|
Origin of the name „Hackelhöf“ Alternative 1
It comes from the Old German word “Haag” also pronounced as “Hac”. In those days only a few people were able to write. Today a word first exists in a written form and the speaking uses it as a guideline. Without that guide people spoke words like they wanted to and the writing followed the different ways a word was spoken. As a result you will find the Old German word “Haag” in german surnames like Rehagel, Hackl, Hagedorn. In Old English you will find similar words like “hecg” or “haga”. (That’s because German and English are related languages)
Haag meant a farm surrounded by a “living” fence. It was often dogrose (latin: rosa canina) or whitethorn (latin: crataegus oxyacantha) or hawthorn. The fence was used as a protection against wild animals.
A Haag Farmer was often a poor farmer just able to feed his family and often he wasn’t. The german name “Hagestolz” (what is said to a man who - voluntarily - didn’t want to marry) meant in the past such a farmer. But in reality he was unmarried involuntarily. He was just to poor to feed a family.
“Hof” is the German word for “farm”. “Höf” is the short form of “Höfe” that means “farms”.
Hackelhöf as a result is the name of a place where once (approximately medieval era) poor farmers lived with houses surrounded by living fences.
Origin of the name Hackelhöf (Alternative 2)
When the city of Budweis was founded by King Ottokar, it was given some greater “embedded” farms filled with loyals to the crown. The farms were great to give the owners economic and as a side effect political power. One farm of a man named “Hackl” is supposed to became later the village Hackelhöf..
Written mentionings of Hackelhöf
1370: Mentioning as “Curie Hofelini et Maczkonis in Villa Höfen”
”
1380: Mentioning as “Villa Huzn” with 8 farms, owned by the city of Budweis
1501: The city of Budweis buys the old fortress ”Hawsen (Hauzna)” near Hackelhöf. It didn´t maintain it and it became ruins some decades later. One part of the land was made a pond and the rest of the acres was leased to the farmers of Hackelhöf. A small house named “Baschte” was built for the pond supervisor.
1710: All the acres were summoned to a great farm, directly managed by the city of Budweis. After the abolishment of “Leibeigenschaft” (a form of slavery, the peasants were property of the Master, always a great farmer) in 1781 the acres were shared under the peasants. They became free farmers. This became later Neuhöf, part of Hackelhöf.
1704: Hackelhöf was mentioned as a village belonging to Budweis. 10 landowners were reported.
The great school issue at Hackelhöf and abroad
In 1922 the German school at the village with (following the statements in parliament speeches) 29 pupils was closed and a Czech school with 19 pupils was introduced. Similiar cases occured in the whole country. Some German members of the parliament protested and it was the first time that Hackelhöf was mentioned in the minutes.
The closing of their school was a shock for the German residents. The school was not only seen as a place to impart knowledge about reading, writing, maths etc. but also culture. As it can be read in the documents the school policy was at those days a great issue in the country. The introduction of Czech schools was not the problem. After the creation of their state the Czech surely had a backlog demand. The closing of German schools following that policy was seen as a great problem.
German people feared for their culture. They were able to speak an write Czech well and so their children did. But they wanted them to be taught in a German school and wanted them to learn German officially at school.
The next German school for the pupils of Hackelhöf was at Budweis, 6 km away from the village. Today pupils travel longer distances to schools (by schoolbus, train etc.) without problems. But in the third decade of the 20th century pupils used to walk to their school. Often there wasn’t even a bicycle available! Walking 6 km in winter times isn’t easy for young children of a primary school!
(Age 6 to 10) (Today’s fine Goretex™ clothes didn’t exist, too)
The German school was later reopened under the condition of enough German pupils to attend. The number was at a level the residents didn’t find easy to reach.
Biological ways of increasing the number weren’t always available, so the decision was to affiliate German orphans and give them a home and a family. In those days this decision was not easy. The economic situation wasn’t well and a new member of the family needed food, clothes and useful things for the school. As a result the decision can be seen as a sacrifice for the school.
As a result two problems had been solved:
enough pupils for the school
orphans got a new home and a family
This only slowed the decrease of the German school in the village. Look at the following statistics:
Number of pupils at the one class elementary school at Hackelhöf
01.01.1914: 45 Pupils
01.01.1938: 12 Pupils and a “Kindergarten” with 8 Pupils
08.05.1945: 1 female teacher, 9 male pupils, 8 female pupils unknown number of children in the “Kindergarten”.
Hackelhöf in newspaper reports:
Here the report of the “Budweiser Zeitung” from 21st of December 1919:
“The municipal elections trom the 15th June had been canceled due to remarks of the Czech residents and a new election was introduced for today. The candidates of the “Deutsche Einheitspartei” got 70 votes while the Czech got 3 votes. It is enjoying that all German voters went to the election this time.”
“
[Notice: Mayor became Johann Seiler]
Resettlement of a Family of South Tirol at Hackelhöf-Neuhöf
Historic background
Hitler and Mussolini agreed upon the fate of the german speaking people at the Village Lusern and the Fersental valley. They were supposed to leave italian controlled area and resettle in german controlled area.
German officials decided to resettle them in the vicinity of Budweis perhaps to support the german speaking areas there and to roll back Czech influence. In practice the “resettlement” was done by confiscating Czech farms (the tirolian families didn´t know that before they arrived at their new homes). Officially the confiscation was named “given in administration” and the the new farmes were called “administrators”. These typically euphemistic phrase hided the reality: officially organized theft. The theft increased antigerman feelings under the Czech population.
At Hackelhöf-Neuhöf a family named “Schmegner” (official writing of the name not known) resettled in a once Czech farm near the German Humler farm. The Family had 8 children - all girls - and tried to integrate themselves into the village life in the following years. The girls attended the village school. Near the end of the war the family put all their belongings on a horse-drawn carriage and left the village. They feared reprisals. The german population seemed not to know that they would follow them some months later. But they would not be allowed to carry so many belongings that a carriage would be needed.
This was the last information about the Schmegner family. It is hoped that they survived the war healthy and found a permanent home at last. Their fate is typical for the past. Then it was seen as a good way (even by german officials) to solve problems by moving people across a landmap.
|
