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Město Klimkovice
Klimkovice

In the liberated homeland

October 28, 1918 - after three hundred years of oppression - an independent state called Czechoslovak Republic was established. This news was delivered to the municipal office by evening telegram, and it said that Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia formed an independent state, completely independent of the Austrian Empire. The news spread very quickly throughout the town and was received with cheers and enthusiasm from all residents. Only a few slept that night and the next day at dawn, there were national flags displayed on the houses. In the morning, music was played and people walked the streets. Everybody rejoiced in the newfound freedom.

In the afternoon of October 29, the local town school director Adolf Sykora was sent to the National Committee of the Silesian Ostrava in order to prepare (together with Chairman Dr. Ferdinand Pelc and a member of the Ostrava region Jan Prokeš) for creation of The National Committee for the District of Bílovecká based in Klimkovice.

That was necessary, because the German deputies in northern Moravia refused to recognize the new republic's sovereignty and created so called Sudetenland using the territory of northern Moravia and Silesia, and demanded its separation from the Czechoslovak Republic. Because the German district governor in Bílovec Josef Benda shared a similar view on this matter, Klimkovice became the seat of the district committee.

After Adolf Sykora returned from the Silesian Ostrava, he visited a meeting of municipal council, which prepared the evening celebration of our independence and familiarized its members with the names of persons suggested for the District National Committee. The representation was determined using the results of the last imperial elections, in which the Social Democratic Party and the Agrarian Party won 4 seats and the People's Party 2 seats. In the evening after the formal meeting of the municipal council from which a cheerful speech was sent to the National Committee in Prague, crowds of people with lanterns met and after 19 o’clock crowds from Svinov and Polanka joined them. It was a procession of two thousand people including the Municipal Committee and District Committee and members of Sokol and firemen in uniforms and crowds of people with music. This spectacular procession then went to a memorable Slavic tree at Lani and then back to the square, where a telegram about the establishment of Czechoslovak Republic was read from stands next to the Town Hall and the song "Where My Home Is" was sung. Cheers and acclamations for New Republic had no end.

The District National Committee of Klimkovice came to the office on October 30. Its representatives went to Bílovec - they went to see governor Benda, and asked him to pledge loyalty to the Czechoslovak Republic. He rejected them saying that the German villages within Bílovec district will continue to be managed by his office. After long negotiations, it was decided that military would force Bílovec to comply. And so it happened, as Klimkovice sent in the military on December 3, 1918.

After this intervention, the seat of the District National Committee was transferred to Bílovec. This started waves of indignations of the local municipal council. It was generally expected that in the new republic, there would be more understanding for the political and economic advancement of the previously neglected Czech town in Silesia. The fact that Klimkovice did not remain a district town was something city officials did not accept for a long time. On November 2, 1925, City Council sent extensive memorandum (in which it justified and demanded a political district of Klimkovice) to the relevant ministries in Prague. Similar memorandum was submitted once again in 1934. Although the request of Klimkovice was supported by all the surrounding communities, it was not accepted and Klimkovice merely remained a seat of the district court and the district notary.

In 1919, national committees were abolished and replaced by municipal councils. They were elected bodies with a term of four years. In the election, the political parties competed to gain seats, i.e. the number of seats in the municipal council. During the first republic, there were always 30 seats in Klimkovice. Usually, 6 to 8 political parties divided the seats. Social Democratic Party won all elections that were held in Klimkovice and commonly won 12 to 15 seats. People's Party followed with 6 to 8 seats. Other parties, Businessmen Party, Republican Party, National Democrats, the Germans and later the National Socialists and the Communists used to have 2 to 4 mandates.

The city had many problems that needed to be addressed. One of the biggest problems was securing housing for the growing population (the population increased by 400 in just ten years). The problem was solved by creating construction teams. The town purchased estate lands, which were then sold cheaply to those interested in construction sites, provided that they would build a house within three years. Two of the most ostentatious houses at that time were located on the street of Jarmila Glazarová. These villas were owned by Vaclav Stepanek and Dr. Josef Podivinsky. Both villas were designed by architect Gajovsky of Moravian Ostrava.

A progressive approach to electrification of the town was taken by council of Klimkovice. As stated in the Chronicle, the electrification almost had to be imposed on the citizens, despite the fact that the town itself paid CZK 520 000 out of the total cost of CZK 700 000 of the distribution network of electric current. Finally, on October 21, 1921, the first electric light bulb in Klimkovice flashed. Josefovice were electrified ten years later.

Land reform, implemented in 1920 - 1925, provided possibilities for acquiring land from the former estate of Wilczek, but on average, only 1 hectar of land was acquired by one applicant. The rest was used to create manors. A large proportion of the population was employed in Ostrava enterprises and still pursued agriculture while working, and that creates a group called “kovozemědělci” (ironfarmers).

Back then, cultural life in the city was a matter of local associations, whose activities were very variable. Making the first film performance in 1924 in the cinema Sokol was an inalienable event.

In the first years of the Republic, life took place quietly, but that dramatically changed in the thirties. Due to the emerging fascism and Nazism in Germany, political life in our country was unsettling. The events in Klimkovice were not as dramatic as in some other areas, because the German population in Klimkovice was only a small minority. But even this handful of Germans prepared a bitter fate for the town.

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