officially arrived, unopposed. By 1939 a German census counted a population of 23,130 in the town, almost 100% German Lutherans. From 1938 to 1945, Aš was administered as part of Reichsgau Sudetenland. At the end of World War II, the town was occupied by U.S. Army forces on 20 April 1945. Czech officials arrested 64 men on 7 June and took them to Bory Prison in Plzeň, where half of them perished Due to the Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia in 1946 by the Beneš decrees, the town's population was reduced to "half of the pre-war number of inhabitants". A German expellee website states that 30,327 Germans have been expelled from March to November in 27 trains. In 1949, 3,000 expellees met in far away Rüdesheim am Rhein, to protest, stating that their area never was inhabited by Slavs other than as a tiny minority. The population shrank further in 1950 due to the establishment of the Iron Curtain and the Czechoslovak border fortifications during the Cold War by the ruling Communists, as the whole Aš district was included into the border zone which made many people move out. Because of the lowering number of inhabitants some houses remained uninhabited. There was lack of money for their renovation and it was necessary to demolish them. Demographics The present-day population in the town is roughly half of the pre-war population. Transport There are three road border crossings and one railway border crossing. Road border crossings lead to Bad Elster and Bad Brambach in Saxony in the east, as well as to Selb in Bavaria in the west. The railway border crossing leads to Selb. The Cheb–Hranice v Čechách railway goes through the town. There are three train stations: Aš (the main train station), Aš-město and Aš-předměstí (currently just a shelter). This railway and the first station were built in 1865. In 1968, the old Royal Bavarian State Railways station building was demolished, and the current one was built in 1969. Aš station also lies on the Cheb–Oberkotzau railway. This railway was closed during the Cold War, but reopened in 2015. Education There are five kindergartens, four elementary schools, a gymnasium, a special school and a school of art located in Aš. A high school of textile also existed here. Sights The main square of the town is Goethovo Square named after J. W. Goethe, who often visited the town. In the