Kovářská

Kovářská (German: Schmiedeberg) is a village and municipality (obec) in Chomutov District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.

Kovářská
Municipality
Coat of arms
Location in Chomutov District
Kovářská
Location in the Czech Republic
Coordinates: 50°26′19″N 13°3′28″E
Country Czech Republic
RegionÚstí nad Labem
DistrictChomutov
Area
 • Total20.87 km2 (8.06 sq mi)
Elevation
815 m (2,674 ft)
Population
 (2006)
 • Total1,290
 • Density62/km2 (160/sq mi)
Postal code
431 86
Websitehttp://www.kovarska.cz

The municipality covers an area of 20.87 square kilometres (8.06 sq mi), and has a population of 1,290 (as at 28 August 2006).

Kovářská lies approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Chomutov, 74 km (46 mi) west of Ústí nad Labem, and 105 km (65 mi) west of Prague.

History

On 11 September 1944 an American B-17 bomber crashed in the middle of the village during the air battle over the Ore Mountains. Its tail landed on the school building. In 1994 this was renamed after aerial gunner, Sgt. J.C. Kluttz, who died in the crash. A small museum[1] documents the impact of the air battle on the village. A witness, then a small boy, wrote in 2011 retrospectively[2] about the crash in 1944:

The sirens were already howling. No-one was allowed outside any more. We stood at home in the back room, with its view of the upper village, at the Kalla Villa, with its view of Keilberg and Fichtelberg. There was a terrific uproar in the sky. […] Suddenly there were several hollow thuds. […] In the field silver strips lay around, hexagonal, incendiary phosphorus bombs, yellow, long-distance fuel tanks […] In the lower village there was a unique spectacle. In the roof of my school was stuck the complete tail of an American aircraft. You could see the fin above the elevators. For me that was then a German victory across the board.

After the Second World War, the German population was driven out of the village by marauding Czechs. One of them[3] gave the People's Committee the idea for the new Czech name of the village: based on Kovář, the smith, Schmiedeberg ("smithy hill") became the Czech Kovářská.

References
  1. Museum of the Air Battle over the Ore Mountains
  2. Gerhard Kreißl in: Mein Erzgebirg', Nr. 685, Oktober 2011, 58. Jahrgang
  3. Anton Schönherr (1904–1988), Hausnummer 472, deutsch und tschechisch sprechender Büroangestellter, zuvor Leiter der Fischkonserven-Filiale Kallas in Prag



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