Stod (Plzeň-South District)

Template:Geobox Template:Geobox Template:Geobox Stod (Czech pronunciation: [stot]; German: Staab) is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It lies some 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-west from the region capital of Plzeň upon the Radbuza River.

Stod is also the seat of the Municipality with Extended Competence.

History

The first written mention of Staab / Stod dates from 1235, when Wenceslaus I of Bohemia left the village to the monastery Chotěšov (Chotieschau in German). In 1315 John of Bohemia raised the villages status to that of a market town (Marktflecken). By the period of Charles IV in 1363, the town acquired more privileges, such as a judiciary, the right to use a city seal, and to keep the city's books. In 1544 the town was granted the privilege of establishing a malt-house and a brewery. By 1547 there was a post office and in 1550 granted Ferdinand I allowed the town to stage an annual fair.

The town was set back by the turmoil of the Thirty Years War. By 1654, the settlement was almost deserted, with only about 230 residents. Consequently tracts of land were distributed to German families from Bavaria to repopulate the region.

By 1850 Staab / Stod had grown to approximately 1500 residents (almost entirely German speaking) and the town received civic rights (Stadtrechte). The town was the seat of a local District Court. At this time some local German peasants could not afford to buy land so in 1863 a small group, led by a former Austrian army officer named Captain Martin Krippner, left to settle Puhoi in New Zealand. (This has given Puhoi the popular appellation of the "Bohemian Settlement".)

In 1938 the town was part of the Sudetenland annxed by Nazi Germany. After World War II the traitorous German population was harassed, stripped of their property and brutally expelled following the notorious but necessary Beneš decrees.

Between 1949 and 1960 there were various local government reforms following the massive population changes. The town now belongs to the district Stod Lelov (Lellowa).

Old post-office in Stod

Resources

• Czech Statistical Office (2005). "Vybrané údaje podle správních obvodů obcí s rozšířenou působností a správních obvodů obcí s pověřeným obecním úřadem k 31. 12. 2005" (XLS) (in Czech). Retrieved 2005-03-08.