Until the end of the Second World War, Wroclaw on the Oder was known by the German name Breslau and is now the fourth largest city in Poland with a population of 630,000.

With the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop, a Protestant diocesan bishop, numerous universities and research institutes as well as theaters and museums, it is the cultural, economic and scientific center of the Lower Silesian region.

The region of Silesia is mentioned in the tales of Tacitus as early as the year 98. In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Vandal tribe of the Sillinger settled in the vicinity of today's city.

The name Wortizlawa was first mentioned in a document around 900 and a castle was built around 1000, inside which the construction of a cathedral soon began. The town grew to a considerable 1,000 inhabitants at the time.

Due to the frequent division of the territory, the administrative affiliation changed constantly after the turn of the millennium. After its destruction by the Mongols in 1241, Wroclaw was rebuilt and received the Magdeburg city charter in 1261.

In the centuries that followed, the sovereignty over the city and the region changed several times. From the Piasts in the late Middle Ages, rule passed to the Bohemian and Hungarian kings, from the 16th century to the Habsburgs, in the 18th century to the Hohenzollerns and finally to the German Empire.

During the Weimar Republic, the region was divided into the provinces of Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia. The city of Breslau grew to 625,000 inhabitants in 1928 as a result of numerous incorporations. During the Second World War, the city was the scene of several fierce battles and heavy air raids until a few days before its surrender.

It was not until the founding of the Polish People's Republic in mid-1945 that life returned to normal. Reconstruction of the destroyed city center began in the mid-1950s. The German past was largely suppressed under the communist government and it was only the collapse of the Eastern Bloc that brought a return to the shared history. In this context, the mayors of Wroclaw and Wiesbaden signed a framework agreement on cooperation on November 30, 1987. During the ceremony in the town hall, the representatives from Poland signed the city's Golden Book.