Editing Legnica (section)

===The 20th century===
[[File:Castle in Legnica6.JPG|thumb|left|Old view of the Piast Castle]]

The census of 1910 gave Liegnitz's population as 95.86% [[Germans|German]], 0.15% German and Polish, 1.27% [[Polish people|Polish]], 2.26% [[Wends|Wendish]], and 0.19% [[Czechs|Czech]]. On 1 April 1937 parts of the ''Landkreis'' of Liegnitz communities of Alt Beckern (Piekary), Groß Beckern (Piekary Wielkie), Hummel, Liegnitzer Vorwerke, Pfaffendorf (Piątnica) und Prinkendorf (Przybków) were incorporated into the city limits. After the [[Treaty of Versailles]] following [[World War I]], Liegnitz was part of the newly created [[Province of Lower Silesia]] from 1919 to 1938, then of the [[Province of Silesia]] from 1938 to 1941, and again of the province of Lower Silesia from 1941 to 1945. After the [[Nazi Party]] came to power in Germany, as early as 1933, a boycott of local [[Jewish]] premises was ordered, during the ''[[Kristallnacht]]'' in 1938 the synagogue was burned down,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://zabytki.legnica.eu/historia-legnicy/okres-rzadow-hitlerowskich|title=Okres rządów hitlerowskich|website=Legnica.eu|access-date=8 November 2019|language=pl}}</ref> and in 1939 the local Polish population was terrorized and persecuted.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cygański|first=Mirosław|year=1984|title=Hitlerowskie prześladowania przywódców i aktywu Związków Polaków w Niemczech w latach 1939 - 1945|journal=Przegląd Zachodni|language=pl|issue=4|pages=35–36}}</ref> A Nazi court prison was operated in the city with a [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] subcamp.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=2525|title=Gerichtsgefängnis Lignitz|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=29 November 2020|language=de}}</ref> During [[World War II]], several members of the [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance movement]] were imprisoned and sentenced to death there.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Encyklopedia konspiracji Wielkopolskiej 1939–1945|year=1998|location=Poznań|language=pl|publisher=Instytut Zachodni|pages=99, 114, 183, 304, 321, 434, 529|isbn=83-85003-97-5}}</ref> The Germans also established two forced labour camps in the city, as well as two prisoner of war labor subcamps of the [[German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II|POW camp]] located in [[Żagań]] (then ''Sagan''), and one labor subcamp of the [[Stalag VIII-A]] POW camp in [[Zgorzelec]] (then ''Görlitz'').<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lusek|first1=Joanna|last2=Goetze|first2=Albrecht|year=2011|title=Stalag VIII A Görlitz. Historia – teraźniejszość – przyszłość|journal=Łambinowicki rocznik muzealny|location=Opole|language=pl|volume=34|page=44}}</ref>
[[File:Legnica, kaplica cmentarna - 9 grudnia 2008 r..jpg|thumb|Cemetery chapel]]

After the defeat of [[Nazi Germany]] during [[World War II]], Liegnitz and all of Silesia east of the [[Neisse]] was preliminarily transferred to Poland following the [[Potsdam Conference]] in 1945. The majority of the German population was either [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]] in accordance with the [[Potsdam Agreement]] or fled from the city.

The city was repopulated with Poles, including expellees from pre-war [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|eastern Poland]] after its annexation by the [[Soviet Union]]. Also [[Greeks in Poland|Greeks]], refugees of the [[Greek Civil War]], settled in Legnica in 1950.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kubasiewicz|first=Izabela|editor-last1=Dworaczek|editor-first1=Kamil|editor-last2=Kamiński|editor-first2=Łukasz|year=2013|title=Letnia Szkoła Historii Najnowszej 2012. Referaty|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=117|chapter=Emigranci z Grecji w Polsce Ludowej. Wybrane aspekty z życia mniejszości}}</ref> As the medieval Polish name ''Lignica'' was considered [[Archaism|archaic]], the town was renamed Legnica. The transfer to Poland decided at Potsdam in 1945 was [[Treaty of Zgorzelec|officially recognized]] by [[East Germany]] in 1950, by [[West Germany]] under Chancellor [[Willy Brandt]] in the 1970 [[Treaty of Warsaw (1970)|Treaty of Warsaw]], and finally by the reunited Germany by the [[Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany|Two Plus Four Agreement]] in 1990. By 1990 only a handful of [[Polonization|Polonized]] Germans, prewar citizens of Liegnitz, remained of the pre-1945 German population. In 2010 the city celebrated the 65th anniversary of the return of Legnica to Poland and its liberation from Nazi Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://legniczanin.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3424:tekst-wali-powrot-do-macierzy-legnica&catid=78:wiadomoci&Itemid=72|title=65. rocznica wyzwolenia Legnicy - foto relacja|last=Wala|first=Grzegorz|date=9 February 2010|website=Legniczanin.pl|language=pl|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320223453/http://legniczanin.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3424:tekst-wali-powrot-do-macierzy-legnica&catid=78:wiadomoci&Itemid=72|archive-date=2012-03-20|url-status=dead|access-date=26 March 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Castle in Legnica4.JPG|thumb|left|Post-war view of the Piast Castle (on the left) and the Głogów Gate (on the right)]]

The city was only partly damaged in World War II. In June 1945 Legnica was briefly the capital of the Lower Silesian (Wrocław) Voivodship, after the administration was moved there from [[Trzebnica]] and before it was finally moved to [[Wrocław]].<ref name=PRL>{{cite web |url=http://zabytki.legnica.eu/historia-legnicy/prl |title=[PRL]|publisher=Legnica.eu|access-date=8 November 2019|language=pl}}</ref> In 1947, the Municipal Library was opened, in 1948 a piano factory was founded, and in the years 1951-1959 Poland's first copper smelter was built in Legnica.<ref name=PRL/> After 1965 most parts of the preserved old town with its town houses were demolished, the historical layout was abolished, and the city was rebuilt in modern form.<ref>Dehio - Handbuch der Kunstdenkmäler in Polen: Schlesien'', Herder-Institut Marburg and Krajowy Osrodek Badan i Dokumentacji Zabytkow Warszawa, [[Deutscher Kunstverlag]] 2005, {{ISBN|3-422-03109-X}}, page 521</ref>

From 1945 to 1990, during the [[Cold War]], the headquarters of the [[Red Army|Soviet forces]] in Poland, the so-called [[Northern Group of Forces]], was located in the city. This fact had a strong influence on the life of the city. For much of the period, the city was divided into Polish and Soviet areas, with the latter closed to the public. These were first established in July 1945, when the Soviets forcibly ejected newly arrived Polish inhabitants from the parts of the city they wanted for their own use. The ejection was perceived by some as a particularly brutal action, and rumours circulated exaggerating its severity, though no evidence of anyone being killed in the course of it has come to light. In April 1946 city officials estimated that there were 16,700 Poles, 12,800 Germans, and 60,000 [[Soviets]] in Legnica.<ref name="IPN-Ś">{{cite web|url=http://www.ipn.gov.pl/biuletyn/4/biuletyn4_51.html|title=ARMIA CZERWONA NA DOLNYM ŚLĄSKU|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050321233124/http://www.ipn.gov.pl/biuletyn/4/biuletyn4_51.html |archive-date=21 March 2005|language=pl}}</ref> In October 1956, the largest anti-Soviet demonstrations in Lower Silesia took place in Legnica.<ref name=PRL/> The last Soviet units left the city in 1993.

Between 1 June 1975 and {{awrap|31 December}} 1998 Legnica was the capital of the [[Legnica Voivodeship]]. In 1992 the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Legnica]] was established, [[Tadeusz Rybak]] became the first bishop of Legnica.<ref name=IIIRP>{{cite web|url=http://zabytki.legnica.eu/historia-legnicy/okres-iii-rzeczpospolitej|title=Okres III Rzeczpospolitej|website=Legnica.eu|access-date=8 November 2019|language=pl}}</ref> New local newspapers and a radio station were founded in the 1990s.<ref name=IIIRP/> In 1997, Legnica was visited by [[Pope John Paul II]].<ref name=IIIRP/> The city suffered in the [[1997 Central European flood]].<ref name=IIIRP/>