Albrechtice (Karviná District)

Albrechtice Olbrachcice
Village
Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church
Flag Coat of arms
Location in the Czech Republic
Coordinates:
Country	Czech Republic
Region	Moravian-Silesian
District	Karviná
First mentioned	1447
Government
• Mayor	Vladislav Šipula
Area
• Total	12.68 km2 (4.90 sq mi)
Elevation	258 m (846 ft)
Population (2006)
• Total	3,974
• Density	310/km2 (810/sq mi)
Postal code	735 43
Website	http://www.obecalbrechtice.cz/

Albrechtice (<phonos file="Albrechtice.ogg">listen</phonos>, Polish: <phonos file="Olbrachcice.ogg">Olbrachcice</phonos>, German: Albersdorf) is a large village in Karviná District, Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It is located 8 km south of Karviná, on the Stonávka River and has a population of 4,071 (2001 census). 23.5% of the population are Poles. It lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia.

The name of the village is patronymic in origin, derived from the personal name Olbracht (≤ German Albrecht), at first ending with German -dorf meaning village, and later also ending with typically Slavic -ice.

History

The village was first mentioned in the register of Peter's Pence payment from 1447 among the 50 parishes of Teschen deanery as Albrothsdorff. Politically the village belonged to the Duchy of Teschen, which was since 1327 a fee of the Kingdom of Bohemia, which after 1526 became part of the Habsburg Monarchy.

After the 1540s Protestant Reformation prevailed in the Duchy of Teschen and a local Catholic church was taken over by Lutherans. It was taken from them (as one from around fifty buildings in the region) by a special commission and given back to the Roman Catholic Church on 26 March 1654.

After the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire, a modern municipal division was introduced in the re-established Austrian Silesia. The village as a municipality was subscribed at least since 1880 to political district and legal district of Freistadt.

According to the censuses conducted in 1880, 1890, 1900 and 1910 the population of the municipality grew from 1,070 in 1880 to 1,335 in 1910. In 1880 96.9% of inhabitants declared being Czech-speaking, followed by 33 or 3.1% German-speakers. In the next censuses majority were Polish-speaking (growing from 97.9% in 1890 to 99.5% in 1910), followed by diminishing number of German-speakers (from 23 or 2.1% in 1890 to 6 or 0.5% in 1910). In terms of religion, in 1910 the majority were Roman Catholics (899 or 67.3%), followed by Protestants (424 or 31.8%) and Jews (11 or 0.8%). The village was also traditionally inhabited by Silesian Lachs, speaking Cieszyn Silesian dialect.

After World War I, the fall of Austria-Hungary, the Polish–Czechoslovak War and the division of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, the village became a part of Czechoslovakia. Following the Munich Agreement, in October 1938 together with the Zaolzie region it was annexed by Poland, administratively organised in Frysztat County of Silesian Voivodeship. The village was then annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. After the war it was restored to Czechoslovakia.

External links

• (Czech) Official website