Ostrava and Related Topics

Czech Silesia

Part of the historical region of Silesia now in the Czech Republic.

Czech Silesia now lies across several of the northern regions

With the city of Ostrava roughly in its geographic center, the area comprises much of the modern region of Moravian-Silesia (save for its southern edges) and, in its far west, a small part of the Olomouc Region around the city of Jeseník.

Bohumín

Town in Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic.

Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Bohumín lies on the border with Poland in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia, about 5 km north of Ostrava.

Opava (river)

River in the north-eastern Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Oder river.

It originates at the confluence of Bílá (White), Střední (Middle) and Černá (Black) Opava in Vrbno pod Pradědem and runs over 110 km (69 mi) to the Oder at Ostrava, with some 25 km (16 mi) forming the border with Poland.

Silesia

Historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in Czechia and Germany.

Silesia in the early period of Poland's fragmentation, 1172–1177, Lower Silesia with Lubusz Land in orange, Upper Silesia in green and yellow

Battle of Legnica (1241) during the First Mongol invasion of Poland

Lands of the Bohemian Crown between 1635 and 1742, before most of Silesia was ceded to Prussia

Typical Silesian baroque architecture in Wrocław

First map of Silesia by Martin Helwig, 1561; north at the bottom

Bolesław Śmiały Coal Mine, Łaziska Górne

Polish names of Silesian cities, from a 1750 Prussian official document published in Berlin during the Silesian Wars

Confessions in the German Empire (Protestant/Catholic; c. 1890). Lower Silesia was mostly Protestant, while Glatz (Kłodzko) and Upper Silesia were mostly Catholic.

Coat of arms of the Prussian province of Upper Silesia (1919–1938 and 1941–1945)

Coat of arms of the Silesian Voivodeship

The coat of arms of the Opolskie Voivodeship

Coat of arms of Austrian Silesia (1742–1918)

Prussian province of Lower Silesia (1919–1938 and 1941–1945)

Coat of arms of the Lower Silesia Voivodeship

Flag of Prussian Upper Silesia province (1919–1938 and 1941–1945)

Flag of the Austrian Silesia (1742–1918), and Czech Silesia

Flag of Prussian Lower Silesia province (1919–1938 and 1941–1945)

Muskau Park, Łęknica and Bad Muskau<ref>Łęknica and Bad Muskau were considered part of Silesia in years 1815–1945.</ref>

Parts of the Czech city of Ostrava and the German city of Görlitz are within Silesia's borders.

A gold medal awarded at the 2001 Championships

Ice Hockey World Championships

Annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation .

The gold medal-winning Winnipeg Falcons (representing Canada) en route to the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Finland national team at the 1939 World Championships

A gold medal won by Czechoslovakia (1947)

Jersey of Canada's 1952 World Champion / Olympic Gold Medal team, the Edmonton Mercurys

The final game at the 1957 World Championships in Moscow was played at the Luzhniki Stadium. It was attended by at least 50,000 people, a tournament record until 2010.

The game between Canada and the Soviet Union at the 1954 World Championships, which the Soviets won 7–2.

In 1962, David Bauer established a national team made up of Canada's top amateur players.

Vladislav Tretiak is one of two players (Alexander Ragulin being the other) to win ten World Championships.

Soviet forward Igor Larionov won four World Championships before departing to play in the NHL in 1989.

Alexander Semin scores a goal in the gold medal game between Canada and Russia at the 2008 World Championships.

The Czech ice hockey world champions at Old Town Square (2010)

Members of the 2008 World Champion Russian team with President Dmitry Medvedev.

Timing of annual Champion Group tournament

A game between Canada and Sweden during the 1928 Winter Olympics.

The 2015 World Championship, held in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic, was the most successful to date in terms of overall attendance; it was visited by 741,690 people and average attendance was at 11,589.

Ostravice (river)

River in Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic.

It originates in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids and then flows through Ostravice, Frýdlant nad Ostravicí, Frýdek-Místek and Paskov to Ostrava where it enters the Oder as its right tributary.

Czech Republic

Landlocked country in Central Europe.

The Crown of Bohemia within the Holy Roman Empire (1600). The Czech lands were part of the Empire in 1002–1806, and Prague was the imperial seat in 1346–1437 and 1583–1611.

Battle between Hussites and crusaders during the Hussite Wars; Jena Codex, 15th century

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague marked the beginning of the Bohemian Revolt against the Habsburgs and therefore the first phase of the Thirty Years' War.

The First Czechoslovak Republic comprised 27% of the population of the former Austria-Hungary and nearly 80% of the industry.

Prague during the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

Václav Havel, one of the most important figures in the history of the 20th century. Leader of the Velvet Revolution, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic.

The Chamber of Deputies, lower house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic

Interior of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic in Brno

Visa-free entry countries for Czech citizens in green, EU in blue (see citizenship of the European Union)

General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic in Prague

Real GPD per capita development the Czech Republic 1973 to 2018

The Czech Republic is part of the European Single Market and the Schengen Area, but uses its own currency, the Czech koruna.

Founders and owners of the antivirus group Avast

Chemist Jaroslav Heyrovský, Nobel Prize winner

Eli Beamlines Science Center with the most powerful laser in the world in Dolní Břežany

Saint Wenceslaus, patron saint of the Czech lands

The oldest part of Charles University, founded in 1348

Czech artists developed a distinct cubist style in architecture and applied arts. It later evolved into national Czechoslovak style, rondocubism.

American poster of Karel Zeman's 1958 film A Deadly Invention

A mug of Pilsner Urquell, the first pilsner type of pale lager beer, brewed since 1842

The capital and largest city is Prague; other major cities and urban areas include Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň and Liberec.

Demonstration of 25 November 1989 in Prague.

Velvet Revolution

Non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989.

Memorial of the student demonstrations of 17 November, in Prague

Memorial of the Velvet revolution in Bratislava (Námestie SNP), Slovakia:
Only those who struggle for their freedom are worthy of it.'
At this place in November 1989 we decided to take our responsibility for the future into our own hands. We decided to put an end to communism and to establish freedom and democracy."

People on the Wenceslas Square in Prague

A statue of Saint Adalbert of Prague with a streamer and banners

25 November, people flow from the Prague cathedral (where ended a mass in honour of canonisation of Agnes of Bohemia) and from the metro station Hradčanská to Letná Plain.

"To the general secretary – a general strike!!!" An appeal with portrait of Miloš Jakeš, who resigned on 24 November

21st anniversary of the Velvet Revolution – former President Václav Havel (right, with flowers) at the Memorial at Národní Street in Prague

Václav Havel honouring the deaths of those who took part in the Prague protest.

Non-violent protesters with flowers face armed policemen

Theatres in Bratislava, Brno, Ostrava and other towns went on strike.

Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)

The military occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany began with the German annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938, continued with the creation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and by the end of 1944 extended to all parts of Czechoslovakia.

From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, and Ciano pictured before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany

Edvard Beneš, the second President of Czechoslovakia and leader of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile.

Ethnic Germans in Saaz, Sudetenland, greet German soldiers with the Nazi salute, 1938

The partition of Czechoslovakia. First Vienna Award in red.

Hácha, Hitler and Göring meeting in Berlin, 14/15 March 1939

First German poster in Prague, 15 March 1939. English translation: "Notice to the population. By order of the Führer and Supreme Commander of the German Wehrmacht. I have taken over, as of today, the executive power in the Province of Bohemia. Headquarters, Prague, 15 March 1939. Commander, 3rd Army, Blaskowitz, General of infantry." The Czech translation includes numerous grammatical errors (possibly intentionally, as a form of disdain).

Viktor Pick's 1939 visa used to escape Prague on the last train out on 15 March. Later, he arrived safely in British Palestine.

First issue of a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 1 koruna note (1939). An unissued series of 1938 Republic of Czechoslovakia notes were marked with an identifying oval stamp on the front left side until regular issue could be circulated.

The relatives of Czech paratroopers Jan Kubiš and Josef Valčík and their fellows in total 254 people were executed en masse on 24 October 1942 in Mauthausen concentration camp.

The names of executed Czechs, 21 October 1944

Reward poster for Josef Valčík, one of the assassins of Reinhard Heydrich.

Residents of Prague greet the Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Konev.

Demarcation line between the Soviet and American armies, May 1945

Sudeten Germans are forced to walk past the bodies of 30 Jewish women starved to death by German SS troops

Intent on obstructing conciliation, however, the SdP held demonstrations that provoked the police in Ostrava on 7 September.

Oder

River in Central Europe.

Oder in Wrocław, overlooking Ostrów Tumski - Cathedral Island

The Oder dividing Poland and Germany seen from the Polish side near Kostrzyn nad Odrą

Estuary of the Lusatian Neisse into the Oder

The Oder in Szczecin, Poland, flows along the banks of the Old Town and the Ducal Castle

Łarpia, a left distributary of the Oder in Police, Poland

Ostrava – Bohumín – Racibórz – Kędzierzyn-Koźle – Krapkowice – Opole – Brzeg – Oława – Jelcz-Laskowice – Wrocław – Brzeg Dolny – Ścinawa – Szlichtyngowa – Głogów – Bytom Odrzański – Nowa Sól – Zielona Góra – Krosno Odrzańskie – Eisenhüttenstadt – Frankfurt (Oder) – Słubice – Lebus – Kostrzyn – Cedynia – Schwedt – Gartz – Gryfino – Szczecin – Police