.jpg){kind=link}
The story
The early history of the territory was influenced by the establishment of the Prácheň gord on the nearby eponymous hill, which became the administrative centre of the historical region of Prácheňsko two centuries later. When the stronghold lost its significance, the centre was moved to Horažďovice.
The first written mention of Horažďovice is from 1251. It was a market village located on a trade route from Prague to Bavaria. It was owned by the Bavors of Strakonice, who had a Gothic castle and fortifications built. In 1292, King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia promoted Horažďovice to a town.
When Rudolf I of Bohemia was elected the King of Bohemia in 1306, Bavor III disagreed and rebelled against him, leading to him becoming besieged by the king's forces in Horažďovice from late June to early July 1307. Although the town capitulated shortly, the king died of gastrointestinal perforation at the gates of the town on the night of the capitulation.
After Horažďovice became property of Půta Švihovský of Rýzmberk in 1483, the town began to develop rapidly and prosper. He initiated development of administrative centres in the town vicinity such as the castles Rabí, Švihov and Velhartice. At the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, a monastery was built behind the walls. In the 16th century, the town's development continued.
After the Battle of White Mountain, the properties of the Švihovský family were confiscated. The prosperity of Horažďovice ended with the Thirty Years' War, when the town was damaged by two large fires and twice looted by the Swedish army. The estate was sold to the Sternberg family in 1622. During their rule, the badly damaged castle was rebuilt and the monastery was enlarged during the Sternbergs rule in the 17th century.
Since the mid-19th century, walls and barbicans have been demolished in the northern part of Horažďovice. The Rummerskirch family owned Horažďovice from 1800 to 1843 and had a significant impact on the town by introducing pearl oyster farming. The collecting of pearls was organised by the gentry and was even attended by the Emperor Francis II. In the last pearl oyster harvest in 1944, 20,000 oysters were opened. After World War II, pearl oyster farming declined.
The last owners of Horažďovice were the Kinsky family, who bought it in 1843. In the second half of the 19th century, industry, trade and crafts developed, which was mainly influenced by the construction of the railway. The Kinskys founded an English park with many rare specimens of trees and plants on an island in the Otava, today called "Ostrov". They owned Horažďovice until 1945.
Jewish community
A Jewish presence in Horažďovice is believed to have existed from ancient times and the first written reference to the Jewish community is contained in the records of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) which indicate that 10 Jewish families were present in 1618. Archival evidence indicates that a Jewish cemetery existed in 1619. The first synagogue and Jewish school were founded in 1684. Officially banned from guilds, the early Jewish residents were farmers and traders. The earliest Jewish homes were concentrated in an area that is now called Prácheňská Street.
Read the full text
The Jews of Horažďovice were subject to orders and decrees that made life extraordinarily difficult throughout much of their entire history. In the 17th century, the number of Jewish residents in Horažďovice was limited to 10 families, partially in an effort to discourage competition for local tradesmen. Renting homes to Jews was strictly prohibited. In the late 17th century, an edict prohibited the Jews from allowing their cattle to graze with the communal herd. In 1687, Jews were targeted further with special taxes, prohibitions on carrying firearms and an edict requiring Jews to wear a yellow cloth badge.
The most far-reaching restrictions on Horažďovice's Jews were a series of measures known as the Family Laws (Familianten), introduced by Emperor Charles VI in 1726 and designed to limit Jewish population numbers. All marriages between Jews required the State's permission. No Jew under the age of 30 could marry and only the eldest male in each family was permitted to do so.
The repeal of the Family Laws in the mid 1800s launched what many regard as the "golden age" of Horažďovice Jewry. By 1890, the Jewish community reached its peak population of 300, about 9% of the total population. The influence of the Jewish community however was far greater as they were the driving force behind much of Horažďovice's Industrial Revolution.
In 1873, Samuel Kohn opened a matchstick factory that produced matches with colourful wax heads in decorative boxes for export to the east. On the adjacent property, a paper manufacturing plant owned by Rud, Firth and Bernard Gans was particularly important as it employed many workers and purchased straw from local farmers.
The best known Jewish business in Horažďovice was the vinegar and spirits company "Münz Brothers" founded by Simon Münz in 1831 and famed for its "Münzovka" whiskey. Expanded by his sons, Eduard and Karel Münz, and later by František and Pavel Münz, it became the largest distributor of spirits and vinegar in the region and was the sole distributor of almost all foreign wines and domestic mineral waters. In 1859, Heřman Katz founded what was to become the largest grocery mercantile house in southern Bohemia. In 1907, his son Otto Katz founded a wholesale grocery house which was as prosperous as his father's.
A significant number of Jews emigrated from Horažďovice from 1850 to 1938, particularly to the United States, Australia and South America. During World War II, the Jewish community was deported by German military authorities as part of the Final Solution. 93 Horažďovice Jews were transferred via railway to Terezín on 26 November 1942. Six Jews were deported by other means. Only seven survived. No Jewish community exists in Horažďovice today.
From Wikipedia’s article on Horažďovice, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5