Author: David Kovařík
Affiliation: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, v. v. i., Čechyňská 19, 602 00 Brno
Email: kovarik@usd.cas.cz
Language: Czech
Issue: 1/2019
Pages: 43-65 (23 pages)
Keywords: Abandoned settlements, migration, the Czech borderland, collective memory, 20th century
Summary/Abstract
The paper deals with the issue of post-war abandoned communities and settlements in the Czech borderland and the current form and function of these places in society and in the countryside. The paper first describes the development of abandonment and demolition of the border settlements in its historical and social context. Most of the extinct settlements in the Czech borderland described were levelled in the first years after World War II or during the reign of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Most of these settlements were destroyed due to the displacement of Germans from the Czech lands, as they remained permanently abandoned. Other settlements disappeared due to the establishment of a border zone or military training areas. The study discusses in more detail the theme of the collective recollection of the extinct border settlements from their former inhabitants, mainly the displaced Germans from the Czech lands. In the next part of the study, specific activities to popularize and revive the abandoned settlements that have occurred mainly after 1989 and continue to the present day are documented and critically evaluated directly in specific border regions.