Chrastava

Chrastava ( German Kratzau ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It belongs to the North Bohemian Okres Liberec and is located in 350 m above sea level. NN west of the Jizera Mountains at the confluence of Jeřice in the Lusatian Neisse.

• 5.1 Sons and daughters of the town
• 5.2 Other personalities

History

The city was probably built in the 13th century, had been invited as Přemysl Otakar II in the Czech borderland settlers from the surrounding area to upgrade this then desolate area. The first written mention of the town dates from 1352 under the name Craczauia. The first inhabitants were miners from the Saxon town of Pirna, who mined in the vicinity of copper, tin, lead, silver and gold.

In the 15th century Hussites occupied the city, which took from here forays into the Lausitz. Was gradually built up on both sides of the Jeřice a fortified settlement.

In the course of a new upswing of mining the place received its town charter in 1527. After changeful fate in the Thirty Years War, the cloth-making initiated an economic boom, which continued in industrialization. For the textile industry came of Mechanical Engineering ( textile machinery ). From the mid-19th century made ​​Kratzau a municipality in the district court or district Kratzau Reichenberg, where she was the seat of the district court.

During the Second World War Spreewerk Kratzau grenades were manufactured in the munitions factory. In this operating working prisoners and women from a container in the neighboring white churches subcamp of Gross-Rosen concentration camp.

Because of the Beneš decrees, most of the German population was expropriated in 1945 and sold.

The population declined 1945-1948 from 8,000 to only 3,000.

Population Development

Community structure

Chrastava consists of the districts Andělská Hora ( Engelberg ), Chrastava ( Kratzau ), Dolni Chrastava ( Unterkratzau ), Dolni Vítkov (low Wittig ), Horni Chrastava ( Oberkratzau ), Horni Vítkov ( Oberwittighausen ) Víska ( Kratzau - Neudörfel ) and Vysoká ( High village). Basic settlement units are Andělská Hora, Bílokostelecká, Dolni Vítkov, Horni Chrastava, Horni Vítkov, Chrastava - střed, Chrastavský Špičák Liberecká, Liberecká silnice, Na Hůrce, Na kopci, Sídliště Střelecký vrch, Střelecký vrch, U hřbitova, U nádrazí, Víska, Vítkovská - východ, Vítkovská -západ and Vysoká.

The municipality is divided into the Katastralbezirke Andělská Hora u Chrastavy, Dolni Chrastava, Dolni Vítkov, Horni Chrastava, Horni Vítkov, Chrastava I and II Chrastava

Attractions

• St Lawrence Church ( Kostel sv. Vavřince ) from the second half of the 19th century
• Führichhaus: birthplace of the painter Joseph of Fiihrich ( Rodný dum malíře Josefa Führicha ).
• Monument of the painter Josef Fiihrich in the park behind the church
• Fire Museum
• Curia Vitkov in Horni Vítkov

Twinning

• Eichstätt, Germany

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the town

• Wenzel Fiihrich (1768-1836), craftsmen and painters
• Valentine of Seven Eicher (1783-1861), an Austrian officer
• Joseph of Fiihrich (1800-1876), painter
• Damian Karl Schroff (1802-1887), physician, professor and rector of the University of Vienna
• Gustav Kratz man (1812-1902), painter
• Wilhelm Kandler (1816-1896), painter
• Franz Josef Schütky ( Řídký ) ( 1817-1893 ), opera singer and composer, 40 years in Stuttgart
• Richard Placht (1880-1962), German sculptor and medalist
• Willi Sitte (1921-2013), German painter
• Rudolf custom (1922-2009), German sculptor, painter, graphic artist and ceramist
• Erwin Pohl (1914-2013), German reverse glass artist, Furth im Wald

Other personalities

The Austrian Federal President Theodor Körner (1873-1957) grew up in the city.