The Province of German Bohemia (german: Provinz Deutschböhmen ; cs, Německé Čechy) was a province in
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 ...
, now 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 ...
, established for a short period of time after the First World War, as part of the
Republic of German-Austria
The Republic of German-Austria (german: Republik Deutschösterreich or ) was an unrecognised state that was created following World War I as an initial rump state for areas with a predominantly German-speaking and ethnic German population wi ...
.
It included parts of northern and western
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 ...
, at that time primarily populated by
ethnic Germans. Important population centers were Reichenberg (now
Liberec
Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...
), Aussig (
Ústí nad Labem
Ústí nad Labem (, , ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of its eponymous region and district. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway ju ...
), Teplitz-Schönau (
Teplice
Teplice () (until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; german: Teplitz-Schönau or ''Teplitz'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is the second largest Czech spa town, after Karlovy Vary. The his ...
), Dux (
Duchcov
Duchcov (; german: Dux) is a town in Teplice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,600 inhabitants. Duchcov is known for the Duchcov Chateau, Duchcov Castle. The historic town centre with the castle complex i ...
), Eger (
Cheb
Cheb (; german: Eger) is a town in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 30,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Ohře.
Before the 1945 Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, expulsion of the German-speaking population ...
), Marienbad (
Mariánské Lázně
Mariánské Lázně (; german: Marienbad) is a spa town in Cheb District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. Most of the town's buildings come from its Golden Era in the second half of the 19th centu ...
), Karlsbad (
Karlovy Vary
Karlovy Vary (; german: Karlsbad, formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. It lies on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá. ...
), Gablonz an der Neiße (
Jablonec nad Nisou), Leitmeritz (
Litoměřice
Litoměřice (; german: Leitmeritz) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation.
The town is the seat ...
), Brüx (
Most
Most or Möst or ''variation'', may refer to:
Places
* Most, Kardzhali Province, a village in Bulgaria
* Most (city), a city in the Czech Republic
** Most District, a district surrounding the city
** Most Basin, a lowland named after the city
** A ...
) and Saaz (
Žatec). The land that comprised the province would later form an integral part of the territory later known as 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 ...
".
History
Territories constituting modern German Bohemia were historically an integral part of the
Duchy
A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a Middle Ages, medieval country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition.
There once exis ...
and
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...
(itself part of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
from 1102), although with different ethnic development. Since the second half of the 13th century
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
settlers been invited by
Bohemian kings and
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
into rarely populated border regions of Bohemia to develop these with skills acquired from the comparable landscapes of German states. For subsequent seven centuries Czech lands were characterized by "relationship and contending" (
F. Palacký) between
Slavic-Czech majority and substantial German minority. Relatively calm coexistence began ending with outbreak of the
1848 Revolution
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
which also brought demands of
German nationalists for unification of all German-speaking countries (i.e., in their conception, including Czech lands being then under the
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
rule) into one state – the demands which representatives of the
Czech National Revival, although quite weak then, decisively refused. Remaining 70 years of existence
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
and
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
were fulfilled by increasing nationalist tensions and struggling between gradually strenghtening Bohemian-Czechs (c. 2/3 of all inhabitants of the Czech lands) and Bohemian-Germans.
With the imminent collapse of Habsburg Austria-Hungary at the end of
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Germans in areas of Bohemia with an ethnic German majority declared that they did not want to break away from Austria as the Czechs intended. On 27 October 1918, the
Egerland declared independence from Bohemia and a day later the independence of
Czechoslovak Republic was proclaimed in the Bohemian capital of
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 ...
.
On 11 November 1918, Emperor
Charles I of Austria
Charles I or Karl I (german: Karl Franz Josef Ludwig Hubert Georg Otto Maria, hu, Károly Ferenc József Lajos Hubert György Ottó Mária; 17 August 18871 April 1922) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (as Charles IV, ), King of Croatia, ...
relinquished power and, on 12 November, ethnic German areas of the empire were declared to be part of new the Republic of
German Austria, with the intent of unifying with the
German Reich. Appealing to the
principle of self-determination the Province of German Bohemia was formed from the part of Bohemia that contained primarily ethnic Germans. The capital of the province was at
Reichenberg.
In 1919, the territory of the province was inhabited by 2.23 million ethnic Germans, and 116,275 ethnic Czechs.
[Klaus Berchtold (in German): ''1918–1933. Fünfzehn Jahre Verfassungskampf'' (''Verfassungsgeschichte der Republik Österreich'', Bd. 1), Springer, Vienna 1998, , S. 103.]
Three other sister provinces were formed alongside German Bohemia, also made up of predominantly German-speaking parts:
*
Province of the Sudetenland
The Province of the Sudetenland (german: Provinz Sudetenland) was established on 29 October 1918 by former members of the Imperial Council (Austria), Cisleithanian Imperial Council, the governing legislature of the crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empir ...
(northeastern
Bohemia proper, northern
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 ...
and western
Austrian Silesia) – this province had radically different (smaller) boundaries than later conceptions of the term "Sudetenland"
*
German South Moravia (southern Moravia and southeastern Bohemia) – planned adjoining to
Lower Austria
Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...
*
Bohemian Forest Region (southwestern Bohemia) – planned adjoining to
Upper Austria
Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...
In 29 November 1918 the
Czechoslovak army
The Czechoslovak Army (Czech and Slovak: Československá armáda) was the name of the armed forces of Czechoslovakia. It was established in 1918 following Czechoslovakia's declaration of independence from Austria-Hungary.
History
In the fi ...
began an invasion of Province of German Bohemia and during December it occupied the whole region, with Reichenberg falling on 16 December and the last major city, Leitmeritz, falling on 27 December 1918. Other secessionist provinces faced the same fate.
The status of the German areas in Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia was finally settled by the 1919 peace
treaties of Versailles and
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris.
Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...
, which declared that the areas belong to solely to Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government then granted amnesty for all activities against the new state. The region that had been German Bohemia was reintegrated into the
Province of Bohemia (''Země česká'') of the
Czechoslovak Republic. German Bohemians had however hoped that the new state would be built as a Swiss-type decentralized state, which had been implied by Czech officials to appease the Western Allies on the woeful status of the large minorities.
Later development (1938–45)
According to the
Munich Agreement
The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, Germany, the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Fa ...
Czechoslovakia was forced to give up the German-inhabited areas of its domain, at the behest of
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 ...
. The Nazis would incorporate the former German Bohemia into the
Reichsgau Sudetenland
The Reichsgau Sudetenland was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945. It comprised the northern part of the ''Sudetenland'' territory, which was annexed from Czechoslovakia according to the 30 September 1938 Munich Agreement. ...
, a new administrative unit that contained northern parts of German-speaking areas of the former
Bohemian Crown
The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were a number of incorporated states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods connected by feudal relations under the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of Bo ...
.
Around 165,000 Czechs who lived in these areas quickly fled (or were forced to flee) in fear of reprisals by the ''
Sudetendeutsches Freikorps'', a Nazi-sponsored militia. A half year later, however, Germany
invaded the remaining parts of the Czech lands (in German called ''Rest-Tschechei'', "Remaining Czechia"), and carved out
new puppet state from the formerly independent country.
After the war, all of this land was reincorporated into renewed
Czechoslovak Republic. The vast majority of the German population (more than 94%)
were expelled from Czechoslovak territory: many were killed or died during their flight from both Czech and
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
attackers.
See also
*
Republic of German-Austria
The Republic of German-Austria (german: Republik Deutschösterreich or ) was an unrecognised state that was created following World War I as an initial rump state for areas with a predominantly German-speaking and ethnic German population wi ...
*
Origins of Czechoslovakia
*
Province of the Sudetenland
The Province of the Sudetenland (german: Provinz Sudetenland) was established on 29 October 1918 by former members of the Imperial Council (Austria), Cisleithanian Imperial Council, the governing legislature of the crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empir ...
*
German South Moravia
*
Bohemian Forest Region
References
Further reading
* de Zayas, Alfred M.: A terrible Revenge. Palgrave/Macmillan, New York, 1994. .
* de Zayas, Alfred M.: Nemesis at Potsdam. London, 1977. .
* Douglas, R.M.: Orderly and Humane. The Expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War. Yale University Press 2012. .
* Franzel, Emil: Sudetendeutsche Geschichte. Mannheim, 1978. .
* Meixner, Rudolf: Geschichte der Sudetendeutschen. Nürnberg, 1988. .
{{Authority control
Bohemia
Sudetenland
Republic of German-Austria
States and territories disestablished in 1918
States and territories established in 1918
1918 establishments in Europe
1918 disestablishments in Europe