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122-755: The Deutscher Fußball-Club Prag , commonly known as DFC Prag , was a football club based in Prague . The club was founded on 25 May 1896 by a group of German Jews in Prague, which at the time of its founding was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia in Austria-Hungary . DFC Prag was one of the strongest teams in Europe in the beginning of the 1900s. The team took part in the 1903 German football championship final and became Bohemian champions several times. The club

244-667: A German-speaking majority from the last third of the 17th century until 1860, but after 1910 the proportion of German speakers had decreased to 6.7% of the population. From the Luxembourgs, rule over Bohemia passed through George of Podiebrad to the Jagiellon dynasty and finally to the House of Habsburg in 1526. Both Czech and German Bohemians suffered heavily in the Thirty Years' War . Bohemia lost 70% of its population. From

366-779: A Germanic city called Casurgis . In the late 5th century AD, during the great Migration Period following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire , the Germanic tribes living in Bohemia moved westwards and, probably in the 6th century, the Slavic tribes settled the Central Bohemian Region. In the following three centuries, the Czech tribes built several fortified settlements in the area, most notably in

488-407: A bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics , but failed to make the candidate city shortlist . In June 2009, as the result of financial pressures from the global recession , Prague's officials chose to cancel the city's planned bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics . On 21 December 2023, a mass shooting took place at Charles University in central Prague. In total, 15 people were killed and 25 injured. It

610-555: A consequence of the immense hostility against all Germans that had grown within Czechoslovakia because many of them had helped the Nazis, the overwhelming majority of Germans were expelled though the relevant Czechoslovak legislation had provided for Germans to remain if they could prove their anti-Nazi affiliation. The number of expelled Germans in the early phase (spring-summer 1945) is estimated to be around 500,000 people. After

732-702: A democratic way. The other Warsaw Pact member countries, except Romania and Albania , were led by the Soviet Union to repress these reforms through the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the capital, Prague, on 21 August 1968. The invasion, chiefly by infantry and tanks, effectively suppressed any further attempts at reform. The military occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Red Army would end only in 1991. Jan Palach and Jan Zajíc committed suicide by self-immolation in January and February 1969 to protest against

854-673: A few weeks later, the Kristallnacht occurred. As elsewhere in Germany, many synagogues were set on fire and numerous leading Jews were sent to concentration camps . Jews and Czechs were not the only afflicted peoples since German socialists, communists and pacifists were widely persecuted as well. Some of the German socialists fled the Sudetenland via Prague and London to other countries. The Gleichschaltung would permanently alter

976-752: A former player of DFC Prag, were both sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp and eventually murdered in the Holocaust . In 1933 German football was re-organized under the Third Reich into sixteen top-flight leagues known as Gauligen . As other countries or regions came under German control, new leagues were formed, such as the Gauliga Ostmark in Austria after the Anschluss and

1098-656: A massive increase in the city's overall population caused by the influx of Czechs from the rest of Bohemia and Moravia and the increasing prestige and importance of the Czech language as part of the Czech National Revival. World War I ended with the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the creation of Czechoslovakia. Prague was chosen as its capital and Prague Castle as the seat of president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk . At this time Prague

1220-477: A month later, Frederick the Great was defeated and forced to retreat from Bohemia. The economy of Prague continued to improve during the 18th century. The population increased to 80,000 inhabitants by 1771. Many rich merchants and nobles enhanced the city with a host of palaces, churches and gardens full of art and music, creating a Baroque city renowned throughout the world to this day. In 1784, under Joseph II ,

1342-501: A new home at the underdeveloped Letná area. For this purpose, the club tore up a tent in the southeastern corner of the area and built a sports field, which in addition to a fence also had a covered grandstand. The stadium was named Stadion Belvedere  [ de ] and came to hold 18,000 spectators. The stadium of SK Slavia Prague, one of the biggest rivals of the DFC Prag, was at the time located right next. Stadion Belvedere

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1464-401: A popular tourist destination and as of 2017, the city receives more than 8.5 million international visitors annually. In 2017, Prague was listed as the fifth most visited European city after London , Paris , Rome , and Istanbul . The Czech name Praha is derived from an old Slavic word, práh , which means " ford " or " rapid ", referring to the city's origin at a crossing point of

1586-845: A separation of the German-inhabited regions from Czechoslovakia. According to Elizabeth Wiskemann , despite the initial resistance to the Czechoslovak rule, the Sudeten German population was not entirely opposed to annexation by Czechoslovakia. Sudeten economy and industry relied on the rest of Bohemia, and local industrialists were afraid of "Reich German competition and therefore of the talk of handing them over". Many Sudeten Germans also opposed joining Austria, arguing that being incorporated into Austria would turn Sudeten lands into "economically helpless Austrian enclaves". Because of this, Sudetenland becoming part of Czechoslovakia

1708-543: A significant German population. In the hilly border regions German settlers established major manufactures of forest glass . The situation of the German population was aggravated by the Hussite Wars (1419–1434), though there were also some Germans among the Hussite insurgents. By then Germans largely settled the hilly Bohemian border regions as well as the cities of the lowlands; mainly people of Bavarian descent in

1830-537: A sports field on the so-called Königswiese. The Königswiese, which later came to be known as the Kaiserwiese (Císařská louka in Czech ), is a man-made island on the Vltava River , in the district of Smíchov in Prague. The sports field was also used by other football teams, and was the site of the first derby between SK Slavia Prague and AC Sparta Prague in 1896. However, the club was soon to find itself

1952-768: A strong side until about 1914. The club sent a number of players to the Austria national team in spite of the club's uncertain status. DFC Prag dominated the Sudeten league in the ethnically German area of Czechoslovakia, and in the period immediately prior to World War II, the club won a pair of amateur championships, in 1931 and 1933. The rise to power of the Nazis in Germany in the early 1930s led to discrimination against Jews. By 1933, Jewish teams were excluded from general competition and limited to play in separate leagues or tournaments. In 1938, Jewish players and teams were banned outright as discrimination turned to persecution. With

2074-503: A telegram, supposedly from the DFB, indicating that the game had been rescheduled and consequently did not travel to the appointed match-up. DFC Prag, already waiting in Leipzig for the arrival of Karlsruher FV, were declared the winners by forfeit and advanced to the final, over the loud protests of the opponents. To this day the origin of the telegram is unknown. The second team to advance to

2196-612: A verse of The Beleaguered City by Longfellow (1839) and also in the limerick There was an Old Lady of Prague by Edward Lear (1846). Prague is also called the "City of a Hundred Spires " , based on a count by 19th century mathematician Bernard Bolzano ; today's count is estimated by the Prague Information Service at 500. Nicknames for Prague have also included: the Golden City, the Mother of Cities and

2318-529: A wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University in Prague, the oldest university in Central Europe. Prague is classified as an "Alpha-" global city according to GaWC studies. In 2019, the city was ranked as 69th most livable city in the world by Mercer. In the same year, the PICSA Index ranked the city as 13th most livable city in the world. Its rich history makes it

2440-497: Is Velký Počernický with 41.76 ha (103.2 acres). The largest body of water is Hostivař Reservoir with 42 hectares (103.8 acres). Sudetenland The word "Sudetenland" did not come into being until the early part of the 20th century and did not come to prominence until almost two decades into the century, after World War I , when Austria-Hungary was dismembered and the Sudeten Germans found themselves living in

2562-696: Is a crescent-shaped golden sun with rays protruding. One of these banners was captured by Swedish troops during the Battle of Prague (1648) when they captured the western bank of the Vltava river and were repulsed from the eastern bank, they placed it in the Royal Military Museum in Stockholm ; although this flag still exists, it is in very poor condition. They also took the Codex Gigas and

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2684-528: Is dominated by the cathedral , which began construction in 1344, but was not completed until the 20th century. The legendary origins of Prague attribute its foundation to the 8th-century Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl , founder of the Přemyslid dynasty . Legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied: "I see a great city whose glory will touch

2806-589: Is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia . Situated on the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.4 million people. Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of Central Europe , with a rich history and Romanesque , Gothic , Renaissance and Baroque architectures. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and residence of several Holy Roman Emperors , most notably Charles IV (r. 1346–1378) and Rudolf II (r. 1575–1611). It

2928-478: The 1941 German football championship and the 1941 German Cup . The next season they particated in the Gauliga Sudetenland-Mitte, where they again won the division, leading to participation in the 1942 German Cup . However, the club voluntarily withdrew from participation in the national championship or further Gauliga play. The team disappeared with the end of World War II. A refounding of

3050-708: The Age of Enlightenment and Weimar Classicism . Contrastingly, in the course of the Romanticism movement national tensions arose, both in the form of the Austroslavism ideology developed by Czech politicians like František Palacký and Pan-Germanist activist raising the German question . Conflicts between Czech and German nationalists emerged in the 19th century, for instance in the Revolutions of 1848 : while

3172-575: The Bethlehem Chapel . Inspired by John Wycliffe , these sermons focused on what were seen as radical reforms of a corrupt Church. Having become too dangerous for the political and religious establishment, Hus was summoned to the Council of Constance , put on trial for heresy , and burned at the stake in Konstanz in 1415. Four years later Prague experienced its first defenestration , when

3294-631: The Codex Argenteus . The earliest evidence indicates that a gonfalon with a municipal charge painted on it was used for the Old Town as early as 1419. Since this city militia flag was in use before 1477 and during the Hussite Wars, it is the oldest still preserved municipal flag of Bohemia. In the following two centuries, Prague strengthened its role as a merchant city. Many noteworthy Gothic buildings were erected and Vladislav Hall of

3416-509: The Gauliga Sudetenland after the seizure of the area from Czechoslovakia. The remains of DFC Prag and FC Deutscher Sportbrüder Prag were merged in 1940, into a politically acceptable side under the regime, known as Nationalsozialistische Turngemeinde Prag, commonly known as NSTG Prag. The team began play in the 1940–41 Gauliga Sudetenland Group 2, where they won the division and the league championship, leading to participation in

3538-542: The Hispano-Jewish merchant and traveler Abraham ben Jacob . The Old New Synagogue of 1270 still stands in the city. Prague was also once home to a slave market. At the site of the ford in the Vltava river, King Vladislaus I had the first bridge built in 1170, the Judith Bridge (Juditin most), named in honor of his wife Judith of Thuringia . This bridge was destroyed by a flood in 1342, but some of

3660-615: The Paris Peace Conference issued a declaration, which gave unanimous support for "unity of Czech lands". In particular the declaration stated: The Commission was... unanimous in its recommendation that the separation of all areas inhabited by the German-Bohemians would not only expose Czechoslovakia to great dangers but equally create great difficulties for the Germans themselves. The only practicable solution

3782-514: The Prague astronomical clock , the Jewish Quarter , Petřín hill and Vyšehrad . Since 1992, the historic center of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites . The city has more than ten major museums, along with numerous theatres, galleries, cinemas, and other historical exhibits. An extensive modern public transportation system connects the city. It is home to

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3904-594: The Red Army took the city almost unopposed. The majority (about 50,000 people) of the German population of Prague either fled or were expelled by the Beneš decrees in the aftermath of the war. Prague was a city in a country under the military, economic, and political control of the Soviet Union (see Iron Curtain and COMECON ). The world's largest Stalin Monument was unveiled on Letná hill in 1955 and destroyed in 1962. The 4th Czechoslovak Writers' Congress, held in

4026-628: The Slovak Republic (Slovak State), a satellite state allied to Germany. (The Ruthenian part, Subcarpathian Rus, made also an attempt to declare its sovereignty as Carpatho-Ukraine but only with ephemeral success since the area was soon annexed by Hungary .) Although "Henlein and the SdP had become accessories in Hitler's escalating campaign to annex the Sudetenland to the German Reich" by

4148-874: The South Bohemian and South Moravian Region , in Brno , Jihlava , České Budějovice and the West Bohemian Plzeň Region ; Franconian people in Žatec ; Upper Saxons in adjacent North Bohemia , where the border with the Saxon Electorate was fixed by the 1459 Peace of Eger ; Germanic Silesians in the adjacent Sudetes region with the County of Kladsko , in the Moravian–Silesian Region , in Svitavy and Olomouc . The city of Prague had

4270-470: The Thirty Years' War , a particularly harsh period for Prague and Bohemia. Ferdinand II of Habsburg was deposed, and his place as King of Bohemia taken by Frederick V, Elector Palatine ; however his army was crushed in the Battle of White Mountain (1620) not far from the city. Following this in 1621 was an execution of 27 Czech Protestant leaders (involved in the uprising) in Old Town Square and

4392-489: The US Army Air Forces . 701 people were killed, more than 1,000 people were injured and some buildings, factories and historic landmarks ( Emmaus Monastery , Faust House , Vinohrady Synagogue ) were destroyed. Many historic structures in Prague, however, escaped the destruction of the war and the damage was small compared to the total destruction of many other cities in that time. According to American pilots, it

4514-465: The cession of the Sudetenland. Three days later, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier did the same. No Czechoslovak representative was invited to the discussions. Germany was now able to walk into the Sudetenland without firing a shot. Chamberlain met Hitler in Godesberg on 22 September 1938 to confirm the agreements. Hitler, aiming to use the crisis as a pretext for war, now demanded not only

4636-671: The oldest university in Central Europe. His father John of Bohemia began construction of the Gothic Saint Vitus Cathedral , within the largest of the Prague Castle courtyards, on the site of the Romanesque rotunda there. Prague was elevated to an archbishopric in 1344, the year the cathedral was begun. The city had a mint and was a center of trade for German and Italian bankers and merchants. The social order, however, became more turbulent due to

4758-517: The Šárka valley , Butovice and Levý Hradec . The construction of what came to be known as Prague Castle began near the end of the 9th century, expanding a fortified settlement that had existed on the site since the year 800. The first masonry under Prague Castle dates from the year 885 at the latest. The other prominent Prague fort, the Přemyslid fort Vyšehrad , was founded in the 10th century, some 70 years later than Prague Castle. Prague Castle

4880-407: The " normalization " of the country. In 1989, after riot police beat back a peaceful student demonstration, the Velvet Revolution crowded the streets of Prague, and the capital of Czechoslovakia benefited greatly from the new mood. In 1992, the Historic Centre of Prague and its monuments were inscribed as a cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site . In 1993, after the Velvet Divorce , Prague became

5002-418: The 17th century, Prague's population began to grow again. Jews had been in Prague since the end of the 10th century and, by 1708, they accounted for about a quarter of Prague's population. In 1689, a great fire devastated Prague, but this spurred a renovation and a rebuilding of the city. In 1713–14, a major outbreak of plague hit Prague one last time, killing 12,000 to 13,000 people. In 1744, Frederick

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5124-419: The 2021 census, 24,632 people in the Czech Republic claimed German ethnicity, out of which 15,504 in combination with another ethnicity. ČSR; boundaries and government established by the 1920 constitution . Annexed by Nazi Germany . ČSR; included the autonomous regions of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Annexed by Hungary (1939–1945). ČSR; declared a "people's democracy" (without

5246-432: The Beneš decrees, nearly all Germans were expelled starting in 1946 and in 1950 only 159,938 (from 3,149,820 in 1930) still lived in the Czech Republic. The remaining Germans, who were proven antifascists and skilled laborers, were allowed to stay in Czechoslovakia but were later forcefully dispersed within the country. Some German refugees from Czechoslovakia are represented by the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft . Many of

5368-467: The Cabinet on his return to the United Kingdom, is found in the Document CC 39(38). Lord Runciman expressed sadness that he could not bring about agreement with the various parties, but he agreed with Lord Halifax that the time that had been gained was important. He reported on the situation of the Sudeten Germans and gave details of four plans that had been proposed to deal with the crisis, each of which had points that, he reported, made it unacceptable to

5490-426: The Czechoslovak military to start to build extensive border fortifications in 1936 to defend the troubled border region. Immediately after the Anschluss of Austria into the German Reich in March 1938, Hitler made himself the advocate of ethnic Germans living in Czechoslovakia, which triggered the Sudeten Crisis. The following month, Sudeten Nazis, led by Konrad Henlein , agitated for autonomy. On 24 April 1938,

5612-427: The Czechs and the German-speaking minority lingered on throughout the 1920s and intensified in the 1930s. During the Great Depression , the mostly-mountainous regions populated by the German minority, together with other peripheral regions of Czechoslovakia , were hurt by the economic depression more than the interior of the country was. Unlike the less developed regions ( Carpathian Ruthenia , Moravian Wallachia ),

5734-423: The German-speaking population of Bohemia and Moravia wanted to participate in the building of a German nation state, the Czech-speaking population insisted on keeping Bohemia out of such plans. The Bohemian Kingdom remained a part of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary until its dismemberment after the World War I. In the wake of growing nationalism, the name " Sudetendeutsche " (Sudeten Germans) emerged by

5856-429: The Germans in the Sudetenland. Runciman's first day included meetings with President Beneš and Prime Minister Milan Hodža as well as a direct meeting with the Sudeten Germans from Henlein's SdP. On the next day, he met with Dr and Mme Beneš and later met non-Nazi Germans in his hotel. A full account of his report, including summaries of the conclusions of his meetings with the various parties, which he made in person to

5978-407: The Germans who stayed in Czechoslovakia later emigrated to West Germany (more than 100,000). As the German population was transferred out of the country, the former Sudetenland was resettled mostly by Czechs but also by other nationalities of Czechoslovakia: Slovaks , Greeks (arriving in the wake of the Greek Civil War 1946–49), Carpathian Ruthenians , Romani people and Jews who had survived

6100-463: The Germans' right to self-determination and uniting all German-speaking areas with either Germany or Austria, with the exception of northern Bohemia. However, the American delegation at the Paris talks decided not to follow Coolidge's proposal. Allen Dulles was the American's chief diplomat in the Czechoslovak Commission and emphasized preserving the unity of the Czech lands. Four regional governmental units were established: The U.S. commission to

6222-454: The Great of Prussia invaded Bohemia. He took Prague after a severe and prolonged siege in the course of which a large part of the town was destroyed. Empress Maria Theresa expelled the Jews from Prague in 1745; though she rescinded the expulsion in 1748, the proportion of Jewish residents in the city never recovered. In 1757 the Prussian bombardment destroyed more than one-quarter of the city and heavily damaged St. Vitus Cathedral. However,

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6344-412: The Heart of Europe. The local Jewish community, which belongs to one of the oldest continuously existing in the world, have described the city as עיר ואם בישראל Ir va-em be-yisrael , "The city and mother in Israel". Prague has grown from a settlement stretching from Prague Castle in the north to the fort of Vyšehrad in the south, to become the capital of a modern European country. The region

6466-468: The Holocaust , and Hungarians (though the Hungarians were forced into that and later returned home—see Hungarians in Slovakia: Population exchanges ). Some areas, such as part of Czech Silesian-Moravian borderland, southwestern Bohemia ( Šumava National Park ), western and northern parts of Bohemia, remained depopulated for several strategic reasons (extensive mining and military interests) or are now protected national parks and landscapes. Moreover, before

6588-532: The Prague Castle was added. In 1526, the Bohemian estates elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg . The fervent Catholicism of its members brought them into conflict in Bohemia, and then in Prague, where Protestant ideas were gaining popularity. These problems were not preeminent under Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II , elected King of Bohemia in 1576, who chose Prague as his home. He lived in Prague Castle, where his court welcomed not only astrologers and magicians but also scientists, musicians, and artists. Rudolf

6710-401: The SdP proclaimed the Karlsbader Programm , which demanded in eight points the complete equality between the Sudeten Germans and the Czech people. The government accepted those claims on 30 June 1938. In August, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sent Lord Runciman on a mission to Czechoslovakia to see if he could obtain a settlement between the Czechoslovak government and

6832-437: The Sudetenland had a high concentration of vulnerable export-dependent industries (such as glass works, textile industry , paper-making and toy-making industry). Sixty percent of the bijouterie and glassmaking industry were located in the Sudetenland, and 69% of employees in the sector were German-speaking according to mother tongue, and 95% of bijouterie and 78% of other glassware was produced for export. The glass-making sector

6954-439: The Sudetenland to Germany or face war. To achieve a solution, the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini , suggested a conference of the major powers in Munich , and on 29 September, Hitler, Daladier and Chamberlain met and agreed to Mussolini's proposal (actually prepared by Hermann Göring ) and signed the Munich Agreement . They accepted the immediate occupation of the Sudetenland. The Czechoslovak government, though not party to

7076-463: The Vltava river. Another view to the origin of the name is also related to the Czech word práh (with the meaning of a threshold ) and a legendary etymology connects the name of the city with princess Libuše , prophetess and a wife of the mythical founder of the Přemyslid dynasty . She is said to have ordered the city "to be built where a man hews a threshold of his house". The Czech práh might thus be understood to refer to rapids or fords in

7198-414: The annexation of the Sudetenland by Germany in 1938, these policies were quickly imposed in the area. DFC Prag, its players and officials, were, despite their mostly Jewish descent, suggested to join the movement of Konrad Henlein , the Sudeten German Party . As players and officials refused, the club was immediately banned as a "Jewish club" after the German seizure of Prague in 1939, and dissolved due to

7320-425: The annexation of the Sudetenland but also the immediate military occupation of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia, thus giving the Czechoslovak army no time to adapt its defence measures to the new borders. Hitler, in a speech at the Sportpalast in Berlin, claimed that the Sudetenland was "the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe" and gave Czechoslovakia a deadline of 28 September 1938 at 2:00 p.m. to cede

7442-404: The annexed territories were divided, with the southern parts being incorporated into the neighbouring Reichsgaue of Niederdonau , Oberdonau and Bayerische Ostmark . The northern and the western parts were reorganised as the Reichsgau Sudetenland , with the city of Reichenberg (present-day Liberec ) established as its capital. Konrad Henlein (now openly a NSDAP member) administered

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7564-456: The ban. Already in the years before, the players had felt the hostility from the Nazis, especially during matches against teams from German-dominated Sudetenland. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia , some Jewish players from DFC Prag fled abroad. Others were arrested by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps, where many of them died. Jewish football players Fritz Taussig, a former long time goalkeeper of DFC Prag, and Egon Reach, also

7686-401: The border zone, a status that remained until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. There remained areas with noticeable German minorities in the westernmost borderland around Cheb , where skilled ethnic German miners and workers continued in mining and industry, until 1955, as sanctioned under the Yalta Conference protocols; in the Egerland , German minority organizations continue to exist. In

7808-492: The capital city of the new Czech Republic. From 1995, high-rise buildings began to be built in Prague in large quantities. In the late 1990s, Prague again became an important cultural center of Europe and was notably influenced by globalisation . In 2000, the IMF and World Bank summits took place in Prague and anti-globalization riots took place here. In 2002, Prague suffered from widespread floods that damaged buildings and its underground transport system. Prague launched

7930-427: The city in June 1967, took a strong position against the regime. On 31 October 1967 students demonstrated at Strahov . This spurred the new secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party , Alexander Dubček , to proclaim a new deal in his city's and country's life, starting the short-lived season of the " socialism with a human face ". It was the Prague Spring , which aimed at the renovation of political institutions in

8052-406: The city militia fought bravely under the Prague Banner. This swallow-tailed banner is approximately 4 by 6 ft (1.2 by 1.8 m), with a red field sprinkled with small white fleurs-de-lis, and a silver old Town Coat-of-Arms in the center. The words "PÁN BŮH POMOC NAŠE" (The Lord is our Relief/Help) appeared above the coat-of-arms, with a Hussite chalice centered on the top. Near the swallow-tails

8174-439: The club after World War II would have been hopeless, as a decree by Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš in 1945 forced Germans to leave Czechoslovakia and have their assets confiscated but in July 2016, 77 years after the original German-Jewish club had been dissolved, a new DFC Prag was founded with the aim of establishing a youth department, followed by a senior team in the following years. DFC Prag played its first matches at

8296-401: The community in the Sudetenland. However, on 4 December 1938, there were elections in Reichsgau Sudetenland in which 97.32% of the adult population voted for the NSDAP . About a half million Sudeten Germans joined the Nazi Party , 17.34% of the total German population in the Sudetenland (the average NSDAP membership participation in Germany was merely 7.85% in 1944). That means the Sudetenland

8418-483: The country was occupied by Nazi Germany , Hitler took over Prague Castle. During the Second World War , most Jews were deported and killed by the Germans. In 1942, Prague was witness to the assassination of one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany — Reinhard Heydrich —during Operation Anthropoid , accomplished by Czechoslovak national heroes Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš . Hitler ordered bloody reprisals. In February 1945, Prague suffered several bombing raids by

8540-435: The defeat of the Bohemian Revolt that collapsed at the 1620 Battle of White Mountain , the Habsburgs gradually integrated the Kingdom of Bohemia into their monarchy . During the subsequent Counter-Reformation , less populated areas were resettled with Catholic Germans from the Austrian lands. From 1627, the Habsburgs enforced the so-called Verneuerte Landesordnung ("Renewed Land's Constitution"), and one of its consequences

8662-415: The district first as Reichskommissar (until 1 May 1939) and then as Reichsstatthalter (1 May 1939 – 4 May 1945). The Sudetenland consisted of three administrative districts ( Regierungsbezirke ): Eger (with Karlsbad as capital), Aussig ( Aussig ) and Troppau ( Troppau ). Before the occupation, Jews in the area had become targeted during the Holocaust in the Sudetenland . Only

8784-607: The early 20th century. It originally constituted part of a larger classification of three groupings of Germans within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which also included " Alpine Deutschen " ( Alpine Germans ) in what later became the Republic of Austria and " Balkandeutsche " ( Balkan Germans ) in Hungary and the regions east of it. Of these three terms, only the term " Sudetendeutsche " survived, because of

8906-471: The establishment of the Iron Curtain in 1952 to 1955, the so-called "forbidden zone" was established by means of engineer equipment up to 2 km (1.2 mi) from the border in which no civilians could reside. A wider region, or "border zone", existed up to 12 km (7 miles) from the border in which no "disloyal" or "suspect" civilians could reside or work. Thus, the entire Aš-Bulge fell within

9028-467: The ethnic and cultural conflicts within Bohemia. During World War I , what later became known as the Sudetenland experienced a rate of war deaths that was higher than most other German-speaking areas of Austria-Hungary and exceeded only by German South Moravia and Carinthia . Thirty-four of each 1,000 inhabitants were killed. Austria-Hungary broke apart at the end of World War I. In late October 1918, an independent Czechoslovak state, consisting of

9150-407: The exiling of many others. Prague was forcibly converted back to Roman Catholicism followed by the rest of Czech lands. The city suffered subsequently during the war under an attack by Electorate of Saxony (1631) and during the Battle of Prague (1648) . Prague began a steady decline which reduced the population from the 60,000 it had had in the years before the war to 20,000. In the second half of

9272-414: The final in less than ideal shape. The match was delayed half an hour as officials scrambled to find a football that was in good enough condition to play the match. The Altona club provided a new ball and eleven minutes in DFC Prag scored the first goal. At the end of the half, the score stood at 1–1, but VfB Leipzig then pulled away to emerge as the first German champions with a 7–2 victory. VfB Leipzig later

9394-589: The final was VfB Leipzig , and the match was scheduled for 31 May 1903 at the home ground of FC 93 Altona in Hamburg . The heavily favoured DFC Prag arrived in Hamburg a day in advance and took themselves off on an ill-advised pub crawl the night before the final. Most of the team were students at the Charles University in Prague and took the opportunity to explore Hamburg. And so the team arrived to

9516-517: The first president of this new national association. DFC Prag was a very strong side at the end of the 1800s and early 1900s: they were Bohemian champions in 1896, and played in Germany's first ever national final in 1903, and became again Bohemian champions in 1917. The story of the team's appearance in the 1903 final is an odd one as they got there without having to play the scheduled semi-final match against Karlsruher FV . The opponents received

9638-532: The former Lands of the Bohemian Crown remained in a newly-created Czechoslovakia , a multi-ethnic state of several nations: Czechs , Germans , Slovaks , Hungarians , Poles and Ruthenians . On 20 September 1918, the Prague government asked for the opinion of the United States on the Sudetenland. Wilson sent Ambassador Archibald Coolidge into Czechoslovakia. Coolidge insisted on respecting

9760-421: The four municipalities of Malá Strana, Nové Město, Staré Město, and Hradčany were merged into a single entity. The Jewish district, called Josefov , was included only in 1850. The Industrial Revolution produced great changes and developments in Prague, as new factories could take advantage of the coal mines and ironworks of the nearby regions. The first suburb, Karlín , was created in 1817, and twenty years later

9882-755: The lands of the Bohemian kingdom and areas belonging to the Kingdom of Hungary, was proclaimed. The German deputies of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in the Imperial Council ( Reichsrat ) referred to the Fourteen Points of US President Woodrow Wilson and the right proposed therein to self-determination and attempted to negotiate the union of the German-speaking territories with the new Republic of German Austria , which itself aimed at joining Weimar Germany . The German-speaking parts of

10004-725: The less populated border region. In the Middle Ages the regions situated on the mountainous border of the Duchy and the Kingdom of Bohemia (Crown of Saint Václav) had since the Migration Period been settled mainly by western Slavic Czechs . Along the Bohemian Forest in the west, the Czech lands bordered on the German Slavic tribes (German Sorbs) stem duchies of Bavaria and Franconia ; marches of

10126-627: The liberation of Czechoslovakia in May 1945, the use of the term Sudety (Sudetenland) in official communications was banned and replaced by the term pohraniční území (border territory). The Berlin Declaration of 5 June 1945 disabled German annexation of Sudetenland legally. In the summer of 1945, the Potsdam Conference decided that Sudeten Germans would have to leave Czechoslovakia (see flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50) ). As

10248-513: The mainstream wing of Henlein's party was "not striving for annexation to Germany, but for genuine autonomy", and the majority of negotiators who conducted talks with Hodža and Beneš belonged to the pro-autonomy wing and were unaware of Henlein's agreements with Hitler. Part of the borderland had an ethnic Polish majority and was invaded and annexed by Poland in 1938. The Sudetenland was initially put under military administration, with General Wilhelm Keitel as military governor. On 14 April 1939,

10370-756: The medieval German kingdom had also been established in the adjacent Austrian lands south of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and the northern Meissen region beyond the Ore Mountains . In the course of the Ostsiedlung (settlement of the east) German settlement from the 13th century onwards continued to move into the Upper Lusatia region and the duchies of Silesia north of the Sudetes mountain range. From as early as

10492-464: The new country of Czechoslovakia . The Sudeten crisis of 1938 was provoked by the Pan-Germanist demands of Nazi Germany that the Sudetenland be annexed to Germany, which happened after the later Munich Agreement . Part of the borderland was invaded and annexed by Poland . Afterwards, the formerly unrecognized Sudetenland became an administrative division of Germany. When Czechoslovakia

10614-450: The now-Czech regions of Karlovy Vary , Liberec , Olomouc , Moravia-Silesia , South Moravia and Ústí nad Labem are within the former Sudetenland. The areas later known as the Sudetenland never formed a single historical region , which makes it difficult to distinguish the history of the Sudetenland separately from that of Bohemia until the advent of nationalism in the 19th century. The Celtic and Boii tribes settled there and

10736-517: The opposite side of the river, as well as the Lesser Town beneath the existing castle, appeared only later. The English spelling of the city's name is borrowed from French . In the 19th and early 20th centuries it was pronounced in English to rhyme with "vague": it was so pronounced by Lady Diana Cooper (born 1892) on Desert Island Discs in 1969, and it is written to rhyme with "vague" in

10858-556: The original foundation stones of that bridge remain in the river. It was rebuilt and named the Charles Bridge. In 1257, under King Ottokar II , Malá Strana ("Lesser Quarter") was founded in Prague on the site of an older village in what would become the Hradčany (Prague Castle) area. This was the district of the German people, who had the right to administer the law autonomously, pursuant to Magdeburg rights . The new district

10980-493: The other parties to the negotiations. The four plans included, first, the transfer of the Sudetenland to the Reich, second, holding a plebiscite on the transfer of the Sudetenland to the Reich, third, organising a Four-Power Conference on the matter and, fourth, creating a federal Czechoslovakia. At the meeting, he said that he was very reluctant to offer his own solution and had not seen that as his task. The most that Halifax said

11102-428: The people rebelled under the command of the Prague priest Jan Želivský . Hus' death, coupled with Czech proto-nationalism and proto-Protestantism , had spurred the Hussite Wars . Peasant rebels, led by the general Jan Žižka , along with Hussite troops from Prague, defeated Emperor Sigismund , in the Battle of Vítkov Hill in 1420. During the Hussite Wars when Prague was attacked by "Crusader" and mercenary forces,

11224-491: The population exceeded 100,000. The revolutions in Europe in 1848 also touched Prague, but they were fiercely suppressed. In the following years, the Czech National Revival began its rise, until it gained the majority in the town council in 1861. Prague had a large number of German speakers in 1848, but by 1880 the number of German speakers had decreased to 14% (42,000), and by 1910 to 6.7% (37,000), due to

11346-405: The presence of more than 90% (as of 1921) ethnic Germans, which led to the presence of 23.4% of Germans in all of Czechoslovakia, on the grounds they had always been part of lands of the Bohemian Crown. The Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919 affirmed the inclusion of the German-speaking territories within Czechoslovakia. Over the next two decades, some Germans in the Sudetenland continued to strive for

11468-671: The region of Bohemia, which means "home of the Boii people". In the last century BC, the Celts were slowly driven away by Germanic tribes ( Marcomanni , Quadi , Lombards and possibly the Suebi ), leading some to place the seat of the Marcomanni king, Maroboduus , in Závist. Around the area where present-day Prague stands, the 2nd century map drawn by Roman geographer Ptolemaios mentioned

11590-554: The region was first mentioned on the map of Ptolemaios in the 2nd century AD. The Germanic tribe of the Marcomanni dominated the entire core of the region in later centuries. Those tribes already built cities like Brno , but moved west during the Migration Period . In the 7th century AD Slavic people moved in and were united under Samo 's realm. Later in the High Middle Ages Germans settled into

11712-533: The reign of his son, King Wenceslaus IV (1378–1419), a period of intense turmoil ensued. During Easter 1389, members of the Prague clergy announced that Jews had desecrated the host (Eucharistic wafer) and the clergy encouraged mobs to pillage, ransack and burn the Jewish quarter. Nearly the entire Jewish population of Prague (ca 750 people) was murdered. Jan Hus , a theologian and rector at Charles University, preached in Prague. In 1402, he began giving sermons in

11834-433: The rising power of the craftsmen 's guilds (themselves often torn by internal conflicts), and the increasing number of poor. The Hunger Wall, a substantial fortification wall south of Malá Strana and the castle area was built during a famine in the 1360s. The work is reputed to have been ordered by Charles IV as a means of providing employment and food to the workers and their families. Charles IV died in 1378. During

11956-464: The river, the edge of which could have acted as a means of fording the river – thus providing a "threshold" to the castle. Another derivation of the name Praha is suggested from na prazě , the original term for the shale hillside rock upon which the original castle was built. At that time, the castle was surrounded by forests, covering the nine hills of the future city – the Old Town on

12078-451: The same year agreed to challenge Karlsruher FV and were again victorious, this time by a 7–3 score. When Germany joined FIFA in 1904, DFC Prag was no longer eligible for play in the country. FIFA also rebuffed attempts to create ethnic German and Slavic football associations within the borders of the fractious Austro-Hungarian Empire, preferring to stay clear of politics. DFC Prag played variously in Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia and remained

12200-491: The second half of the 13th century onwards these Bohemian border regions were settled by ethnic Germans , who were invited by the Přemyslid Bohemian kings—especially by Ottokar II (1253–1278) and Wenceslaus II (1278–1305). After the extinction of the Přemyslid dynasty in 1306, the Bohemian nobility backed John of Luxembourg as king against his rival Duke Henry of Carinthia . In 1322 King John of Bohemia acquired (for

12322-543: The shared ethnicity of their members. DFC Prag was founded on 25 May 1896, by a group of German Jews from the football department of Deutscher Eis- und Ruder-Club Regatta Prag, established in 1891. When it was formed in 1900, the German Football Association (DFB) , actively sought out members among ethnically German clubs from outside of the country. DFC Prag was a founding member of the German association and its president, Dr. Ferdinand Hueppe, became

12444-605: The stars". She ordered a castle and a town called Praha to be built on the site. The region became the seat of the dukes , and later kings of Bohemia . Under Duke of Bohemia Boleslaus II the Pious the area became a bishopric in 973. Until Prague was elevated to archbishopric in 1344, it was under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Mainz . Prague was an important seat for trading where merchants from across Europe settled, including many Jews, as recalled in 965 by

12566-529: The summer of 1938, the supporters of the SdP supported autonomy within Czechoslovakia rather than annexation into Germany. Contemporary reports of The Times found that there was a "large number of Sudetenlanders who actively opposed annexation", and that the pro-German policy was challenged by the moderates within the SdP as well; according to Wickham Steed , over 50% of Henlein's supporters favoured greater autonomy within Czechoslovakia rather than joining Germany. Sudeten German historian Emil Franzel argues that

12688-536: The talks, submitted to compulsion and promised to abide by the agreement on 30 September. The Sudetenland was assigned to Germany between 1 and 10 October 1938. The Czech part of Czechoslovakia was subsequently invaded by Germany in March 1939, with a portion being annexed and the remainder turned into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . The Slovak part declared its independence from Czechoslovakia and became

12810-652: The third time) the formerly Imperial Egerland region in the west and vassalized most of the Piast Silesian duchies, as acknowledged by King Casimir III of Poland by the 1335 Treaty of Trentschin . His son, Bohemian King Charles IV , was elected King of the Romans in 1346 and crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1355. He added the Lusatias to the Lands of the Bohemian Crown , which then comprised large territories with

12932-478: Was a true European capital with highly developed industry. By 1930, the population had risen to 850,000. Hitler ordered the German Army to enter Prague on 15 March 1939, and from Prague Castle proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate . For most of its history, Prague had been a multi-ethnic city with important Czech, German and (mostly native German-speaking) Jewish populations. From 1939, when

13054-640: Was affected by decreased spending power and by protective measures in other countries, and many German workers lost their work. The high unemployment, as well as the imposition of Czech in schools and all public spaces, made people more open to populist and extremist movements such as fascism , communism and German irredentism . In those years, parties of German nationalists and later the Sudeten German Party (SdP), with its radical demands gained immense popularity, among Germans in Czechoslovakia . The increasing aggressiveness of Hitler prompted

13176-403: Was an art lover as well, and Prague became the capital of European culture. This was a prosperous period for the city: famous people living there in that age include the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler , the painter Arcimboldo , the alchemists Edward Kelley and John Dee , the poet Elizabeth Jane Weston , and others. In 1618, the famous second defenestration of Prague provoked

13298-662: Was an important city to the Habsburg monarchy and Austria-Hungary . The city played major roles in the Bohemian and the Protestant Reformations , the Thirty Years' War and in 20th-century history as the capital of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars and the post-war Communist era . Prague is home to a number of cultural attractions including Prague Castle , Charles Bridge , Old Town Square with

13420-403: Was dissolved in 1939, following the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany . A new DFC Prag was founded on 9 June 2016, in the tradition of the original club. The multi-national character of Austria-Hungary meant that footballers in the monarchy could find themselves playing in the leagues of Germany , Austria , Hungary or Bohemia. It was common for sports clubs to be founded based on

13542-544: Was on the bank opposite of the Staré Město ("Old Town"), which had borough status and was bordered by a line of walls and fortifications. Prague flourished during the 14th-century reign (1346–1378) of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and the king of Bohemia of the new Luxembourg dynasty . As King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, he transformed Prague into an imperial capital. In the 1470s, Prague had around 70,000 inhabitants and with an area of 360 ha (~1.4 square miles) it

13664-618: Was one of the most pro-Nazi regions of Nazi Germany. Because of their knowledge of the Czech language , many Sudeten Germans were employed in the administration of the ethnic Czech Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia as well as in Nazi organizations (Gestapo etc.). The most notable one was Karl Hermann Frank , the SS and police general and Secretary of State in the Protectorate. Nazi Germany occupied Sudetenland from 1938–1945. Shortly after

13786-558: Was reconstituted after World War II , the Sudeten Germans were expelled and the region today is inhabited almost exclusively by Czech speakers. The word Sudetenland is a German compound of Land , meaning "country", and Sudeten , the name of the Sudeten Mountains , which run along the northern Czech border and Lower Silesia (now in Poland ). The Sudetenland encompassed areas well beyond those mountains, however. Parts of

13908-569: Was settled as early as the Paleolithic age. Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz , citing Cyriacus Spangenberg , claimed that the city was founded as Boihaem in c.  1306 BC by an ancient king, Boyya. Around the fifth and fourth century BC, a Celtic tribe appeared in the area, later establishing settlements, including the largest Celtic oppidum in Bohemia , Závist, in a present-day south suburb Zbraslav in Prague, and naming

14030-693: Was situated in the southeast corner of the Letná Park . The stadium was completely demolished in 1939, to make place for the National Agricultural Museum  [ cs ] , which was constructed on the site in 1937–1939. The National Agricultural Museum still occupies the site today, with the National Technical Museum situated directly opposite. Prague Prague ( / ˈ p r ɑː ɡ / PRAHG ; Czech : Praha [ˈpraɦa] )

14152-604: Was that German, according to mother tongue, gradually became the primary and official language, while Czech declined to a secondary role in the Empire. In 1749, the Austrian Empire enforced German as the official language again. Emperor Joseph II in 1780 renounced the coronation ceremony as Bohemian king and unsuccessfully tried to push German through as sole official language in all Habsburg lands (including Hungary). Nevertheless, German cultural influence grew stronger during

14274-631: Was that the great centres of opposition were in Eger and Asch , in the northwestern corner of Bohemia, where about 800,000 Germans and very few others lived. Halifax said that the transfer of these areas to Germany would almost certainly be a good thing adding that the Czechoslovak army would certainly oppose that very strongly and that Beneš had said that it would fight, rather than accept it. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden on 15 September and agreed to

14396-483: Was the deadliest mass murder in the history of the Czech Republic. Prague is situated on the Vltava river. The Berounka flows into the Vltava in the suburbs of Lahovice . There are 99 watercourses in Prague with a total length of 340 km (210 mi). The longest streams are Rokytka and Botič. There are 3 reservoirs, 37 ponds, and 34 retention reservoirs and dry polders in the city. The largest pond

14518-457: Was the preferable choice of "a good deal of cautious middle-class" amongst Sudeten Germans. Silesian-Sudeten Germans were particularly pro-Czechoslovak, as they strongly preferred Czechoslovak rule to the prospect of becoming a part of Poland. According to the February 1921 census, 3,123,000 native German speakers lived in Czechoslovakia, 23.4% of the total population. The controversies between

14640-399: Was the result of a navigational mistake. In March, a deliberate raid targeted military factories in Prague, killing about 370 people. On 5 May 1945, two days before Germany capitulated, an uprising against Germany occurred. Several thousand Czechs were killed in four days of bloody street fighting, with many atrocities committed by both sides. At daybreak on 9 May, the 3rd Shock Army of

14762-582: Was the third-largest city in the Holy Roman Empire. Charles IV ordered the building of the New Town (Nové Město) adjacent to the Old Town and laid out the design himself. The Charles Bridge, replacing the Judith Bridge destroyed in the flood just prior to his reign, was erected to connect the east bank districts to the Malá Strana and castle area. In 1347, he founded Charles University ,

14884-538: Was to incorporate these Germans into Czechoslovakia. Several German minorities according to their mother tongue in Moravia, including German-speaking populations in Brno , Jihlava and Olomouc , also attempted to proclaim their union with German Austria. The Czechs thus rejected the aspirations of the German Bohemians and demanded the inclusion of the lands inhabited by ethnic Germans in their state, despite

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