Brněnec (german: Brünnlitz) is a municipality and village in
Svitavy District
Svitavy District ( cs, okres Svitavy) is a district (''okres'') within Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. Its capital is the town of Svitavy. As a part of Pardubice Region the district has borders with Ústí nad Orlicí District to the nor ...
in the
Pardubice Region
Pardubice Region ( cs, Pardubický kraj; , ; pl, Kraj pardubicki) is an administrative unit ( cs, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located mainly in the eastern part of its historical region of Bohemia, with a small part in northwestern Moravia. It ...
of the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
. It has about 1,300 inhabitants.
Administrative parts
Villages of Chrastová Lhota, Moravská Chrastová and Podlesí are administrative parts of Brněnec.
Geography
Brněnec is located about south of
Svitavy
Svitavy (; german: Zwittau) is a town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. It is the birthplace of Oskar Schindler and the centre of the Czech Esperanto movement. The historic town centre is well preser ...
and north of
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
. It lies in the
Svitavy Uplands
The Svitavy Uplands or Svitavy Hills ( cs, Svitavská pahorkatina) are uplands and a geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located in the Pardubice Region and it belongs to the largest mesoregions in the country.
Geomorphology ...
. It is situated at the confluence of the
Svitava River and Chrastovský Stream, and the built-up area is located in the valleys of these two watercourses.
History
Next to an old trade route, the settlement of Moravská Chrastová was founded after 1200 by monks from a monastery in
Litomyšl
Litomyšl (; german: Leitomischl) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,900 inhabitants. It is former bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see. Litomyšl is known for the château-type castle c ...
. Moravská Chrastová was first mentioned in a document from 1323. The first written mention of Brněnec is to be found in the 1557 act of partition of the dominion of
Svojanov
Svojanov is a market town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 400 inhabitants.
Administrative parts
Villages of Dolní Lhota, Hutě, Předměstí, Starý Svojanov and Studenec are administrative parts o ...
. Until the 18th century it was a part of
Bělá nad Svitavou
Bělá nad Svitavou is a municipality and village in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 500 inhabitants.
Notable people
*Jakob Kolletschka
Jakob Kolletschka (24 July 1803, Biela (now Bělá nad Svitavo ...
.
With the construction of the railway from
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
to
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
(before 1850?), Brněnec received its own railway station on this main line. This encouraged numerous new industrial enterprises such as
textile
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
factories to develop around the dominant business of the Daubek mills.
Until 1918, Brněnec was part of the Austrian empire (Austria side after the
compromise of 1867
The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (german: Ausgleich, hu, Kiegyezés) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hungary ...
), in the
Polička
Polička (; german: Politschka) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,700 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone.
Administrat ...
District, one of the 94 ''Bezirkshauptmannschaften'' in Bohemia. A post-office was opened in 1869.
In 1930, the
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of Brněnec (including the then parts of Zářečí nad Svitavou, now part of the municipality of
Březová nad Svitavou
Březová nad Svitavou (until 1949 Březová; german: Brüsau) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,600 inhabitants.
Geography
Březová nad Svitavou lies on the stretch of the Svitava river ...
, and Podlesí counted 606 inhabitants, of whom 208 held German nationality. In 1939, as a result of German occupation and the ensuing retreat of Czech inhabitants, the total population had dropped to 490.
The municipality extended at that time only to the
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
n right bank of the river
Svitava. On the opposite
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
n bank was the independent municipality of Moravská Chrastová, which, together with its administrative parts of Chrastová Lhota and Půlpecen (now part of the municipality of
Chrastavec
Chrastavec is a municipality and village in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 200 inhabitants.
Chrastavec lies approximately south of Svitavy, south-east of Pardubice, and east of Prague
Prague ...
), had a total population in 1939 of 1,143 inhabitants and was therefore twice the size of Brněnec.
The town of Brněnec formed part of the administrative and judiciary region of
Politschka. After the annexation of the
Sudetenland
The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...
by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, it was integrated into the county of
Zwittau
Svitavy (; german: Zwittau) is a town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. It is the birthplace of Oskar Schindler and the centre of the Czech Esperanto movement. The historic town centre is well preser ...
.
The factory
![Schindlers factory Brnenec CZ 2004b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Schindlers_factory_Brnenec_CZ_2004b.JPG)
The Löw-Beer Jewish family founded a textile producing company in the 1810s, and in 1855 rebuilt an old paper mill in Brněnec into the textile factory. In 1938, it was taken over by Germans.
In 1944,
Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler (; 28 April 1908 – 9 October 1974) was a German industrialist, humanitarian and a member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and amm ...
relocated his
German Enamelware Factory and the associated prison camp of 1,200 Jewish forced labourers from
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
to a munitions factory acquired by him in Brněnec. The
Jewish workforce thus escaped transport to the
extermination camps
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
and was liberated along with the rest of the municipality on 10 May 1945 by the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
, after the factory had been fully operational for seven months. The
is currently engaged in turning the ruins of the factory into a museum.
Notable people
*
Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler (; 28 April 1908 – 9 October 1974) was a German industrialist, humanitarian and a member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and amm ...
(1908–1974), World War II-era industrialist who saved 1,200 Jewish lives
References
External links
*
Microregion Brněnec
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brnenec
Villages in Svitavy District