Zhůří (Kepelské Zhůří – Haidl am Ahornberg) | Šumava Net

A defunct village on the slopes of Mount Javorná, a chapel, a reconciliation cross, a memorial to the victims of the American army, commemorative trees.

The village was also called Zejbišské Zhůří (according to Javorná) or Kepelské Zhůří (Keply is the nearest settlement that was not destroyed). Haidl am Ahornberg in German.

The oldest mentions of the village of Zhůří are from the beginning of the 17th century. At first, local charcoal burners burned charcoal for the glassworks and hammer mills in the area. In the mid-eighteenth century, a local glass factory was in operation. The wooden church dedicated to St. Trinity. This church burned down several times, but was always rebuilt.

From 1913, a post office operated in Zhůří in a building next to the church. Mail was first brought here from Hůrka by a postman on a cart, then in winter on a sled pulled by a dog. The Prague newspapers reached Zhůří with a three-day delay.

Between the wars, about 600 inhabitants lived in the village, mostly of German nationality. There was a gendarmerie station and a three-grade German school in the village.

Firemen, a singing club, a veterans' club and the Bund der Deutschen and Böhmerwaldbund were active in the village.

At the end of the war, on May 5, 1945, a battle took place here between German cadets and soldiers of the American 90th Infantry Division. After a heavy battle, 10 American soldiers were killed and other soldiers were wounded. 24 German officer cadets and members of the Hitler Youth were also killed. Most of the houses were damaged, several burned down, the church lost its roof. The local population fled to nearby Javorná and Kochánov before the fighting.

After the end of World War II, the German population was pushed out/expelled. Zhůří was largely settled by re-emigrants from Slovakia and Romania. In February 1948, a Czech school started operating in the village, with 19 children attending a single class. The school was closed on May 2, 1952. In April and May 1952, the village was evicted. Orphaned Zhůří became part of the Dobrá Voda military district and was gradually destroyed. Hadí vrch became a tank training ground.

Present:

A small chapel of the Holy Trinity was built on the site of the demolished church on the initiative of the former citizens of Žůr and with the contribution of the City of Hartmanice. The Cross of Reconciliation demonstrates the sad fate of the defunct village. Two death boards decorated with German inscriptions can also be seen here.

A granite monument located near the chapel commemorates the names of ten fallen American soldiers. On the days of May, devotional gatherings are regularly held here. In June 2022, a new form of the monument was unveiled in Zhůří. The monument symbolizes the journey of American soldiers of the "90s" of Patton's Third Army from the landing on Utah Beach in Normandy, through France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany to the west of Bohemia.

A visit to Zhůří in autumn is magical - a number of dominant and memorable trees grow in the vicinity of the village and on the slopes of Hadí vrch - maples, beeches, lindens, birches. They are shaped by gales and lightning strikes, and some have already succumbed to these influences.