Christmas with the Kinsky family

Available in: English | Česky

Růžena Zouharová – being the daughter of a coachman from the manor farm estate of Count Kinsky and a seamstress – and her siblings, had the opportunity to spend Christmas each year with the Count Kinsky and his family at their chateau in Moravský Krumlov: "We always got an invitation. The children of the employees of the Kinsky family who worked at the estate were always invited. There was hospitality and the children got some flannel clothes, so we all looked like wearing a uniform. The clothes were good, very warm,"she remembered. The last time she visited the Kinsky family was in 1937. Since then, there were no more charity gifts giveaways.

Gallery (1)

Hodnocení

Hodnotilo 0 lidí

Abyste mohli hodnotit musíte se přihlásit!

Routes

Not a part of any route.

Add to user route

Comments

No comments yet.

Insert comment

Růžena Zouharová

Růžena Zouharová, was born as Vyhnálková by the end of 1928 in Moravský Krumlov as the fourth and the last child of a coachman and a housemaid Jan Vyhnálek and Anna Vyhnálková, born as Watzinger. It was a nice example of a bilingual family with different national origins. As Germans, both Jan Vyhnálek's brothers were displaced to Austria after the war. From the mother's side, the Watzinger family was also divided by different attitudes. The family lived in the so called Distillery. In 1934 Růžena started attending a Czech school, which she attended until 1938. She didn't speak German, at home they spoke Czech only her parents sometimes spoke German. In September 1938, Moravský Krumlov became a part of the German Reich and the Czech school was closed. She would have to visit the Czech school in a nearby village, about an hour distance on foot. Her mother decided the Růžena would attend a German school. After finishing the school, she started working as a nanny in a Czech-German family. She witnessed the bombing of Moravský Krumlov, the arrival of the Red Army and the displacement of the Germans. She also speaks about the last count of Moravský Krumlov, count Kinský.

More info

Moravský Krumlov, Chateau

Available in: English | Česky

Moravský Krumlov, (German: Mährisch Kromau), is located thirty kilometers south-west of Brno on the River Rokytná. The river’s meanders offered good opportunities for settlement, which is why a district castle was built there. It was destroyed and burned down after 1146 as part of the struggles between two members of the House of Přemysl – Prince Vladislav and Prince Conrad, the appanage prince of Znojmo. The castle was rebuilt to a Renaissance chateau under the ownership of the House of Lipá who minded the development of the town in the 16th century. After the Battle of Bílá Hora, the House of Lipá was deprived of its property which was forfeited by the emperor Ferdinand II. sold Moravský Krumlov to the House of Liechtenstein in 1625. When Prince Rudolf Lichtenstein died in 1908, his relative Count Kinsky took possession of Krumlov. Moravský Krumlov became a part of Germany in 1938 thanks to the politics of Rudolf Kinsky, an admirer of the Nazi policy, even though the town’s German population accounted for just about one-third of the citizens. The Kinsky family fled the chateau to Austria in 1945. The town’s historical nucleus was severely damaged at the end of the World War II, yet it was later declared an urban heritage site. In 1950 the town was loaned the Slavic Epopee paintings made by the native of the nearby Ivančice, Alfons Mucha.

On this place

Christmas with the Kinsky family

Růžena Zouharová

Krumlov after the war

Růžena Zouharová