Chrastava
Encyclopedia
Chrastava (ˈxrastava; ) is a town
in northern Bohemia
in the Czech Republic
about 10 kilometre (6 mi) northwest of the regional capital Liberec
. The town is situated on the Jeřice
brook near to its confluence with the Lusatian Neisse
. Chrastava is surrounded by hills of the Ještěd Mountains
and more distant Jizera Mountains
.
The town of Chrastava was first mentioned in 1351 as Craczauia. It was founded very probably in the end of 13th century on the site of an older village of the West Slavic
Milceni
tribe by German settlers, having been invited by King Ottokar II
of Bohemia
. They came mainly from the city Pirna
in Saxony.
Chrastava, then known mostly by the German name Kratzau, was occupied by the Hussites who use the town as a base for expeditions into Lusatia
during the Hussite Wars
. Kratzau was governed by the Habsburg Monarchy
after Bohemia was inherited by the Austria
n Habsburg
s in 1526. It received town rights
in 1527.
The town became a mining centre in 15th and 16th century, in particularly in copper, tin, lead, zinc, iron and silver mining. Two small mining towns, Andělská Hora and Panenská Hůrka , were established by the miners more closely to the metal veins.
After the mines were abandoned, many of the people were forced to find a new kind of livelihood. Therefore they started to produce cloth on a loom in many houses in the town. During the 19th century the handicraft industry succumbed to mass production
by many textile manufactures that had been built in the town. During the second half of the 19th century Kratzau became famous also for its production of organs
and other musical instruments which were exported abroad (e.g. Gebrüder Riemer Kratzau company).
Kratzau became part of Czechoslovakia
after the collapse of Austria-Hungary
from World War I
and was officially renamed Chrastava. The town was almost entirely ethnic German
, however, and was ceded to Nazi Germany
along with the rest of the Sudetenland
after the Munich Agreement
in 1938.
During World War II
an ammunition
factory was founded in Chrastava which produced hand grenade
s and other military material for the armed forces
of Germany. A subcamp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp
was set up near the factory for Jewish women, who were exploited for forced labour.
After the violent deportation and expulsion of Germans after World War II
in 1945-1947, Chrastava was resettled mainly by Czechs, along with Slovaks
, Roma gipsies, and other nationalities.
Chrastava consists of four main town sections and two villages:
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in northern Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
about 10 kilometre (6 mi) northwest of the regional capital Liberec
Liberec
Liberec is a city in the Czech Republic. Located on the Lusatian Neisse and surrounded by the Jizera Mountains and Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge, it is the fifth-largest city in the Czech Republic....
. The town is situated on the Jeřice
Jeřice
Jeřice is a village and municipality in Jičín District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. -References:...
brook near to its confluence with the Lusatian Neisse
Lusatian Neisse
The Lusatian Neisse is a long river in Central Europe. The river has its source in the Jizera Mountains near Nová Ves nad Nisou, Czech Republic, reaching the tripoint with Poland and Germany at Zittau after , and later forms the Polish-German border on a length of...
. Chrastava is surrounded by hills of the Ještěd Mountains
Ješted
Ještěd is the highest mountain peak of the Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge near Liberec in the north of the Czech Republic. From the summit there are views into Germany and Poland...
and more distant Jizera Mountains
Jizera Mountains
Jizera Mountains , or Izera Mountains, are part of the Western Sudetes on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. The major part is formed from granite, with some areas formed from basalt. The mountains got their name from the Jizera River, which rises at the southern base of Smrk...
.
History of the town of Chrastava
West Slavs
The West Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking West Slavic languages. They include Poles , Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatian Sorbs and the historical Polabians. The northern or Lechitic group includes, along with Polish, the extinct Polabian and Pomeranian languages...
Milceni
Milceni
The Milceni or Milzeni were a West Slavic tribe, who settled in the present-day Upper Lusatia region. They were first mentioned in the middle of the 9th century AD by the Bavarian Geographer, who wrote of 30 civitates which possibly had fortifications. They were gradually conquered by Germans...
tribe by German settlers, having been invited by King Ottokar II
Ottokar II of Bohemia
Ottokar II , called The Iron and Golden King, was the King of Bohemia from 1253 until 1278. He was the Duke of Austria , Styria , Carinthia and Carniola also....
of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
. They came mainly from the city Pirna
Pirna
Pirna is a town in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 40,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as a Große Kreisstadt...
in Saxony.
Chrastava, then known mostly by the German name Kratzau, was occupied by the Hussites who use the town as a base for expeditions into Lusatia
Lusatia
Lusatia is a historical region in Central Europe. It stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the east to the Elbe valley in the west, today located within the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg as well as in the Lower Silesian and Lubusz voivodeships of western Poland...
during the Hussite Wars
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...
. Kratzau was governed by the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
after Bohemia was inherited by the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
s in 1526. It received town rights
German town law
German town law or German municipal concerns concerns town privileges used by many cities, towns, and villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.- Town law in Germany :...
in 1527.
The town became a mining centre in 15th and 16th century, in particularly in copper, tin, lead, zinc, iron and silver mining. Two small mining towns, Andělská Hora and Panenská Hůrka , were established by the miners more closely to the metal veins.
After the mines were abandoned, many of the people were forced to find a new kind of livelihood. Therefore they started to produce cloth on a loom in many houses in the town. During the 19th century the handicraft industry succumbed to mass production
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
by many textile manufactures that had been built in the town. During the second half of the 19th century Kratzau became famous also for its production of organs
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
and other musical instruments which were exported abroad (e.g. Gebrüder Riemer Kratzau company).
Kratzau became part of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
after the collapse of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and was officially renamed Chrastava. The town was almost entirely ethnic German
Ethnic German
Ethnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...
, however, and was ceded to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
along with the rest of the Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
after the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
in 1938.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
an ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
factory was founded in Chrastava which produced hand grenade
Hand grenade
A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...
s and other military material for the armed forces
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
of Germany. A subcamp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp
Gross-Rosen concentration camp
KL Gross-Rosen was a German concentration camp, located in Gross-Rosen, Lower Silesia . It was located directly on the rail line between Jauer and Striegau .-The camp:...
was set up near the factory for Jewish women, who were exploited for forced labour.
After the violent deportation and expulsion of Germans after World War II
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
in 1945-1947, Chrastava was resettled mainly by Czechs, along with Slovaks
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
, Roma gipsies, and other nationalities.
Historical population
| Year | Population | Czechs (%) | Germans (%) | Other (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1737 | 1,061 | - | - | - |
| 1860 | 2,960 | - | - | - |
| 1933 | 4,640 | 15 | 85 | - |
| 1945 | 7,056 | 4 | 75 | 21 |
| 1948 | 2,818 | 86 | 6 | 8 |
| 2001 | 5,944 | 93 | 1 | 6 |
Subdivisions
- Chrastava I (the central part of the town)
- Chrastava II
- Chrastava III (so-called Dolní Chrastava)
- Chrastava IV (so-called Horní Chrastava) includes also two hamlets:
- Vysoká
- Chrastavská Víska
- Andělská Hora
- Vítkov consists of two parts:
- Horní Vítkov
- Dolní Vítkov
Natives from Chrastava
- Joseph von FührichJoseph von FührichJoseph von Führich , Austrian painter, was born at Kratzau in Bohemia. Also known as Josef Ritter von Führich....
(1800-1876), painter - Theodor KörnerTheodor Körner----Theodor Körner, Edler von Siegringen served as the fifth President of Austria, between 1951 and 1957.- Life :...
(1873-1957), his family lived in Chrastava although he was born in KomárnoKomárnoKomárno is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. Komárno was formed from part of a historical town in Hungary situated on both banks of the Danube. Following World War I, the border of the newly created Czechoslovakia cut the historical, unified town in half,...
), President of AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
1951-1957 - Willi Sitte (1921), painter