The story
13th–14th centuries
Jihlava was originally a Slavic market village with a small Church of Saint John the Baptist, established on a trade route around 1200. The first written mention of Jihlava is from 1233. The mining of silver began here in 1234 and the royal mining town was established between 1233 and 1240. Jihlava thus became the oldest mining town in what is today the Czech Republic.
The village was originally located on the left bank of the river Jihlava, but with the expansion of mining and the influx of inhabitants, the town spread to the right bank, where its historic centre was established. The regular plan of the rectangular network of streets with a large square in the middle was given by the building regulations of King Ottokar II from 1270. Royal privileges guaranteed prosperity and Jihlava soon became one of the most powerful cities in the kingdom. It was protected by a massive fortification and coins were minted here. It became the first city in Central Europe where mining law was codified.
Mining attracted settlers from Bavaria, Saxony and other German-speaking regions to the city. Gradually a large German-speaking community was established here.
15th–19th centuries
At the end of the 14th century, the importance of mining declined when the richest deposits were mined, and Jihlava instead became a centre of trade and crafts, especially cloth making.
In the era of the Hussite Wars, Jihlava remained a Catholic stronghold and managed to resist a number of sieges. On 5 July 1436, a treaty was made with the Hussites here, whereby the Emperor Sigismund was acknowledged king of Bohemia. A marble relief near the city marks the spot where Ferdinand I, in 1527, swore fidelity to the Bohemian estates.
In 1523, a large fire severely damaged the city, which was subsequently restored in the Renaissance style. During the Thirty Years' War, Jihlava was twice captured by the Swedish troops. The suburbs were burned, most of the houses were demolished, and the city significantly depopulated. Jihlava recovered only after more than 100 years. The city was restored in the Baroque style and began to develop again.
In 1742, it fell into the hands of the Prussians, and in December 1805 the Bavarians under Karl Philipp von Wrede were defeated near the city.
In the second half of the 18th century, Jihlava was the second largest producer of cloth in the Austrian Empire. At that time the city expanded beyond the city walls. The city gates with narrow passages were demolished at the beginning of the 19th century, and the façades of the houses were remodeled in the Neoclassical style.
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20th century
From an ethnic point of view, the city was half-German (about 54% in 1921) and half-Czech, but mostly German was spoken here. The city and its surroundings constituted a German-speaking enclave within Czech-speaking Bohemia and Moravia, the so-called Jihlava language island. After World War I and the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the Germans demanded the annexation of the German language island to Austria. But the Austrian parliament itself rejected their request, so they had to adapt. In the 1920 election, German parties won a majority.
The relatively peaceful coexistence of the Czech and German-speaking inhabitants that lasted for hundreds of years ended with the nationalism caused by the Sudeten German Party of Konrad Henlein, which raised in 1933.
The Jewish synagogue, built in 1862–1863, was burnt down in 1939. Most of Jihlava's Jewish population, which numbered over 1,000 people, was deported and killed due to the Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia. After the end of World War II, starting from 9 May 1945, German-speakers were banned from using public transportation and were ordered to carry white armbands identifying them as Germans. Following the Beneš decrees, most of the German-speakers were expelled.
Between 1950 and 1952, Jihlava was the site of several show trials of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, which were directed against the influence of the Catholic Church on the rural population. In the processes eleven death sentences were passed. All the convicted persons were rehabilitated after the Velvet Revolution.
In 1969, in protest against the normalization in Czechoslovakia, Evžen Plocek set himself on fire on the city square in emulation of others in Prague. Today there is a memorial plaque to him.
On 6 June 1991, after the collapse of centrally-planned socialist economy, the first ever supermarket in now-capitalist Czechoslovakia opened in Jihlava.
From Wikipedia’s article on Jihlava, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5