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This article deals with the German language names of towns and cities in Central Europe.
Many places in Central Europe, both in the former Imperial Germany and in other lands controlled by German-speaking countries in the past, have traditionally had their German equivalents. Some of them have been used for ages of German presence in the area, while others were simply German transliterations of local names or names invented in the 19th century.
The earlier was the case with towns inhabited by Germans at least since the Middle Ages, like for instance Breslau or Stettin. The latter was the case of, for instance, Polish towns annexed by Prussia after the Partitions of Poland, like Chodziesen, Jarotschin or Hohensalza.
As long as the places were part of Germany, these German names were used invariably in German - and usually in English and most other languages too - while the local Polish or Czech inhabitants have always been using their own traditional names for the places in question. After World War II, when the towns became Polish or Czech and the German populations were expelled, the German names gradually fell into disuse in German, especially for the minor towns. German names of major cities like Danzig or Breslau are still recognizable and frequently used (Danzig about half the time; Breslau somewhat less).
Examples
These are some of the names that ware more different in comparison to the current versions.
External link
- Wortschatz-Datenbank (http://wortschatz.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/), a page listing the usage of words in German newspapers; searches for old German names of now-Polish cities show that most of their use is in historical contexts, while the Polish names are generally used when reference is made to the present-day cities
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