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With the rising power of the Sudeten German Party The Nuremberg laws restricted Jewish growers and
(SGP), the requirements of the members of the German traders from the Žatec hop growing economy. Their
section of the Hop growing Union in Žatec intensified. property, hop warehouses and hop packaging rooms,
In June 1938, the SGP won the municipal elections unless they had been sold or handed it over earlier, was
in Žatec. The countryside that was peaceful up until taken over by the German trade companies in Žatec. This
this point saw an outbreak of conflicts between the concerned about 60 hop warehouses and hop packaging
Czech and German growers, which was soon joined by rooms worth 60 million CZK in the former currency.
the traders as well. In 1938, the German traders and
purchasers initiated a full boycott of the Czech growers, During the World War II, there was a significant reduction
and after the harvest at the end of that summer, they in the size of the hop growing area. The hop industry,
bought hops solely from SGP members. When they along with the whole agriculture and national economy,
did purchase from Czech growers, they forced them to was subject to the needs of the Third Reich.
offer prices incomparably lower than those offered by
German growers, as well as to mark the hops and issue In the occupied territory, the hop growing areas were
weight certificates in German. linked to the organisational structures of the Third Reich.
In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Czech
After the Munich Agreement in 1938, the Czech border agricultural organisations were abolished or integrated
regions, including that of Žatec, became part of Germany, into the Agriculture and Forestry Association established
and in the same year, most of the Czech population by the occupying power. The "protectorate hops" was
left Žatec. The wealthier local Jewish population had not allowed to be imported to the Third Reich. The area
already emigrated earlier during the 1930s, fearing of hop fields in the Žatec region dropped by nearly one
2. Description regions of the republic, the so called Sudetenland and area was strictly monitored, and no grower dared to
future developments. After the annexation of the border
quarter from 8,756 to 6,682 ha from 1938 to 1945. This
their affiliation to the Third Reich in the autumn weeks
exceed the given area and number of hop plants due to
severe sanctions. At this time, "Osvald’s clones" became
of 1938, only approximately 4,120 ha of hop fields
known to the wider body of hop growers (see below in
remained within the remaining territory of the republic,
and later in the German Protectorate of Bohemia and
the Chapter Hop growing research), namely clone No.
Moravia, from March 1939 (The two other hop growing 126, which was more productive and more resistant to
Roudnice and Tršice regions remained intact). the hop disease called downy mildew. It was, therefore,
132 typical of this era to plant this clone amongst the more
common Žatec hop.

During the war, a ban on establishing new trade
bodies was in force, and therefore no new hop growing
companies were founded. The hop trade stalled, and
exports basically came to a halt.

HOP GROWING RESEARCH
In spite of this difficult period, some crucial moments
and events for the Czech hop industry also occurred,
affecting its development for a long time afterwards.
The endeavours of the specialised employees of the
Agricultural Research Institutes under the Ministry of
Agriculture in Prague, and the university agricultural
educational facilities, helped to lay the foundations
for further hop growing research, especially during the
World War II.

In particular, the hard work of the leading Czech grower,
Doctor Karel Osvald, a senior lecturer at the university,
led to the constant refinement of hops through the
individual selection of propagated clones from the
highest-quality population of the regional varieties from
the Czech hop growing areas, as well as the monitoring
of their qualities and suitability for growing. Shortly after
the war, in the winter of 1945, Dr Karel Osvald applied for
the recognition procedure of a selection of clones of the
"žatecký poloraný červeňák" variety, semi-early red-bine
Dr. Karel Osvald (1899-1948), the leading Czech expert and hop breeder with his hops. This concerned clones Nos. 31, 72, 114, and 126.
famous clones, Saaz hop growing region, approx. 1940