Bytom vs Surrey

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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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Surrey () is a county in South East England which borders Kent to the east, East Sussex to the southeast, West Sussex to the south, Hampshire to the west, Berkshire to the northwest, and Greater London to the northeast. With about 1.2 million people, Surrey is the twelfth most populous English county, the third most populous home county, after Kent and Essex, and the third most populous in the Southeast, after Hampshire and Kent.

Surrey is a relatively wealthy county. It has the highest proportion of woodland of counties in England. It has four horse racing courses, and golf courses including the international competition venue at Wentworth. Guildford is popularly regarded as the county town, although Surrey County Council is based extraterritorially at Kingston upon Thames. Surrey is divided into eleven districts.

Source: Wikipedia