HIRSCHBERG, town in the Prussian province of Silesia, at the confluence of the Bober and Zacken, 1,120 f t. above the sea level, 48 m. S.E. of Gorlitz. Pop. 30,692. Hirschberg existed in the 1 I th century, and obtained town rights in 1108 from Duke Boleslaus of Poland. It withstood a siege by the Hussites in 1427, and an attack of the imperial troops in 1640. The founda tion of its prosperity was laid in the 16th century by the intro duction of the manufacture of linen and veils. It possesses an Evangelical church, the church of the Holy Cross, one of the six Gnaden Kirchen for the Silesian Protestants stipulated for in the agreement at Altranstadt between Charles XII. of and the emperor Joseph I. in 1707, and a Roman Catholic church, of the 14th century. It cards and spins wool, and makes linen and cotton fabrics, yarn, artificial flowers, paper, cement, porcelain, machin ery, gloves, cellulose and cider. There is also a trade in wine and leather.
Hirschberg is also the name of a town of Thuringia on the Saale with manufactures of leather and knives. Pop. 2,800.