Brněnec

History

Next to an old trade route, the settlement of Moravská Chrastová was founded after 1200 by monks from the monastery in Litomyšl. Moravská Chrastová was first mentioned in a document from 1323. The first written mention of Brněnec is in the act of partition of the Svojanov estate from 1557. Until the 18th century, it was a part of Bělá nad Svitavou. After the Löw-Beer family founded here a textile factory, the importance of Brněnec grew. In 1938, the municipality was annexed by Nazi Germany and administered as part of the Reichsgau Sudetenland. After World War II, the Germans were expelled. The Löw-Beer Jewish family founded a textile producing company in the 1810s, and in 1855 rebuilt an old paper mill in Brněnec into the textile factory. In 1938, it was taken over by Germans. In 1944, Oskar Schindler relocated his German Enamelware Factory and the associated prison camp of 1,200 Jewish forced labourers from Kraków to a munitions factory acquired by him in Brněnec. The Jewish workforce thus escaped transport to the extermination camps and was liberated along with the rest of the municipality on 10 May 1945 by the Red Army, after the factory had been fully operational for seven months.

Geography

Brněnec is located about south of Svitavy and north of Brno. It lies in the Svitavy Uplands. The highest point is at above sea level. The municipality is situated at the confluence of the Svitava River and the stream Chrastovský potok; the built-up area is located in the valleys of these two watercourses. The Svitava River forms here the historical border between Bohemia and Moravia.

Most-observed species

• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  384
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  322
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  297
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  283
• Common Chiffchaff

  Phylloscopus collybita (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  276
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  259
• Yellowhammer

  Emberiza citrinella Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  248
• Great Spotted Woodpecker

  Dendrocopos major (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  237

Most recent

• M 3 — 2006-03-21
  1 km NNW of Bystré, Czechia
• M 2.6 — 2005-12-31
  5 km ENE of Šternberk, Czechia
• M 3.4 — 2005-10-25
  0 km N of ?ervený Kostelec, Czechia
• M 2.9 — 2005-08-10
  2 km WSW of ?ervený Kostelec, Czechia