History of Ostrava after 1945
INDUSTRY (panel 1)
The period after 1945 saw the further development of industry, mainly metallurgical and steel, in Ostrava. A presidential decree issued on October 24, 1945, ordered nationalization of the industry and this had a huge impact on the history of the city. The development of industry between 1945 and 1989 was influenced not only by economic factors but by political ones as well.
The state-owned enterprise ”Nová huť Klementa Gottwalda”, or the New Iron Works of Klement Gottwald (panel 1, pict. 1), opened on December 31, 1951. The construction of the mammoth industrial complex took place in several phases between 1949 and 1961. By 1962 Nová huť Klementa Gottwalda was operating 10 coke plants, 4 blast furnaces, 9 steel furnaces, 17 soaking furnaces, 9 rolling mills, and other facilities. Some 2,818,000 tons of pig iron, 3,784,000 tons of steel and 3,180,000 tons of rolled products were being produced here in 1972.
Typical for post war construction of the socialistic republic was the effort of young people. More than 70,000 boys and girls joined the League of Young Builders of Socialism during the building of metallurgical facilities in Ostrava-Kunčice between 1950 and 1953. The Czechoslovak Union of Youth organized it all (panel 1, poct. 2).
During the 1970s the VÍTKOVICE steel mill and the engineering works of Klement Gottwald were a metallurgical conglomerate (panel 1, pict. 3). Engineering had become an equal branch of manufacturing alongside the traditional iron and steel industry. Vítkovice iron works contributed to the construction of Czechoslovakian heavy industry with its deliveries of metallurgical and engineering products following the war. Its highest level of iron production reached 1,706,000 tons in 1977. That same year saw 1,963,000 tons of steel and 1,645,000 tons of rolled products roll out.
The number 6 blast furnace with an output of 1,085 m3 was fired up in 1962 and contributed to the future construction of blast furnaces and their facilities with modern components. After operations ceased at the Žofinská iron works in 1972, the production of pig iron at the Vítkovice steel works was transferred to the blast furnaces of Ostrava-Vítkovice.
One of the products manufactured by the Vítkovice steel works were crankshafts. These pictures show a crankshaft weighing 186 tons and measuring 21 metres long manufactured at the Vítkovice steel engineering works of Klement Gottwald in 1975 and delivered to Poland (panel 1, pict. 4).
The Žofínská iron works in Moravian Ostrava (panel 1, pict. 5). An Austro-Hungarian blast furnace company started to build it in 1871. The first blast furnace at the Žofínská iron works was started up in 1873 and a further three blast furnaces were put into operation during subsequent years, the last one in 1920. Operations at the Žofínská iron works ceased in 1972 when the last blast furnace was shut down. More than 21 million tons of pig iron had been smelted in four blast furnaces at the Žofínská for nearly 100 years, between 1873 and 1972.
One typical sign of the post-war organisational structure of the mining industry in the Ostrava-Karviná district was the gradual concentration of smaller mining enterprises into one centralized unit, despite the ever increasing volume of mining activities. In 1955, 5,485,000 tons of coal were mined in the Ostrava territory, by 1980 that figure had levelled off at 4,312,000 tons. The central organization owned 87.8 % of all black coal in Czechoslovakia in 1982.
Four coke plants and two metallurgical facilities were in operation in Ostrava in 1975. The coke plant of Nová Huť Klementa Gottwalda (panel 1, pict. 7) was the largest producer of coke in 1975 with an output of 3,546,000 tons.
The industrial area known as Karolina in Moravian Ostrava (panel 1, pict. 8) was built up starting in 1858. A coke plant using the Koppers system was put into operation in 1947 to cover the needs of the blast furnaces of the neighbouring Žofínská iron works. This coke plant recorded the highest level of coke produced after 1945, some 649,000 tons in 1954. However, its outdated equipment and proximity to the centre of the city led to it being torn down later.
The history of Moravian chemical plants (panel 1, pict. 9) dates back to 1927 when they were built in the district of Mariánské Hory for the purposes of producing nitrogen-based substances. The first production of ammonium sulphate goes back to 1928. After the war the volume of production increased and the assortment of products grew. Technical advances led the plant away from producing inorganic material to the mass production of organic substances. An aniline block was put into operation in 1985, making it one of the most important investment activities for the chemical industry in the Czechoslovakian socialist republic.
The construction of a steam-powered electrical plant in Ostrava (panel 1, pict. 10) completed its trial run in 1933. The power plant generated 977,000 MWh of electricity for the general public in 1955. Over time the station was converted into a heating plant.
ARCHITECTURE (panel 3)
With the end of the World War II, the city started cleaning up the damages wrought by it. The city centre was hit hard by the bombing (panel 4, pict. 1a/b). New houses were built and later on the construction of new residential districts and housing estates were carried out in compliance with the increasing orientation of the city towards coal mining and heavy industry.
The first planned housing estate in Ostrava was in the southern district known as Zábřeh near Bělský Woods. First called “Vzorné sídliště” or “the model community”, it was given the name “Stalingrad” in 1950 (panel 4, pict. 3).
The original concept for the housing situation called for building a completely new city centre. In the end, however, a new plan emerged, to build a large housing estate near the village of Poruba, the so-called New Ostrava (panel 4, pict. 4a/b). Begun in 1952 the architecture was inspired by socialist realism imported from the Soviet Union. By the time construction finished 1975, the complex had grown to include 8 districts.
The outstanding symbol of the Poruba area are the buildings around the so-called Arch (panel 4, pict. 5a/b/c), which was the first to be constructed. The Former Lenin boulevard, today Main Street (panel 4, pict. 6), is the dominant feature of Poruba, lined with ground floor shops the whole way through the housing project. A small park runs through the middle of the boulevard.
The facades of the houses of the New Ostrava were decorated with sgrafitto, high columns and sculptures (panel 4, pict. 7). These features disappeared from later projects in order to save on construction costs. The Poruba district would eventually become a district of Ostrava with one hundred thousand residents. Being an independent housing project, Poruba has its own cultural and health facilities, sports grounds, playgrounds and school buildings (panel 4, pict. 8a/b, 9).
The city centre also received it share of new construction. The buildings that went up after the war included the miner’s clinic (panel 4, pict. 10). Hotel Atom (panel 4, pict. 11a/b), the Main train station (panel 4, pict. 12) in Ostrava and the post office (panel 4, pict. 13) in Přívoz district, all of which were among the most modern and largest in the country.
The swimming pool and city spa (panel 4, pict. 15) were constructed in the 1950s for sports, relaxation and leisure time, with a cultural house (panel 4, pict. 14) to spur cultural activities built in 1961.
CULTURE (panel 5)
The changes following the liberation of the country affected the cultural life of the city. While new ensembles and theatres came into existence, the artistic work in general was influenced by social realism and directed by state institutions.
The city theatre, after the war renamed the Theatre of Zdeněk Nejedlý, still hosted symphony concerts and recitals, including a performance by the Russian violinist David Oistrach (panel 5, pict. 1).
The Ostrava symphony orchestra was founded in 1954 and renamed after the composer Leoš Janáček in 1971. Today it is still known as the Janáček Philharmonic of Ostrava (panel 5, pict. 2, 6a/b).
These pictures and programmes from visits by famous artists illustrate the concert life in Ostrava. Thu Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovič visited Ostrava in 1955 (panel 5, pict. 4). He studied music under Shostakovich and Prokofjev and ranked among the top twenty cellists of the 20th century. The best performances include one given by the Leningrad Philharmonic (panel 5, pict. 5a/b) and another by Rudolf Friml (panel 5, pict. 8), a Czech pianist and composer living in USA.
The idea of staging big symphony orchestras in Ostrava gave birth to a cycle of concerts in 1947. The ten operas and symphony concerts were the joint product of theatre and broadcasting orchestras under the name ”Ostravské hudební jaro”, or A spring of music, in Ostrava (panel 5, pict. 3a/b), The establishment of the festival ”Ostravský máj” or Ostrava May (panel 5, pict. 3a/b, 9), in the 1950s was a continuation of this tradition.
The founding of the international music festival ”Janáčkův máj” or Janáček’s May (panel 5, pict. 9, 10), in 1976 was an inspired idea, because it drew lots of famous artists, mainly from the east block, and elevated Ostrava to the ranks of other cultural capitals of Europe. Conductors like Karel Ančerl, Václav Smetáček, Arvid Jansons and Charles Mackerras are among those who have appeared on stage during this festival.
One institution known as the State Theatre of Ostrava was set up to incorporate the Theatre of Zdeněk Nejedlý, the name the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre (panel 5, pict. 13) went by after 1948, and the National House, first called People’s Theatre, then changed to the Theatre of Jiří Myron in 1954.
The Puppet show (panel 5, pict. 11a/b, 12a/b) for young audiences was established in 1953.
Young artists in Ostrava wanted a vehicle of their own to create a style counter to the traditional stage. This new ensemble was called ”Divadlo mladých” or The Theatre of the Youth and was launched in 1945. Later it was named ”Divadlo Petra Bezruče” or The Theatre of Petr Bezruč (panel 5, pict. 15, 16a/b), in honor of the Czech poet. The gramophone plant in Prague (later Supraphon) established ”Divadlo hudby”, the Theatre of Music (panel 6, pict. 4), in 1951 to represent its own cultural interests. Its goal was to offer the public music and drama in the form of a new sound on a professional level.
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION (panel 6)
An optimistic view of the future accompanied the social political climate of the 1950s. New media outlets helped to sweeten the pot by offering streams of shows and cabarets. On April 30, 1945, the Nazis destroyed the broadcast studio in Šmeralova street, where Czech broadcasting had been located since 1937 (panel 6, pict. 1a/b). The studio in Ostrava was back up and running on October 15, 1945. The broadcast studio further expanded its services to include musical and drama programming. The offices of Czechoslovakian broadcasting in Ostrava demonstrated its integrity when, in August 1968, it broadcasted the true situation of events then occurring in the country.
The first TV broadcasting from Ostrava was launched on December 31, 1955, two years after it began in Prague. The TV studio in Ostrava (panel 6, pict. 2, 3a/b) remained a separate entity until 1958, when it was merged with the station in Prague, thus enabling the mutual exchange of programmes.
In 1948 a bill was passed establishing free education throughout the country. A system of kindergartens (panel 6, pict. 5a), basic (panel 6, pict. 5b) and secondary schools, grammar schools and technical schools was developed after several reforms were put into place. The oldest Czech school in Ostrava, located in Šmerala Street, was reconstructed and the modernized building opened as the Universal Secondary School, today the Matiční gymnasium (panel 6, pict. 9). A conservatory (panel 6, pict. 10) was established in 1953 to nurture young talent. Several other secondary schools were established during the post war period, mainly of the technical type. They prepared young students for professions in heavy industry (panel 6, pict. 8).
A presidential decree in 1945 led to the Technical University in Příbram being moved to Ostrava, giving the city its first university ever. Construction of the new premises at the university was begun in 1965. Student dormitories, a mining measuring station, geological exhibition hall, dining facility and library were added to the main building over time (panel 6, pict. 6a/b/c). The pedagogical institute of Ostrava (panel 6, pict. 7) provided education for those interested in teaching and in 1964 became a separate Pedagogical faculty. The state academic library has been serving education since 1951.
SPORTS AND LEISURE TIME (panel 7)
Several athletes who succeeded at home or abroad had the opportunity to grow up on the playgrounds and sports grounds around Ostrava.
The Ostrava city football stadium (panel 7, pict. 1) was built between 1937 and 1940. Since its beginning, several major sporting events have taken place here. The most famous Czech athlete, Emil Zátopek, set the first of his two records in the 10,000 metre run here in 1949 and at the same time became the first person to achieve it in under 29 minutes and 30 seconds. The city stadium, which seats up to 13,500 people, remains the dome of the Vítkovice football club today.
Tartan Hall (panel 7, pict. 13, 14, 15) was the first sports hall in Ostrava used for indoor sports like basketball, volleyball and table tennis. This hall with a unique wooden lamella construction was built in 1953. The history of sports in Ostrava include the International Boxing Meet of Václav Procházka, the Czechoslovakian gymnastics championships, Greco-Roman wrestling, table tennis matches and the Swedish King’s Cup in tennis held during winter.
The Palace of Culture and Sports (panel 7, pict. 10), designed by architect Vladimír Dědeček and built between 1979 and 1988, was the largest and most modern such arena in Europe at that time. Thanks to its lifting stage and slide-in stands it could accommodate various sporting and cultural events. At present the hall bears a new name, Ostravar Arena. The largest sports events that took place here was the international ice hockey championships in 2004 and 2015. Stars like Joe Cocker, Jose Carreras, Julio Iglesias and groups Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, the Scorpions and many others have performed there.
The Baník Ostrava football team (panel 7, pict, 6, 7) received a new football pitch with a grass surface in 1959. It scored one of its biggest events in 1976 when the newly crowned national champions hosted the football magicians and champions of the world from Brazil in front of 30,000 fans.
The ice hockey team TJ Vítkovice gave the city its second league title during the 1980–1982 season (panel 7, pict. 11).
The prestigious athletic event known as “Zlatá tretra”, or Golden Spike (panel 7, pict. 4, 5), has been held here since 1961 to follow up the tradition of the Masaryk athletic games started in the postwar period at the stadium in Ostrava-Vítkovice. It is the largest annual athletic event in the Czech Republic. Such world and Olympic champions as Alberto Juantorena, Sergej Bubka and Jan Železný have competed here, as have lately Kenenisa Bekele and Asafa Powel, who became the first athlete to run the 100 metre race in less than 10 seconds in the Czech Republic. Golden Spike has been in the category of Super Grand Prix since 2003.
The most famous sportsman from Ostrava, Ivan Lendl (panel 7, pict. 17), started his tennis career on the courts here. He quickly became a champion and moved to the USA in the 1980s, where today he is the holder of 8 titles and the winner of 94 tournaments. He spent 17 seasons in the ATP, out of which he was a world champion for 270 weeks. He won 1,029 matches in his career. He was also a member of the winning team of the Czechoslovakian socialist republic that won the Davis Cup in 1980.
A visit to the ZOO (panel 7, pict. 8, 9) is another way to spend free time here. Ground was officially broken in 1951, but construction lingered until the zoo was finally opened to the public in 1960. Thanks to a lot of promotion and investment, the zoo, home to 270 species of animals, became one of the most popular places not only for residents of Ostrava but for the whole Moravian-Silesian region.
Those interested in the night sky can visit the observatory and planetarium. The new observatory in Ostrava-Poruba (panel 7, pict. 12), bearing the name of well-known scientist and discover Johann Palisa from nearby Opava, was built between 1979 and 1980. The observatory worked in conjunction with the astronomical section of the Science Association in Ostrava and the first People’s Observatory located in Českobratrská Street, which was closed due to technical reasons on September 1, 1980.
The exposition of the history of the city in the second half of the 20th century includes the work of regional artists.
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