Sedlčany

a town partially displaced during WW2 · Jateční 234, 264 01 Sedlčany, Czech Republic

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The Displacement of Sedlčany Town

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“When we entered this year, none of the inhabitants of Sedlčany town had surely expected, what fate we were about to suffer this year. (…) No one had imagined that it would be possible to expropriate sixty thousand hectares of land and silently displace the inhabitants of the area without people in other parts of the country hardly noticing it. It is almost unbelievable.” That is how the chronicler Jan Pavelka described the surprise of the inhabitants of the then district town Sedlčany in 1943, when they gradually started to find out from public notices that their houses would be expropriated and given to German families. The inhabitants either had to move to a specially designated part of the town, or to leave the town for good and move out of the occupied area. The inhabitants were displaced because since August 1943 Sedlčany were situated in the area that was designated as a combat exercise area for the Waffen-SS and the soldiers were accommodated in the town. Among the people who had to move out of their own house was also the family of Vlasta Moravcová. After finishing the elementary school in 1944, Mrs. Moravcová could not enter apprenticeship but instead, she had to start serving German soldiers in the local canteen. People, who provided various services, and were thus useful to the German army, were allowed to remain in the area. However, their freedom of movement around the city and between the surrounding villages was limited. “When you go in the direction to Příbram, you pass a barrier crossing. A German soldier was always standing there and people without their ‘Ausweiss’ were simply not allowed to enter the area,” recalls Vlasta Moravcová. Yet, according to her, the coexistence with the Germans was peaceful. “They behaved properly. We ignored them and they ignored us as well.” Even the departure of the German soldiers in May 1945 was peaceful. While in the other parts of the country, the end of the war was accompanied by atrocities and revenge, the departure of the SS soldiers from Sedlčany was fast and conflict-free.

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Military Combat Exercise Areas in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

The extensive displacement operation that also included the town of Sedlčany was part of a bigger Nazi plan of Germanization of Bohemia and Moravia. The displacement operation was supposed to commence by creation of the so called “German Land Bridge” between Litoměřice and Prague. The next step was supposed to be the creation of German areas around Brno, Olomouc and Jihlava. The aim was to divide the Czech population into smaller parts that could later be absorbed by the German element. These Germanization plans were carried into effect by firstly enlarging the already existing military combat exercise areas in Milovice and Brdy. The second step, implemented in 1942, was a displacement operation of unprecedented extent – a total number of 65 villages and towns in the districts of Benešov, Neveklov and Sedlčany were gradually displaced, and the areas were designated as combat exercise areas for Waffen-SS. The same operation was also carried out in Moravia – there, a total number of 33 villages and towns were displaced in the districts of Boskovice, Prostějov and Vyškov from 1941 to 1945. The displacement operation was carried out by SS divisions, resettlement office, German resettlement office (Ansiedlungsgesellschaft) and Land Office for Bohemia and Moravia established in April 1942. The needed land was taken under the conditions set out in Act No. 63/1935 on expropriation for the purposes of state defence. However, the establishment of military combat exercise areas was in fact a mere pretext for seizing Czech land, gaining control of Czech agricultural sector and farmers, and thus for successful completion of the Germanization process. The military combat exercise area on the right bank of the Vltava River was to be connected to the areas in Příbram and Dobříš districts, but the events unfolding on the battle fields prevented the Nazis from full scale implementation of their plans.

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Sedlčany

Available in: English | Česky

The former political district of Sedlčany was an area which contained a Nazi military training camp (SS-Truppenübungsplatz Böhmen) and where part of the inhabitants were deported. This was also the case of Neveklov District, Benešov District and the area around Milovice. In 1943–5, the inhabitants of 21 villages were displaced in the Sedlčany District, as well as of the district town itself. Sedlčany was the most damaged by the deportation, as on 1 August 1943 over 2’000 inhabitants were forced to leave and their lands and houses were confiscated by the decree of the Protectorate Land Office. The district council were moved to the unoccupied towns of Votice and Sedlec. Sedlčany was divided into a civilian and a military part, the civilian one was only for those who were working for the German soldiers, mostly bricklayers and craftsmen with their families. The office of the former district council was occupied by a branch HQ of the SS Training Ground Benešov. The citizens of Sedlčany had to carry ID cards, without which it was not possible to leave the enclosure. Military training grounds were constructed in the surrounding area, and large farms were transformed into so-called SS-Hofen, where many of the remaining inhabitants had to work. Trenches, training drills, and the rebuilding of houses into accommodation facilities or ammunition dumps during the two years spoiled the farmland and ruined the look of the villages.

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The Displacement of Sedlčany Town

Military Combat Exercise…