The Society for One Place Studies (https://www.one-place-studies.org/) has registered my study on Lichnov, Czech Republic on their website.
Since starting my coursework at the International Institute of Genealogical Studies I’ve become interested in one place studies (OPS). Last year I joined the Society for One Place Studies to learn more about organizing a OPS with the intention of leading one for my maternal grandmother’s village Lichten (Lichnov) in the Czech Republic. What I love about OPS is the combination of family and local history. A OPS allows you to examine people and family groups in their community. I love the idea of studying my family members and the community they lived in and learning about the local and national events that impacted their lives. It is about gaining an understanding of the events that shaped the community and the lives of the people living in it. A OPS is not always a community – it can also be a building, an estate or even a street.
Lichten is the village my grandmother was born in and from where her family was expelled after WW2. Lichten was a town in Moravia, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until after WW1 when it became Czechoslovakia. There was a large German population in the town until 1946 when ethnic Germans were expelled as the result of an agreement made at the Potsdam Conference. Population records reveal a decline of 675 individuals living in Lichten between 1939 and 1950. The 1930 census indicates over 2000 residents of the 2077 total population considered themselves to be ethnic Germans so the expulsion would have had a major impact on the composition of the town.[1] My g-grandfather and his family were some of those expelled as part of this order. They never returned to their home in Czechoslovakia. By 1950 the country was part of the USSR and the town was known by its Czech name Lichnov.
Church records indicate my descendants lived in Lichten at least as far back as the 1500s. My grandmother is no longer with me however I hope by learning more about her place of birth and the town in which my family has such deep roots I will be honouring her memory.
[1] Lichnov, Czech Republic (https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichnov_(okres_Brunt%C3%A1l), accessed January 25, 2024.