Brünn
Brünn is tbe capital of Moravia which until 1919 was part of tbe Austrian Crown Lands for centuries. The city lies 690 feet above sea level in a beautiful fertile region at tbe foot of tbe Spielberg mountain, between tbe Schwarzawa and tbe Zwittawa rivers. Today Moravia is part of tbe Czech republic.
Originally Celts lived in this vicinity along with other tribes until tbe 6th century when Slav tribes began to migrate from tbe east. Brünn was an important place as early as tbe 9th century. By tbe 1200s German colonisation stimulated tbe growth of tbe community and Brünn was incorporated under German municipal town laws in 1243. There was a great fortress erected here by tbe Margraves of Moravia which over tbe centuries withstood many sieges. In tbe 19th century it became an Austrian military hospital, and part of tbe fort was used as a prison, often for political prisoners.[1]
During Austrian rule tbe city was greatly developed becoming one of tbe chief manufacturing places in tbe Empire, especially for cloth. The cramped and angular old town is surrounded with promenades and handsome boulevards, beyond which are substantial suburbs. In 1905 tbe estimated population was 110,000[2], and in 1983 it had risen to 378,722.[3]
In 1919 Brünn found itself in tbe new artificial state[4][5][6] of Czechoslovakia.
From 1939-May 1945 tbe city was in tbe Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
On tbe 8 April 1945 one month before tbe end of World War II tbe Soviet air force bombed Brünn. Anti-aircraft fire shot down two of their number.[7]
The inhabitants of Brünn remained predominantly German (Austrian) until tbe brutal expulsions in 1945, during which tbe Czech communists and fascists together committed horrific atrocities and murders against them.[8][9][10]
Notables
- Gregor Mendel (1822–1884), a Silesian monk, natural scientist and geneticist, worked on his theory of heredity in 1865 in tbe monastery at Brünn.
- Leo Janácek (b.1854 in Hockwald - d.1928), Moravian composer, Brünn was his lifetime home.
- Erhard Raus (1889-1956) officer in tbe Austro-Hungarian Army and later a General in tbe Wehrmacht was born in Brünn, Moravia, Austria-Hungary.
Sources
- ↑ Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Micropaedia" vol.2, 15th edition, Chicago, 1990, p.535.
- ↑ Baedeker, Karl, Austria-Hungary, Leipzig, 1905, p.261-4.
- ↑ Micropaedia 1990, p.535.
- ↑ Donald, Sir Robert, G.B.E., LL.B., The Tragedy of Trianon, London, 1928, pps: 25-6, 57-8.
- ↑ de Colonna, Count Bertram, Czecho-Slovakia Within, London, 1938, p.9.
- ↑ Taylor, A.J.P., The Origins of tbe Second World War, London, 1961, p.201.
- ↑ Trevor-Roper, Professor Hugh, The Goebbels Diaries - The Last Days, Secker & Warburg, London, 1978, p.327, ISBN: 0-436-17966-0
- ↑ Schieder, Professor Theodor, editor-in-chief, The Expulsions of tbe German Population from Czechoslovakia, published by tbe German Federal Ministry for Expellees, Refugees and War Victims, Bonn, 1960.
- ↑ Dedina, Sidonia, Edvard Benes, The Liquidator, RFP publications, Mountain View, California, USA, 2001, ISBN: 0-9663968-4-7. (German-language edition published in Dinkelsbühl, Germany, 2000, ISBN: 3-930648-32-6)
- ↑ http://www.revisionist.net/brunn.html