CZECHOSLOVAK ATTEMPTS AT REGAINING THE LAND OF ZYTAWA AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR

• Authors: Palys P.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

After the WW II Czechoslovakia proposed a rectification of its prewar frontiers, whose fragment encompassed also the Land of Zytawa, which to 1622 comprised part of the Crown of St. Wenceslas. Already in May 1945 the Czechs living in Zytawa created a National Council, headed by Vladivoj Knobloch, that formulated demands to the Government in Prague concerning incorporation of the land of Zytawa into Czechoslovakia. At the same time, representatives of the Lusatian Sorb national movement embarked upon efforts at excluding Lusatia from German territory and incorporation of free Lusatia into the region of Zytawa. In the summer of 1945 Prague became interested predominantly in Zytawa itself, together with the Varnsdorf-Liberec communication line as well as the one serving the locality of Hirschfelde together with the local power plant and the town of Zawidów. Those demands were justified by resorting to arguments of assorted varieties: communication - the improvement of communication between the regions of Rumburk and Frydland, economic - the region included several textile factories and a large power plant, and historical - recollecting the period when Lusatia belonged to Bohemia. A memorandum addressed to the ministers of foreign affairs of the Four Powers in 1946, reflected aspirations to an area of 164 square kms., inhabited by a population of 82 097. In November 1946, in the face of the fiasco of its claims to territories occupied by Poland, the government in Prague decided to limit demands to Zytawa and the western Czech borders. Ultimately, at the beginning of 1947, mention was made of merely 7,5 square kms. of uninhabited woodland. Even this symbolic correction was never attained.

Keywords

EN

CZECHOSLOVAK FRONTIERS; ZYTAWA

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla PAN w Warszawie
• Journal: Dzieje Najnowsze
• Year: 2004
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 101-116
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Palys P.

• P. Palys, Uniwersytet Opolski, Instytut Historii, ul. Oleska 48, 45-052 Opole., Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

04PLAAAA0025560