In 1628 they sold the town to the Barons of Thun; it was devastated several times during the Thirty Years' War. In the 18th century, Děčín (Tetschen) followed fashion and became a spa town under Baron Johann Joseph Thun. He searched the area for a suitable spring and found one in the nearby village of Horní Žleb (Obergrund) in 1768. The centre of a busy trading hub was not, however, the ideal place to build a spa. The idea was eventually dropped in 1922. In the 21st century the town's spa past has been largely forgotten. To promote trade, the Elbe Valley railway line was completed in 1851, which stimulated development along the left bank of the river. Soon, neighbouring Bodenbach (Podmokly) grew bigger than Tetschen and received town privileges in 1901. Following World War I, since 1918, the area was part of Czechoslovakia. Upon the 1938 Munich Agreement, both towns were annexed by Nazi Germany, incorporated into the Reichsgau Sudetenland, and merged in 1942. Under German occupation, a Gestapo prison and a forced labour camp were located in the city. After the war, the ethnic German population was expelled under terms of the 1945 Potsdam Agreement and the Beneš decrees. In August 2002, extreme weather conditions led to extensive flooding all across Europe, and Děčín was also badly hit. Water levels rose from their usual two meters to 12 meters; five barges broke loose from their moorings and threatened to break apart a town bridge and float toward Dresden before demolition experts sank them with explosives. At one point 1,600 people were evacuated. The historic center and also many of the tourist spots are at higher elevations, so they were left undamaged, preserving part of the city's economic base. But many lower lying buildings were ruined. Demographics Transport and economy Nearby, there is an important border crossing of the Elbe Valley railway en route to Dresden in Germany. Děčín station is about 83 minutes north of Prague by rail. A parallel highway along the Elbe across the border to Bad Schandau was laid out by the Germans in 1938. All cargo transported by rail, road, and water passes through the city. Products made in Děčín include sheet-metal, food, textiles, chemicals, soap, beer and preserved fish; the city is also home to printing and publishing companies. Sights Synagogue, 1907 Renaissance-era bridge Holy Rood Church, 1687–1691 "Sheep's Bridge", 1620 Děčín Castle