly came to a head in early 1990. First, in March, the Party of Democratic Socialism—the former Socialist Unity Party of Germany—was heavily defeated in East Germanys first free elections. A grand coalition was formed under Lothar de Maizière, leader of the East German wing of Kohls Christian Democratic Union, on a platform of speedy reunification, second, East Germanys economy and infrastructure underwent a swift and near-total collapse. While East Germany had long been reckoned as having the most robust economy in the Soviet bloc, the East German mark had been practically worthless outside East Germany for some time before the events of 1989–90 further magnified the problem. Discussions immediately began for a merger of the German economies
28.
Walter Ulbricht
–
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht was a German Communist politician. Ulbricht played a role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany. As the First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party 1950 to 1971, from President Wilhelm Piecks death in 1960, he was also the East German head of state until his own death in 1973. He followed Stalins guidelines very closely, and made sure everyone else in East Germany did so as well. Ulbricht was born in Leipzig, Saxony, to Pauline Ida and Ernst August Ulbricht and he spent eight years in primary school. After leaving school, he trained to be a joiner, both his parents worked actively for the Social Democratic Party, which Walter joined in 1912. Ulbricht served in World War I from 1915 to 1917 in Galicia on the Eastern Front and he deserted in 1918, as he had opposed the war from the beginning. Imprisoned in Charleroi, in 1918 he was released as part of the collapse of Imperial Germany, in 1917 he became a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party after it split off from the Social Democratic Party over support of Germanys participation in World War I. During the German Revolution, he became a member of the soviet of his army corps. Along with the bulk of the USPD, he joined the KPD in 1920 and he rose fast in the ranks of the KPD, becoming a member of the Central Committee in 1923. Ulbricht attended the International Lenin School of the Comintern in Moscow in 1924/1925, the electors subsequently voted him into the regional parliament of Saxony in 1926. He became a Member of the Reichstag for South Westphalia from 1928 to 1933 and served as KPD chairman in Berlin, in the years before the 1933 Nazi election to power, paramilitary wings of Marxist and extreme nationalist parties provoked massive riots connected with demonstrations. Besides the Berlin Police, the KPDs arch-enemies were street-fighters affiliated with the Nazi Party, the Monarchist German National Peoples Party, and radical nationalist parties. The Social Democratic Party of Germany, which dominated local and national politics from 1918-1931, for this reason, the Comintern ordered the KPD to cooperate with the Nazis against the SPD. At an event arranged by the Nazi Party in January 1931, Ulbricht was allowed by Joseph Goebbels, subsequently, Goebbels delivered his own speech. The attempt at a friendly discussion turned hostile, and a struggle between Nazis and Communists began, police officers divided them, both sides had tried to use this event for their election propaganda. The Nazi Party attained power in Germany in January 1933, and very quickly began a purge of Communist, following the arrest of the KPDs leader, Ernst Thälmann, Ulbricht campaigned to be Thälmanns replacement as head of the Party. Many competitors for the leadership were killed in the Soviet Union because of Ulbricht, Ulbricht lived in exile in Paris and Prague from 1933 to 1937
29.
Ivan Ilyichev
–
Ivan Ivanovich Ilyichev was a Soviet military official, and in later life a diplomat. Born in Navoloki, Kaluga Governorate in 1905, Ilyichev joined the Russian Communist Party in 1925 and he studied at the Lenin Military-Political Academy until May 1938, and after graduation he became the head of the Political Directorate of the Red Army Intelligence, as a Brigade Commissar. During the German-Soviet War from August 1942 until July 1945 he was the Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, after the War, he joined the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from 1949—1952 he was the deputy political adviser to the Soviet Control Commission in Germany. He served in the mission of the Soviet Union to East Germany as its head for several months over the period 1952—1953. After his posting to East Berlin was completed, he was posted to Vienna, first as adviser to the Soviet Control Commission in Austria. From 13 June 1953 to 31 March 1956 Ilyichev was Ambassador of the Soviet Union to Austria, with the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. His mission in the Danish capital finished on 12 November 1968, whereby he returned to Moscow and he died in Moscow in 1983. Ivan Ilyichev – Head of GRU
30.
Modernism
–
Among the factors that shaped modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by reactions of horror to World War I. Modernism also rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, and many modernists rejected religious belief, the poet Ezra Pounds 1934 injunction to Make it new. Was the touchstone of the approach towards what it saw as the now obsolete culture of the past. In this spirit, its innovations, like the novel, atonal and twelve-tone music, divisionist painting and abstract art. Modernism explicitly rejected the ideology of realism and makes use of the works of the past by the employment of reprise, incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision, others focus on modernism as an aesthetic introspection. While J. M. W. Art critic Clement Greenberg describes the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as proto-Modernists, There the proto-Modernists were, of all people, the Pre-Raphaelites actually foreshadowed Manet, with whom Modernist painting most definitely begins. They acted on a dissatisfaction with painting as practiced in their time, rationalism has also had opponents in the philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and later Friedrich Nietzsche, both of whom had significant influence on existentialism. A major 19th-century engineering achievement was The Crystal Palace, the huge cast-iron, Glass and iron were used in a similar monumental style in the construction of major railway terminals in London, such as Paddington Station and Kings Cross Station. These technological advances led to the building of structures like the Brooklyn Bridge. The latter broke all previous limitations on how tall man-made objects could be and these engineering marvels radically altered the 19th-century urban environment and the daily lives of people. Arguments arose that the values of the artist and those of society were not merely different, but that Society was antithetical to Progress, the philosopher Schopenhauer called into question the previous optimism, and his ideas had an important influence on later thinkers, including Nietzsche. Darwins theory of evolution by natural selection undermined religious certainty and the idea of human uniqueness, in particular, the notion that human beings were driven by the same impulses as lower animals proved to be difficult to reconcile with the idea of an ennobling spirituality. Karl Marx argued that there were fundamental contradictions within the capitalist system, historians, and writers in different disciplines, have suggested various dates as starting points for modernism. Everdell also thinks modernism in painting began in 1885–86 with Seurats Divisionism, the poet Baudelaires Les Fleurs du mal, and Flauberts novel Madame Bovary were both published in 1857. In the arts and letters, two important approaches developed separately in France, the first was Impressionism, a school of painting that initially focused on work done, not in studios, but outdoors. Impressionist paintings demonstrated that human beings do not see objects, the school gathered adherents despite internal divisions among its leading practitioners, and became increasingly influential. A significant event of 1863 was the Salon des Refusés, created by Emperor Napoleon III to display all of the paintings rejected by the Paris Salon. While most were in standard styles, but by artists, the work of Manet attracted tremendous attention
31.
Bauhaus
–
The Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar. Nonetheless, it was founded with the idea of creating a work of art in which all arts, including architecture. The Bauhaus style later became one of the most influential currents in modern design, Modernist architecture and art, design, the Bauhaus had a profound influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography. Although the school was closed, the continued to spread its idealistic precepts as they left Germany. The changes of venue and leadership resulted in a constant shifting of focus, technique, instructors, many Germans of left-wing views were influenced by the cultural experimentation that followed the Russian Revolution, such as constructivism. Such influences can be overstated, Gropius did not share these radical views, thus, the Bauhaus style, also known as the International Style, was marked by the absence of ornamentation and by harmony between the function of an object or a building and its design. In its first seven years, the Werkbund came to be regarded as the body on questions of design in Germany. The entire movement of German architectural modernism was known as Neues Bauen, beginning in June 1907, Peter Behrens pioneering industrial design work for the German electrical company AEG successfully integrated art and mass production on a large scale. Behrens was a member of the Werkbund, and both Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer worked for him in this period. The Bauhaus was founded at a time when the German zeitgeist had turned from emotional Expressionism to the matter-of-fact New Objectivity, beyond the Bauhaus, many other significant German-speaking architects in the 1920s responded to the same aesthetic issues and material possibilities as the school. They also responded to the promise of a minimal dwelling written into the new Weimar Constitution, ernst May, Bruno Taut, and Martin Wagner, among others, built large housing blocks in Frankfurt and Berlin. The acceptance of modernist design into everyday life was the subject of publicity campaigns, well-attended public exhibitions like the Weissenhof Estate, films, the Vkhutemas, the Russian state art and technical school founded in 1920 in Moscow, has been compared to Bauhaus. Founded a year after the Bauhaus school, Vkhutemas has close parallels to the German Bauhaus in its intent, organization, the two schools were the first to train artist-designers in a modern manner. Vkhutemas was a school than the Bauhaus, but it was less publicised outside the Soviet Union. With the internationalism of modern architecture and design, there were exchanges between the Vkhutemas and the Bauhaus. In addition, El Lissitzkys book Russia, an Architecture for World Revolution published in German in 1930 featured several illustrations of Vkhutemas/Vkhutein projects there. The school was founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919 as a merger of the Grand Ducal School of Arts and Crafts and the Weimar Academy of Fine Art. Its roots lay in the arts and crafts founded by the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1906
32.
Franz Ehrlich
–
Franz Ehrlich was a German architect, calligrapher and graphic designer. Franz Ehrlich was a student at the Bauhaus in Dessau from 1927 to 1930, Ehrlich was a Communist and was arrested and imprisoned by the Nazi regime in 1935. He was taken to Buchenwald concentration camp where, because he was an architect, Ehrlich subsequently became the paid main designer for the camps construction office, designing furnishings for the commandants house among other jobs. Later a fellow prisoner claimed Ehrlich had helped the Resistance by passing construction details to them, after World War II had concluded, Ehrlich worked on reconstruction in Dresden. During the 1960s he was employed as architect for the Leipzig Trade Fair, he designed a Fair Tower for it
33.
Bulgaria
–
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, with a territory of 110,994 square kilometres, Bulgaria is Europes 16th-largest country. Organised prehistoric cultures began developing on current Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period and its ancient history saw the presence of the Thracians, Greeks, Persians, Celts, Romans, Goths, Alans and Huns. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 led to the formation of the Third Bulgarian State, the following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both world wars. In 1946 it became a one-party socialist state as part of the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, in December 1989 the ruling Communist Party allowed multi-party elections, which subsequently led to Bulgarias transition into a democracy and a market-based economy. Bulgarias population of 7.2 million people is predominantly urbanised, most commercial and cultural activities are centred on the capital and largest city, Sofia. The strongest sectors of the economy are industry, power engineering. The countrys current political structure dates to the adoption of a constitution in 1991. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic with a high degree of political, administrative. Human activity in the lands of modern Bulgaria can be traced back to the Paleolithic, animal bones incised with man-made markings from Kozarnika cave are assumed to be the earliest examples of symbolic behaviour in humans. Organised prehistoric societies in Bulgarian lands include the Neolithic Hamangia culture, Vinča culture, the latter is credited with inventing gold working and exploitation. Some of these first gold smelters produced the coins, weapons and jewellery of the Varna Necropolis treasure and this site also offers insights for understanding the social hierarchy of the earliest European societies. Thracians, one of the three primary groups of modern Bulgarians, began appearing in the region during the Iron Age. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians conquered most of present-day Bulgaria, and kept it until 479 BC. After the division of the Roman Empire in the 5th century the area fell under Byzantine control, by this time, Christianity had already spread in the region. A small Gothic community in Nicopolis ad Istrum produced the first Germanic language book in the 4th century, the first Christian monastery in Europe was established around the same time by Saint Athanasius in central Bulgaria. From the 6th century the easternmost South Slavs gradually settled in the region, in 680 Bulgar tribes under the leadership of Asparukh moved south across the Danube and settled in the area between the lower Danube and the Balkan, establishing their capital at Pliska
34.
Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria
–
Dimitrovgrad is a town in Haskovo Province, south-central Bulgaria, located close to the province capital - Haskovo. It is a newly founded settlement, and was built at the end of the 1940s, the town takes its name from the communist leader Georgi Dimitrov. The town is the centre of the homonymous Dimitrovgrad Municipality. As of February 2011, it had a population of 38,015 inhabitants, the city was built in 1947 by the Communist government of the time and the brigades organized for that purpose. The main practical reason behind the new city was to create an industrial centre. Of course, there was also a foundation for building it. In 1970 the celebration of the poetry festival Penio Penev took place for the first time. In 1980 the biennial Bulgarian theatrical poster was held for the first time, in 1987 the museum – house Penio Penev was opened. In 1992, the monument to Georgi Dimitrov, the man after which the town is named, was removed by the authorities. This move, however, proved unpopular with the local residents and in 2012 a plan was adopted by Dimitrovgrad city council to restore the statue. Architecture in Dimitrovgrad is similar to that of the Roman Empire, it has spacious streets and it is one of the greenest cities in Bulgaria. There are three parks with about 15 lakes, dozens of species of rare trees, shrubs and flowers, sculptures, gazebos. The population of Dimitrovgrad during the first decade after its foundation was about 34,000, since then it started growing, mostly because of migrants arriving from rural areas. This migration reached its peak in the period between 1985 and 1992, when it exceeded 50,000
35.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
36.
Drancy
–
Drancy is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in northern France. It is located 10.8 km from the center of Paris, the name Drancy comes from Medieval Latin Derenciacum, and before that Terentiacum, meaning estate of Terentius, a Gallo-Roman landowner. In the 17th century, Drancy was divided into two villages, Drancy le Grand and le Petit Drancy. The quarter Village Parisien is built on the old location of the hamlet of Groslay which was surrounded by the forest of Bondy — hence the name of rue des Bois de Groslay, the end of nineteenth century was marked by the industrialisation and by the development of rail transports. During the Franco-Prussian war, Le Bourget was the site of an important battle, during the second world war, Drancy was the site of the Drancy internment camp where Jews, Gypsies, and others were held before being shipped to the Nazi concentration camps. In 1976, the Memorial to the Deportation at Drancy was created by sculptor Shlomo Selinger to commemorate the French Jews imprisoned in the camp, data climate for Le Bourget 1971-2000 Drancys buildings are too diverse to be characterised by any particular architectural style. We can see traditional houses from different periods, some of them with a style Art Nouveau are typical of the 19th and 20th centuries. We can see housing estates and a garden city, most recently, full of small buildings were built. The parc de Ladoucette is the park of Drancy. It contains a pond, an educational farm and the castle of Ladoucette. The castle was built in 1533 by Pierre Séguier, part of the commune form the canton of Drancy. The other part belongs to the canton of Le Bourget, Drancy is in Zone 3 of the Carte orange. The city is served by Le Bourget station and by Drancy station on Paris RER line B, Le Bourget station is situated near Drancy. The RER B is one of the five lines in the RER Rapid transit system serving Paris, Drancy is also served by the Paris Tramway Line 1 with five stops and by twelve buses. By the RER B, Drancy is near many parisian railway stations, Gare du Nord is now just 10 minutes away, charles de Gaulle Airport can be reached in 30 minutes too. Drancy is served by the A3 motorway and the A86 motorway
37.
Saarlouis
–
Saarlouis is a city in the Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis. In 2006, the town had a population of 38,327, Saarlouis, as the name implies, is located on the River Saar. It was built as a fortress in 1680 and named after Louis XIV of France, with the Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen in 1678/79, the Lorraine fell to France. In 1680, Louis XIV of France gave order to build a fortification on the banks of the river Saar which was called Sarre-Louis. Frances famous military engineer, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, constructed the city, the plans were made by Thomas de Choisy, in 1683, Louis XIV visited the fortress and granted arms. The coat of arms shows the sun and three Fleur-de-lis. The heraldic motto is Dissipat Atque Fovet, He dispels and heats, in 1697, with the Treaty of Ryswick, most parts of Lorraine gained independence again, but Saarlouis and the surrounding areas remained a French exclave. During the French Revolution, the town was renamed Sarre-Libre, with the Treaty of Paris in 1815, Saarlouis became Prussian. Marshal Michel Ney, who was born in Saarlouis, was arrested and tried for treason after the failure of Napoleon Is Waterloo Campaign. Neys attorney tried to use the Prussian annexation to save his clients life, arguing that Ney was no longer a French citizen, Ney refused to cooperate, declaring himself to be French, and so was convicted and later executed. After World War I, French troops occupied Saarlouis, the Saargebiet became a protectorate of the League of Nations for a period of 15 years. In 1933, a number of anti-Nazi Germans fled to the Saar. As a result, anti-Nazi groups campaigned heavily for the Saarland to remain under control of League of Nations as long as Adolf Hitler ruled Germany, however, long-held sentiments against France remained entrenched, with very few sympathizing openly with France. When the 15-year-term was over, a plebiscite was held in the territory on 13 January 1935,90. 3% of those voting wished to rejoin Germany, from 1936 till 1945, Saarlouis was named as Saarlautern in an attempt by the Nazis to Germanise the town name. After World War II, the region, was occupied by France. In a plebiscite in 1955, most of the people in the Saarland opted for the reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany, in 1980, Saarlouis celebrated its 300th anniversary. Even today, the fortress dominates the citys hexagonal floor plan, beside the buildings made by Vauban, there are also some constructions left from the 19th century when the Prussians got control over the town. Saarlouis was famous for its steel and iron ore production
38.
Sister city
–
In recent times, town twinning has increasingly been used to form strategic international business links between member cities. In the United Kingdom, the twin towns is most commonly used. In mainland Europe, the most commonly used terms are twin towns, partnership towns, partner towns, the European Commission uses the term twinned towns and refers to the process as town twinning. Spain uses the term ciudades hermanadas that means sister cities, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic use Partnerstadt / Miasto Partnerskie / Partnerské město, which translate as Partner Town or City. France uses Ville Jumelée, and Italy has Gemellaggio and Comune gemellato, in the Netherlands, the term is Stedenband. In Greece, the word αδελφοποίηση has been adopted, in Iceland, the terms vinabæir and vinaborgir are used. In the former Soviet Bloc, twin towns and twin cities are used, the Americas, South Asia, and Australasia use the term sister cities or twin cities. In China, the term is 友好城市, sometimes, other government bodies enter into a twinning relationship, such as the agreement between the provinces of Hainan in China and Jeju-do in South Korea. The Douzelage is a twinning association with one town from each of the member states of the European Union. In recent years, the term city diplomacy has gained increased usage and acceptance, particularly as a strand of paradiplomacy and public diplomacy. It is formally used in the workings of the United Cities and Local Governments, the importance of cities developing their own foreign economic policies on trade, foreign investment, tourism and attracting foreign talent has also been highlighted by the World Economic Forum. The earliest known town twinning in Europe was between Paderborn, Germany, and Le Mans, France, in 836, starting in 1905, Keighley in West Yorkshire, England, had a twinning arrangement with French communities Suresnes and Puteaux. The first recorded modern twinning agreement was between Keighley and Poix-du-Nord in Nord, France, in 1920 following the end of the First World War and this was initially referred to as an adoption of the French town, formal twinning charters were not exchanged until 1986. The practice was continued after the Second World War as a way to promote mutual understanding, for example, Coventry twinned with Stalingrad and later with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, all three cities having been heavily bombed during the war. Similarly, in 1947, Bristol Corporation sent five leading citizens on a mission to Hanover. Reading in 1947 was the first British town to form links with an enemy city – Düsseldorf. Since 9 April 1956 Rome and Paris have been exclusively and reciprocally twinned with other, following the motto, Only Paris is worthy of Rome. Within Europe, town twinning is supported by the European Union, the support scheme was established in 1989
39.
Udo Beyer
–
Udo Beyer is a former East German track and field athlete who competed in the shot put. Beyer is the oldest of the six children of heating mechanic Hans-Georg Beyer and his wife Eva-Marie and was born in Stalinstadt and he grew up in Breslack, and in Eisenhüttenstadt. Like all of his siblings, he played handball at the sport club. He was a member of the representing the district in Frankfurt where he became a successful goalkeeper. On the advice of his father he decided to pursue a sporting career, after the youth tournament in 1969, he changed to the youth sports school in Frankfurt, where he earned his Abitur. At the same time he became a member of ASK Vorwärts Frankfurt, in 1970 Ernst Kühl became his trainer, himself a successful shot putter and discus thrower for East Germany. Kühl had taken part in the 1960 and 1964 unified German team at the Summer Olympic games, in 1973 Beyer changed clubs as well as coaches moving to ASK Vorwärts Potsdam under Lothar Hillebrand. In Potsdam he concentrated solely on the put and began also studying at the University to become a physical education teacher. As a member of the Army sports club Beyer was also an officer of the NVA and had also become Hauptmann in the Bundeswehr. His sport career was essentially over after the 1988 Summer Olympic games, for many years, Beyer was captain of the East German athletics national team. At a height of 1.94 meters, he weighed 130 kilograms, even for a shot putter, Beyer was exceptionally strong. At the end of his career, Beyer started work as a travel agent and has owned a travel agency in Potsdam since 1996. He lives in Potsdam and has married since 1976 and has had two daughters, one of whom died as a child. All of his siblings were active in sports. At the Summer Olympics of 1980 in Moscow, Udo was with his sister Gisela Beyer, all three reached their respective final rounds, Hans-Georg was Olympic champion with his handball team, Udo was third in the shot put and Gisela was fourth in the discus. His sister Gudrun was also with him at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, since 2004 Beyer is also the Chocolate Ambassador for Germanys oldest chocolate factory, Halloren of Halle. He is also active as an official representative for the childrens hospice of middle Germany for terminally ill children. Beyer has admitted to taking part in doping while he competed for East Germany - which had a systematic doping program for its top athletes in the 1970s
listen)) is a town in the Oder-Spree district of the state of Brandenburg, Germany, on the border with Poland.
Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria (since 1958)
Drancy, France (since 1963)
Głogów, Poland (since 1972)
Saarlouis, Germany (since 1986, first East and West German town twinning)
