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105-490: The town parts and villages of Benešov, Kolonie 5. května, Nové Město, Olivětín, Poříčí, Rožmitál and Velká Ves are administrative parts of Broumov. The name is derived from the old Czech personal name Brum (also written as Brúm, Brun, Brún). Broumov is located about 22 kilometres (14 mi) northeast of Náchod and 19 km (12 mi) south of the Polish city of Wałbrzych . The municipal territory shortly borders Poland in

210-486: A defensive fort, the remains of which were destroyed in the 19th century during expansion of the city. However, some German sources say no archaeological or written records support notions of an early West Slavic or Lechitic settlement nor the existence of a castle before the late 13th century. They also denounce the idea that during the Middle Ages the area of Wałbrzych was part of an unpopulated Silesian forest, known as

315-645: A fair plebiscite, a majority of the Sudetenland population would have voted to remain in Czechoslovakia. The municipal elections of May 1938 were marred with voter intimidation and street fighting - officially the SdP won about 90 percent of the Sudeten vote, but about a third of Sudeten Germans were prevented from casting a free vote. The table below shows the number of seats German parties and German–Hungarian lists gained in

420-813: A faithful appeaser , to Czechoslovakia to see if he could obtain a settlement between the Czechoslovak government and the Sudeten Germans. His mission failed because Henlein refused all conciliating proposals under secret orders by Hitler. The Runciman Report to the British government stated this on Czechoslovakia's policy towards the German minority during the preceding decades: Czech officials and Czech police, speaking little or no German, were appointed in large numbers to purely German districts; Czech agricultural colonists were encouraged to settle on land confiscated under

525-403: A gallery with Renaissance and Empire tombstones. The Church of Saint Wenceslaus was built in 1728–1729 according to the design made by K. I. Dientzenhofer. It replaced an old wooden Protestant church, abolished in 1618. The church it the third building in the town protected as a national cultural monument. The Church of Saint Peter and Paul was first mentioned in 1258. The church was replaced by

630-465: A large rectangular market square with two parallel main streets running from both sides of the square and converging at both gates located on the opposite sides of the town. Throughout the perimeter of the old town are preserved fragments of town walls. The town hall on the square was originally from the 13th century and one of the oldest in Bohemia. Its current appearance is a result of many reconstructions,

735-528: A moravští Němci , lit.   'German Bohemians and German Moravians '), later known as Sudeten Germans (German: Sudetendeutsche [zuˈdeːtn̩ˌdɔʏtʃə] ; Czech: sudetští Němci ), were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown , which later became an integral part of Czechoslovakia . Before 1945, over three million German Bohemians constituted about 23% of

840-550: A party conference in Teplitz in 1919, the provincial Social Democratic Parties of Bohemia, Moravia and Sudeten-Silesia united to form the Deutsche Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei (DSAP) and elected Josef Seliger as chairman. After Seliger's untimely death in 1920, Ludwig Czech became party chairman, who was succeeded in 1938 by Wenzel Jaksch . Already in 1936, Jaksch, together with Hans Schütz of

945-579: A plan, known as the United States of Greater Austria , in 1909. German Bohemia, as it was to be called, was going to be separated from the Czech areas around it in the plan. That would create ethnically homogenous self-governing provinces that would hopefully end the ethnic conflict. However, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated , and the First World War destroyed all hopes for a redrawn Cisleithania. The end of

1050-502: A possible Nazi takeover. Of some 80,000 social democrats in Czechoslovakia, only about 5,000 would manage to flee the Nazis. The rest were incarcerated, and many of them were executed. Many of those who survived the Nazi persecution were later expelled, together with other Sudeten Germans, on the basis of Beneš decrees . By 1929, only a small number of Sudeten German deputies, most of them members of

1155-521: A result of the First Silesian War the city was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742, and subsequently became part of Germany in 1871. In 1843 the city obtained its first rail connection, which linked it with Breslau (now Wrocław , Poland). In the early 20th century a glassworks and a large china tableware manufacturing plant, which are still in operation today, were built. During World War I ,

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1260-632: A stone building in the 14th century and it rebuilt in Baroque style in 1679–1680. The tower was added in 1682. The Church of the Holy Spirit was first mentioned in the 14th century. The originally wooden church was replaced in 1689 by the current stone building. Broumov is twinned with: Wa%C5%82brzych Wałbrzych ( Polish: [ˈvawbʐɨx] ; German : Waldenburg ; Silesian : Wałbrzich ; Lower Silesian : Walmbrig or Walmbrich ; Czech : Valbřich or Valdenburk )

1365-499: Is a city located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship , in southwestern Poland , seat of Wałbrzych County . Wałbrzych lies approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) southwest of the voivodeship capital Wrocław and about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the Czech border. Wałbrzych has the status of municipality. Its administrative borders encompass an area of 85 km (33 sq mi) with 110,000 inhabitants, making it

1470-550: Is also found. The term "Sudeten Germans" ( Sudetendeutsche ) came about during rising ethnic nationalism in the early 20th century, after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the First World War . It coincided with the rise of another new term, "the Sudetenland ", which referred only to the parts of the former Kingdom of Bohemia that were inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans. These names were derived from

1575-661: Is located by the Pełcznica River at 450–500 m above sea level in a picturesque structural basin of Wałbrzych above which there are wooded ranges of the Wałbrzych Mountains . The highest elevation in the city is Mount Borowa, also known as the Black Mountain, 853 m (2798 ft) above sea level , with an observation tower since 2007, which is the highest peak of the Wałbrzych mountains. There are seven city parks in

1680-812: The Bereitschaft . The Sudeten German nationalists, particularly the Nazis, expanded their activities after the Depression started. On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. The Czechoslovak government prepared to suppress the Sudeten Nazi Party. In the autumn of 1933, the Sudeten Nazis dissolved their organization, and the German Nationals were pressured to do likewise. The government expelled German Nationals and Sudeten Nazis from local government positions. The Sudeten German population

1785-645: The Egerland to the Braunau region along the border with the German Empire. In South Bohemia the administrative unit of Böhmerwaldgau emerged, which was to be part of Upper Austria . German Bohemia in the Eagle Mountains and in the area of Landskron merged with the so-called "Province of the Sudetenland", which had radically different borders than the later understanding of the term. The Bohemian district of Neubistritz

1890-892: The German Christian Social People's Party ( Deutsche Christlich-Soziale Volkspartei ) and Gustav Hacker of the Farmers' Association ( Bund der Landwirte , formed the Jungaktivisten (Young Activists). They sought agreement with the Czechoslovak government on a policy that could withstand the Nazi onslaught from within and from outside Czechoslovakia. At simultaneous mass rallies in Tetschen-Bodenbach/Děčín , Saaz/Žatec and Olešnice v Orlických horách/Gießhübl im Adlergebirge on April 26, 1936, they demanded equal opportunities in civil service for Germans, financial assistance for German businesses, official acceptance of

1995-524: The German language for public servants in the Sudetenland and measures to reduce unemployment in the Sudetenland. (At the time, one in three was unemployed in the Sudetenland, compared to one in five in the rest of the country.) Improving the quality of life of the Sudeten Germans was not the only motivation of the Jungaktivists. For Jaksch and his social democratic compatriots, it was a question of survival after

2100-721: The Gross-Rosen concentration camp , intended for Jews, located in the present Gaj and Książ districts, and a Nazi prison. It was conquered by the Soviet Red Army on 8 May 1945 – coincidentally, the day World War II in Europe ended . After World War II , Waldenburg became again part of Poland under border changes demanded by the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference and was renamed to its historic Polish name Wałbrzych. Many of

2205-667: The Habsburg monarchy . With the rise of the Habsburgs in Bohemia after the 1620 Battle of White Mountain , the old Bohemian nobility became virtually meaningless. Increasingly, the Bohemian crown lands were ruled from the Austrian capital, Vienna , which favoured the dominance of the German language and German culture . On the other hand, the 18th-century Silesian Wars started by Prussian King Frederick II of Prussia against Austria resulted in

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2310-751: The Hussite Wars , the occupation of Bohemia by the Czech Brethren , the Thirty Years' War , when the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were severely affected, which caused the immigration of further German settlers. After the death of King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia in the 1526 Battle of Mohács , the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand of Austria became King of Bohemia, which became a constituent state of

2415-722: The Přemyslid rulers promoted the colonisation of certain areas of their lands by German settlers from the adjacent lands of Bavaria , Franconia , Upper Saxony and Austria during the Ostsiedlung migration. In 1348, the Luxembourg king Charles I , also King of the Romans and Holy Roman Emperor (as Charles IV) from 1355, founded the Charles University in Prague ( Alma Mater Carolina ),

2520-503: The Silesian Przesieka . In April 2022, a coin hoard was discovered near Wałbrzych dating from the first half of the 13th century. According to 17th-century Polish historian Ephraim Naso, Wałbrzych was a small village by 1191. This assertion was rejected by 19th-century German sources and by German historian Hugo Weczerka, who says the city was founded between 1290 and 1293, and was mentioned as Waldenberc in 1305. He places

2625-627: The Sudeten Mountains , which form the northern border of the Bohemian lands . As these terms were heavily used by the Nazi German regime to push forward the creation of a Greater Germanic Reich , many contemporary Germans avoid them in favour of the traditional names. There have been ethnic Germans living in the Bohemian crown lands since the Middle Ages . In the late 12th and in the 13th century

2730-466: The Škoda Works ; near Pilsen , they had been Czechoslovakia's primary armaments factory. As a result, Bohemia and Moravia lost about 38 percent of their combined area, and 3.65 million inhabitants (2.82 million Germans and approximately 513,000 – 750,000 Czechs to Germany). Some 250,000 Germans remained on the Czech side of the border, which later became part of the Reich by the establishment of

2835-466: The 10th century and during the fragmentation of the realm , it was part of various Polish-ruled duchies, the last of which was the Duchy of Świdnica until 1392, later it was also part of the Bohemian Crown and Hungary . The settlement was first mentioned as a town in 1426, but it did not receive the rights to hold markets or other privileges due to the competition of nearby towns and the insignificance of

2940-557: The 1990s, because of new social and economic conditions, a decision was made to close down the town's coal mines. In 1995, a Museum of Industry and Technology was set up on the facilities of the oldest coal mine in the area, KWK THOREZ. The 2005 the film The Collector was filmed in and around Wałbrzych. Wałbrzych is located in the Central Sudeten Mountains , near the border with the Czech Republic and Germany. The city

3045-482: The Bavarian frontier to the poor agricultural areas of southern Bohemia . Moravia contained many patches of ethnic German settlement in the north and the south. Most typical in those areas were German "language islands", towns inhabited by German speakers but surrounded by rural Czechs. Extreme German nationalism was never prevalent in those areas. German nationalism in the coal-mining region of southern Silesia , which

3150-411: The Czech government and Czechs of atrocities on innocent Germans. The Czechoslovak public started to prepare for an inevitable war, such as by training with gas masks. On 20 May, Czechoslovakia initiated a so-called "partial mobilization" (literally "special military precaution") in response to rumours of German troop movements. The army moved into position on the border. Western powers tried to calm down

3255-420: The Czech military, which started on 31 October 1918 and was completed on 28 January 1919. Fighting took place sporadically, resulting in the deaths of a few dozen Germans and Czechs. On 4 March 1919, almost the entire ethnic German population peacefully demonstrated for its right to self-determination. The demonstrations were accompanied by a one-day general strike. The German Social Democratic Workers Party in

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3360-636: The Czechoslovak Chamber of Deputies between 1920 and 1935. Konrad Henlein met with Hitler in Berlin on 28 March 1938 and was told to raise demands that would be unacceptable to the Czechoslovak government. In the Carlsbad Decrees, issued on 24 April at the Carlsbad convention, the SdP demanded complete autonomy for the Sudetenland and freedom to profess Nazi ideology. If Henlein's demands had been granted,

3465-556: The Czechoslovak Republic , then the largest party, was responsible for the demonstration initiative, but it was also supported by other bourgeois German parties. The mass demonstrations were put down by the Czech military, involving 54 deaths and 84 wounded. American diplomat Archibald Coolidge insisted on respecting the Germans' right to self-determination and uniting all German-speaking areas with either Germany or Austria, with

3570-533: The Czechoslovak Republic was proclaimed on 28 October 1918, the German Bohemians, claiming the right to self-determination according to the tenth of US President Woodrow Wilson ’s Fourteen Points , demanded that their homeland areas remain with Austria, which by then had been reduced to the Republic of German Austria . The German Bohemians relied mostly on peaceful opposition to the occupation of their homeland by

3675-486: The Czechoslovak State, whether he was speaking sincerely or not, he was expressing the wishes of a very considerable proportion of his followers". According to Ralf Gebel, "the majority had voted for a party that united the Sudeten Germans and aimed to improve their position within the Czechoslovak Republic — no more and no less". Johann Wolfgang Brügel also highlights that although Henlein became "Hitler's paladin",

3780-669: The Czechoslovak government, including the installation of exclusively Sudeten German officials in Sudeten German areas and the possible participation of the SdP in the cabinet, were rejected. Nevertheless, the party campaigned on autonomy for the Sudetenland and pledged allegiance to the Czechoslovak stance; a majority of SdP voters supported regional autonomy and did not desire to join the German state. Elizabeth Wiskemann remarked that "when Henlein repeated to his English friends in London as late as May 1938 that he still wished for autonomy within

3885-764: The Czechoslovak parliament. In 1926, however, German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann , adopting a policy of rapprochement with the West, advised the Sudeten Germans to co-operate actively with the Czechoslovak government. In consequence, most Sudeten German parties (including the German Agrarian Party, the German Social Democratic Party and the German Christian Socialist People's Party) changed their policy from negativism to activism, and several Sudeten politicians even accepted cabinet posts. At

3990-513: The Czechs wide-ranging autonomy within Imperial and Royal Austria. Also, Austria was no longer considered to be a major power by the victors of the war. On 14 October, Raphael Pacher succeeded, together with the social democrat, Josef Seliger, in uniting all German parties and members of parliament in Bohemia and Moravia into a coalition. In preparation for the foundation of the Republic of German Bohemia,

4095-664: The East"). The name "Sudeten Germans" was adopted during rising nationalism after the fall of Austria-Hungary after the First World War . After the Munich Agreement , the so-called Sudetenland became part of Germany . After the Second World War , most of the German-speaking population (mostly Roman Catholic with relatively few Protestants) was expelled from Czechoslovakia to Germany and Austria. The area that became known as

4200-663: The German National Party, supported by the propertied classes, and the German National Socialist Workers' Party , remained opposed to the Czechoslovak government. Nationalist sentiment flourished, however, among Sudeten German youths, who had a variety of organizations, such as the older Deutsche Turnverband and Schutzvereine , the Kameradschaftsbund , the Nazi Volkssport (1929) and

4305-418: The German government and the underground Nazi movement. In 1935, the Sudeten German Home Front became the Sudeten German Party ( Sudetendeutsche Partei ) (SdP) and embarked on an active propaganda campaign. In the May election, the SdP won more than 60% of the Sudeten German vote. The German Agrarians, Christian Socialists and Social Democrats each lost approximately half of their followers. The SdP became

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4410-402: The German spoken and written language and the local German-Silesian dialect became moribound . The city was relatively unscathed by the Second World War, and as a result of combining the nearby administrative districts with the town and the construction of new housing estates, Wałbrzych expanded geographically. From 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of Wałbrzych Voivodeship . At the beginning of

4515-468: The Germans living in the city fled or were expelled in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement . The town was repopulated by Poles expelled from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union , particularly from Borysław , Drohobycz and Stanisławów , as well as Poles returning from France and Belgium and from forced labour in Germany. Wałbrzych was one of the few areas where a number of Germans were held back as they were deemed indispensable for

4620-421: The Germans operated three forced labour camps for Allied prisoners of war in the city. In 1939 the city had about 65,000 inhabitants. During World War II , the Germans established and operated labour units for Italians from the Stalag VIII-A prisoner-of-war camp , a forced labour subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp, a forced labour camp for Jewish men and women, two subcamps of

4725-490: The Germans. However, Masaryk still tried to win the Germans for the new state by referring to economic advantages and by referring to their common Austrian past. Sudeten representatives tried to join Austria or Germany or at least to obtain as much autonomy. The constitution of 1920 was drafted without Sudeten German representation, and Sudetens declined to participate in the election of the president. Sudeten political parties pursued an "obstructionist" (or negativist) policy in

4830-417: The Land Reform in the middle of German populations; for the children of these Czech invaders Czech schools were built on a large scale; there is a very general belief that Czech firms were favoured as against German firms in the allocation of State contracts and that the State provided work and relief for Czechs more readily than for Germans. I believe these complaints to be in the main justified. Even as late as

4935-516: The SdP leader, arguing that his call for Sudeten Anschluss goes against the wish of his voters and supporters: "His present call to irredentism saddles the Sudeten Germans with all the consequences of treason to the State; for such a challenge the electors gave him neither their votes nor their mandate". On 22 March, the German Agrarian Party, led by Gustav Hacker , merged with the SdP. German Christian Socialists in Czechoslovakia suspended their activities on 24 March; their deputies and senators entered

5040-465: The SdP of 1935 represented a "conglomerate of practically all [political] colourings", and the opinion of the general Sudeten German population only supported autonomy within Czechoslovakia. On 13 March 1938, the Third Reich annexed Austria during the Anschluss . Sudeten Germans reacted with fear to the news of Austrian annexation, and the moderate wing of SdP grew in strength. Hitherto pro-Henlein German newspaper Bohemia (newspaper) denounced

5145-490: The SdP parliamentary club. However, the majority of Sudeten Germans did not support annexation into Germany. Contemporary reports of The Times found that there was a "large number of Sudetenlanders who actively opposed annexation", and that the pro-German policy was challenged by the moderates within the SdP as well; according to Wickham Steed , over 50 % of Henleinists favoured greater autonomy within Czechoslovakia over joining Germany. P. E. Caquet argues that in case of

5250-399: The Sudetenland possessed chemical works and lignite mines as well as textile, china, and glass factories. The Bohemian border with Bavaria was inhabited primarily by Germans. The Upper Palatine Forest , which extends along the Bavarian frontier and into the agricultural areas of southern Bohemia , was an area of German settlement. Moravia contained patches of "locked" German territory to

5355-408: The Sudetenland would have been in a position to align itself with Nazi Germany. As the political situation worsened, the security in Sudetenland deteriorated. The region became the site of small-scale clashes between young SdP followers, equipped with arms smuggled from Germany, and police and border forces. In some places, the regular army was called in to pacify the situation. Nazi propaganda accused

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5460-414: The abbey's manors . In 1348, it received privileges by King Charles IV similar to royal towns. From 1357 to 1380, the town walls were built. The Broumov Monastery remained strongly tied to Břevnov Monastery, from where the monks fled during the Hussite Wars in 1420 to Broumov. The town was besieged by Hussites , but never conquered. However, it suffered losses and had to invest heavily in strengthening

5565-409: The broad definition of Bohemia, which includes all of the three Bohemian crown lands: Bohemia , Moravia and (Austrian) Silesia . In the German language, it is more common to distinguish among the three lands, hence the prominent terms Deutschböhmen (German Bohemians), Deutschmährer (German Moravians) and Deutschschlesier (German Silesians). Even in German the broader use of "Bohemian"

5670-487: The centre of German nationalist forces. The party represented itself as striving for a just settlement of Sudeten German claims within the framework of Czechoslovak democracy. Henlein, however, maintained secret contact with Nazi Germany and received material aid from Berlin , which told him to refuse every concession offered by Czechoslovakia. The SdP endorsed the idea of a Führer and mimicked Nazi methods with banners, slogans and uniformed troops. Concessions offered by

5775-423: The circumstances. Britain and France then pressured the Czechoslovak government into ceding the Sudetenland to Germany on 21 September. The Munich Agreement , signed September 29 by Britain, France, Germany and Italy and negotiated without Czechoslovak participation, only confirmed that decision and the negotiated details. Czechoslovakia ceded a German-defined maximalist extension of Sudetenland to Germany, including

5880-503: The city Members of Parliament ( Sejm ) elected from Wałbrzych constituency: There are many semi-professional or amateur football clubs (like Czarni Wałbrzych , Juventur Wałbrzych , Podgórze Wałbrzych , Gwarek Wałbrzych and one basketball club (KS Dark Dog plays in the Polish 3rd league). Wałbrzych is twinned with: Bibliography Sudeten Germans German Bohemians ( German : Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer [ˈdɔʏtʃˌbøːmən] ; Czech : čeští Němci

5985-405: The city near Nowy Dwór (German: Neuhaus ), built by Bolko I the Strict of the Silesian Piasts . The city website, however, cites the building of the castle as a separate event in 1290. A part of Nowy Dwór castle, a manor built in the 17th century, was destroyed in the 19th century. Nevertheless, the region became part of Poland after the establishment of the state under the Piast dynasty in

6090-506: The city, and in the main city park ( King Jan III Sobieski Park) is the only mountain shelter in Poland, located in the city center PTTK Harcówka. Protected areas in Wałbrzych There are several natural monuments in the city; among them is the coat of arms oak, a descendant of the oak which was the inspiration for the coat of arms of the city, as evidenced by a nearby stone with the inscription " Stadteiche gapflanzt 1933 antstelle der Wappeneiche " ('City oak planted in 1933 in place of

6195-475: The city: Wałbrzych Miasto, Wałbrzych Fabryczny, Wałbrzych Szczawienko, Wałbrzych Centrum , and Wałbrzych Główny , from which from May to the end of September, the starting station for weekend holiday connections to Meziměstí / Adršpach-Teplice Rocks . The nearest airport is Wrocław airport located 70 km from the city, in the closer distance, about 10 km, is located light aircraft landing ground in Świebodzice . Including date of incorporation into

6300-473: The city; the name came to be used for the entire settlement. It first appeared in the 15th century. The modern Polish name Wałbrzych comes from the German name Walbrich , a late medieval variation of the older names Wallenberg or Walmberg . Polish sources indicate the city's predecessor, Lasogród, was an early medieval Slavic settlement whose inhabitants engaged in hunting, honey gathering, and later agriculture. Lasogród eventually developed into

6405-452: The coalition, chaired by Pacher, appointed a committee of twelve members. One day after the proclamation of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, on 29 October 1918, the Province of German Bohemia was formed with its capital in Reichenberg . Its first governor was Raphael Pacher, who transferred his office on 5 November to Rudolf Lodgman von Auen. The Province of German Bohemia comprised a contiguous region in North and West Bohemia stretching from

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6510-458: The coat of arms oak'). The mildest winter in the city was in 2006/2007 and 1992/1993 National roads [REDACTED] ( A4 autostrada / Bielany Wrocławskie-Świdnica-Wałbrzych-Golińsk- Czech border) Voivodeship roads [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] There are 14 bus lines in the city There are two main directions of passenger railways in the city, which include: There are railway stations throughout

6615-523: The diversity of Bohemia since he was a Prague-based German-speaking Jew, but his surname was of Czech origin. In 1867, the equality of Austrian citizens of all ethnicities was guaranteed by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , which enshrined the principles of constitutional monarchy . The agreement established the Dual Monarchy and gave the Hungarians sovereignty over their own affairs. The preservation of German cultural dominance throughout Cisleithania had proved to be difficult and now seemed to be

6720-456: The economy and politics of the Bohemian lands. For example, forest glass production was a common industry for German Bohemians. Though they were living beyond the medieval Kingdom of Germany , an independent German Bohemian awareness, however, was not widespread, and for a long time, it played no decisive role in everyday life. Individuals were usually seen as Bohemians, Moravians or Silesians. Defining events later in German Bohemian history were

6825-439: The economy, e.g. coal mining. Also Greeks , refugees of the Greek Civil War , settled in Wałbrzych in the 1950s. After the Treaty of Zgorzelec , remaining Germans were treated less harshly and an ethnic German society was established in 1957. The cultural activities however disappeared by the 1960s and the schools with German as the language of instruction gradually closed. The remaining German-speakers had little contact with

6930-406: The exception of northern Bohemia. However, the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , on 10 September 1919, made it clear that German Bohemia would not become part of the new Austrian Republic . Instead, it would become part of Czechoslovakia . The new state regarded ethnic Germans as an ethnic minority . Nevertheless, some 90 percent lived in territories in which they represented 90 percent or more of

7035-441: The first German political party became part of the government ( German Christian Social People's Party and Farmers' League ). German nationalist sentiment ran high during the early years of the republic. On the other hand, in his very first message as Czechoslovak president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk had stressed that Bohemian Germans were to be seen as "emigrants" and "colonists". The new state hence started with marginalization of

7140-592: The first in Central Europe , attended by large German student nations , and its language of education was Latin . Czechs made up about 20 percent of the students at the time of its founding, and the rest was primarily German. A culturally-significant example of German Bohemian prose from the Middle Ages is the story Der Ackermann aus Böhmen ("The Ploughman from Bohemia"), written in Early New High German by Johannes von Tepl (c. 1350 – 1414) in Žatec ( Saaz ), who probably had studied liberal arts in Prague. For centuries, German Bohemians played important roles in

7245-505: The former Cisleithanian Imperial Council . In addition to the establishment of the state's governmental organisation, higher authorities were also created, such as the Finance Ministry, the Department of Agriculture and the Higher Regional Court of Reichenberg as well as a general post office and railway administration. For geographical reasons, however, a territorial solution would have been impossible unless those regions, together with Austria, had been incorporated into Germany . After

7350-403: The foundation for the textile industry in the region. Many fires broke out and destroyed the original buildings except for the Church of the Virgin Mary and damaged the local castle. In 1305 and following years, the castle was largely rebuilt and extended by one of the abbots into a fortified monastery complex with an abbey and Church of Saint Adalbert. The town became the administrative centre of

7455-425: The highly industrialised settlement areas of three million Germans would now be separated from Austria and come under Czech control. The Austrian head of government, Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg , wanted to divide Bohemia by setting up administrative counties ( Verwaltungskreise ), which would be based on the nationalities of the population. On 26 September 1918, his successor, Max Hussarek von Heinlein , offered

7560-535: The lands. The wooden Church of the Virgin Mary already stood here. Broumov was probably founded in 1255. Broumov was first mentioned in 1256 and already referred to as a market village. It was a centre of trade, crafts and administration of the abbatial estates. In 1275, the drapers in Broumov received from King Ottokar II the privilege of producing and selling cloth , and the production soon began to be exported. This laid

7665-510: The last are from 1839 and 1994. In the historic centre there are many valuable burghers' houses, originally in the Gothic style and rebuilt in 16th, 18th and 19th centuries. The Benedictine Monastery of Saint Wenceslaus from the early 14th century was rebuilt in Baroque style to plans by Christoph Dientzenhofer , continued by his son, Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer in 1728–1738. Today the monastery houses

7770-631: The local landlords. Subsequently, the city became the property of the Silesian knightly families, initially the Schaffgotsches in 1372, later the Czettritzes, and from 1738, the Hochberg family, owners of Książ Castle . Coal mining in the area was first mentioned in 1536. The settlement was transformed into an industrial centre at the turn of the 19th century, when coal mining and weaving flourished. As

7875-518: The loss of the traditionally-Bohemian crown land and weakened Germans in the remaining parts of Bohemia. As the 19th century arrived, resistance to the German domination began to develop among the Czechs. After the revolutions of 1848 and the rise of ethnic nationalism , nervousness about ethnic tensions in Austria-Hungary resulted in a prevailing equality between Czechs and German Bohemians. Each ethnicity tried to retain, in regions in which it

7980-472: The model of Switzerland; Henlein promoted a separate Sudeten German identity, using the term sudetendeutscher Stamm (Sudeten German tribe). Before 1937, Henlein was critical of Adolf Hitler and advocated for the ideas of liberalism and individualism. However, Henlein's movement was growing increasingly divided and his own position soon became precarious. Henlein suffered a severe blow to his reputation as well as political influence when his mentor, Heinz Rutha ,

8085-659: The new state of Czechoslovakia according to the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain . After the Munich Agreement , Broumov was occupied by Nazi Germany in October 1938 and incorporated into Reichsgau Sudetenland . Pursuant to the Beneš decrees , the German-speaking population was expelled , including the monastery's monks, who re-established the Braunau in Rohr Abbey in Bavaria . The Broumov Monastery

8190-660: The newly established Austro-Prussian border. The wars stopped most of the cloth manufactury. With Bohemia, the town became part of the Austrian Empire in 1804 and Austria-Hungary in 1867. From 1868 it was the administrative seat of Braunau District, one of 94 districts in the Austrian Kingdom of Bohemia . After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, more than 400 citizens emigrated to Latin America, especially to Chile, where

8295-430: The north and south. More characteristic were the German language islands , which were towns inhabited by German minorities and surrounded by Czechs. Sudeten Germans were mostly Roman Catholics , a legacy of centuries of Austrian Habsburg rule. Not all ethnic Germans lived in isolated and well-defined areas; for historical reasons, Czechs and Germans mixed in many places, and Czech-German bilingualism and code-switching

8400-678: The north. It lies in the Broumov Highlands . The highest point is the hill Bobří vrch at 740 m (2,430 ft) above sea level. The Ścinawka River flows through the town. The territory lies entirely in the Broumovsko Protected Landscape Area . In 1213, King Ottokar I had granted the remote area around today's Broumov and Police nad Metují to the Benedictine monks of Břevnov Monastery in Prague , who began to colonize

8505-487: The population of the whole country and about 29.5% of the population of Bohemia and Moravia. Ethnic Germans migrated into the Kingdom of Bohemia , an electoral territory of the Holy Roman Empire , from the 11th century, mostly in the border regions of what was later called the " Sudetenland ", which was named after the Sudeten Mountains . The process of German expansion was known as Ostsiedlung ("Settling of

8610-402: The population of the whole republic (13.6 million). The Sudetenland possessed huge chemical works and lignite mines as well as textile, china, and glass factories. To the west, a triangle of historic ethnic German settlement surrounding Eger was the most active area for pan-German nationalism. The Upper Palatinate Forest , an area that was primarily populated by Germans, extended along

8715-422: The population. In 1921, the population of multi-ethnic Czechoslovakia comprised 6.6 million Czechs, 3.2 million Germans, two million Slovaks , 0.7 million Hungarians , half a million Ruthenians (Rusyns), 300,000 Jews , and 100,000 Poles , as well as Gypsies , Croats and other ethnic groups. German-speakers represented a third of the population of the Bohemian lands and about 23.4 percent of

8820-418: The process, new constituency boundaries had to be drawn throughout the empire. Electoral officials were very careful to demarcate areas as clearly either German or Czech and to assure that there would be no conflict as to which ethnicity had a majority in any constituency. Nevertheless, that did not settle tensions among Czechs, who wanted to govern themselves from Prague. Archduke Franz Ferdinand came up with

8925-664: The proposal and called for a full division of the university. After long negotiations, it was divided into the German Charles-Ferdinand University and the Czech Charles-Ferdinand University. The Cisleithanian Imperial Council prepared an act of parliament, and the emperor granted royal assent on 28 February 1882. In 1907, the Cisleithanian Imperial Council was for the first time elected by universal male suffrage. As part of

9030-445: The regional museum. The monastery garden is also accessible. The Church of Saint Adalbert in the monastery complex dates from 1357 and was baroque rebuilt in 1684–1694. For its value, the monastery is protected as a national cultural monument . Besides the monastery church, there are four other significant churches in the town. The rarest is the wooden Church of the Virgin Mary, which is a national cultural monument. This cemetery church

9135-406: The remainder being in German. In 1864, some Germans suggested the creation of a separate Czech university. Czech professors rejected that because they did not wish to lose the continuity of university traditions. The Czechs, however, were still not satisfied with bilingual status and proposed creating two separate constituent colleges , one for the Germans and one for the Czechs. The Germans vetoed

9240-424: The search for an allegedly buried Nazi gold train , which however was not found. According to the city's official website, the earliest Polish name of the settlement was Lasogród ('forest castle'). The German name is also the exact translation of the original Polish ‘forest castle’ Waldenburg (also referred to the castle Nowy Dwór, translated into German as: Burg Neuhaus ), whose ruins stand south of

9345-548: The second-largest city in the voivodeship and the 33rd largest in the country. Wałbrzych was once a major coal mining and industrial center alongside most of Silesia . The city was left undamaged after World War II and possesses rich historical architecture; among the most recognizable landmarks is the Książ Castle , the largest castle of Lower Silesia and the third-largest in Poland. In 2015 Wałbrzych became widely known due to

9450-772: The situation and forced Czechoslovakia to comply with most of the Carlsbad Decrees. However the SdP, instructed to continue to push towards war, escalated the situation with more protests and violence. With the help of special Nazi forces, the Sudetendeutsche Freikorps (paramilitary groups trained in Germany by SS -instructors) took over some border areas and committed many crimes: they killed more than 110 Czechoslovaks (mostly soldiers and policemen) and kidnapped over 2,020 Czechoslovak citizens (including German antifascists), taking them to Nazi Germany . In August, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sent Lord Runciman ,

9555-485: The time of my Mission, I could find no readiness on the part of the Czechoslovak Government to remedy them on anything like an adequate scale... the feeling among the Sudeten Germans until about three or four years ago was one of hopelessness. But the rise of Nazi Germany gave them new hope. I regard their turning for help towards their kinsmen and their eventual desire to join the Reich as a natural development in

9660-462: The village of Nueva Braunau was established near Puerto Varas in 1875. During the first half of the 19th century, the built-up area of the town stretched outside the town walls. In the late 19th century, the industrialization started and new factories were established. Textile factories have become the mainstay of the economy. Upon World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, Broumov with its predominantly German population became part of

9765-407: The walls. During the 15th century, Broumov was affected by war conflicts over the Bohemian throne. In the 16th century, the cloth production flourished and until the Thirty Years' War , the town was known as one of the biggest Bohemian producers and exporters of this article. Thanks to the wealth, it was possible to carry out renaissance repairs and build stone houses after the great fire in 1549. It

9870-483: The war in 1918 brought about the partition of the multiethnic Austria-Hungary into its historical components, one of them, the Bohemian Kingdom , forming the west of the newly created Czechoslovakia. Czech politicians insisted on the traditional boundaries of the Bohemian Crown according to the principle of uti possidetis juris . The new Czech state would thus have defensible mountain boundaries with Germany, but

9975-581: Was 40.5% German, was restrained by fear of competition from industry in the Weimar Republic . Many Germans felt that the new constitution failed to fulfil what the Czechs had promised in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919) because there were too few minority rights. However, they gradually accepted remaining in Czechoslovakia and took part in the first elections in 1920. In 1926, the first Germans became minister ( Robert Mayr-Harting and Franz Spina ), and

10080-461: Was accused of homosexuality and committed suicide in prison. The radical wing of the party pressured Henlein to resign, and the Czechoslovak security forces increased their efforts to frustrate the movement's activities. Ronald Smelser noted that "backed to the wall, Henlein took what he thought to be the only step left to rescue his own position and the unity of his movement: he wrote a letter to Adolf Hitler." Henlein started secretly cooperating with

10185-544: Was finally abolished in 1950; after the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the premises were returned to the Benedictines. The tradition of the textile industry continues to this day. The main employers in the town are the textile company Veba and its subsidiary Vebatrade-Plus. Broumov is the starting point of the railway line Broumov– Starkoč via Náchod. Broumov has preserved historical centre similar to Silesian towns with

10290-463: Was founded at the latest in the early 13th century. It was rebuilt in 1450 or 1459 after it was burnt down by the Hussites, and repaired in 1779. It is one of the oldest wooden sacral buildings in central Europe. The church is exceptional not only for its age, but also for its construction technique. It does not contain any nails and is formed by half-timbered structure made of massive oak beams. It includes

10395-676: Was incorporated into Znaim and was supposed to be administered by Lower Austria. The judiciary for German Bohemia was based in Reichenberg, and Vienna was responsible for the other German regions. On 22 November 1918, the Province of German Bohemia proclaimed itself part of the state of German Austria . On the same day, the territory of German Austria was defined by the Act of the "Provisional National Assembly" ( Provisorische Nationalversammlung ), which included German Bohemian and German Moravian members of

10500-613: Was incorporated into the Habsburg monarchy in 1526. During the Thirty Years' War, the town was damaged and looted several times. Thanks to good work of abbots between 1663 and 1738, the town recovered and reached economic prosperity. Broumov again suffered in the Silesian Wars from 1740 onwards, when troops of the Prussian Army plundered it and upon the 1742 Treaty of Breslau , the adjacent lands of Silesia and Kłodzko were cut off by

10605-610: Was indignant, especially in nationalist strongholds like Egerland . On 1 October 1933, Konrad Henlein with his deputy, Karl Hermann Frank , aided by other members of the Kameradschaftsbund , a youth organization of mystical orientation, created a new political organisation. The Sudeten German Home Front ( Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront ) professed loyalty to Czechoslovakia but championed decentralization. It absorbed most former German Nationals and Sudeten Nazis. The Kameradschaftsbund under Henlein did not promote joining Germany, but campaigned for decentralised Czechoslovakia based on

10710-614: Was quite common. Nevertheless, during the second half of the 19th century, Czechs and Germans began to create separate cultural, educational, political and economic institutions, which kept both groups semi-isolated from each other, which continued until the end of the Second World War, when almost all the ethnic Germans were expelled. In the English language, ethnic Germans who originated in the Kingdom of Bohemia were traditionally referred to as "German Bohemians". This appellation utilizes

10815-418: Was the fate of Charles University , then called Charles-Ferdinand University. Its Czech students had become increasingly perturbed by the sole use of German for instruction. During the 1848 revolution , both Germans and Czechs fought to make Czech one of the university's official languages. They achieved that right, and the university became bilingual. By 1863, out of 187 lecture courses, 22 were held in Czech,

10920-602: Was the majority, sovereignty over its own affairs. Czechs and Germans generally maintained separate schools, churches and public institutions. Nevertheless, despite the separation, Germans often understood some Czech, and Czechs often spoke some German. Cities like Prague, however, saw more mixing between the ethnicities and also had large populations of Jews ; Germans living with Czechs fluently spoke Czech and code-switched between German and Czech when talking to Czechs and other Germans. Jews in Bohemia often spoke German and sometimes Yiddish . The famed writer Franz Kafka exemplifies

11025-409: Was utterly impossible. With the agreement, the desire for an autonomous Czech subdivision was mounting. Both German Bohemians and Czechs were hoping for a constitutional solution to the demands, but Czech nationalist views remained a constant part of the Bohemian political sphere. The Czechs had feared Germanization , but the Germans now worried about Czechization . A symbol of the rising tensions

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