Abstract
The presented study aims to map, on the basis of extant archival materials, the issue of educational institutions of the Žatec district after the forcible occupation of the Czechoslovak borderland areas named the Sudetenland by the German army after the signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938. Attention is paid to the fate of Czech schools, which with the annexation of the territory to Hitler's Third Reich actually ceased to exist, and Sudeten German education, which had to gradually adapt to the school system in other parts of the Reich.
In addition to individual types of schools, such as kindergartens, general schools, burgher schools, gymnasiums, vocational schools or apprentice schools, the study also deals with pupils' homes, apprentices' homes, school libraries, use of film in teaching or teachers. The situation in the Žatec district is compared with the situation in other parts of the Sudetenland, where there were also specialized schools that responded to the current economic needs of the region.
In conclusion, the study focuses on the last months of World War II, when schools struggled with the shortage of school books, paper and school notebooks. Teaching was complicated by a lack of teachers, and students who were employed in the arms industry or were called to serve in the Wehrmacht gradually disappeared from schools.
School life was disrupted by air raids, schools had to accept assigned pupils from areas at risk of air raids, and school buildings were gradually closed, occupied by the Wehrmacht, or became infirmaries.