Damitz (Damnice)
Main Village Street 1940/41
It is a very personal need for me to
write about the younger history of my birthplace Damitz. As there already more
than 50 years passed since this sad events, I am the opinion that we should
put an end to it.
I think it makes no sense to claim for material
replacements by the Sudet-Germans, that would overtax the Czech State and its
population and lead only to more resentments. It would also slow down the
process of integration of the Czech Republic into the European Union it would
even make it impossible for a long period.
(However I am strictly against any demand of Czech people against the
German State. If there are some, the Czech State has more than only a moral
duty to fulfil such demands. As much as I know, the confiscation of all
properties on basis of the “Benesh Decrets” of three Millions of the German
speaking population of Czechoslovakia, had its grounds on the fact that all
damages effected by Germans shall be replaced by it.)
We should each one for himself and as a
community, put an end to this past and lead our view forward.
There happened and has been suffered
much injustice, more innocent people suffered than doer.
But if we care that
such events will never happen in our countries again we will establish a more
valuable heritage to our children and grandchildren than the lost properties
would ever have been.
In principle this is the one side of my
message.
The other side is the moral
matter.
Such an endline can not be done only onesided. The Czech State represented by its
Administration and President has yet not had the braveness to face themselves
and the Czech population with the Czech guilt.
According to the still valid Czech law, any
acts including murder, torture and other
which are considered by the human society as heavy criminal acts, done on German and Hungarian civil people
(and not to forget, the murdering of helpless wounded
German soldiers in military hospitals!) in
1945/46 are still not considered as a punishable criminal. Even when it is not
easy to admit that Czechoslovakia has not only been a victim of German Fascism
but that in Czech name and with support of the government injustice and
criminal acts happened, the history will not spare the Czech Republic with this
truth.
The question of resettlement of some Sudet
Germans will anyhow work against the Czech Government. The free chose of the
individual residential place is EU Law and Right. The moment Czech Republic
will join the EU, this right will include also CR, in fact each citizen of the
EU will have the right to live in CR, also Sudet-Germans. So why to wait till
then ? (Hungary i.e. invited already all former Hungarian-Germans and their
descendants to resettle in Hungary.) It would even be an economic advantage!
One final Remark: As long as some of the Benesh Decrets and especially the so called “Amnesty Law” (general pardon) dated May 1946 are still the “Basis of our System of Justice” (President Havel in Spiegel-Interview) the Czech Republic can not be considered as a member of the EU.
Damitz / Damnice
Location:
Half way between Brünn / Brno and Znaim
/ Znojmo., where the railroad crosses the E54, which we named before the
“Kaiserstrasse”.
Population:
Till 1945 Damitz was a village with only German
population. This population has been evicted with the exception of one family
in 3 shipments to West Germany mostly to Bavaria and North Wuerttemberg / Baden
in the first 6 months of 1946. Some Families were deported to “Inner
Czechoslovakia” to do “slave work” on farms. This was the right acc. to the Benesh
Decrets. In advance to our eviction we were brought for some days to a so
called collection camp and also those above mentioned families were brought to
that camp. Each person was permitted to take 50kg of luggage with him, but the
goods to be taken along was depending on the permission of the new –Czech
“Owners” of our houses and all our other goods. Acc. to the Benesh Decrets,
everything has to be taken away from Germans therefore the new owners wore
sometimes the clothes of our parents and their children our shoes. We were
mentioned as stateless and without any things of our own, (as it was mentioned
in the opening at the court were our fathers were accused of being German). In
that camp our baggage has been searched again and many things have been taken
away or been damaged.
How the new “Owners” came to the ownership of
our properties? In summer 1945 mostly men went through our village, looked at
houses, went in sometimes accompanied by men with guns, checked everything and
when they liked it, they went to the “Kommissar”, who was the new
administrator, and there they got registered and got a certificate -a kind of
title-deed- showing them as the owner of the house Number …. . In some way
fortunately my fathers house has been partially damaged by bombs, so it was
relatively unattractive in the first row, later a 22 years old single man from
Wolhinia moved in so we were in a relatively lucky position.
In some cases the German families had to leave
their houses immediately and had to find a quarter in the houses of relatives,
some were deported (see above).
For some time some gangs were terrorising the
village, searching for hidden goods
robbing and torturing and even killing one German man, we had the
impression that even the new Czech settlers were afraid of them.
After the first so called “gold diggers” the
village was populated step by step by also not on their own will coming
Czech people from Wolhinia (now Ukraine). They were also forced to leave their
origin home country. Their advantage was only that they could move into intact
houses. This was not our case.
The history or my reading it
Damitz has been first mentioned in the 14th
century. Such first signs were without exception when some properties ownership
moved from one monastery to another or from one feudal master to another.
People were properties so they have not to be mentioned.
In the 30years public war (1618 – 1648) the
population has been decimated nearly total and has been repopulated by the
owner which was at that time the Monastery Bruck next to Znaim / Znojmo.
People, bondmen or tenants with names which were still known there till 1946,
as Hawle, Huber and so on, who were obliged to work duty (robot) to their
feudal masters.
In 1866, during a Cholera epidemic disease the people of Damitz made the promise (or vow?) for an every years pilgrimage to “Maria Dreieichen” in Lower Austria. They did it from that time on till second world war. It was custom that from each house at least one person should join the pilgrimage. My Grand Grandfather did it more than 30 times. (For me the most miracle is that they did it in three days, it is about 160 km!!!)
German or
Czech?
I think that the people in the past time had
enough problems to feed themselves and their children, they had not much time
to think about their “Nationality” if they knew what that is! They have to be
what their priors dedicated them, Catholic or Protestant, German or Czech.
As already mentioned above, during the 30 years civil war, the
population has been decimated to nearly cero.
The village was
repopulated by the monastery of Bruck. According to the results of
the investigation of Dr L. Wieder mostly with people from the valley
of the Thaya/Dyje River,from the district at the border Moravia/Lower
Austria. He came to that conclusion by comparing names because written
documents are poor. I think it is a legal way for such an investigation.
But when I continue that way, I came also to names which are
undoubtly of czech origin, as there are Zibuschka, Tatschek
(from czech Ptacek = little bird?),
Nesnidal, Hanak, Janda names still existing in Damitz till 1946.
That leads to the result that also czech families moved in, of
course only with permission of the feudal owner, which was the m
onastery of Bruck.
It can be taken for sure that this people
adjusted themselfes in language and even by modifying their names
slightly to the german speaking majority and became member of the
german speaking population. I prefer the expression "german speaking "
and "czech speaking" it matches the reality better.
After being released to freedom about 150 years ago, they remained
what they had to be, German or Czech (-speaking).
Because and that is my conviction the affiliation to one of
the languages was depending on many factors out of the decision of an
individual and was therefore not only or may be even just little depending on a
national conviction.
I am speaking about villages, not towns. As
most of the towns were founded in 12/13th century by
German settlers, which were invited to come into the country as miners,
craftsmen etc., the
German element was dominating in most of the cities till beginning of this century
and has had its serious influence in culture and economy till 1945.
As Damitz or today Damnice is located in Moravia, one should also know that
the national contraries which came up during the 19 century and found their
expression in the ideas of Palicky and Havlicek-Borovsky on one side
and Löhner and his circle on the other side was mostly
concentrated to Bohemia, Moravia refused even to be involved in that
conflict.
For those who don`t know it: Havlicek-Borovsky was the
first who spoke about the removing the germans from Bohemia but also
Lühner was on the other side who had first the idea of connecting the
german populated counties of Bohemia to Germany!
Both ideas came into Reality 100 years later under most horrible circumstances!
Damitz but is located in Moravia, that is why the expression "..speaking"
is permitted.
Both ideas had no historical legitimation.
Havlicek and Löhner came later ,
independent from each other to the conclution that the national
problem should be solved by forming national counties connected
together in a Federation. Much later in 1905 such a model was
realized in the so called "Mährischer Ausgleich" translated
"Moravian Balance" within the "Austrian - Hungarian Monarchy".
One should also not oversee that the Jewish
population of Bohemia and Moravia could also be added to the German
speaking population for example Franz Kafka, born and brought up in
Prague visited German school and wrote all his works in German
language.
One of my older acquaintance mentioned once
that “this Hitler made us all poor” I want to add also Benesch, I think not only those who
had to leave the country which was for Centuries the homeland of their
forefathers but also the Czech People.