PHOTO, VIDEO: Chomutovsko under the swastika. A unique exhibition has begun

After the incorporation of the Sudetenland into the Third Reich, unlimited bus and rail traffic with Germany was opened, while connections with the Czech hinterland were controlled at the borders. With the arrival of the Nazis, Chomutov also experienced the initial mass construction of housing estates. Until then, the Sudeten County had a shortage of apartments, and many of them were also overcrowded.

“The first residential block was built by the Dresden company for the construction of railway apartments in 1939. It is bounded by Kadaňská, Sokolská, Palachova and Fibichova streets,” the team of Chomutov museum workers described on the information panels. “However, the vast majority of houses in Chomutov were created on the initiative of Domov Sudety, which implements the state policy of building apartments. The company built two housing estates in Chomutov, the first near the hospital, the second on the outskirts of the city.” This was created near Hůrka hill, where a large colony of 80 single-story family houses grew. They connected Blanická Street with Elišky Krásnohorská Street and created two new streets, Sládkova and Slezská.

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People could get most of the food only on the basis of food stamps, which were different for the local Germans and different for the Czechs settled in the Sudetenland. They usually had lower rations because they were considered second-class citizens.

Most companies had to reorient themselves to war production. Of course, this also affected Mannesmann’s races. For the needs of the war, the company produced ammunition components, gun barrel casings, components for tanks and transport vehicles, aircraft pipes, body armor and pipes for the energy, chemical and oil industries. Precisely because of the wartime production, the local industry became the target of air raids by the Allied troops, which after a while began to threaten the local population.

The Chomutovsko pod swastika exhibition is ideologically based on the Hope, Disappointment and Fear exhibition, which was prepared by the Děčín Museum two years ago. Some of the exhibits also come from here, the Chomutov museum borrowed others from the museum in Liberec, but most of them come from its own depositories. These are parts of uniforms, posters, advertising signs, but mostly they are civilian things that people used in everyday life. At the exhibition, you can see a sample of the currency of the time, food stamps, what the housewife of the time had in the cupboard, what the kitchen looked like, toys, a work table, or the suitcases of the expelled Germans.

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“All the exhibits here are rare. Their value is incalculable,” pointed out exhibition curator Kopica. “For example, the annual album from Mannesmannka, which produced war material, and the associated photos after air raids, is very interesting,” he added.

Highly valuable exhibits come from Liberec, which was the center of the Sudeten County. “We have here the passport and watch of Karel Hermann Frank – the executioner of Lidice, as well as his glass eye. He lost it as a schoolboy. These are the ‘highlights’ of this exhibition,” highlighted Kopica.

The exhibition is located in the building of the ancient town hall on May 1st Square. It will last until October 26.