Pilsen

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File:Austrian Bohemia Pilsen.jpg
Kaiser Franz Josef Bridge and panorama of Pilsen.
File:German civilians being expelled from Pilsen May 1945.jpg
German civilians being expelled from Pilsen, May 1945.

Pilsen is a city in western Bohemia, today in the Czech Republic, about 90 kilometres (56 miles) west of Prague. It stands 1005 feet above sea-level at the confluence of the Mies and the Radbusa. In 1905 its population was 68,300[1]; today about 169,000 inhabitants.

Pilsen was a major city of the Austrian Empire until 1919, with an industrial base which included the armaments manufacturer Skodawerke A.G., and is known worldwide for Pilsner beer, created in the city in 1842 by Bavarian brewer Josef Groll.

At the end of World War II the Red Army, Czech communists and fanatical Czech fascists banded together to persecute, murder and expel the majority ethnic German (includes Austrians) population of the city committing horrific atrocities even in the main town square.[2][3]

Footnotes

  1. Baedeker, Karl, Austria-Hungary, Leipzig, 1905, p.248.
  2. Schieder, Prof.,Theodor, editor, et al, The Expulsions of the German Population from Czechoslovakia, published by the Federal Ministry for Expellees, Refugees and War Victims, Bonn, West Germany, 1960.
  3. Dedina, Sidonia, Edvard Benes, The Liquidator, English-language edition by RFP Pubs., California, USA., 2000, ISBN: 0-9663968-4-7