A short visit to the Silesian town of Těšín/Cieszyn, split by the river Olše (and a 1920 treaty): 3 km

• On 28 October 1918, just days before the formal end of World War I, a new state was born. Czechoslovakia emerged out of the ruins of the collapsing Habsburg Monarchy. A union of provinces was created, some of which had only a tenuous historical connection to the core territory of Bohemia. Slovakia, Moravia, Czech Silesia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia were all stitched together and attached to a triumphant Bohemia. It was an uncomfortable patchwork of territories: one that survived as a union for less than twenty years.
• The stitching process for this fragile tapestry actually took nearly six years to complete after the conclusion of WWI. The biggest challenge was agreeing the split of the historic Silesian region with the Polish authorities. The astonishing shifts of the Silesian border area in the first half of the 20th century are highlighted in the linked map. The main problem for the fledgling Czechoslovak government was that the provisional border, agreed at the beginning of November 1918, excluded the key industrial/coal mining areas around Karviná and the equally important rail junction of Bohumín, not to mention the region’s historic capital, Cieszyn.
• In early 1919 the Poles planned a vote of the local population to resolve the dispute – a resolution likely to confirm the status quo, with much of disputed territory being Polish speaking. The Czechoslovak government was unwilling to compromise and sent an army group into the disputed territory. It has been suggested that the refusal to allow Cieszyn Silesia to join Poland, despite its Polish majority, was because this would create a precedent for the German-speaking Sudetenland (located in the border areas of Bohemia and some of Moravia) to push to join Germany.
• The consequence was the remarkable ‘Seven Day War‘ between Poland and Czechoslovakia, which began on 23 January 1919. At the time, most of the Polish army was occupied in the Polish-Ukraine War in the far east of the country. As a result, the Czechoslovak forces were largely unimpeded and advanced as far as the Vistula river, where the Poles had created a defensive line focused on the town of Skoczów. On the eve of what was expected to be the crucial battle, the attack was cancelled after substantial diplomatic pressure from the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia).
• After months of negotiation, the division of Cieszyn Silesia was finally agreed in July 1920. Czechoslovakia retained the critical Karviná area and Bohumín junction, but failed to secure any additional territory in the Cieszyn region, with the Olše river being used as the principal demarcation line. The town of Cieszyn itself was split in two (by both the river and the 1920 treaty). The historic part of the town fell on the Polish side and the western suburbs became what is now the town of Český Těšín.
• Inevitably, there was a postscript to the remarkable Silesian border story. In September 1938, Germany acquired the Sudeten lands under the terms of the infamous Munich agreement. Poland decided to take advantage of the weakened Czechoslovak state, demanding the return of the ‘lost’ part of Cieszyn region. The Czechoslovak government was powerless to resist the ultimatum. And so, at the beginning of October 1938, Cieszyn and Český Těšín were briefly reunited.
• The new status lasted less than a year. Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939 and the reunited Cieszyn region was immediately annexed to Germany. It remained that way until Cieszyn was liberated by the Red Army in May 1945. At the conclusion of World War II the borderline broadly reverted to it pre-Munich position and it has stayed there to this day.
• That is not to say there are no longer tensions along the border. But they are minor compared with those that existed a hundred years ago. The 2007 entry of both countries into the Schengen zone helped, eliminating the border controls and finally allowing the free movement of the residents of the town (both sides of the border had a significant minority of Poles and Czechs).
• As can be seen, this is one of the most complex historical regions anywhere in Central Europe. It is worth a trip just to try to understand what happened over the past century. However, even for those not that interested in the absorbing recent history of this split town, Cieszyn/Český Těšín is still worth visiting for a short walk… .The historic center (on the Polish side) is very pretty and the main square, with its mix of Renaissance/Baroque architecture, is a delight.
• Cieszyn town has a very long history dating back to its occupation by Slavic tribes in the early middle ages. The area became part of the emerging Polish state in the 10th century, after the collapse of the Greater Moravia Empire. The town then became the capital of the Duchy of Cieszyn, established in 1290 upon the fragmentation of Poland into smaller duchies.
• The region was ruled by the Piasts until 1653 and thereafter by the Habsburgs until 1918, when things really starting getting complicated. Relative to the border chaos of the last hundred or so years, the Piast and Habsburg eras appear relatively tranquil (at least in terms of the town’s ‘ownership’). The architecture of the town neatly reflects the influences of both dynasties and is as good a reason as any for a visit.
• The route shown in the map below is a simple 3 km loop, starting and finishing at the Český Těšín train station, which is a main line station with connections to Prague. The route crosses the town’s two bridges: the ‘Friendship’ bridge on the outbound route and the ‘Liberty’ bridge on the return. There is a slight incline on the walk up to the main square, but otherwise this is a flat route, easily managed with a stroller. For refreshments, there are a number of good options on the Polish side, primarily in the main square. For Czech cuisine (and good beer) try the excellent Radegastovna Těšínská on the approach to the Friendship bridge (map point 2).

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

• This is not really a walk that can be done by following trail markers, but it is simple route to follow given that the river and the two bridges are obvious landmarks
• It is therefore best followed on a paper map (or the mapy.com phone application).