page_title: Petržalka
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Petržalka / History
caption_attribution_description: Au café restaurant, Viedenská cesta, Petržalka
context_page_description: Petržalka is the largest borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Situated on the right bank of the river Danube, the area shares a land border with Austria, and is home to around 100,000 people.
context_section_description: Before the 18th century, the territory of present-day Petržalka consisted of several regularly flooded islands and was not suitable for larger permanent settlement. The deed of donation of Andrew II of Hungary (1225) mentions a property Wlocendorf/Fluecendorf, abandoned village of Pecenegs and several local place names including the Peceneg Island (Beseneusciget, now national protected area Pečniansky les) and the Magyar Island (Mogorsciget). Pecheneg mercenaries on guard duty near the river Danube were probably the first permanent settlers, but the ford was protected also by other ethnic groups like Székelys and Ruthenians. The abandoned village of Pecenegs (or the neighboring territory) was settled most likely by German colonists. The inhabitants of Flocendorf were ferrymen, tradesmen and farmers. In the late 15th century, a new village Ungerau/Engerau was founded. The village was inhabited mostly by Germans and Croatians fleeing from the south during the Ottoman wars. During this period, the neighbouring Pressburg (Pozsony, today Bratislava) was the capital of the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary. 
  In the 18th century, the villages began to merge, but their population remained relatively low. It became a popular recreation area with the oldest public park in the Central Europe (now Sad Janka Kráľa, founded in 1776). In 1866, the village had only 594 inhabitants and 103 houses. In 1891, it became permanently connected with Pressburg when the first railway bridge, 460 meters long, was built for the Pressburg-Csorna-Szombathely railway as the first bridge not made of wood, those wooden bridges often damaged by frost and floods. A 1910 census shows that of its 2,947 inhabitants, 1,997 spoke German, 495 spoke Hungarian, and 318 spoke Slovak as their native language. 
  On 1 January 1919, the Czechoslovak Legions captured Pressburg (then Bratislava). At the beginning of August, Czechoslovakia got permission to correct the borders for the strategic reasons, mainly to secure the port and to prevent potential attack of the Hungarian Army on the town. At night of 14 August 1919 barefoot Czechoslovak soldiers silently climbed to the Hungarian side of the bridge, captured the guards and annexed Petržalka without a fight. The Paris Peace Conference finally assigned the area to Czechoslovakia with the aim of creating a bridgehead for the newly created Czechoslovak state for controlling the Danube. In the  1920s Petržalka was the largest village in Czechoslovakia. During the Czechoslovak rule Petržalka grew quickly and the population increased from 3,576 (1919) to 14,164 (1930). The village lost its former ethnic German majority.
  Petržalka was annexed by Nazi Germany on 10 October 1938 on the basis of the Munich agreement and renamed Engerau. The Starý most bridge becomes a border bridge between the First Slovak Republic and Nazi Germany. Several thousand inhabitants of Slovak, Czech, and Hungarian ethnicity were obliged to stay in Petržalka. Although citizens of the Third Reich, their national character was repressed. The occupiers closed down all Slovak schools, and the German language replaced Slovak. Non-Germans were not allowed to participate in public life, and the Gestapo arrested citizens who promote ideas opposing Nazism, including those active before the occupation.
  From November 1944 to March 1945 – Petržalka (Engerau) was the site of a labour camp for Hungarian Jews, who were deployed at the construction of the Südostwall. Out of 2000 prisoners, at least 497 died from inhumane treatment and during the death march to Bad Deutsch-Altenburg. 
  On April 4 1945 Petržalka was, along with the rest of Bratislava, freed from the Nazis and taken by the Communists. It was returned to Czechoslovakia after World War II. On May 5, 1945, 90% of the Hungarian population of Bratislava was forced into internment camps in Petržalka; some Hungarians were murdered.
  On February 13, 1946 Petržalka officially became a part of Bratislava.  Construction of the housing blocks known as "panelák" began in 1977.
  A 2001 Census reports that of its 117,227 inha
caption: Au Café
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