Misplaced Pages

#498501

68-610: Poprad is the only large Slovak river flowing north into southern Poland. The river flows through the Slovak towns of Poprad , Kežmarok , Stará Ľubovňa , then forms for 31.1 km the Polish-Slovak border and flows through the Polish towns of Krynica-Zdrój , Muszyna , Piwniczna-Zdrój , Rytro , Stary Sącz , and Żegiestów , among others. The name is derived from a Proto-Slavic verb pręd- (to flow fast, to jump), preserved in

136-736: A Town Monument Reserve. A significant landmark there is the Church of St. George, with five late-Gothic side altars and a main altar from the workshop of Master Paul of Levoča . Modern places of interest include the Poprad-Tatry railway station and the AquaCity Poprad water park . Between 2003 and 2014, the mayor of Poprad was Anton Danko (former international ice-hockey referee). In the November 2014 municipal elections, he lost to Jozef Švagerko (KDH – Christian democrats). The city

204-538: A ban on professional employment, the refusal of higher education for the dissidents' children, police harassment and prison. During the 1980s, Czechoslovakia became one of the most tightly controlled Communist regimes in the Warsaw Pact in resistance to the mitigation of controls notified by Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev . In 1989, the Velvet Revolution restored democracy. This occurred around

272-627: A chance for many of their compatriots to participate in communal life before independence. Palacký supported Austro-Slavism and worked for a reorganized federal Austrian Empire , which would protect the Slavic speaking peoples of Central Europe against Russian and German threats. An advocate of democratic reform and Czech autonomy within Austria-Hungary, Masaryk was elected twice to the Reichsrat (Austrian Parliament), from 1891 to 1893 for

340-467: A major factor in the 1980s. Slightly after the foundation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, there was a lack of essential infrastructure in many areas – paved roads , railways , bridges , etc. Massive improvement in the following years enabled Czechoslovakia to develop its industry. Prague 's civil airport in Ruzyně became one of the most modern terminals in the world when it was finished in 1937. Tomáš Baťa ,

408-511: A political monopoly was held by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). The leader of the KSČ was de facto the most powerful person in the country during this period. Gustáv Husák was elected first secretary of the KSČ in 1969 (changed to general secretary in 1971) and president of Czechoslovakia in 1975. Other parties and organizations existed but functioned in subordinate roles to

476-648: A threat to German rule. Just like Jews, Poles, Serbs, and several other nations, Czechs were considered to be untermenschen by the Nazi state. In 1940, in a secret Nazi plan for the Germanization of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia it was declared that those considered to be of racially Mongoloid origin and the Czech intelligentsia were not to be Germanized. The deportation of Jews to concentration camps

544-777: A unified Czechoslovakia was restored after World War II (after the country had been divided during the war), the conflict between the Czechs and the Slovaks surfaced again. The governments of Czechoslovakia and other Central European nations deported ethnic Germans, reducing the presence of minorities in the nation. Most of the Jews had been killed during the war by the Nazis. Ethnicities of Czechoslovakia in 1921 Ethnicities of Czechoslovakia in 1930 *Jews identified themselves as Germans or Hungarians (and Jews only by religion not ethnicity),

612-591: Is twinned with: [REDACTED] Media related to Poprad at Wikimedia Commons Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( / ˌ tʃ ɛ k oʊ s l oʊ ˈ v æ k i . ə , ˈ tʃ ɛ k ə -, - s l ə -, - ˈ v ɑː -/ CHEK -oh-sloh- VAK -ee-ə, CHEK -ə-, -⁠slə-, -⁠ VAH - ; Czech and Slovak : Československo , Česko-Slovensko ) was a landlocked country in Central Europe , created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary . In 1938, after

680-545: Is a number of former and current ice hockey players in NHL who were born in Poprad. The city also hosted the 1994 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships , 1999 European Youth Olympic Winter Days , 2017 IIHF World U18 Championships and 1999 Winter Universiade . Every year the ice hockey Tatra Cup is held. There was also an unsuccessful bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics . There are many football stadiums in Poprad, however

748-520: Is concentrated around the St. Giles square ( Námestie svätého Egídia ), which is rimmed with houses predominantly from the 18th and 19th centuries. Churches in the city include the early-Gothic Catholic Church of St. Giles from the late 13th century and the classicist Luheran Church of Holy Trinity from the 19th century. Another historical area in Poprad is in Spišská Sobota , which was declared in 1953 to be

SECTION 10

#1732775350499

816-531: Is divided into six boroughs for the purpose of municipal administrative division: Poprad currently has one ice hockey club, HK Poprad who play at the Poprad Ice Stadium . Lev Poprad was another ice hockey club in Poprad, who used to play in the KHL for one season but was moved to the Czech capital, Prague, in 2012. Despite successful 2013/2014 seasons, club has ended due to financial problems. There

884-717: Is located in northeastern Slovakia, about 110 kilometres (68 mi) from Košice and 330 kilometres (205 mi) from Bratislava (by road). Poprad is situated on the Poprad River in the Sub-Tatra Basin , and is a gateway to the High Tatras . Mountain ranges around the city include the Levoča Hills in the east, Kozie chrbty in the south, and the Low Tatras in the southwest. The drainage divide between

952-560: Is represented by four grammar schools with 1,800 students, three specialized high schools with 1,566 students, and four vocational schools with 2,045 students (data as of 2007). Poprad is a gateway to the High Tatra mountain range, which is a popular tourist destination. The city lies on the main road ( E 50 ) and railway connecting western and eastern Slovakia. Poprad-Tatry railway station links Poprad with other major destinations on Slovakia's standard gauge rail network, and with

1020-631: The Black Sea and Baltic Sea lies a bit to the west, near the village of Štrba . Poprad lies in the north temperate zone and has a humid continental climate ( Köppen Dfb ) with four distinct seasons. It is characterized by a significant variation between warm summers and cold winters. Poprad has a population of 55,158 (as of December 31, 2005). According to the 2001 census, 94.1% of inhabitants were Slovaks , 2.1% Romani , 1% Czechs , 0.2% Hungarians , 0.2% Germans , 0.1% Rusyns , 0.1% Ukrainians , and 0.1% Poles . The oldest churches here are

1088-636: The Czech Republic . [REDACTED] Kingdom of Hungary 1256–1412 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Poland 1412–1569 [REDACTED] Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1569–1769 [REDACTED] Kingdom of Hungary 1769–1867 [REDACTED]   Austria-Hungary 1867–1918 [REDACTED]   Czechoslovakia 1918–1939 [REDACTED] Slovak Republic 1939–1945 [REDACTED]   Czechoslovakia 1945–1990 [REDACTED] Czech and Slovak Federative Republic 1990–1992 [REDACTED]   Slovak Republic 1993–present The territory

1156-473: The Kingdom of Hungary to the Kingdom of Poland , resulting in a strong Polish influence on the city's further development. In the 17th century, the number of Germans began to decline. Since 1918 this territory was placed under the control of Czechoslovakia . Poprad itself was for 690 years (up until 1946) just one of several neighbouring settlements, which currently make up the modern city. The other parts of

1224-570: The Munich Agreement , the Sudetenland became part of Nazi Germany , while the country lost further territories to Hungary and Poland (the territories of southern Slovakia with a predominantly Hungarian population to Hungary and Zaolzie with a predominantly Polish population to Poland). Between 1939 and 1945, the state ceased to exist, as Slovakia proclaimed its independence and Carpathian Ruthenia became part of Hungary , while

1292-664: The NSDAP in the December 1938 elections. Almost every decree explicitly stated that the sanctions did not apply to antifascists. Some 250,000 Germans, many married to Czechs, some antifascists, and also those required for the post-war reconstruction of the country, remained in Czechoslovakia. The Beneš Decrees still cause controversy among nationalist groups in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Hungary. Following

1360-531: The Poprad railway station . The first transport of about 1,000 Jewish girls and young women left Poprad on March 25, 1942 for Auschwitz-Birkenau . By the end of 1942, when the deportations stopped, over 58,000 Jews had been deported from Slovakia to German-occupied Poland via Poprad. Poprad was liberated on January 28, 1945 by troops of the Soviet 18th Army . The German population was expelled afterwards. After

1428-845: The Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession ( lutherans ). It also operates here: the Greek Catholic Church and Orthodox Church , Baptists , the Apostolic Church , Seventh-day Adventists , the Pentecostal Charismatic Church, and Jehovah's Witnesses . Poprad Veľká Spišská Sobota Matejovce Stráže pod Tatrami Kvetnica The historical centre

SECTION 20

#1732775350499

1496-590: The Slovak words priasť , pradenie (to spin, spinning ). This article related to a river in Slovakia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in Poland is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Poprad Poprad ( Slovak: [ˈpɔprat] ; Hungarian : Poprád ; German : Deutschendorf ) is a city in northern Slovakia at

1564-652: The Sudetenland . On 29 September 1938, Britain and France ceded control in the Appeasement at the Munich Conference ; France ignored the military alliance it had with Czechoslovakia. During October 1938, Nazi Germany occupied the Sudetenland border region, effectively crippling Czechoslovak defences. The First Vienna Award assigned a strip of southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia to Hungary. Poland occupied Zaolzie, an area whose population

1632-649: The Ukrainian SSR (a republic of the Soviet Union ). The Communist Party seized power in a coup in 1948 . From 1948 to 1989, Czechoslovakia was part of the Eastern Bloc with a planned economy . Its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949 and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of 1955. A period of political liberalization in 1968, the Prague Spring , ended when

1700-790: The Young Czech Party , and from 1907 to 1914 for the Czech Realist Party , which he had founded in 1889 with Karel Kramář and Josef Kaizl . During World War I a number of Czechs and Slovaks, the Czechoslovak Legions , fought with the Allies in France and Italy, while large numbers deserted to Russia in exchange for its support for the independence of Czechoslovakia from the Austrian Empire. With

1768-618: The autonomous regions of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Annexed by Hungary (1939–1945). ČSR; declared a "people's democracy" (without a formal name change) under the Ninth-of-May Constitution following the 1948 coup . ČSSR; from 1969, after the Prague Spring , consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic (ČSR) and Slovak Socialist Republic (SSR). Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR . Oblast of Ukraine . After World War II,

1836-855: The 1946 parliamentary election, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was the winner in the Czech lands , and the Democratic Party won in Slovakia. In February 1948 the Communists seized power . Although they would maintain the fiction of political pluralism through the existence of the National Front , except for a short period in the late 1960s (the Prague Spring ) the country had no liberal democracy . Since citizens lacked significant electoral methods of registering protest against government policies, periodically there were street protests that became violent. For example, there were riots in

1904-450: The 19th century, when philologists and educators, influenced by Romanticism , promoted the Czech language and pride in the Czech people . Nationalism became a mass movement in the second half of the 19th century. Taking advantage of the limited opportunities for participation in political life under Austrian rule, Czech leaders such as historian František Palacký (1798–1876) founded various patriotic, self-help organizations which provided

1972-586: The Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. There is no continental weather. The area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until it collapsed at the end of World War I . The new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He was succeeded by his close ally Edvard Beneš (1884–1948). The roots of Czech nationalism go back to

2040-607: The Czech intelligentsia; the intellectual elites and middle class made up a considerable number of the 200,000 people who passed through concentration camps and the 250,000 who died during German occupation. Under Generalplan Ost , it was assumed that around 50% of Czechs would be fit for Germanization . The Czech intellectual elites were to be removed not only from Czech territories but from Europe completely. The authors of Generalplan Ost believed it would be best if they emigrated overseas, as even in Siberia they were considered

2108-629: The Czechs of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia, German occupation was a period of brutal oppression. Czech losses resulting from political persecution and deaths in concentration camps totaled between 36,000 and 55,000. The Jewish populations of Bohemia and Moravia (118,000 according to the 1930 census) were virtually annihilated. Many Jews emigrated after 1939; more than 70,000 were killed; 8,000 survived at Terezín. Several thousand Jews managed to live in freedom or in hiding throughout

Poprad (river) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2176-545: The German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed in the remainder of the Czech Lands . In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II , former Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš formed a government-in-exile and sought recognition from the Allies . After World War II, Czechoslovakia was reestablished under its pre-1938 borders, with the exception of Carpathian Ruthenia, which became part of

2244-536: The German war effort was accelerated. Under the authority of Karl Hermann Frank , German minister of state for Bohemia and Moravia, some 350,000 Czech laborers were dispatched to the Reich. Within the protectorate, all non-war-related industry was prohibited. Most of the Czech population obeyed quiescently up until the final months preceding the end of the war, while thousands were involved in the resistance movement . For

2312-584: The Gulf War with a small force of 200 troops under the command of the U.S.-led coalition. In 1992, because of growing nationalist tensions in the government, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved by parliament. On 31 December 1992, it formally separated into two independent countries, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic . ČSR; boundaries and government established by the 1920 constitution . Annexed by Nazi Germany . ČSR; included

2380-751: The KSČ. All political parties, as well as numerous mass organizations, were grouped under umbrella of the National Front . Human rights activists and religious activists were severely repressed. Czechoslovakia had the following constitutions during its history (1918–1992): In the 1930s, the nation formed a military alliance with France, which collapsed in the Munich Agreement of 1938. After World War II , an active participant in Council for Mutual Economic Assistance ( Comecon ), Warsaw Pact , United Nations and its specialized agencies; signatory of conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe . Before World War II,

2448-604: The Slovaks, who were hostile to the more numerous Czechs, weakened the country in the late 1930s. Slovakia became autonomous in the fall of 1938, and by mid-1939, Slovakia had become independent, with the First Slovak Republic set up as a satellite state of Nazi Germany and the far-right Slovak People's Party in power . After 1933, Czechoslovakia remained the only democracy in central and eastern Europe. In September 1938, Adolf Hitler demanded control of

2516-553: The Soviet Union, assisted by other Warsaw Pact countries, invaded Czechoslovakia . In 1989, as Marxist–Leninist governments and communism were ending all over Central and Eastern Europe , Czechoslovaks peacefully deposed their communist government during the Velvet Revolution , which began on 17 November 1989 and ended 11 days later on 28 November when all of the top Communist leaders and Communist party itself resigned. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into

2584-502: The Soviet Union, gradually put the brakes on their earlier liberal policies. Meanwhile, one plank of the reform program had been carried out: in 1968–69, Czechoslovakia was turned into a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic . The theory was that under the federation, social and economic inequities between the Czech and Slovak halves of the state would be largely eliminated. A number of ministries, such as education, now became two formally equal bodies in

2652-563: The area until the late 19th century. Poprad gained importance at the expense of Spišská Sobota after the construction of the Košice–Bohumín Railway in 1871. In the following years, further railway lines were built: Poprad - Kežmarok in 1892 and Tatra Electric Railway in 1908. In 1942, during World War II , most of the transports of Jews to ghettos and concentration camps in German-occupied Poland were sent from

2720-476: The city. Poprad is also the starting point of the Tatra Electric Railway (known in Slovak as Tatranská elektrická železnica ), a set of special narrow-gauge trains (trams) connecting the resorts in the High Tatras with each other and with Poprad. Main line trains link Poprad to other destinations in Slovakia and beyond; in particular, there are through trains running from Poprad to Prague in

2788-427: The current municipality are Matejovce (German: Matzdorf ; Hungarian: Mateóc , first reference 1251), Spišská Sobota (German: Georgenberg ; Hungarian: Szepesszombat , 1256), Veľká (German/Hungarian: Felka , 1268), and Stráže pod Tatrami (German: Michelsdorf ; Hungarian: Strázsa , 1276). The most significant of these original towns was Georgenberg, now Spišská Sobota , which preserved its dominant position in

Poprad (river) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2856-503: The economy was about the fourth in all industrial countries in Europe. The state was based on strong economy, manufacturing cars ( Škoda , Tatra ), trams, aircraft ( Aero , Avia ), ships, ship engines ( Škoda ), cannons, shoes ( Baťa ), turbines, guns ( Zbrojovka Brno ). It was the industrial workshop for the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Slovak lands relied more heavily on agriculture than the Czech lands. After World War II,

2924-424: The economy was centrally planned, with command links controlled by the communist party, similarly to the Soviet Union . The large metallurgical industry was dependent on imports of iron and non-ferrous ores. After World War II, the country was short of energy, relying on imported crude oil and natural gas from the Soviet Union, domestic brown coal , and nuclear and hydroelectric energy . Energy constraints were

2992-553: The expulsion of the ethnic German population from Czechoslovakia, parts of the former Sudetenland , especially around Krnov and the surrounding villages of the Jesenik mountain region in northeastern Czechoslovakia, were settled in 1949 by Communist refugees from Northern Greece who had left their homeland as a result of the Greek Civil War . These Greeks made up a large proportion of the town and region's population until

3060-607: The foot of the High Tatra Mountains , famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vicinity of the High Tatra Mountains in both Slovakia and Poland , Poprad is the tenth largest city in Slovakia, with a population of approximately 50,000. The Poprad-Tatry Airport is an international airport located just outside

3128-417: The late 1980s/early 1990s. Although defined as "Greeks", the Greek Communist community of Krnov and the Jeseniky region actually consisted of an ethnically diverse population, including Greek Macedonians , Macedonians , Vlachs , Pontic Greeks and Turkish speaking Urums or Caucasus Greeks . Carpathian Ruthenia (Podkarpatská Rus) was occupied by (and in June 1945 formally ceded to) the Soviet Union. In

3196-495: The main one is NTC Poprad , home of FK Poprad founded in 1906 and the Slovakia national youth teams . The local women's basketball club is Basketbalová Akadémia Mládeže Poprad (BAMP). Their matches are played in Aréna Poprad . The arena also was one of the venues at the 2017 editions of the FIVB Volleyball World League . The city's system of primary education consists of 12 public schools, and one religious primary school, enrolling in total 5,464 pupils. Secondary education

3264-492: The most industrialized regions of the former Austria-Hungary. The new country was a multi-ethnic state, with Czechs and Slovaks as constituent peoples . The population consisted of Czechs (51%), Slovaks (16%), Germans (22%), Hungarians (5%) and Rusyns (4%). Many of the Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians and Poles and some Slovaks, felt oppressed because the political elite did not generally allow political autonomy for minority ethnic groups. This policy led to unrest among

3332-406: The mountains via the metre gauge Tatra Electric Railway . The direct trains SuperCity Pendolino connects Poprad with Prague . International Poprad–Tatry Airport from 1938, is an airport with the highest elevation in Central Europe. It also offers scheduled flights to London. Lines: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 Lines: 183 , 185 Poprad

3400-428: The non-Czech population, particularly in German-speaking Sudetenland , which initially had proclaimed itself part of the Republic of German-Austria in accordance with the self-determination principle. The state proclaimed the official ideology that there were no separate Czech and Slovak nations, but only one nation of Czechoslovaks (see Czechoslovakism ), to the disagreement of Slovaks and other ethnic groups. Once

3468-428: The occupation. Despite the estimated 136,000 deaths at the hands of the Nazi regime, the population in the Reichsprotektorate saw a net increase during the war years of approximately 250,000 in line with an increased birth rate. On 6 May 1945, the third US Army of General Patton entered Plzeň from the south west. On 9 May 1945, Soviet Red Army troops entered Prague . After World War II, pre-war Czechoslovakia

SECTION 50

#1732775350499

3536-400: The occupations. In 1948, this provision was cancelled for the Hungarians, but only partially for the Germans. The government then confiscated the property of the Germans and expelled about 90% of the ethnic German population , over 2 million people. Those who remained were collectively accused of supporting the Nazis after the Munich Agreement , as 97.32% of Sudeten Germans had voted for

3604-408: The outbreak of World War I, Masaryk began working for Czech independence in a union with Slovakia. With Edvard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik , Masaryk visited several Western countries and won support from influential publicists. The Czechoslovak National Council was the main organization that advanced the claims for a Czechoslovak state. The Bohemian Kingdom ceased to exist in 1918 when it

3672-474: The preservation of the Soviet, socialist system and vowed to intervene in any state that sought to replace Marxism-Leninism with capitalism . In the week after the invasion, there was a spontaneous campaign of civil resistance against the occupation. This resistance involved a wide range of acts of non-cooperation and defiance: this was followed by a period in which the Czechoslovak Communist Party leadership, having been forced in Moscow to make concessions to

3740-434: The prime architect of the Czechoslovak-Romanian-Yugoslav alliance (the " Little Entente ", 1921–38) directed against Hungarian attempts to reclaim lost areas. Beneš worked closely with France. Far more dangerous was the German element, which after 1933 became allied with the Nazis in Germany. Czech-Slovak relations came to be a central issue in Czechoslovak politics during the 1930s. The increasing feeling of inferiority among

3808-501: The reformer Alexander Dubček was appointed to the key post of First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, there was a brief period of liberalization known as the Prague Spring . In response, after failing to persuade the Czechoslovak leaders to change course, five other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded . Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia on the night of 20–21 August 1968. Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev viewed this intervention as vital for

3876-417: The same time as the fall of communism in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany and Poland. The word "socialist" was removed from the country's full name on 29 March 1990 and replaced by "federal". Pope John Paul II made a papal visit to Czechoslovakia on 21 April 1990, hailing it as a symbolic step of reviving Christianity in the newly-formed post-communist state. Czechoslovakia participated in

3944-504: The sum is, therefore, more than 100%. During the period between the two world wars Czechoslovakia was a democratic state. The population was generally literate, and contained fewer alienated groups. The influence of these conditions was augmented by the political values of Czechoslovakia's leaders and the policies they adopted. Under Tomas Masaryk , Czech and Slovak politicians promoted progressive social and economic conditions that served to defuse discontent. Foreign minister Beneš became

4012-417: The town of Plzeň in 1953 , reflecting economic discontent. Police and army units put down the rebellion, and hundreds were injured but no one was killed. While its economy remained more advanced than those of its neighbors in Eastern Europe, Czechoslovakia grew increasingly economically weak relative to Western Europe. The currency reform of 1953 caused dissatisfaction among Czechoslovak laborers. To equalize

4080-403: The two sovereign states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia . The country was of generally irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands. The eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin. The weather is mild winters and mild summers. Influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west,

4148-445: The two formally equal republics. However, the centralized political control by the Czechoslovak Communist Party severely limited the effects of federalization. The 1970s saw the rise of the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia, represented among others by Václav Havel . The movement sought greater political participation and expression in the face of official disapproval, manifested in limitations on work activities, which went as far as

SECTION 60

#1732775350499

4216-410: The wage rate, Czechoslovaks had to turn in their old money for new at a decreased value. The banks also confiscated savings and bank deposits to control the amount of money in circulation. In the 1950s, Czechoslovakia experienced high economic growth (averaging 7% per year), which allowed for a substantial increase in wages and living standards, thus promoting the stability of the regime. In 1968, when

4284-517: The war, the neighbouring settlements were incorporated into Poprad: Spišská Sobota and Veľká in 1945, Stráže pod Tatry in 1960 and Matejovce in 1974. At that time, with the development of winter sports, Poprad became the starting point for expeditions to the High Tatras . In 1999, Poprad put in a bid to host the 2006 Winter Olympics , but lost to Turin , Italy. Poprad lies at an altitude of 672 metres (2,205 ft) above sea level and covers an area of 63 square kilometres (24.3 sq mi). It

4352-464: Was incorporated into Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was founded in October 1918, as one of the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I and as part of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . It consisted of the present day territories of Bohemia , Moravia , parts of Silesia making up present day Czech Republic , Slovakia , and a region of present-day Ukraine called Carpathian Ruthenia . Its territory included some of

4420-483: Was majority Polish, in October 1938. On 14 March 1939, the remainder ("rump") of Czechoslovakia was dismembered by the proclamation of the Slovak State , the next day the rest of Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied and annexed by Hungary, while the following day the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed. The eventual goal of the German state under Nazi leadership was to eradicate Czech nationality through assimilation, deportation, and extermination of

4488-404: Was organized under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich , and the fortress town of Terezín was made into a ghetto way station for Jewish families. On 4 June 1942 Heydrich died after being wounded by an assassin in Operation Anthropoid . Heydrich's successor, Colonel General Kurt Daluege , ordered mass arrests and executions and the destruction of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky . In 1943

4556-437: Was reestablished, with the exception of Sub carpathian Ruthenia , which was annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic . The Beneš decrees were promulgated concerning ethnic Germans (see Potsdam Agreement ) and ethnic Hungarians. Under the decrees, citizenship was abrogated for people of German and Hungarian ethnic origin who had accepted German or Hungarian citizenship during

4624-404: Was since the Migration Period inhabited by Slavic settlers. The first written record dates from March 16, 1256 in the deed of donation of the Hungarian King Bela IV. After the Mongol invasions in the 13th century it was colonized by German settlers and became the largely German town Deutschendorf meaning 'Germans' village'. From 1412 to 1770, as one of the Spis towns, Poprad was pawned by

#498501