Horní Bříza

Horní Bříza
Horní Bříza
Town
	Aerial view
	Flag Coat of arms
	Horní Bříza Location in the Czech Republic
	Coordinates: 49°50′39″N 13°21′48″E / 49.84417°N 13.36333°E
Country	Czech Republic
Region	Plzeň
District	Plzeň-North
First mentioned	1180
Government
• Mayor	David Kapr
Area
• Total	14.54 km2 (5.61 sq mi)
Elevation	367 m (1,204 ft)
Population (2020-01-01)
• Total	4,180
• Density	290/km2 (740/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	330 12
Website	www.hornibriza.eu

Horní Bříza (German: Ober Birken) is a town in the Plzeň-North District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has a population of about 4,200 inhabitants.

History

During World War II, some death trains taking Jews, outspoken people, gypsies, intellectuals, communists, Russian prisoners travelled through Horní Bříza. It was on the route to Mathausen Extermination camp, further south on the Danube River. On 21 April 1945 a death train stopped here as the line was blocked. The station master intervened and organized the townspeople to cook food and bread for the about 1,000 women being taken to Mathausen – this was in the dying days of the Third Reich. The station master was Antonin Pavlicek, a devout Catholic. He asked the SS to leave the people there so the town could care for them – they refused. A townswoman gave one of the women who had just given birth her own hand-sown layette planned for her baby. This town was a source of Kaolin (clay). The prisoners were in open wagons and it was very cold and wet.^[2]

Demography

Development of population of Horní Bříza:

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1970	2,323	—
1980	3,122	+34.4%
1991	4,007	+28.3%
2001	4,487	+12.0%

Year	Pop.	±%
2003	4,463	−0.5%
2006	4,476	+0.3%
2012	4,340	−3.0%
2019	4,213	−2.9%

Twin towns – sister cities

Horní Bříza is twinned with:^[3]

Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, France

References

^ "Population of Municipalities – 1 January 2020". Czech Statistical Office. 2020-04-30.
^ Holden, Wendy (2015). Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope. Brown Book Group Limited. ISBN 9780751557398.
^ "Spolek Partnerství mezi městy Horní Bříza a Villeneuve sur Yonne" (in Czech). Město Horní Bříza. Retrieved 2019-08-25.

External links

Media related to Horní Bříza at Wikimedia Commons
Municipal website

This Plzeň Region location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] "Population of Municipalities – 1 January 2020". Czech Statistical Office. 2020-04-30.

[2] Holden, Wendy (2015). Born Survivors: Three Young Mothers and Their Extraordinary Story of Courage, Defiance, and Hope. Brown Book Group Limited. ISBN 9780751557398.

[3] "Spolek Partnerství mezi městy Horní Bříza a Villeneuve sur Yonne" (in Czech). Město Horní Bříza. Retrieved 2019-08-25.

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