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45-475: The villages of Chlum and Mlynářovice are administrative parts of Volary. Volary is located about 14 kilometres (9 mi) southwest of Prachatice and 43 km (27 mi) west of České Budějovice . It lies in the central part of the Bohemian Forest . The highest mountain in the municipal territory is Bobík at 1,266 m (4,154 ft) above sea level, located north of the town. Other high mountains in

90-563: A Vienna -based company called Vereinigte Textilwerke K. H. Barthel & Co. The prisoners also worked in factories operated by the companies Aloys Haase and J. A. Kluge und Etrich. By 18 March 1944 Gabersdorf had become a subcamp of Gross-Rosen. One subcamp of Gross-Rosen was the Brünnlitz labor camp , situated in the Czechoslovakian town of Brněnec , where Jews rescued by Oskar Schindler were interned. The Brieg subcamp, located near

135-590: A carved porch in a suspended gable and a gabled roof. There is also the Volary Museum in one of these timbered houses. The area is protected as a village monument reservation . On the special cemetery of victims of the death march there is the Memorial of Victims of the Death March. Volary is twinned with: Prachatice Prachatice ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈpraxacɪtsɛ] ; German : Prachatitz )

180-468: A new settlement was established near the old one at the end of the 13th century. In 1312, Prachatice was first referred to as a town. In 1323, King John of Bohemia confirmed to the town of Prachatice the right to use the trade route to Passau and to collect customs duties there. Prachatice was fully completed in the 3rd quarter of the 14th century. During the Hussite Wars in the 15th century, Prachatice

225-645: A spoonful of molasses . Sometimes "hard workers" called zulaga would be rewarded with a piece of blood sausage or raw horsemeat sausage, jam and margarine . Prisoners also received 1 cup of Knorr soup per week. During the Gross-Rosen initial period of operation as a formal subcamp of Sachsenhausen , the following two SS Lagerführer officers served as the camp commandants, the SS-Untersturmführer Anton Thumann , and SS-Untersturmführer Georg Güßregen . From May 1941 until liberation,

270-461: A supply route. The area was several times a place of battles and Volary was the target of attacks by troops of both sides. After the war, trading on the Golden Trail never returned to its previous level. In the 18th century, following the abolition of the salt trade, the Golden Trail sank into insignificance; this also led to the demise of Volary. It became a stagnant and insignificant settlement. In

315-493: A trace from targeted communities. Most died in the granite quarry. The brutal treatment of the political and Jewish prisoners was not only in the hands of guards and German criminal prisoners brought in by the SS , but to a lesser extent also fuelled by the German administration of the stone quarry responsible for starvation rations and denial of medical help. In 1942, for political prisoners,

360-406: Is a preserved element of stone town fortifications, which comes from the first half of the 15th century. The gate is from around 1527 and creates the entrance to the historic centre. Prachatice is twinned with: Gross-Rosen concentration camp Gross-Rosen was a network of Nazi concentration camps built and operated by Nazi Germany during World War II . The main camp was located in

405-540: Is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic . It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation . Prachatice is made up of the town parts of Prachatice I, Prachatice II and Staré Prachatice, and the villages of Kahov, Libínské Sedlo, Městská Lhotka, Oseky, Ostrov, Perlovice, Podolí, Stádla and Volovice. The name

450-515: Is derived from the old Slavic personal name Prachata. It meant "the village of Prachata's people". Prachatice is located about 34 kilometres (21 mi) west of České Budějovice . It lies in the Bohemian Forest Foothills . The highest point is the Libín mountain at 1,093 m (3,586 ft) above sea level. The stream of Živný potok flows through the town. The Blanice River flows along

495-459: Is formed by Velké Square and adjoining streets, and is delimited by the remains of the town walls. Due to the stagnation of economic life in the 17th and 18th centuries, Prachatice have many Renaissance buildings, some of then reconstructed in the Empire style . Since 1981, the historic core of the town has been protected as an urban monument reservation . One of the main landmarks of the town centre

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540-510: Is the Old Town Hall, a Renaissance building from 1570–1571. The New Town Hall was built in pseudo-Renaissance style in 1903. The Church of Saint James the Great near the square is the largest building in the historic centre. It is a late Gothic building first mentioned in 1359. Its final form was achieved by reconstructions between 1505 and 1513. Dolní Gate ("Lower Gate"; also called Písecká )

585-562: The Dachau concentration camp in so-called invalid transports. The largest population of inmates, however, were Jews , initially from the Dachau and Sachsenhausen camps, and later from Buchenwald . During the camp's existence, the Jewish inmate population came mainly from Poland and Hungary ; others were from Belgium , France , Netherlands , Greece , Yugoslavia , Slovakia , and Italy . Following

630-552: The German population was expelled due to the Beneš decrees . In 1961, the municipalities of Chlum and Mlynářovice were incorporated into Volary. The I/39 road from Český Krumlov to Vimperk runs through the town. Volary is located on the railway lines Číčenice – Haidmühle and Strakonice –Volary. The main landmark of the town is the Church of Saint Catherine. It was built in 1669–1690 on

675-578: The Pawiak prison in Warsaw ; others had been arrested within the territory controlled by the Reich or had been transported from Kraków and Radom . Brieg's camp kitchen was run by Czech prisoners. The three daily meals included 1 pint of mehlzupa (a soup made from water and meal ), 150 grams of bread, 1 quart of soup made with rutabaga , beets , cabbage , kale or sometimes nettles , 1 pint of black "coffee" and

720-640: The German village of Gross-Rosen, now the modern-day Rogoźnica in Lower Silesian Voivodeship , Poland, directly on the rail-line between the towns of Jawor (Jauer) and Strzegom (Striegau). Its prisoners were mostly Jews , Poles and Soviet citizens. At its peak activity in 1944, the Gross-Rosen complex had up to 100 subcamps located in eastern Germany and in German-occupied Czechoslovakia and Poland . The population of all Gross-Rosen camps at that time accounted for 11% of

765-460: The Gross-Rosen complex. Female SS staffed the women's subcamps of Brünnlitz , Graeben, Gruenberg , Gruschwitz Neusalz, Hundsfeld, Kratzau II , Oberaltstadt, Reichenbach , and Schlesiersee Schanzenbau. The Gabersdorf labour camp had been part of a network of forced labor camps for Jewish prisoners that had operated under Organization Schmelt since 1941. The spinning mill where the female Jewish prisoners worked had been " Aryanized " in 1939 by

810-569: The Hussite Wars, several Czech families settled here. From 1503, the Rosenberg family became the owners of the settlement, and in 1600, it was acquired by Emperor Rudolf II . After 1719, it became a property of the Schwarzenberg family , who owned it until the revolution in 1848. The Thirty Years' War led to the decline of the salt trade on the Golden Trail, instead it served the imperial army as

855-417: The annexed territories . Gross Rosen became an independent camp on 1 May 1941. As the complex grew, the majority of inmates were put to work in the new Nazi enterprises attached to these subcamps. In October 1941 the SS transferred about 3,000 Soviet POWs to Gross-Rosen for execution by shooting. Gross-Rosen was known for its brutal treatment of the so-called Nacht und Nebel prisoners vanishing without

900-559: The average survival time-span was less than two months. Due to a change of policy in August 1942, prisoners were likely to survive longer because they were needed as slave workers in German war industries. Among the companies that benefited from the slave labour of the concentration camp inmates were German electronics manufacturers such as Blaupunkt , Siemens , as well as Krupp , IG Farben , and Daimler-Benz , among others. Some prisoners who were not able to work but not yet dying were sent to

945-548: The beginning of the 18th century, the main source of income was the trade on the Golden Trail. Volary was the largest settlement of the carriers on the Czech part of the Prachatice Golden Trail and rapidly grew. They served as a place of rest and overnight stays for carriers, who imported salt and other goods on horses along an important medieval road from Passau to Prachatice . The shape of the square has also been adapted to

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990-540: The control of the affluent Schwarzenberg family . The weak political and economic situation affected the condition of the houses. Old ones were not reconstructed, and new ones were not built. Until 1918, the town was part of Austria-Hungary , in the district of the same name, one of the 94 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in Bohemia . After 1945, the German population was expelled as a result of World War II. There are no large industrial companies. The largest employer based in

1035-632: The course of over 800 kilometres (500 mi) and 106 days and nights. On 20 January 1945, around 1,000 female Jewish prisoners were evacuated from a subcamp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Sława in western Poland. The women and girls had been sent there from Auschwitz-Birkenau a few months earlier, in order to dig anti-tank trenches to slow the Red Army's advance. More than a thousand others had to march southwest toward Germany. As they passed more camps, such

1080-538: The emperor's troops remained in the town throughout the remainder of the Thirty Years' War . Later in the war, the town was conquered by the Swedish army , and another large ransom was demanded. In the second half of the 17th century, trade on the Golden Trail declined and never revived. The town and the whole Krumlov manor changed hands again in 1719, following the death of Princess Marie Arnoštka of Eggenberg and came under

1125-402: The following officials served as commandants of a fully independent concentration camp at Gross-Rosen: On 12 August 1948, the trial of three Gross Rosen camp officials, Johannes Hassebroek, Helmut Eschner and Eduard Drazdauskas, began before a Soviet Military Court. On 7 October 1948, all were found guilty of war crimes. Eschner and Drazdauskas were sentenced to life imprisonment and Hassebroek

1170-495: The late 19th century the market town of Volary consisted of 224 houses with 2,069 German speaking inhabitants. Under the patronage of the authorities, the parish Church of Saint Catherine and the school were built and maintained. There was also in a public chapel of St. Florian and a town hall. The main sources of income were agriculture, cattle breeding and cattle fattening, linen weaving and the production of yarns. Every year Volary sold about 400 steers to Prague. The deposited borough

1215-483: The northwestern municipal border. Prachatice was founded with the beginning of trade on the Golden Trail, an important salt trade route beginning in Passau , Bavaria . Probably in the 9th or 10th century, a settlement was founded in the area of today's Staré Prachatice ("Old Prachatice") town part. In the second half of the 12th century, it was acquired by Vyšehrad Chapter . When the settlement ceased to suit its purpose,

1260-707: The one at Zielona Góra , more women had to join the death march. After the addition of about 300 inmates from Zielona Góra, on 29 January 1945 approximately 1,350 women set off for a 106-day-long march. By 6 March 1945, the 1,350 women had been reduced to 621. The remaining prisoners arrived at the Helmbrechts camp in Germany. The women received almost no food, and no medical treatment. The women were forced onwards, until those who were still standing made it to Volary in Czechoslovakia on 5 May 1945. There, American forces liberated

1305-537: The population of the Gross-Rosen camps accounted for 11% of the total inmates in Nazi concentration camps at that time. A total of 125,000 inmates of various nationalities passed through the complex during its existence, of whom an estimated 40,000 died on site, on death marches and in evacuation transports. The camp was liberated on 14 February 1945 by the Red Army . A total of over 500 female camp guards were trained and served in

1350-446: The reconstruction after the fire of 1863, the typical Volary houses were not built entirely of wood, but partly with walls of stone and brick. Between 1856 and 1882, Volary was hit by the biggest series of fires. In 1871, Volary was promoted by to a town Emperor Franz Joseph I and its coat of arms was confirmed. From 1938 to 1945, the town was occupied by Germany . The "Volary Death March " involved more than 1,300 Jewish women over

1395-523: The route of the trail. In the 16th century, during the heyday of the trail, there were 13 pubs and four blacksmiths in Volary. In 1596, Peter Vok of Rosenberg extended the Volary privileges for the right to seize horses and charge of merchants who deviated from the prescribed direction of the trail and avoided Volary. Until the Hussite Wars , Volary was among the possessions of the Vyšehrad Chapter . After

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1440-512: The site of a late Gothic church. From the previous church remained a small portal under the tower. During the 18th century, the church was repeatedly severely damaged by fires caused by lightning strikes. Today's appearance of the building is a result of the reconstructions in 1757 and 1863. The most valuable buildings of the town include preserved unique old wooden houses of the Alpine style. They are timbered or half-timbered houses with an attic room,

1485-466: The territory include Jedlová at 1,089 m (3,573 ft), Křemenná at 1,085 m (3,560 ft), Doupná hora at 1,052 m (3,451 ft), Větrný at 1,051 m (3,448 ft), Mechový vrch at 1,012 m (3,320 ft) and Na Skále at 1,011 m (3,317 ft). The town is crossed by the creek of Volarský potok. It flows into the Teplá Vltava , which runs along the southwestern border of

1530-517: The territory. The Blanice River flows along the eastern municipal border. The first mention of Volary is from 1359 when the Prachatice councillor Ondřej from Volary (in Latin Andreas de Wallerii ) was listed. The foundation of Volary was connected with the overall colonization of Bohemian Forest in the 13th and 14th centuries. The inhabitants were predominantly ethnic Germans from Bavaria . Until

1575-590: The total number of inmates incarcerated in the Nazi concentration camp system. KZ Gross-Rosen was set up in the summer of 1940 as a satellite camp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp from Oranienburg. Initially, the slave labour was carried out in a huge stone quarry owned by the SS-Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke GmbH (SS German Earth and Stone Works). In the fall of 1940 the use of labour in Upper Silesia

1620-409: The town almost immediately after the execution, but it again became property of the family in 1501. In the second half of the 15th century, the number of inhabitants increased, and new houses had to be built. In the 16th century, trade on the trail reached its peak and the town prospered. The Rosenbergs controlled Prachatice until 1601 when Peter Vok of Rosenberg , the last member of the family, sold

1665-477: The town is the hospital. The largest industrial employers are the companies of InTiCa Systems (manufacturer of electronic components) and Reinfurt-ČR (manufacturer of ball bearings ), both with more than 250 employees. Prachatice is located on the railway line Číčenice – Nové Údolí . The town hosts the Golden Salt Path Celebrations every year with a rich cultural program. The historic centre

1710-617: The town to Emperor Rudolf II who would again make it a royal town in 1609. It remained firmly under royal control until the Bohemian Revolt during which it sided with the rebels. However, in 1620, the town was reconquered and connected to the Krumlov manor. After the Battle of White Mountain , Prachatice lost its royal town status and privileges and became the property of the Eggenberg family though

1755-561: The unsuccessful Polish Warsaw Uprising of 1944, the Germans deported 3,000 Poles from the Dulag 121 camp in Pruszków , where they were initially imprisoned, to Gross-Rosen. Those Poles were mainly people of 20 to 40 years of age. At its peak activity in 1944, the Gross-Rosen complex had up to 100 subcamps , located in eastern Germany and German-occupied Czechoslovakia and Poland. In its final stage,

1800-528: The village of Pampitz , had originally been the location of a Jewish forced labor camp until August 1944, when the Jewish prisoners were replaced by the first transport of prisoners from the Gross-Rosen main camp. The camp was mostly staffed by soldiers from the Luftwaffe and a few SS members. Most of the prisoners were Polish, with smaller numbers of Russian and Czech prisoners. Most of the Poles had been evacuated from

1845-491: The women. Of the 1,350 forced on the death march, only 118 were still living. Those who were alive were in terrible condition; although the Americans took them to an improvised hospital, twenty-six died within days. 17 victims of the death march were buried in a mass grave near Volary, another eight women died in a nearby military hospital. Following the end of World War II, the town was returned to Czechoslovakia. As of March 1946,

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1890-544: Was attacked twice, It was eventually conquered by the Hussites , who killed most of the population. In 1436, after the end of the conflict, Prachatice was granted the status of royal town by King Sigismund , and all its old privileges were confirmed. Only one year later, the town was offered as collateral to Jan Smil of Krems , but it fell under the control of the Rosenberg family for a short period following Smil's execution in 1439 at Český Krumlov . Oldřich II of Rosenberg sold

1935-460: Was sentenced to death, but this was later commuted also to life imprisonment. The most far-reaching expansion of the Gross-Rosen system of labour camps took place in 1944 due to accelerated demand for support behind the advancing front. The character and purpose of new camps shifted toward defense infrastructure. In some cities, as in Wrocław (Breslau) camps were established in every other district. It

1980-424: Was surrounded by agriculturally used meadows with numerous wooden houses, hay barns and traditional alpine architecture which gave the area along with the special construction of the houses an alpine character. The mostly wooden houses of Volary were built on flat land, close to each other, combined with large stones, gabled roofs and gabled fronts. In July 1863, a major fire destroyed over 60 houses buildings. During

2025-435: Was taken over by the new Organization Schmelt formed on the orders of Heinrich Himmler . It was named after its leader SS-Oberführer Albrecht Schmelt. The company was put in charge of employment from the camps with Jews intended to work for food only. The Gross-Rosen location close to occupied Poland was of considerable advantage. Prisoners were put to work in the construction of a system of subcamps for expellees from

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