Panenské Břežany (german: Jungfern-Breschan) is a municipality and village in

Prague-East District Prague-East District ( cs, okres Praha-východ) is a district ('' okres'') within the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Its administrative seat is in Prague. The most populated town of the district is Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Bolesla ...

in the

Central Bohemian Region The Central Bohemian Region ( cz, Středočeský kraj, german: Mittelböhmische Region) is an administrative unit ( cz, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in ...

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 600 inhabitants.

Geography

Panenské Břežany lies about north of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. The western part of the municipality is located in the

Prague Plateau The Prague Plateau ( cs, Pražská plošina) is a plateau and a geomorphological mesoregion of the Czech Republic. It is located in the area of Prague and in the Central Bohemian Region. Geomorphology The Prague Plateau is a mesoregion of the B ...

, the eastern part is located in the Central Elbe Table.

History

The settlement was first mentioned in 1233 as the possession of the Benedictine St. George's Convent at

Prague Castle Prague Castle ( cs, Pražský hrad; ) is a castle complex in Prague 1 Municipality within Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 9th century. It is the official office of the President of the Czech Republic. The castle was a seat of power for king ...

. The first mention of a keep in Panenské Břežany is from 1441. In the first half of the 18th century a Baroque palace was built, which came to be called the Horní Chateau ("Upper Chateau"). After the secularization of the monastery during reign of Emperor

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...

the manor fell to the Virgin Teinitz Religious foundation. Until 1828 the owners changed several times, then it was purchased by Matthias von Riese-Stallburg. Around 1840 he built the Dolní Chateau ("Lower Chateau"). His descendants lost the property in 1901 because of indebtedness to the Prague Credit Bank. In 1909 the property was bought by Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a financially strong Jewish buyer involved in the sugar industry. Following the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupation after 1939, the Jewish industrialist fled and the estate was confiscated. From 1939 to 1942 the Lower Chateau was the residence of the ''

Reichsprotektor This is a list of rulers of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, which from 15 March 1939 until 5 May 1945 comprised the German- occupied parts of Czechoslovakia. It includes both the representatives of the recognized Czech authorities as w ...

'' of

Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German occ ...

. In the chateau complex lived both Konstantin von Neurath and from 1941 his deputy (''Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor''), the SS-''

Obergruppenführer ' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inclu ...

, with their families. In May 1942, while driving from the mansion to his work in

, Heydrich died as a result of an assassination attempt. After Heydrich's death, his widow

Lina Lina (pronounced "Leena") is a feminine given name. Languages of origin include: English, Italian, Lithuanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Persian, Kurdish, Arabic. It is also the short form of a variety of names ending in -lina including Catalin ...

lived with the children at the chateau until 1945. Their ten-year-old son Klaus died in a car accident there in October 1943. The Horní Chateau was occupied by

Karl Hermann Frank Karl Hermann Frank (24 January 1898 – 22 May 1946) was a prominent Sudeten German Nazi official in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia prior to and during World War II. Attaining the rank of '' Obergruppenführer'', he was in command of th ...

during World War II. "In April 1943 Hitler finally decided that the future of the eydrichfamily must be safeguarded, and by a special Fuehrer-decret he ordered that Heydrich's "beloved schloss Jungfern-Breschan" with all its contents and lands should be handed over to his widow and family in perpetuity. The Fuehrer added that it was his desire that the heirs should always be associated with the property."Charles Wighton, ''Heydrich: Hitler's Most Evil Henchman'' (1962), p. 282.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Panenske Brezany Villages in Prague-East District