Bytom vs Harrisburg

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Bytom (Polish pronunciation: [ˈbɨtɔm] (listen); Silesian: Bytōm, Bytōń, German: Beuthen O.S.) is a city with powiat rights in southern Poland, in Silesia, in centre of Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia and Dąbrowa Basin. It is one of the oldest cities in the Upper Silesia, and the former seat of the Piast dukes of the Duchy of Bytom. Until 1532, it was in the hands of the Silesian Piasts, then it belonged to the Hohenzollern dynasty. After 1623 it was a state country in the hands of the Donnersmarck family. From 1742 to 1945 the town was within the borders of Prussia and Germany, and played an important role as an economic and administrative centre of the local industrial region. Until the outbreak of World War II, it was the main centre of national, social, cultural and publishing organisations fighting to preserve Polish identity in Upper Silesia.

During Kristallnacht in 1938, Nazi Germans burned down the Bytom Synagogue. In 1942, the Beuthen Jewish community was liquidated and its members were the first transport to be sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. After the war, decades of the Polish People's Republic were characterized by a constant emphasis on the development of heavy industry, which deeply polluted and degraded Bytom. After 1989, the city experienced a socio-economic decline. The city is blighted with derelict, dilapidated buildings which are ubiquitous. The population has been in rapid decline since 1999 leading to a number of locals describing the city as a ghost town. Poverty remains rife in Bytom. However, it is an important place in the cultural, entertainment, and industrial map of the region.

Source: Wikipedia

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Harrisburg ( HARR-iss-burg; Pennsylvania German: Harrisbarrig) is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 49,271, it is the 13th largest city in the Commonwealth. According to 2018 estimates of the Census Bureau, the population is 51.8% Black or African American, 22.6% White, 21.8% Latino, 5.4% Asian, and 0.4% Native American while 3.9% identify as two or more races. It lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, 107 miles (172 km) west of Philadelphia. Harrisburg is the anchor of the Harrisburg metropolitan area, which had a 2019 estimated population of 577,941, making it the fourth most populous metropolitan area in Pennsylvania and 96th most populous in the United States. It is the second-largest city in the multi-polar region known as the Lower Susquehanna Valley, comprising the Harrisburg, Lancaster and York metropolitan areas. Harrisburg played a notable role in American history during the Westward Migration, the American Civil War and the Industrial Revolution. During part of the 19th century, the building of the Pennsylvania Canal, and later the Pennsylvania Railroad, allowed Harrisburg to become one of the most industrialized cities in the Northeastern United States. The U.S. Navy ship USS Harrisburg, which served from 1918 to 1919 at the end of World War I, was named in honor of the city.

In the mid-to-late 20th century, the city's economic fortunes fluctuated with its major industries consisting of government, heavy manufacturing, agriculture, and food services (nearby Hershey is home of the chocolate maker, located just 10 miles (16 km) east). The Pennsylvania Farm Show, the largest free indoor agriculture exposition in the United States, was first held in Harrisburg in 1917 and has been held there every early-to-mid January since then. Harrisburg also hosts an annual outdoor sports show, the largest of its kind in North America, an auto show, which features a large static display of new as well as classic cars and is renowned nationwide, and Motorama, a two-day event consisting of a car show, motocross racing, remote control car racing, and more. Harrisburg is also known for the Three Mile Island accident, which occurred on March 28, 1979, near Middletown. In 2010 Forbes rated Harrisburg as the second best place in the U.S. to raise a family. Despite the city's recent financial troubles, in 2010 The Daily Beast website ranked 20 metropolitan areas across the country as being recession-proof, and the Harrisburg region landed at No. 7. The financial stability of the region is in part due to the high concentration of state and federal government agencies.

Source: Wikipedia