Rumburk is a town in the northernmost part of the Czech Republic, in the eastern part of the Ústí Region, in the northeastern part of the Děčín District, in the Šluknov foothills. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The town lies in the Šluknov Uplands and the river Mandava flows through it. In Rumburk there are border crossings to the German cities of Seifhennersdorf and Neugersdorf. Rumburk is a municipality with extended powers. The city covers an area of 24.71 km2 at an altitude of 387 m above sea level. It was famous for the textile production of the so-called web and the production of the so-called Rumburk stoves, which were produced here by the company Rukov and other products. In 1918, a revolt of military returnees from Russian captivity took place in the town. Ten participants were executed and others were imprisoned in the Small Fortress in Terezín. In the area of the Capuchin monastery there is a pilgrimage Loreto chapel built in the early 18th century. It is the northernmost building of its kind in the world.
From the Middle Ages to the Thirty Years' War
On
the trade route from Meissen to Zittau and from Lusatia via Česká
Lípa to Central Bohemia, a border market settlement was established
at the end of the 12th century, which was the manor of Honštejn
Castle. The seat of the mani (small peasants) was the Rumburk
fortress. The names of these manna are known as the Options of
Naptice (as of 1363), Ota and Albert of Hrbic (1403) and others
until the end of the 15th century. In 1298, Rumburk is referred to
in historical literature as a town, but it was first mentioned in
writing in 1377. At that time, Henry the Younger of Rumburk was
mentioned among witnesses in the Latin deed of the town council in
Görlitz as "Heinricus de Romberch iunior". Other traces of the
existence of Rumburk as the estate of the lords of the Ronovec
family from the 14th century can be found in the books of the town
of Görlitz, where the names are given: Peter von Ronenberch (1305),
Tilo von Ronenberg and Conradus von Ronnenberch.
Due to its
commercial and strategic importance, the Hussites attacked the city
on the Czech-German border. Therefore, in 1423, Hynek Berka of Dubá,
the holder of Rumburk and the castles of Honštejn and Vildštejn,
asked the Lusatian towns for military assistance to defend Rumburk,
which actually came and numbered 400 men. Nevertheless, in 1429, the
Hussites occupied Rumburk and undertook raids into Catholic Lusatia.
In 1435 the Berks sold Rumburk and Honštejn to the Saxon princes,
but in 1451 they regained it. The local mansion came under the
supreme right of Tolštejn Castle. In 1478, the Rumburk and Tolštejn
man Kryštof of Heřmanice sold Rumburk to Hugolt of Šlejnice, who in
1481 bought the entire Tolštejn estate for him.
In 1475 the
core of the town consisted of 22 houses. In the same year, there
were 3 mills, 13 farmers, 150 occupied and 60 unoccupied rods in the
village of Horní Jindřichov. In 1496, Prokop Thamme was a priest in
the local parish. After his death - in 1503 - Petr Molitor was
appointed another local priest. Between 1532 and 1565, the entire
estate was held by George of Šlejnice, who moved his seat to
Rumburk, where he built a Renaissance chateau. He died on September
27, 1565 and was buried in Rumburk near the church of St.
Bartholomew. The Šlejnice family became indebted to the extensive
economic business and the construction of the chateau. In 1607 the
manor was bought by the Kinští of Vchynice. Vilém Kinský was
assassinated in Cheb in 1634 together with Albrecht of Wallenstein
and his confiscated property was acquired by Kryštof Löbl from
Krainburg (Grönburg). Shortly afterwards, he bought the Leutersdorf
and Varnsdorf estates to Rumburk. During the Thirty Years' War in
1642, the castle in Rumburk was attacked and set on fire by the
Swedish army. In 1656, the estate was acquired by Count František
Eusebius of Pötting by marrying Maria Markéta Löblová. Among other
things, he founded the Rumburk loreta.
Rumburk appeared on
the map in 1569. Later, around 1566, a suburb called "Neusorge" was
to be built. From 1573, the first mention of the Rumburk school is
when Petrus Zebiller was a teacher. The town shatlava dated to this
time was to be located in the current Vrchlického street. Just
before the Thirty Years' War - in 1626 - the plague hit the town.
The gallows allegedly stood around house 75 in Jiříkovská
Street.
The owners of Rumburk were:
1281–1471 - Berks of
Duba
1471–1586 - Slats
1586–1594 - The Strehlitzs
1607–1634
- Kinští
1634–1656 - Löbls of Krainburg (from Greinburg)
1656–1681 - Pöttings
1681–1848 - The Liechtensteins
The
post-White Mountain period
In 1681 the manor was bought from the
Pöttings by the Liechtensteins, who remained in his possession until
the second land reform in 1923. In 1724 the castle was hit by a
second fire, after which the Liechtensteins immediately began its
Baroque reconstruction, completed in 1726, including a multi-storey
gate covered with a hipped roof.
The plague column dates from
1681. In 1706, the settlement of Antonínovo údolí grew up, later
affiliated with Rumburk. In 1764, another settlement was built,
later associated with Rumburk-Podhájí. In 1850 a district court was
established in Rumburk. Since 1881, the cemetery has been located on
the site of the Friendship Park.
Rumburk was called "Little
Paris" for its magnificence. The town post office moved to its
current location in 1904.
In 1910, the Rumburk-Varnsdorf bus
line was introduced.
First World War
The men from Rumburk
mostly joined the 42nd Infantry Regiment in Terezín. 4000 men were
abducted, while at the end of the war 3698 returned, of which 302
fell or were declared missing. A year after the outbreak of war -
May 25, 1915 - the 7th Rifle Regiment from Pilsen was transferred to
Rumburk, in which the crew was not only from Pilsen, but also from
Rokycany, Rakovník and Domažlice. With this regiment, 1,200 men got
to Rumburk. The crew was stationed at a boys' school.
Rumburk
uprising
The Rumburk uprising was a response to insufficient and poor
supplies, unpaid jokes and bullying by German officers. It broke out
at six o'clock in the morning on Tuesday, May 21, 1918, and on the
same day, shortly after nine o'clock in the evening, it was
suppressed under Chotovický vrch near Nový Bor. The insurgents were
executed in Rumburk and Nový Bor. The three initiators and leaders
of the uprising, Stanko Vodička, František Xaver Noha and Vojtěch
Kovář, were sentenced to death by a court martial and shot on May
29, 1918 in the early morning hours.
The martial court sat in
Rumburk in the former castle and in Nový Bor, and sentenced to death
seven other leaders of the uprising, who were also executed by
shooting on the evening of May 29. Another fourteen death row
inmates were eventually "commuted" to many years in prison. Of the
more than 580 accused rebels, 116 were sent to the front as
punishment and the rest were imprisoned in the Terezín fortress. In
2008, celebrations were held in Rumburk to mark the 90th anniversary
of the Rumburk Uprising. The film A Star Called Wormwood was made on
the theme of the uprising. Before the execution of the evangelical
pastor Georg Döll, Stanko Vodička asked him to hand over a farewell
letter and his cricket to his family. He is now buried in the Pilsen
cemetery in Doubravka on the right side of the road from the
cemetery gate to the church. In 1951, a statue of Unconquered by
Vendelín Zrůbecký was installed in the city park in memory of the
insurgents.