Mountain Service in the Czech Lands from Its Foundation until the Second World War

The aim of this thesis is to look back at the history of the Mountain Service and to introduce the readers of the article to the history of Mountain Service in the Czech Republic, which dates back to the period of the First Republic, that is around 1930. At that time there was a great development of community life in European countries and the same holds true for the Czech Republic. The development of tourism, mountain climbing and skiing resulted in a higher number of people coming to the mountain areas where they could enjoy their new hobby and share the delights of nature. It resulted in first injuries and distress caused partially by people´s lack of kn owledge of the terrain, partially by weather instability and also by insufficient technical equipment and tools. The first rescue teams recruited from native inhabitants who knew the local terrain and mountain areas. The first participants in the rescue activities, who were only insufficiently technically equipped, were woodworkers, postmen, Slalom and Wintersportvereine ski schools instructors, firemen, as well as gendarmes. The increase in accidents and events needing help took place in winter 1934/35. During the first two weekends in February six people died on the ridges of the Giant Mountains. After these events the Provincial Office in Prague initiated the establishment of Mountain Service with the help of District Office in Vrchlabí and the District Governor JUDr. Vladimír Záboj Vaina. The District Office proceeded to the establishment of the Mountain Rescue Service.


Introduction
Before the rescue teams in the Giant Mountains were organised in 1930, there was a great expansion of community activity expecially in bigger towns. Development of tourism resulted in satisfying demand for accommodation and catering capacity in the mountains. Inhabitants of the mountains, who mostly made a living breeding cows and goats, at first turn parts of their houses into guest rooms, then extend their houses to create better possibilities for accomodating and catering tourists. It means a kind of extra earnings for the inhabitants of the mountains as well as increasing the standard of living, which had been low so far. The most important of associations which supported tourism and stay in nature was surely the Czechoslovak Tourist Club, Sokol and Ski Association of RČS. These associations also had regional branches called counties which helped to organize the community activity. One such association was for instance Czech Giant Mountains Ski Association in Jilemnice which belongs to a skiing county of the Giant Mountains. Even the German associations as Riesengebirgs-vereine seated in Vrchlabí or Hauptverband der Deutschen Wintersportsvereine seated in Liberec supported and organized tourism and sports in nature. With more and more tourists coming, there comes a need to take care of tourists in distress. The first organizers are the volunteering firemen who are native and know the country and often set off to help tourists in trouble. The need for rescue teams is growing and therefore the new members of rescue teams come from ski instructors. There was an improvement in organization due to participation of local gendarmerie who had a phone connection and could take part in organizing the searches themselves and on top of that they were able to secure medical help etc. The number of rescue actions grew from year to year and came to tens at the end of the 30s.

Beginnings Mountain Service in the Czech lands
During the winter 1934-1935 there was a lot of snow in the mountains and the weather conditions were not suitable for skiing. During the first weekend in February six people died in the Giant Mountains and other tourists closely escaped death 1 . This is how the situation of winter Giant Mountains at the beginning of February is described in appendix no. 4, National Papers on 11 February 1935. In the west of the Giant Mountains, in Rokytnice region, organized groups of rescuers came into existence. During winter 1933During winter -1934 in Rokytnice nad Jizerou there arose a rescue group under the leadership of an Austrian Alois Wenzl who was an experienced skier and an expert in the Alps. His group consisted of ten members, mostly woodworkers from Horní Domky 2 .
It seemed evident that it was necessary to prepare and set up an organization which would be dealing with rescue and providing first aid in the mountaineous area of the Giant Mountains. Before that winter the first ambulance convoy of voluntary fireman unit started. This convoy then directed its team to the mountains where the injury was announced or where a skier or a winter tourist was reported missing. Later the fireman unit obtained an ambulance car which was able to transfer the injured person as fast as possible to the nearest hospital in Vrchlabí. The local association "Wintersportvereine" in Špindlerův Mlýn supported this firemen's association and the same is true for instructors of the local ski school "Slalom" which enabled success of the rescue expeditions. The impulse of the district office in Vrchlabí and the German association "Riesengebirgeverein" and the Association of Czechoslovak Tourists and even the headquarters of post offices and telegraphs in Pardubice resulted in implementation of a mutual telephone connection between all important buildings (with telephone connection) in foothills. It became easier to inform the relevant place about the accident or the missing people (in late hours) and take action. In Špindlerův Mlýn a special protective unit was established providing continuous and professional rescue service in the mountains, cooperating with local fireman unit, local sportsmen from a German association of winter sports, members of ski school "Slalom" and local gendarmerie, which should receive information about accidents. One such training alarm was organized in January that year. Two general practitioners 48 Aleš FEJFAR were present, MUDr. Vilém Pick 3 and MUDr. Kindler, who had been training a rescue team since autumn and therefore could see the use of first aid in practice. The rescue team consisted of 6 sections (3 recruited from ski instructors mainly from ski school Slalom, 3 from voluntary fireman unit). Each section contained 6 men. Four sections were in Špindlerův Mlýn (1 of firemen and 3 of ski instructors), one was in SvatýPetr (firemen) and one was in Leierovy boudy (firemen) 4 .
This effort to help people in distress has a long tradition in the mountaineous terrain. Many people and institutions participated in it: the fire brigade, instructors from the Czech ski school Slalom in Špindlerův Mlýn, instructors from the German ski school Wintersportvereine in Špindlerův Mlýn, wood workers, postmen, employees of chalets, representatives of gendarmerie in Špindlerův Mlýn led by commander Zvára. In short, all those people who knew the mountaineous terrain, could use skis as a means of transport in the mountains and were willing to help. They were organized into six sections consisting of six members. The professional theoretical and practical parts in the form of training were provided by MUDr. Wilhelm Pick, a general practitioner and later a mayor of Špindlerův Mlýn, as mentioned in the article in Národní politika no. 41 from 10 February 1935.
During winter 1934/1935, there were so many rescue actions and tragical events that it became necessary to set up a unified organization which would only be directed at rescue actions in the mountaineous terrain. Therefore, in March 1935 JUDr. Vladimír Záboj Vaina, 5 the chief of political governance in Vrchlabí district addresses individual organizations which at that time were participating in the help in the mountaneous terrain. He asked them to propose how the unified organization could be working. At the end of winter there were four proposals collected, of which two proposals were preserved, one by Jindřich Ambrož, secretary of the Czechoslovak Tourist Club, Giant Mountains County 6 in Jilemnice and one by Hauptverband Deutscher Gebirgsvereine u. Wintersportvereine 7 .
Provincial office represented by JUDr. Jan Kamenický 8 addressed the District Governor of Political Administration in Vrchlabí JUDr. Vladimír Vaina and asked him to call organizations, which in any way participated in rescue activities in Špindlerův Mlýn region and central Giant Mountains. The target was to create an organization with a uniform system of management, which would cover the largest possible area of the mountains neglectant of state territory or political administration districts 9 . The meeting was to be held on 12 May 1935 in Špindlerův Mlýn in the Central Hotel.
The  eine, Land Union of German Firemen, numerous communities in the Giant Mountains. The conference was attended by 90 people and was started and led by the provincial office, represented by the secretary and chief J. Kamenický. A lively debate arose, which resulted in many good proposals. Those proposals were summarized in a program which was to be further elaborated by "permanent executive working committee", consisting of representatives of all organizations mentioned above. Its chairman was to be the district governor of Vrchlabí Dr. Vaina. The committee was supposed to meet for the first time at the beginning of June and meetings were supposed to be held regularly every two weeks. All administration work was supposed to be completed by the end of October that year so that the newly organized rescue service could start working at the beginning of winter. Extending the telephone network between the chalets in the Giant Mountains and foothill stations was discussed, as well as better organization of telephone service, specially in evening hours in the main ski season. The financial aspect was also dealt with (contribution of public offices, voluntary tax on expenses in mountain establishments, surcharge to sport express train tickets etc.) as well as the topic of securing rescue expeditions. The meeting finished after 1 p.m. with a good result, on which the organization will be built within half a year and later perfected 10 .
Dr. Vaina had a speech 11 in that meeting, in which he described the actual state of organization of rescue activities and possibilities of a new organization based on foreign models. For instance, in Austria the Mountain Service had been working for more than 30 years at that time. At the end of the meeting, all participating organizations were asked to depute their representatives to the committee and inform Dr. Vaina in a written form, whom they had authorized to represent their organization. "Rescue Service Executive Committee" was in charge of the rescue service then and the next term of a meeting was set on 29 May 1935. According to the report the meeting finished around 1 p.m. and immediately afterwards, on 13 May 1935, a report from the meeting was written and sent to all participants 12 . On the following days the district office in Vrchlabí started receiving names of people who were authorized by individual organizations participating in the meeting in Špindlerův Mlýn 13 .
By the end of the year six main stations were established: Rokytnice nad Jizerou, Špindlerův Mlýn, Pec pod Sněžkou, Malá Úpa and Janské Lázně, each of them having its leader. There were thirty-six subordinate smaller stations in mountain ridges. Immediately after setting up the stations, 320 members were registered, all equipped with canvas badges for the right sleeve of their jackets and membership cards with a photo and a signature of the chief (Dr. Vaina). The membership cards were issued by the district office on behalf of the provincial office in Prague. Those were the beginnings, accompanied by friendship in the mountains in difficult conditions, but also insufficient material equipment and bad phone connections between individual chalets and stations. That was a challenge for the management of the new organization in the time preceding the Second World War. Nobody was keen to solve the total lack of finance at first, discussions usually finished with proposals who should contribute and who should collect the funds. One of the proposals was, for instance, to increase the train fares to the Giant Mountains and devote this extra money to the new organization. Another idea was for the restaurants and hotels to charge an extra fee for the development of the mountain rescue organization. The promise of the Skiers Union to buy first aid kits can be considered as partial help 14 . The Ministry of Health also tried to help, as well as the members themselves, who tried to collect small contributions from tourists. The Red Cross helped in terms of material equipment, as well as Samaritan service, which helped training the members and which tried to base on the work of Dr. Pick from Špindlerův Mlýn. The directorate of the Post Office in Pardubice tried to implement a phone connection preferably to chalets and stations of the Mountain Service for better communication, exchanging information about missing persons, and calling for help 15 . The foundation of a rescue organization in the mountains was a great event for the local associations. It united people regardless of their religious differences and nationalities for a noble goal such as helping people in distress or saving somebody´s life. Demographic composition of inhabitants in the mountaneous region was positively in favour of German nationality. For instance, Špindlerův Mlýn had 1278 permanent inhabitants in 1921, though only 15 were of Czech nationality. In the 1936 Jahrbuch (or yearbook) of the Hauptverband Deutscher Gebirgsvereine und Wintersportvereine association was published and the foundation itself was described as a great event there. There was also a short note that the Provincial Office and the Chief of Political Governance of Vrchlabí District JUDr. Vaina were among organizers of the foundation. Great solidarity and willingness to cooperate was expressed 16 . One of the greatest personalities of the association was undoubtedly Quido Rotter 17 .
Shortly after the foundation had been established, the District Governor asked the heads of chalets to create first aid kits and emergency boxes which would help in case of a rescue action. After that, some chalet owners created a list of medical material which they were equipped with and which they could provide in case of a rescue action 18 .
After the foundation, 6 main and 35 subsidiary stations of Mountain Service were established. At each station there was a leader appointed, who was responsible for the material of the station (mostly basic medical material), carriers, blankets, sledge, ropes, spare clothes. By November 1935, the phone connection was established between all main mountain service stations and most of the subsidiary stations due to the Directorate of Post and Telegraphs Pardubice. All members of the new organization were fitted with a membership card and a patch on a jacket sleeve. With the assistance of the Samaritan Association and the Union of Skiers of the Czechoslovak Republic all stations of the Mountain Service were equipped with first aid kits. Insurance was also provided for the members in case of injury or harm during a rescue action or during an activity for the Mountain Service. Before each approaching winter season, a lot of health training and training alarms were pracrised so as to make most people ready in the shortest time possible. At the end of 1935 and the beginning of 1936 intensive discussions were led about training dogs for the need of the Mountain Service. A breed was needed, which was easily trainable, with an excellent sense of smell and hearing as well as physical strength. It was not easy to find such a breed, because there are always compromises when it comes to dogs. If a breed has a great sense of smell, then the dog is usually not strong enough, if the dog is physically strong and able to stay in cold conditions for a long time, then it is usually hard to train etc. In foreign countries, where the Mountain Service had been in existence for decades, the Bernhard dog were mostly used. Mountain rescuers in Slovakia in the High Tatras were breeding such dogs, so these rescuers were addressed. Even a cousin of Dr. Vaina had such dogs and was willing to give a few puppies to the Mountain Service, however, it never happened because the puppies got sick. Another adwho started beautiful museum collections in Vrchlabí. He was a member of the organization of German winter sports associations, which had four committees: for youth, bobsleigh, sled and skiing. He is known especially fron old German literature as "Father of Skiing" in the Giant Mountains. He was the owner of a thriving spinning mill and a long-time officer of the Giant Mountains Association, a founder of student tourist hostels, which continue until present day as Jugendherberge in Germany and Austria. In 1896 he founded a Giant Mountains section of Austrian Ski Association and in the years 1903-1907 he was a chairman of the newly established German Ski Federation of the Giant Mountains. He took part in financing ski equipment for mountain schools. Available from: http://www.freiheit.cz/11-krkonose--mesicnik-o-prirode-alidech/469-quido-rotter- 1860--1940.html, [cit. 2017-14-06, 14:10]. 18  In the second half of 1936, JUDr. Vladimír Záboj Vaina retired. He moved from Vrchlabí to Lázně Bělohrad. However, he accepted the request of his successor and remained in the organizing committee, for which he was reelected for his experience in the field of Mountain Service at a meeting on 27 November 1936 20 . His successor on the position of the District Governor of Political Governance was JUDr. Jaroslav Macoun. He also took over the position of a chairman of the Executive Committee of Mountain Service. By the end of 1936 preparation and organization of ridge stations had been finished. The number of members reached 320 in that year. The minimal age for entering was determined to be 21 and each new member was appointed. As has been mentioned above, every new member was fitted with a membership card and a patch on a jacket sleeve. Mountain Service was about to be organized in other districts, i.e. in Jilemnice and Trutnov. The long awaited telephone connection between the main stations of Mountain Service and ridge stations was also completed. In the first year of the existence of the Mountain Service they carried out 7 accompaniments, 14 transports to chalets, 45 transports into the valley, 16 transports to hospital, 41 first aid provisions concerning lighter injuries, 44 first aid provisions concerning serious injuries, 40 medical interventions, 4 bigger searches, 1 false alarm. Thanks to this, there were no victims 21 . A great deal of work was done in the aspect of material equipment. Thanks to persistent work, communication and requests for support the Mountain Service was equipped at the beginning as follows: 2 non-folding carriers, 4 folding carriers, 12 bags, 20-25 splints of various sizes, 70 tricorn scarves, 305 packages of cotton wool, 12 pairs of scissors, 6 pairs of tweezers, 18 Rico bandages, 189 packages of gauze and other medical materials. All came from the property of the Red Cross and even after transfer remained its property 22 .
In 1937 several training alarms took place, as well as a few trainings and lessons on health education, so that the members remained professional. What is more, the inhabitants of mountain villages were getting to know more about the first aid. It is indicated by the fact that Dr. Macoun was invited to see one of these training sessions, which was held by the Czechoslovak Red Cross in Jilemnice 23 .

Situation of the rescue team in the Šumava Mountains
In other Czech mountain ranges the situation was similiar to the one in the Giant Mountains. Rescue teams in the Jizera Mountains and in Liberec region were mentioned above. The situation in the Šumava Mountains was the same.
On 27 January a meeting was held at the initiative of a District Governor of Political Governance in Sušice. It was chaired by the Deputy District Governor, Chief Commissioner of Political Governance in Sušice JUDr. Karel Krombholz and it was attended by 13 representatives of various associations. At the meeting, a District Committee of Mountain Winter Rescue Service in Sušice was established. Rescue stations were to be set up in Modrava, Prášily, Grünbergova Huť, Srní and Hartmanice. State forest administration in Dlouhá Ves with its head, ing. Jiří Zikmund, expressed their understanding and supported the planned actions. Individual stations were supposed to be set up in an old forest house in Modrava, in the cottage of the Czechoslovak Tourists Club in Prášily, in the state game-keeper´s lodge in Grünbergova Huť, in the gendarmerie station in Srní and in the gendarmerie station in Hartmanice for the time being. All rescue stations were to be equipped with first aid tools, sledge carriers, electrical lamps etc. When deciding where to set up the station, the telephone connection was taken into consideration. Employees of state forest administration, as well as leaders of gendarmerie stations were chosen to be leaders of the stations. They were all supposed to divide sections among themselves and appoint a sufficent number of people, who knew the terrain well, for rescue groups. Every patrol consisted of four men and the number of patrols was to be determined by the leader according to the terrain. The central station of the rescue service was set up in Sušice. All activities were to be organized from there. Three members were chosen to make an organization plan: Alois Kot, a district school inspector, B. Picka, a teacher, and František Holý a hospital administrator. As far as money was concerned, they decided to ask central associations, businesses and companies which realized the importance of such an enterprise. The central district committee of Mountain Winter Rescue Service was established in Prachatice and the district lieutenant colonel Jaroslav Grund, a notary in Sušice, and ing. Karel Schell, a factory owner in Dlouhá Ves were chosen as delegates of the Sušice group. The chairman of the district committee of the Winter Rescue Service was appointed Petr Němejc, the District Governor and Councellor of Political Governance, and his deputy JUDr. Karel Krombholz, Chief Commissioner of Political Governance 24 .
The establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic gave rise to the problem of national cohabitation. Occasional problems appeared throughout the Republic, and the mountain region was not an exception. However, they were not very frequent and started a bit later. On 15 June 1935, there was an article published, 24 Private archive of Emil Kintzl, Sušické listy, no. 5/1938, p. 2.
which pointed out the existence of both nations in the new Mountain Service in the Giant Mountains and the possibility of presence of "turners" and "hakenkrajclers" among members of the Mountain Service 25 . An answer to this article was provided by the reaction of Jindřich Ambrož in a letter, where he considered those comments as exaggerated 26 . Similar information got as far as the Provincial Office in Prague. The chief of Political Governance, Dr. Vaina, was asked to describe the situation. Dr. Vaina depicted the situation as stable and highly recommended further cooperation in the Giant Mountains where districts overlapped. JUDr. Říha replied on behalf of the provincial president and expressed his approval of cooperation in activities connected with saving human life 27 .

Conclusion
It is not easy to judge how much the situation changed with the approaching Second World War. How much did some members of Mountain Service, perhaps first loyal to the state and entering the Mountain Service due to the simple need to help a man in distress, change. We don't know how much the information and political campaign under the impact of German nationalism influenced their life. Supposedly, a great number of members were influenced a lot and some were influenced less. We must take into consideration that there were more than 3 million German people living in the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, most of them were living in the border mountains, so called Sudetenland. The situation was changing with the increasing nationalistic activity of the German Turner Associations.
After separating the Sudetenland from the Republic in 1938 a certain number of inhabitants moved inland, away from the borderland. At that time the Czech Mountain Service ceased to exist until the end of the Second World War. The activity was taken over by the German Bergdienst. Members of the Czech Mountain Service, who were of German nationality, continued working in the mountains only for Bergdienst, as well as some Czech inhabitants of the Giant Mountains who did not head for inland. The Giant Mountains were used by the German people for holiday. During the war a lot of German inhabitants of the Giant Mountains went to war, therefore there was a shortage of members in Bergdienst. The imperial office solved this problem by total deployment of previous members of Mountain Service of Czech nationality.
Shortly after the Second World War, in 1945, there was a spontaneous recovery of activites of the Mountain Service in the Giant Mountains. It has a new