The history of the village after 1945

Many things changed after 1945. There was some connection to the activities developed in the First Republic and modernization of the lives of the people followed. Electrification was finished after the war. Electricity was brought further from the middle of the village, street lighting and wire broadcasting were built up. Communications and bridges were built. New social structure that gradually changed the whole village brought many changes.

One of the most significant changes of the post-war period was the final lay-out of the village borders. The village, unlike any other village in the Czech lands, consisted of  two disjunct  land registers. The upper part of the village (Bystřička) was laid out from Cáb where it neighboured with the village Halenkov (to Jastřabské and Janiše). A group of farm houses in Křivý potok (U Ordáňů) belonged to Růžďka, the lands on the other side of the stream Bystřička belonged to the village Malá Lhota.  The other part of the village (BystřičkaII) lay a kilometer further along at Řehánků and it ended on the borders of the land registers of Jablůnka and Pržno. It is the same today.

The length of the village (almost 20 km) affected not only the economic process but also the management of the village. Thus the function of a local courier was necessary. He performed any errands needed for dealing with the citizens.

There have been many attempts to change the land registers, for example in 1948. The first step to settle the situation was made in 1959. After agreements with the villages Brňov and Růžďka corrections of the borders were made. A part of Růžďka with 17 house numbers (the settlements Křivý potok, Pod Růžďkou, U Hlišťáků) and a part of Brňov (Konvice) – with 9 house numbers at that time – were joined to Bystřička also owing to long lasting enquiries of the inhabitants of these settlements. Finally, the two unrelated parts of the registers were connected. Another important change happened that year. A huge part of the register from the Melichaříks to Cáb with 12 house numbers was connected to the village Malá Bystřice. The length of Bystřička was thus shortened to a half.  

In 1972 the final lay-out of the borders took place. Malá Lhota with 27 house numbers joined Bystřička. Dealing with the citizens was made easier. This change also affected the merger of small agricultural co-operatives (JZD) in Bystřička, Růžďka, Valašská Bystřice and Malá Bystřice into one JZD called Přehrada in Bystřička.

The post-war period did not bring only territorial but also social changes in the whole state. Bystřička has always been, regardless of its recreational function,  an agricultural village.  Shortly after the war there were 29 farmers - entrepreneurs who grew almost all usual kinds of crop-plants. Livestock production was aimed at cattle and pig breeding. Part of the crop was given to the state in the form of compulsory rations.

The idea of socialistic farming was introduced also in Bystřička. In 1946 a machine co-operative was founded. It purchased a rotary cultivator and a sickle from the common resources.

In 1950 a preparatory committee for the foundation of “JZD” was assigned. The members of the JZD were the so called part-time subsistence farmers who did not own much land and had daily jobs. There was only one executive farmer in the co-operative. Also for this reason the co-operative develops very slowly. Until 1959 all land owners with the exception of three of them were collectivized. In 1961 the JZD joined the JZD in Malá Lhota. The construction of new JZD buildings started in 1962.

In 1975 small co-operatives in Bystřička, Růžďka, Valašská Bystřice and Malá Bystřice were merged into one co-operative called Přehrada in Bystřička. It thrived well in the eighties under the socialistic farming. Some projects failed in 1989 when the political situation changed. The whole JZD Přehrada ended in liquidation that has taken place to this day. The construction of a big administrative centre of JZD was first opened and later stopped for financial reasons and in 1998 leveled with the ground. It suffered great financial losses. Other buildings and halls, built in the prime of the JZD, are used today partly for agricultural production but mainly for manufacturing and storage needs of secondary industries (wood production, selling of agricultural machines etc.)

The last four decades of the 20th century witnessed a dynamic bloom of the village. The number of the inhabitants grew (1957:582 – 1980:940). In 1975 a nursery was founded. New single houses were built and new roads, pavements and street lighting were needed so the village changed quickly. Two consumer co-operative Jednota shops and a hairdresser’s appeared. A small gym was built on the playground of “TJ Sokol U Lukášů”.      

In the eighties the need for drinking water called for the construction of a local water supply with its own source. The unsatisfactory state of air in the valley of Bystřička during inversions was a good reason for the installation of gas that was carried out at the beginning of the nineties. Unfortunately, the modernization of the technical equipment of the village left out the recreational resort with the dam.

Investment in the region was limited to the recreational season. A few corporate cabins for trade union recreation were built without any infrastructure. Socialistic tourism resorts pinched money from pre-war businesses with no reinvestment. That is why the famous Valašská búda (U Marka) was put down in 1987. The Klenov hotel and the restaurant U Mokrýšů (U Pustů) have been trying to prosper after costly modernization up to the present day.

New prospects but also problems were brought by restitution and privatization at the beginning of the nineties. The strategic aim of the village is to make the dam Bystřička a peaceful place for family recreation with an adequate comfort of the housing and catering establishment.

The main tourist attraction should be clear and refreshing water but also the nature around and a good choice of easily accessible historical and natural interests. For summer visitors and any others interested there is an open-air cinema near the dam. It was built by the national board in 1961 and it is greatly used when the weather is nice.

The importance of the dam for the life of the village was especially noticeable during a natural disaster in 1997. The cent-year’s flood exceeded the technical parameters of the dam. At night the capacity of the dam was filled and the water started to flow through the side safety spillway. Hundreds of cubic meters of water flowed through the village for several hours and caused great damage to the public and private possessions. All bridges below the dam were damaged, the local water supply was broken in several parts. Electricity, radio and street light distributions were cut off. Communications around the local stream Bystřička were inaccessible. Tens of houses were flooded, the supporting structures of four houses were affected. A few small agricultural properties and one recreational cabin were completely taken away by the water. Other problems occurred after the flood subsided. There were some landslides. Two houses and a few cabins had to me torn down.

Clearing up of the flood took almost four years and cost about 20 milion Czech crowns. The new buildings are often of high-quality.

Landslides represent a great problem of Wallachia today. They do not happen very often in the land register of Bystřička fortunately but in the vicinity (Růžďka etc.).