Vítkov (; german: Wigstadtl, pl, Witków) is a town in Opava District in the

Moravian-Silesian Region The Moravian-Silesian Region ( cs, Moravskoslezský kraj; pl, Kraj morawsko-śląski; sk, Moravsko-sliezsky kraj) is one of the 14 administrative regions of the Czech Republic. Before May 2001, it was called the Ostrava Region ( cs, Ostravský ...

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 5,600 inhabitants.

Administrative parts

Villages of Jelenice, Klokočov, Nové Těchanovice, Podhradí, Prostřední Dvůr, Lhotka and Zálužné are administrative parts of Vítkov. Jelenice forms an

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

of the municipal territory.

Geography

Vítkov lies about southwest of

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. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia. It was a historical capital of ...

. It is located 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. The highest point is the hill Horka with an altitude of . The Moravice River forms the northern municipal border.

History

The first written mention of Vítkov is from 1301. The town and the Vikštejn Castle were founded by Vítek of Kravaře in the second half of the 13th century. In the following centuries, the town often changed owners, who were among the lower nobles. In 1713–1714, the then owner of the Vítkov estate, Wipplar of Ulschitz had built a Baroque mansion. The Vikštejn Castle (today outside of municipal territory of Vítkov) was abandoned in 1776 and became a ruin. The inhabitants subsisted mainly on cloth and linen crafts and agriculture. During the industrialisation in the second half of the 19th century, several textile factories were established. Gloves, ribbons and silk products were made here. According to the

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: ...

census of 1910 the town had 3,570 inhabitants, almost all of them were German-speaking. Most populous religious group were

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

with 3,513 (98.4%). In 1938, Vítkov was annexed 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 ...

and administered as a part of

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 ...

. After the World War II, the German population was expelled and the town was resettled by Czechs. On 19 April 2009, an arson attack with three

molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with fla ...

s thrown on house inhabited by a Roma family happened here.

Demographics

Sights

The landmark of the town is the parish Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It was built in the neo-Gothic style in 1914–1918.

Notable people

* Ferdinand Hanusch (1866–1923), Austrian politician *

Franz W. Seidler Franz Wilhelm Seidler (born 2 March 1933) is a German historian, author and expert on German military history. From 1973 to 1998, he was a professor of Modern History at the Bundeswehr University Munich. Since retirement, he has published wor ...

(born 1933), German historian * Helmut Kohlenberger (born 1942), German philosopher * Jan Zajíc (1950–1969), student who committed suicide by

self-immolation The term self-immolation broadly refers to acts of altruistic suicide, otherwise the giving up of one's body in an act of sacrifice. However, it most often refers specifically to autocremation, the act of sacrificing oneself by setting oneself ...

as a political protest * Martin Čížek (born 1974), footballer * Lukáš Milo (born 1983), athlete *

Radek Faksa Radek Faksa (born 9 January 1994) is a Czech professional ice hockey centre for the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL). In his rookie season in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), he was the League's leading rookie scorer when he was ...

(born 1994), ice hockey player

Twin towns – sister cities

Vítkov is twinned with: * Kalety, Poland * Vrbové, Slovakia

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitkov Cities and towns in the Czech Republic Populated places in Opava District