History
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Early history[edit]
The settlement of Litoměřice has a deep history of Paleolithic cultures as well as large Celtic settlements of the La Tène culture, which did not survive the incoming Germanic attacks. The area was later settled by Germanic tribes, when Litoměřice first appeared on Ptolemy's world map in the 2nd century under the name of Nomisterium. The Germanic tribes later migrated west and those remaining mingled with the incoming Slavs. The earliest evidence of the Slavic settlement comes from the 8th century.
In the 9th and 10th century, Litoměřice fell under the control of the Přemyslid dynasty. Přemyslids built here an early medieval fortress, one of the most important Přemyslid centres in Czech lands. The area was settled by the Czech tribe of Litoměřici, after which the town was named. In 1057, the Litomeřice Chapter was founded by Duke Spytihněv II, and it is the oldest written evidence of the existence of the town.
A royal-town status was granted in 1219 by King Ottokar I. At the beginning of the 13th century, Litoměřice was an important political, cultural and economic centre. It reached the height of its prosperity under Emperor Charles IV, who bestowed large tracts of productive land on it.
15th–19th centuries[edit]
The population suffered during the 15th century Hussite Wars. Later it suffered again while taking part in the 1547 revolt against Emperor Ferdinand I. After the Protestant tensions with the Catholics that triggered the Thirty Years' War and the Protestants' defeat in the Battle of White Mountain, the surviving population of the town was forced to accept Catholicism or face property confiscation and the obligation to leave the kingdom. In this way, the town became a Catholic bishop's residency in 1655. As a result, the Czech Protestant population shrank and the town became largely Germanised.
In the 18th century, many Baroque building, which are today cultural monuments, were built. However the prosperity of the town suffered from the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War.
20th century[edit]
Occupation in 1938
In 1918, Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia became constituent parts of the newly created Czechoslovakia, along with a large border area inhabited predominantly by Sudeten Germans. Local Germans tried to join German Austria (which in turn aimed to join post-war Weimar Republic), but Czechoslovak troops prevented this. Known under the informal name of the Sudetenland, the region became the subject of political controversy in the following years. Czechs settled there again, but remained a minority. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, German troops occupied the Sudetenland (and all the rest of Czech lands a few months later). The Czech population, which had grown to about 5,000 people, had to leave again.
Jews from Litoměřice were forced to flee to the Protectorate or were deported during the Holocaust in the Sudetenland. From March 1944 to May 1945, Leitmeritz concentration camp was located west of the town. 18,000 prisoners passed through the camp and were forced to work mostly on excavating underground factories (Richard I and Richard II) under Radobýl. 4,500 died.
In the final stages of World War II, German troops retreated to escape the advancing Red Army. The Czech resistance took control of the castle on 27 April 1945, and after a few days they started negotiations with the German commander about the terms of his surrender. The Wehrmacht capitulated in the night after 8 May, but German troops fled on 9 May, just before Soviet troops entered the town on 10 May 1945. Most of the German population of the town was expelled by the Beneš decrees in August 1945, along with about 2.5 million other former Czechoslovak citizens of German ethnicity from the country.
