Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Slavonice
Slavonice (SLAH-voh-neet-seh)—a charming little town of 2,700
people less than three miles from the Austrian border—is a perfect
base for venturing into the most romantic of Czech landscapes. The
town features two once-elegant Renaissance squares separated by
a Gothic church and Town Hall. In the surrounding countryside,
hulking castle ruins top forested hills, deep woods surround lonely
meadows, and WWII bunkers covered with sprawling blueberry
bushes evoke the harsh realities of being a border town.
Centuries ago, this thinly populated borderland between
Bohemia, Moravia, and Austria was filled with thieves and thugs—
and was, therefore, nearly impossible to tax. Founded in the 1200s,
the town was originally named Zlabings by the German settlers
invited to colonize and civilize the region.
During the 14th century, when the main trading route between
Prague and Vienna passed through here, Zlabings boomed. Most
of the town's finest buildings date from this period. After the
Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the town declined, and thanks to
its ill fate, few new buildings broke the medieval harmony.
Following World War II, Zlabings' German residents—90
percent of the population—were forced out by vengeful Czechs
(see “Edvard Beneš and the German Question” sidebar on page
186). Czech people moved in and simply occupied the homes of
the former residents—sitting on their sofas and even wearing their
clothes.
The town became fully Czech (and was officially renamed
Slavonice), and a curtain of barbed wire sealed it from the West on
three sides. This region—always sparsely populated, and even more
so after its predominantly German population was removed—grew
wilder and full of forests throughout the Cold War, when it earned
the nickname “Czech Canada” (Česká Kanada).
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