4th June 1939
Budweis

Budweis

České Budějovice

České Budějovice (German: Budweis) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše.

From 1848 until World War II, there was again a Jewish community here, which in 1925 numbered over 1,400 people. The city remained a German-speaking enclave until 1880, after which Czechs became the majority. Until the end of World War II the city contained a significant German minority (about 15.5% in 1930). The ratios between the Germans and the Czechs were in 1880: 11,829 Germans to 11,812 Czechs, in 1890: 11,642 to 16,585, in 1900: 15,436 to 23,427, in 1910: 16,903 to 27,309 and in 1921: 7,415 to 35,800. The reason for the change in the ratio was the high increase in the city's population, mainly caused by newly immigrated Czechs. The share of Germans fell below the legal limit of 20% and thus the Czech language became the only official language.

The coexistence of Czechs and Germans was mostly peaceful, which changed only in the 1930s, when most of Germans tended to Nazism. During the Occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939–1945, the city was part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. There was said to be established then a Gestapo prison and a forced labour camp in the city. During the final stages of World War II, in March 1945, České Budějovice was significantly damaged by United States Army Air Forces raids on strategic locations. At the end of the war, on 9th or 10th May 1945, Soviet troops occupied the city. The almost entire German population, which numbered 6,000 people, was then expelled under the Beneš decrees.

Source: Wikipedia

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