Horní Suchá
| Horní Suchá Sucha Górna | |||
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| Village | |||
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| Coordinates: 49°47′51″N 18°29′7″E / 49.79750°N 18.48528°E | |||
| Country | Czech Republic | ||
| Region | Moravian-Silesian | ||
| District | Karviná | ||
| First mentioned | 1305 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Jan Lipner | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 9.79 km2 (3.78 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 280 m (920 ft) | ||
| Population (2010) | |||
| • Total | 4,533 | ||
| • Density | 460/km2 (1,200/sq mi) | ||
| Postal code | 735 35 | ||
| Website | http://www.hornisucha.cz/ | ||
Horní Suchá (help·info) (Polish: Sucha Górna , Cieszyn Silesian: Górno Sucho , German: Ober Suchau) is a village in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has 4,536 inhabitants (2010), and Poles form 17.1% of the population.[1]
History
The village was founded by Polish monks from the Order of Saint Benedict. The first written document about Horní Suchá was in 1305. The prince-bishop Henryk z Wierzbnej from Wrocław ordered a written list of villages which were under obligation to pay taxes. This list mentioned "both Suchá". The inhabitants were under the administration of Silesian Piasts who owned the village until 1471. The administration of the village was changing many times then - the owners were various Polish and German families (for example, Melichar Przyznar obtained the village in 1536). The north part of the village was obtained by Johann von Larisch-Mönnich, a member of House of Larish-Mönnich. The south part of the village was obtained by this house in 1835 as well.
The development of the village continued in 19th century - especially agriculture and industry buildings. This century is connected with the House of Larisch-Mönnich, who kept many business activities here. The sugar refinery, which was the most advanced one in middle Europe and the Austrian Empire at that time, was built between 1832 and 1833. The sugar refinery was closed down in 1873. The brickyard was founded in 1910 and carried on until 1928. The factory was closed down in the 1970s. The František Mine was founded in 1911. Thanks to the mine, the village experienced rapid development in the 20th century.
Between 1914 and 1945
After the first world war, the west part of Cieszyn Silesia became part of Czechoslovakia. Because the most of population were Poles, there were national problems. The era between the first and second world war was connected with rapid development in the village. The presbytery, school buildings and many houses were built. Due to the Great depression, there were large dismissals at František mine. Unions prepared many strikes and protests. The most important strike was in 1932. Dismissals and cut of wages caused a fall of standard of life of miners and their families. This strike action lasted from March 29 to April 1, 1932. The workers wanted to hold the meeting in house of workers, however they were scattered by police. People moved into wood "Chrost" and then to the "Penzijní buildings". There were confrontations with police here and the crowd threw stones at the police and ones shot. Due to the shooting, one policeman was wounded. The police started to shoot back and two people were seriously injured. The miner Władysłav Karwinski died.
Horní Suchá was annexed by Poland after the Munich agreement. Horní Sucha as well as Prostřední Suchá and Dolní Suchá were overrun by the Polish army. The village was visited by Polish president Ignacy Mościcki. During the Polish occupation, the Czechs were discriminated against. Citizenship was give only to Poles and long-term inhabitants. Many Czechs left the village.
The Polish administration left the village after the German attack on Poland. After the German occupation, Horní Suchá was part of the Province of Upper Silesia (Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz). All Horní Suchá, Prostřední Suchá and Dolní Suchá were united into one administrative unit Sucha. The František mine was the point of interest of Nazi German administration. The mining had exceeded the maximal limits many times during the war. The Soviet prisoners of war were used for mining. These prisoners had to live in very hard conditions. The inhabitants tried to support them especially due to delivering of food.
People from Horní Suchá were involved in the resistance movement. Especially the Polish resistance movement was very active. Some people fought in west or east Czechoslovak forces. Due to the actions of resistance movement suffered the people of counter-measures. 26 inhabitants were arrested and sent to concentrations camps after partisans' attack on an German newcomer in 1944. Due to the attack in Životice, 36 people were killed on August 6, 1944. Some of them were from Horní Suchá. In 1945, miners from Mine František were executed in front of the mine.
The percentage of individual nationalities were influenced due to introduction of Silesian nationality. This nationality was the first step for Germanisation. People with Polish nationality were persecuted, the Czech nationality could be recognised only for people who proved the relations with people in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia. The Jews had to leave the village during the war.
The village was liberated by the Red Army on May 3, 1945.
From 1945 until 1989
The political situation was more stable in the village.
The interest of all levels of government directed on František mine. The mine became the most important object in the village. Most of inhabitants were employed here and the organization arranged many cultural and events for society. Because of growth of the mine, there were not enough houses for all the employees in the village (there were 5298 inhabitants in the village in 1961). Due to the lack of houses, new parts of village were built - the old Finnish houses and new Finnish houses colony and later a small housing estate "Chrost"). There were built a new mine in the east part of the village after 1957 - 9. květen mine. Due to the mining, the north parts of the village (Podlesí and Paseky) were destroyed and the houses were demolished.
New buildings of Czech school and kindergarten were put up. Horní Suchá was united with the neighbouring city Havířov - Horní Suchá became part 6 of the city. There was built a new concrete headframe.
After 1989
The political environment changed dramatically in 1989 and this change influenced development in the village as well. The village separated from Havířov on the basis of the plebiscite in 1990. In the 90's and the 00's, there was large investment in the village. In area of schools, there was built a new canteen for Czech new school (1992), building of old Czech school was repaired (1995 - 1996), a new floor of the Czech school was built in 1997 and a new sport arena (a gym) in 2004. There were repairs in infrastructure (roads, pavements, gas-network for all the village in the early 1990s). There were built new houses for old people. New flats were built in the attic of the "yellow school" for Polish students in 2007. After this year, the Polish school and kindergarten were situated into one building. The rail station was repaired in this year as well. The housing estate "Chrost" was revitalised in 2008 and the pavements and roads in cemetery were repaired. The another investment were realized in the late 2000s - the bridges were repaired and a new sport playground for the Czech school was totally repaired.
Mayors of Horní Suchá
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From 1864 until 1939
- Józef Dostal (1864 – 1873)
- Józef Paździora (1873 – 1890)
- Jan Faja (1890 – 1897)
- Jan Krzystek (1897 – 1914)
- Franciszek Siwek (1914 – 1920)
- Karol Mucha (1920)
- Vavřinec Glazer ( 1921 – 1923)
- Vincenty Potysz (1923 – 1930)
- Alojzy Sznapka (1931)
- Adolf Guziur (1931 – 1937)
- Alojzy Sznapka (1938 – 1939)
From 1938 until 1975 (chronologically)
- Alojzy Sznapka (mayor before and within Polish annexation)
- Rober Böhm (German commissar)
- Leo Stachura (German commissar, since April 1, 1941 commissar for united villages Horní, Prostřední a Dolní Suchá)
- František Knecht (post-war mayor)
- Josef Galuszka
- Josef Pawlas
- Jan Prokop
- Karel Heller
- Bohumil Pawlas
- Jan Kupka
- Jan Buba
- Wincenty Zyder
From 1975 until 1990 was Horní Suchá part of Havířov
Since 1990
- Miloš Müller (1990 – 1991)
- Karol Siwek (1991 – 1999)
- Jan Lipner (1999 – present)
Current economic situation
Because of the closure of František Mine, there is high unemployment in the village. The mine was the most important economic activity in the village for almost one hundred years. The mine was united with Dukla Mine and Lazy Mine in 1995. The headquarters was situated at Lazy Mine. The area in Horní Suchá became only a plant. Because of negative cost-effectiveness, it was decided to close the plant in Horní Suchá. This closure was finalized in 1999. The steel headframes were demolished, the concrete headframe remained.
There are many companies currently operating in village. For example, befra electronic, s.r.o., member of Munz-Magenwirth Gruppe (electrical engineering), Lichtgitter CZ spol. s r. o., member of Lichtgitter GmbH (iron and steel frames and trelliswork), Advanced World Transport, HORNSTAV CZ s.r.o. (building company), Depos Horní Suchá, a.s. (dealing with waste). After an industry centre opened in the place of former František Mine, unemployment decreased by 10%. The current unemployment is 19.9% (as of March 2010).
Education in the village
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The first school in Horní Suchá was founded in 1810 due to the church officials activity. The new building of the school was put up in 1838 because of the poor conditions of the original building. This new building is currently used as municipality. The school had only one class until 1869; after this year, there were two classes. The education language changed in 1870 - Polish was a compulsory language for education, Czech and Moravian language were voluntary ones. The German language became obligatory in the 1880s and began to replace the Czech language. The new building was built in 1904 ("red school building") and the Polish school was placed here.
The Czech school was reopened after the first world war in school year 1921/1922 - the elementary school. The new building of Czech school was opened in school year 1926/1927 (the so-called "old school building", the current police station). The second level of elementary school was opened in the village in the school year 1927/1928. Both levels of the school used the same building. After 1938, the Czech schools were closed. Education was provided by Polish and later by German schools.
Czech schools after 1945
The Czech schools were re-open after the second world war. The first level of elementary school was located in the "old school building", the second level in the "yellow school building" (in Polish - Wydziałówka). The new building for kindergarten was put up in 1947 in Podolkovice (currently the retirement home).
The reform of the education system in 1953 unitized the first and second level of the elementary school. Because of growth of pupils in the village, the new building was put up at Těrlická street. This building was opened as of January 26, 1961. The classes took place in both the "old school building" and the "new school building" after this year. The investments were realized in the new building especially. The old building was repaired between 1976 and 1977. The old school building was damaged due to the mining activity in the 1980s.
The kindergarten in Podolkovice, which housed both Czech and Polish kindergartens, was closed in 1991. The new dining room in new school building was opened in the school year 1993/1994 and there was large re-construction of the old school building between 1994-1996. The new school building was reconstructed in 1997 and a new floor was added. The Czech school has used only the new school building since the school year 1997/1998.
Directors of Czech school
- Jaroslav Bořucký (1953 – 1967)
- Jan Jiříček (1967 – 1970)
- Jiřina Urbanczyková (1970 – 1978)
- Věra Erbanová (1978 – 1980)
- Karla Wichrová (1980 – 2003)
- Jaromír Zelníček (2003 – 2009)
- Ilona Chalupová (2009 – )
Polish schools after 1945
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The development of Polish schools was not as rapid as Czech ones after 1945. This was due to the falling rate of Polish inhabitants in the village. Due to the economic development, especially at František Mine, many new residents from all the parts of Czechoslovakia came to the village. The Polish school had to share buildings with the Czech school until 1961. After opening the new building of Czech school, the situation changed - the Polish schools used the "red" and "yellow" school buildings. The local Polish school became "universal" in 1982 - the schooling in Polish language is done for the other villages in the neighbourhood caused descending rate of Polish inhabitants in Silesia. The negative trend has continues to this day.
There were investments into Polish schools after 1989 - the gym and all the building were repaired, a new computer classroom was built. The Polish schools have been under the municipality of Horní Suchá since 2001.
Religion
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The majority of people in Horní Suchá are atheist. The Catholic Church is the largest church (34.1% of inhabitants of village according to the 2001 census). There are members of Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession and Církev bratrská. There is a local Catholic parish founded in 1867, currently part of Roman Catholic Diocese of Ostrava-Opava. The church of Saint Joseph was built in 1864. There is not a church of Slezské církve evangelické augsburského vyznání in Horní Suchá, the members visit the church in Prostřední Suchá. The church of církve bratrské in part Kouty.
Volunteer fire department
Count Larisch founded the first fire department in 1833. The members were workers from the sugar factory and the department closed in 1873.
The new fire department was re-founded in 1903. The initiator was local mayor Jan Krzystek. There were 36 first members of the department and all the equipment was bought from presents. The department was integrated into Polish fire department organization. The fire hall was open in 1936. The Czech fire department was founded in 1936.
The department declined in the time of World War II. The fire hall was sold, the equipment was confiscated. The Polish department was re-opened in 1945. First fire practise was realized on August 11, 1945. The Czech department used the Polish fire hall. Both Czech and Polish departments were united in 1948. The fire department founded its own band, competition section etc. The fire hall was repaired in 1974. After uniting Horní Suchá with Havířov, the fire department was united with Havířov's one as well. The independent fire department was re-opened in 1990.
Notable people
- Vavřinec Glaser - important physician and philanthropist
- Marie Glázrová - Czech actress, daughter of Vavřinec Galzer
- Bronislav Poloczek - Czech actor with Polish ancestors
- Tadeusz Michejda - Polish physician and politician (running practice in Horní Suchá)
- Ota Zaremba - Olympic gold medallist (1980)
Parts of Horní Suchá
- "Těšiňok" - east part of valley
- "Dědina" (today "Centrum") - centre part of village (school, church, chateau).
- "Paseky" - name comes from bee's beehives. Part was destroyed by mining
- "Podlesí" - north-western part, destroyed by mining.
- "Podolkovice" - new part, south-western location, residential part
- "Kouty" - new part, south-eastern location, residential part
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Gelnica is twinned with:
Footnotes
- ↑ Czech Statistical Office. "2011 census data". Czech Statistical Office.
References
- Londzin, Józef (1932). Kościoły drewniane na Śląsku Cieszyńskim. Cieszyn: Dziedzictwo błog. Jana Sarkandra. pp. 356–360. OCLC 297540848.
External links
- (Czech) Official website
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Horní Suchá. |
- This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on the Czech Wikipedia.
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Coordinates: 49°47′51″N 18°29′7″E / 49.79750°N 18.48528°E