The Italian exodus during the First World War - Svarov, Czech Republic - Human Migration Monuments on Waymarking.com

The First World War began in August 1914, following the Serbian assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand d’Este. Before long Europe found itself at war. Ten months later the countries of the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) joined the war, as did Italy and on 23rd May 1915 they declared war on the so-called Central Powers (Austria-Hungary and Germany).

The Austro-Hungarian authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of all civilians – 75,000 people in total – from the areas of anticipated fighting on the border slopes of the Alps in South Tyrol (Trentino). Most of them were women, children and the elderly (men between the ages of 17 and 54 who were fit to fight had to enlist earlier just like Czechs and other citizens of the Hapsburg monarchy). They had to leave their homes from one day to the next, each with luggage weighing no more than 15 kg. They were loaded into freight trains and taken to completely unfamiliar territory beyond the Alps, inland of the vast monarchy. The train journey took 4–5 days with no possibility of disembarking and with only a single stop after two days.

Following a pre-arranged evacuation plan some 30,000 evacuees were headed for Bohemia and Moravia; 11,000 of which came from the valley near Lake Ledro. The destination of their involuntary journey included the region of Kladno and our village Chynava (100 people), Podkozí (30 people) a Železná (60 people), as well as the villages of Bdín, Braškov, Buštehrad, Doksy, Družec, Horní Bezdekov, Kyšice, Malé Kyšice, Lány, Libecov, Malé Prílepy, Nové Strašecí, Ptice, Srbec, Stochov, Svárov, Vretovice and Zlonice. In total 243 Italians ended up here. In Central Bohemia, refugees were also taken to the Príbram and Rakovník regions.


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Who placed it?: representatives of the Svárov village When was it placed?: 2015 Who is honored?: Italien civilians Website about the Monument: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   06/14/2023 Blogi visited it