Editing Liberec (section)

==History==
[[File:Liberec náměstí a radnice 3.jpg|thumb|[[Liberec City Hall]] and [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]]'s Fountain]]
[[File:Zamek liberec.jpg|thumb|220px|Liberec Castle]]
[[File:Liberec lázně císaře FJ 1.jpg|thumb|City spa, today the regional gallery]]

===11th–16th centuries===
In the 11th or 12th century, a settlement named Habersdorf, which was the predecessor of Liberec, was established on the [[trade route]] from [[Bohemia]] to [[Lusatia]] by Czech settlers and German colonizers. In the 13th century, a second settlement named Reichenberg was established near the first one. The two settlements later merged. The first written mention of Liberec under its German name Reichenberg is from 1352.<ref name=history>{{cite web |title=Liberecká historie v kostce|url=https://www.liberec.cz/cz/radnice/strategie-projekty/projekty-mesta/ostatni-projekty/zahrada-libereckych-vzpominek/liberecka-historie-kostce.html|publisher=City of Liberec|language=cs|access-date=2022-09-21}}</ref>

Starting in 1278, the area was owned by the noble Bieberstein family. Reichenberg suffered from the passing through of troops during the [[Hussite Wars]], then was burned down in 1469 during a battle with the army of King [[George of Poděbrady]]. After the Biebersteins died out, the [[Frýdlant]] estate, which included Reichenberg, was bought by the Redern family in 1558. The Rederns contributed significantly to the development of the settlement, as they built new buildings, modernized the settlement and laid the foundation of the textile industry. In 1577, Reichenberg was promoted to a town by Emperor [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolf II]]. He gave the town the coat of arms it still uses today.<ref name=history/>

===17th–19th centuries===
From 1600, the town was administered by Kateřina of Redern, who obtained the right to trade in salt for the town, had a chapel added to the castle and contributed to the construction of the town hall. When the Redern family was forced to leave Reichenberg after the [[Battle of White Mountain]] (1620), it was acquired by [[Albrecht von Wallenstein]]. After his death it belonged to the Gallas and Clam Gallas families, who did not care much about the town. The prosperous local industry was interrupted by the [[Thirty Years' War]] and a great plague in 1680. The crises resulted in a series of harshly suppressed serf uprisings.<ref name=history/>

In the 18th century, Reichenberg flourished. The number of inhabitants tripled and the cloth industry was very successful. The [[Battle of Reichenberg]] between [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]] and [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] occurred nearby in 1757 during the [[Seven Years' War]], but the town continued to develop. During the 19th century, the town became the centre of textile industry for all of [[Austria-Hungary]]. In 1850, it became a self-governing city.<ref name=history/>

Reichenberg became a rich industrial city without representative buildings. In the late 19th century, a spectacular collection of representative buildings was created, mostly in the neo-Renaissance style: the [[Liberec City Hall|city hall]], the [[opera house]], the North Bohemian Museum, the Old Synagogue, and others. A representative villa district and a forest with a botanical garden and a zoo were created.<ref name=history/>

===20th century===
Until 1918, the city was part of [[Austria-Hungary]], seat of the Reichenberg district, one of the 94 ''Bezirkshauptmannschaften'' in [[Bohemia]].<ref>Die postalischen Abstempelungen auf den österreichischen Postwertzeichen-Ausgaben 1867, 1883 und 1890, Wilhelm Klein, 1967</ref> After the end of World War I, Austria-Hungary fell apart and the Czechs of Bohemia joined newly established [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]] on 29 October 1918 whilst the Germans wanted to stay with Austria to form reduced [[German Austria]] on 12 November 1918, both citing [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s [[Fourteen Points]] and the doctrine of [[self-determination]]. Liberec was declared the capital of the German-Austrian province of [[German Bohemia]]. Czechs however argued that these lands, though German-settled since the Middle Ages, were historically an integral part of the Duchy and Kingdom of Bohemia. On 16 December 1918, the Czechoslovak Army entered Liberec and the whole province remained part of Bohemia.<ref>{{cite news |last=Švecová|first=Jana|title=V německém Liberci vznik Československé republiky moc nevítali|newspaper=Liberecký deník|url=https://liberecky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/v-nemeckem-liberci-vznik-ceskoslovenske-republiky-moc-nevitali-20181026.html|publisher=Deník.cz|language=cs|date=2018-10-27|access-date=2024-03-04}}</ref>

The [[Great Depression]] devastated the economy of the area with its textile, carpet, glass and other light industry. The high number of unemployed people, hunger, fear of the future and dissatisfaction with the Prague government led to the flash rise of the populist [[Sudeten German Party]] (SdP), founded by [[Konrad Henlein]], born in the suburbs of Liberec. The city became the centre of [[Pan-German]] movements and later of the [[Nazis]], especially after the 1935 election, despite its important democratic mayor, [[Karl Kostka]] ([[Liberalism in the Czech lands#German Democratic Freedom Party|German Democratic Freedom Party]]). The final change came in Summer 1938, after the radicalization of the terror of the SdP, whose death threats forced Kostka and his family to flee to Prague.

In September 1938, the [[Munich Agreement]] awarded the city to [[Nazi Germany]]. In 1939, it became the capital of [[Reichsgau Sudetenland]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Liberec jako hlavní město Říšské župy Sudety. Nacistické představy o podobě města|url=https://liberec.rozhlas.cz/liberec-jako-hlavni-mesto-risske-zupy-sudety-nacisticke-predstavy-o-podobe-mesta-8199354|publisher=[[Czech Radio]]|language=cs|date=2018-06-15|access-date=2024-01-29}}</ref> Most of the city's Jewish and Czech population fled to the rest of Czechoslovakia or were expelled. The important synagogue was burned down. Henlein himself confiscated a villa in Liberec that had belonged to a Jewish businessman, which remained Henlein's home until 1945.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cornwall|first=Mark|title=The Czechoslovak Spinx: 'Moderate and Reasonable' Konrad Henlein|publisher=I.B.Tauris|year=2011|isbn=978-1780768083|location=London|pages=206–227}}</ref>

After World War II, the city again became a part of Czechoslovakia and nearly all of the city's German population was [[expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]] following the [[Beneš decrees]]. The region was then resettled with Czechs.<ref>{{cite web |last=Štráfeldová|first=Milena|title=9. května 1945 vyvěšovali Němci v Liberci bílé prapory|url=https://cesky.radio.cz/9-kvetna-1945-vyvesovali-nemci-v-liberci-bile-prapory-8098490|publisher=[[Czech Radio]]|language=cs|date=2005-05-02|access-date=2024-03-04}}</ref>