Free Republic of Schwarzenberg

Free Republic of Schwarzenberg is the commonly used until decades after the underlying events has become a term for after the capitulation of the Wehrmacht on 8 May 1945 unoccupied for 42 days German territory in the Saxon part of the Ore Mountains.

Emergence of the concept

The name Free Republic of Schwarzenberg is derived from the name " Republic of Schwarzenberg ", the writer Stefan Heym in 1984 first used in his novel Black Mountain for the area, and was founded in 1990 by the sculptor Jörg Beier of the Schwarzenberg artist group zone under the immediate impression of the events of the German reunification marked.

Historical Background

During the last days of World War II in early 1945 remained after the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht on 8 May 1945, the district of Schwarzenberg in the Ore Mountains and parts of the district Stollberg vacant for six weeks. Neither American nor Soviet troops occupied the area, which was mainly controlled by patrols stationed in neighboring Vogtland 347th U.S. Infantry Regiment.

About the reason that the moment was not a direct occupation of the Allies, there are several theories and speculations. It is clear that was not, as described in Heym's fictional novel, decided the fate of the people in the area by the toss of a coin. In the population of West Saxony circulated 1945 version that, after consultation with the Soviets, the Americans should advance to the river Mulde. However, since there are three wells ( the Mulde and the Freiberger Mulde unite into the well), either come here to create confusion. This assumption is ( The Office, 1978, Gütersloh Bertelsmann ) also supported by information provided by the future President of the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution, Günther Nollau ( 1911-1991 ), in his memoirs. Nollau was then staying with his family near Rochlitz on an estate on the river Mulde on.

Other speculations say that the circle was simply forgotten. Another variation tells of a supposedly intended replacement of the Ore uranium area to Johann George Town and Schlema ( " bismuth " ) against parts of Berlin. No evidence exists for the version of a negotiation between Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz and the Americans in Bern in the U.S. should have agreed on 12 April 1945, to allow the affected area unoccupied by German troops in Bohemia a retreat with the aim to offer to go to American held in Soviet captivity. ( Doenitz himself has not left his headquarters at the Naval Academy Mürwik near Flensburg at this time, and the German troops of the XII. Army corps of the Armed Forces under General Herbert Osterfeld from the room Karlovy Vary, Cheb, Plzeň could swiftly to the American associations in May 1945 in Upper Franconia and in Vogtland, where a large reception camp of the U.S. Army was established in Muldenberg pass over. units with the III. U.S. Army Panzer General George S. Patton designed by mid- May 1945 alone, 200 German generals down arms. )

After May 9, 1945 were formed in many of the 21 unoccupied towns and villages antifascist action committees. The gradual occupation of the district by Soviet troops took place at the time of the constitution of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD ) in Berlin on 9 June 1945 in accordance with the definition of the zone limits according to at the Yalta Conference and the 1st zone Conventions of 12 September 1944 contemporaneous agreements of the Allies. The Americans withdrew as agreed by July 1, 1945 from the West Saxon territories to Bavaria back. On June 24, 1945, the Soviet commander issued in Schwarzenberg decree dissolving all action committees. The members of the Schwarzenberg Action Committee were confirmed in the public offices occupied by them (eg, the mayor). Some retained their functions until after the founding of the GDR.

Witnesses like the later journalist and writer Helmar Meinel, who was then taken as a knowledgeable local auxiliary interpreters of the Americans on two patrols in the area, and former players unanimously report that the establishment of a " Republic of Schwarzenberg " not even then in the approach to the debate was as there had been no efforts to create its own constitution or currency. " Were asked neither the dollar, the ruble or the old Reichsmark. The monetary unit was a rod American cigarettes or one pound of salt, "says Meinel recalls. The action committees that have multiple requests to the occupation of non-performing and completely cut off the area, both the Americans and the Soviets, it was all about providing the population with food and the maintenance of security and order.

Others

The Schwarzenberger group of artists Zone offers the internet and also for visitors to the location of forms for a residence permit, naturalization and a passport. The " European passport of the Free Republic of Schwarzenberg " carries along the lines of the European flag as a symbol of 12 stars.