Silesia

By Deane Barker • •

A historical kingdom and region in Central Europe. Today, it’s mostly part of Poland. It’s a named region only (like “the Midwest”) and has no government or citizenship. It’s home to eight million people, with its largest city being Wrocław, Poland. It’s divided up into Upper, Middle, and Lower regions.

Why I Looked It Up

I was reading a book about science history. Paul Erlich found the cure for syphilis.

The book stated:

Born in Strehlen, Upper Silesia (on the Polish and Czech borders)…

Strehlen is now a Polish town (pop: 12,000), but when Erlich was born in 1854, it would have been formally part of the Province of Upper Silesia, which was part of Prussia until 1919.

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