Lower Silesia, until 1945.
Near the end of World War II, German troops destroyed all bridges crossing the Lusatian Neisse. The redrawing of boundaries in 1945 � in particular the relocation of the German-Polish border to the present Oder-Neisse line � divided the town. The right bank became part of Poland and was renamed Zgorzelec by the Polish communist government in 1948, while the main portion on the left bank remained part of Germany, now within the state of Saxony. When the East German states were dissolved in 1952, G�rlitz became part of the Dresden District, but the states were restored upon German reunification in 1990.
On 27 June 1994, the town became the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of G�rlitz, but it remains a Lutheran Protestant stronghold.
In 2002 Lake Berzdorf, located south of G�rlitz, began to flood. The Altstadtbr�cke (literally old town bridge) between G�rlitz and sister city Zgorzelec was rebuilt between 2003 and 2004. It was officially opened on 20 October 2004. As soon as Poland signed the Schengen Agreement (20 December 2007), movement between the two banks of the river again became unrestricted, since border controls were eliminated. Indeed, the new pedestrian bridge fails to tell the traveller that they are leaving one country and entering another.
Whilst the town was always well preserved, it was notably grey and colourless under communist East German rule. Since reunification many buildings have been redecorated and is now more clearly "beautiful" even to the layman. It is a popular place to which the elderly of Germany retire, being quiet and relatively affordable by German standards. Its tourist potential is rapidly expanding, being very much an eastern counterpart to towns such as Heidelberg
