The Massacre in Běchovice occurred on 17 June 1848 at the

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

in the village of

Běchovice Běchovice () is a suburb of Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a populat ...

near

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

(now part of the city), in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

(now the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

). In the revolutionary year 1848, many of Prague's bourgeoisie decided to flee the city. Many of them fled by train. In those times, there was only one railway line that connected

with

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, by way of

Česká Třebová Česká Třebová (; ) is a town in Ústí nad Orlicí District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 15,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Mon ...

and

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

, and Běchovice was the first station beyond Prague. Because of its location, General

Windisch-Grätz The House of Windisch-Graetz, also spelled Windischgrätz, is an ancient Austrian aristocratic family, descending from Windischgrätz in Lower Styria (present-day Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia). The noble dynasty serving the House of Habsburg achieve ...

chose Běchovice as a main centre for searches for rebels. Windischgraetz and his army searched each train, but they were not able to find any guns or rebels. Soon after 6 a.m., a train arrived full of students fleeing from Prague. It is not known what exactly happened. There was probably a minor skirmish between one of the passengers and some soldiers, but it grew to a massacre.

Hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

s attacked the train and slaughtered everyone on sight. Everyone was ordered to stay on the train, but the hussars pulled people out and killed them. Some of the passengers, mainly women and children, fled to the nearby train station building although it was under heavy fire. The exact number of those killed is not known, but there were over 100 heavily wounded passengers.

References

External links

Massacre in Běchovice
on Prague-Běchovice official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Bechovice massacre Massacres in the Czech Republic 1848 in the Austrian Empire 19th century in Bohemia 1848 murders in Europe