Brumovice (german: Braunsdorf) is a municipality and village in Opava District in the Moravian-Silesian Region 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 1,500 inhabitants.

Administrative parts

Villages of Kolná, Pocheň, Pustý Mlýn, Skrochovice and Úblo are administrative parts of Brumovice.

Geography

Brumovice lies about northwest from

Opava Opava (; german: Troppau, pl, Opawa) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Opava (river), Opava. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia. It was a histori ...

. It is located on the border with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, the border is formed by the

River. The municipality lies mostly in the

Nízký Jeseník Nízký Jeseník (german: Niederes Gesenke, pl, Niski Jesionik) is a flat highland and geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located in the east of the country in the Olomouc and Moravian-Silesian regions. Nízký Jeseník is ...

mountain range, a small eastern part extends into the Opava Hilly Land.

History

The first written mention of Brumovice is from 1377. It became part of the Duchy of Krnov. Brumovice was severely damaged during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. In the 1670s,

Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, German people, people and German culture, culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationa ...

took place, but at the end of the century the village was still ethnically mixed. In the 18th century, during the rule of the

House of Liechtenstein The House of Liechtenstein, from which the principality takes its name, is the family which reigns by hereditary right over the principality of Liechtenstein. Only dynastic members of the family are eligible to inherit the throne. The dynasty's m ...

, Germanisation continued. The village of Skrochovice was the site of the first ''

Polenlager The ''Polenlager'' (, ''Polish Camps'') was a system of forced labor camps in Silesia that held Poles during the World War II Nazi German occupation of Poland. The prisoners, originally destined for deportation across the border to the new semi-c ...

'' camp. It was set up by Nazi Germany in the former sugar factory in August 1939 in anticipation of the imminent attack on Poland. The KT camp was staffed before the actual invasion, with guards recruited by the SS from Krnov and Opava. The camp, called ''KZ Skrochowitz'' was commanded by

Heinrich Jöckel Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...

from the SS. It was an old sugar refinery set up for Polish military prisoners and civilian hostages captured during the September campaign. The camp functioned until December 15, 1939, with some 700 prisoners of Polish nationality brought in from Cieszyn Silesia and Upper Silesia.

Notable people

* Libor Kozák (born 1989), footballer

References

External links

Skrochovice – the first Nazi camp in Czechoslovakia

Concentration camp, Skrochovice, district Opava
{{authority control Villages in Opava District