Svitavy

Svitavy (German: Zwittau) is a town in the Czech Republic. About 17,000 people live there. A small river, also called Svitava, flows through the city from a nearby spring.

History

The original settlement with a church was founded by monks from Litomyšl and called after the flowing river Svitava. Later German settlers started to come here. They founded a new village with a church of St.Giles. Original Svitava slowly merged with the new village. The area around Svitavy became the subject of conflict between the bishop of Olomouc and a monastic manor from Litomyšl, 1256 conflict was settled in favour of the Bishop of Olomouc. So the year 1256 started the history of our town. In 2006 we celebrated 750 year from the foundation of town Svitavy.

People from Svitavy

• Viktor Felber- born on 11th October. He was professor of ČVUT in Prague in 1930 - 1931. There is also street named after him, where is primary school and playground.
• Oskar Schindler

The town has a permanent museum exposition called Searching the Star of David - Oskar Schindler - Righteous Among the Nations (“Hledání Davidovy hvězdy - Oskar Schindler - Spravedlivý mezi národy“).