Province of Lower Silesia

The Province of Lower Silesia (Provinz Niederschlesien; Silesian German: Provinz Niederschläsing; Prowincja Dolny Śląsk; Prowincyjŏ Dolny Ślōnsk) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Between 1938 and 1941 it was reunited with Upper Silesia as the Province of Silesia. The capital of Lower Silesia was Breslau (now Wrocław in Poland). The province was further divided into two administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke), Breslau and Liegnitz.

The province was not congruent with the historical region of Lower Silesia, which now lies mainly in Poland. It additionally comprised the Upper Lusatian districts of Görlitz, Rothenburg and Hoyerswerda in the west, that until 1815 had belonged to the Kingdom of Saxony, as well as the former County of Kladsko in the southeast.

The province was disestablished at the end of World War II and with the implementation of the Oder–Neisse line in 1945, the area east of the Neisse river fell to the Republic of Poland. The smaller western part was incorporated into the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg.

Urban districts / Stadtkreise

 * 1) City of Breslau
 * 2) City of Brieg
 * 3) City of Schweidnitz
 * 4) City of Waldenburg

Rural districts / Landkreise

 * 1) Landkreis Breslau
 * 2) Landkreis Brieg
 * 3) Landkreis Frankenstein
 * 4) Landkreis Glatz
 * 5) Landkreis Groß Wartenberg
 * 6) Landkreis Guhrau
 * 7) Landkreis Habelschwerdt
 * 8) Landkreis Militsch
 * 9) Landkreis Namslau
 * 10) Landkreis Neumarkt
 * 11) Landkreis Oels
 * 12) Landkreis Ohlau
 * 13) Landkreis Reichenbach (im Eulengebirge)
 * 14) Landkreis Schweidnitz
 * 15) Landkreis Strehlen
 * 16) Landkreis Trebnitz
 * 17) Landkreis Waldenburg
 * 18) Landkreis Wohlau

Urban districts / Stadtkreise

 * 1) City of Glogau
 * 2) City of Görlitz
 * 3) City of Hirschberg im Riesengebirge
 * 4) City of Liegnitz

Rural districts / Landkreise

 * 1) Landkreis Bunzlau
 * 2) Landkreis Fraustadt
 * 3) Landkreis Freystadt i. Niederschles.
 * 4) Landkreis Glogau
 * 5) Landkreis Görlitz
 * 6) Landkreis Goldberg
 * 7) Landkreis Grünberg
 * 8) Landkreis Hirschberg
 * 9) Landkreis Hoyerswerda
 * 10) Landkreis Jauer
 * 11) Landkreis Landeshut
 * 12) Landkreis Lauban
 * 13) Landkreis Liegnitz
 * 14) Landkreis Löwenberg
 * 15) Landkreis Lüben
 * 16) Landkreis Rothenburg (Ob. Laus.)
 * 17) Landkreis Sprottau

Post-1945 population
During the Polish post-war census of December 1950, data about the pre-war places of residence of the inhabitants as of August 1939 was collected. In case of children born between September 1939 and December 1950, their origin was reported based on the pre-war places of residence of their mothers. Thanks to this data it is possible to reconstruct the pre-war geographical origin of the post-war population. The same area corresponding to pre-1938 Province of Lower Silesia east of the Oder-Neisse line (which became Polish in 1945) was inhabited in December 1950 by: Over 90% of the 1950 inhabitants were new to the region, with less than 10% residing in the province already back in August 1939 (so called autochthons, who had German citizenship before World War II and were granted Polish citizenship after 1945). The largest group among new inhabitants were Poles expelled from areas of Eastern Poland annexed by the USSR. The second largest group came from Southern Poland (from Kraków, Rzeszów, Lublin, Kielce and Katowice regions in total 28%) followed by Greater Poland. Many Poles from Bosnia settled around Bolesławiec.