Rotary Club Geras-Waldviertel; District 1910; Austria
Znaim (Znojmo)
The Czech border town of Znaim was a fortified town as early as the 7th century during the Greater Mahren Empire. The "prämonstratenser" founded a monastery in 1190. In 1226 Znaim was promoted to a royal city by "premysliden" Ottokar. As an ancient castle and a royal city Znaim has a well-preserved town centre dating from the Middle Ages, frequently visited by tourists. Znaim, lying on the steep slope to the Thaya, is at the same time the edge of a national park, which is to be extended onto the Austrian side. Today, Znaim is the regional centre lying on the Austrian border. It is the Czech Republic’s economic and tourist gateway to the European Union. Znaim is the centre of the South Mahren agricultural processing businesses. The pickled cucumbers are world-famous, just as the tasty Boehemian beer which is brewed quite excellently in Znaim.
In 1991 our club set up a new club in Znaim, which has 18 members at the moment.
The cultivation of our friendship with Znaim is important for several reasons: it is not just the "normal" understanding of peoples which is important here, but also a series of old wounds which are worth healing.
The atrocities which the Nazis carried out in the Czech Republic and in which, unfortunately, Austrians also participated. The cruel "ethnic cleansing" or expulsion of the German speakers in 1945 out of Czechoslowakia, as it was then known. Many of the people expelled then still live in our border area. After the opening of the border, there was and still is a massive loss of buying power from Austria to the Czech Republic, caused by the lower prices in many areas. This, however, had a thoroughly stimulating effect on the Austrian side.
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