Gai

Gai ( village ) locality cadastral community Gai
Basic data
Pole. District , state	Leoben  (LE), Styria
Judicial district	Leoben
Pole. local community	Trofaiach
Coordinates	47 ° 24 '49 "  N , 14 ° 58' 12"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 24 '49 "  N , 14 ° 58' 12"  E
height	720  m above sea level A.
Residents of the village	81 (January 1, 2020)
Building status	28 (2001)
Area  d. KG	3.48 km²
Post Code	8793 Trofaiach
prefix	+ 43/3847
Statistical identification
Locality code	15635
Cadastral parish number	60306
Counting district / district	Gai (61120 009)
Former parish until 2013; Parts of the place Gai also in KG  Schardorf Source: STAT : Ortverzeichnis ; BEV : GEONAM ; GIS-Stmk

Gai is a place in Upper Styria , a locality and cadastral municipality of the Trofaiach municipality in the Leoben district of Styria .

On 1 January 2013, the former were communities Gai, Hafning and Trofaiach Trofaiach the new municipality together . These three Styrian communities were among those that had already merged two years before the general structural reform of the community.

geography

Gai is located about 10 kilometers northwest of Leoben on the Styrian iron road three kilometers southwest of Trofaiach at about 720  m above sea level. A. in the middle section of the Trofaiach basin between the Liesingtal and the Vordernbergertal . It is dominated by the massive Reiting massif , the highest mountain in the Eisenerz Alps .

The term "Gai" is used both for a small village or a locality and a cadastral community and also for a previous community.

The village of Gai has about 30 buildings with about 80 inhabitants, no other locations belong to the village. However , Gai is largely grown together with the hamlet of Töllach , the town centers are only 200 m apart.

The town of Edling in the southeast and the southern parts of the town of Gausendorf also belong to the cadastral community of Gai . The cadastral area has 347.5  hectares and extends from Gai in the northwest of the Veitscherbach down to just before the Trabocher See (locality Am See ) at the north foot around the Hessenberg and around the Edlinger settlement on Steinerweg to the Trofaiach border and over Gausendorf Krebsenbach up to Ganninger northeast of Gai. On the other hand, a good half of the village of Gai itself, the more northerly houses, are in the cadastral community of Schardorf : The cadastral border runs over Schardorfstrasse and Hirnweg directly through Töllach and Gai.

Neighborhoods and cadastral communities

Schardorf (O. and KG)	Putzenberg (O)	Gimplach (KG) Trofaiach (O and KG)
Obermochl Untermochl (both O,  mixed chambers iL )		Gausendorf (O)
Glarsdorf (O, Gem.  Chambers iL )	Töllach  (O) Mötschendorf (KG,  Gem.Kammern iL )	Edling (O) Hessenberg (KG, Gem.  St. Peter-Frst. )

Origin of name

The place name Gai is derived from the Middle High German word göu , which denoted an area that was under the influence of a certain judicial authority and certain trades. In the present case, the "Gai" refers to the area of ​​influence of the Trofaiach market and the ban miles exercised by the local craftsmen .

Gai parish

Gai (Former Parish)
Basic data
Pole. District , state	Leoben  (LE), Styria
Judicial district	Leoben
Locality	Edling , Gai, Gausendorf , Gimplach , Gößgraben , Kurzheim , Oberdorf , Putzenberg , Schardorf , Töllach , Untergimplach , Unterkurzheim , Windischbühel
Coordinates	47 ° 25 '  N , 14 ° 58'  E
height	660  m above sea level A.
Residents of the stat. An H.	1781 (January 1, 2012)
Building status	662 (2001 )
surface	62.24 km²
Post Code	8793
prefix	+ 43/3847
Statistical identification
Community code	61120
Counting district / district	Gai (61 120 000)
Location of the former municipality in the Leoben district
Abandoned on January 1, 2013, since then part of Trofaiach Source: STAT : Ortverzeichnis ; BEV : GEONAM ; GIS-Stmk

Part of the former municipal area: Edling (top right), Gausendorf (top center), Gai and Töllach (bottom center), Schardorf (bottom)

The sustainable settlement of the former municipality began in the Middle Ages . Place and area names are reminiscent of the Slavic settlement in the early Middle Ages and the Bavarian settlement in the centuries that followed. A mixed Bavarian-Slavic population up to the end of the 12th century can be assumed to be certain for the Gai-Trofaiach area. After that, the Slavic population disappeared due to assimilation by the German-speaking majority population.

For centuries, the Gai area corresponded to that of a typical Upper Styrian rural community with rural structures and shared the eventful history of the rest of Styria . Due to the close proximity to the centers of the Upper Styrian iron industry, especially Vordernberg and Donawitz , there was mostly a good sales location for agricultural products. On the other hand, ironworkers and miners often lived in the villages of today's Gai community.

From an ecclesiastical point of view, the Gai area has always been part of the Trofaiach parish. Therefore the existing cemetery in Trofaiach is the burial place responsible for the Gaier community citizens. The police station responsible for Gai and the post office are also located in Trofaiach.

According to the municipal law passed in 1862, the regional administrative units were reorganized after the end of the manorial rule after 1848. Autonomous communities became the cornerstone of the newly designed state. The newly created community of Gai emerged from the amalgamation of the four cadastral communities of Gai, Schardorf, Gimplach and Gössgraben-Freienstein, which originally belonged to the Freienstein tax district .

On April 1, 1939, areas of around 150 hectares belonging to the municipality of Gai, on which a state powder factory existed, were annexed to the municipality of Trofaiach. Today the densely populated district of Trofaiach-West is located there.

On May 9, 1939, the regional authority of Styria announced that the place name Scharsdorf was changed to Schardorf. The reason for this was the construction of the National Socialist youth hostel Rheinlandhaus in this town. The old place name was obviously not fine enough for the new rulers.

At the beginning of 2012, on the occasion of the municipal structural reform 2010–2015 , talks began between the neighboring municipalities of Gai, Hafning bei Trofaiach , Trofaiach and Vordernberg , with the aim of merging these four municipalities. A referendum was held on September 30, 2012 on the outcome of these negotiations. The residents of Gai were clearly in favor of the merger, but the participation was only 59%. The amalgamation of the municipalities came into effect on January 1st, 2013: The new town under the name Trofaiach has around 11,500 inhabitants.

Former church structure and expansion

Gai consisted of the following 13 localities : Edling , Gai, Gausendorf , Gimplach , Gößgraben , Kurzheim , Oberdorf , Putzenberg , Schardorf , Töllach , Untergimplach , Unterkurzheim , Windischbühel .
The four cadastral communities were Gai, Gimplach, Gößgraben-Freienstein, and Schardorf.

The municipality extended from Hessenberg and Veitscherwald in the south to the east around the Reitlingstock (the Gßeck as a border point with chambers) to the Wildfeld and the secondary peak 2143 of the Eisenerzer Reichensteins . It measured almost 15 kilometers southeast − northwest and covered 6,223.91  hectares .

Neighboring communities were (most recently) clockwise from the south: Chambers in the Liesingtal , Mautern in Styria , Kalwang , Eisenerz , Hafning near Trofaiach , Trofaiach and Sankt Peter-Freienstein .

Former community council

The municipal council, which existed until December 31, 2012, last consisted of 15 members and since the municipal council election in 2010 has consisted of mandates from the following parties:

• 6 Austrian People's Party  (ÖVP) - provided the Vice Mayor
• 5 Social Democratic Party of Austria  (SPÖ) - provided the community treasurer
• 1 The Greens - The Green Alternative  (Greens)
• 3 We for Gai - provided the mayor (elected by ÖVP and We for Gai )

Due to the surprising resignation of VP Mayor Helmut Prentler at the beginning of February 2010, a new election was necessary. The two parties with the largest number of mandates agreed in advance on a half-time solution. After the election on February 25, 2011, Siegfried Liess (SPÖ) became mayor, who was overthrown by a motion of no confidence. Bernhard Zechner (We for Gai) was mayor from January 8, 2012 to December 31, 2012.

Population development

Numerous single-family houses had been built in Gai since the 1960s. Above all, dependent workers and employees had settled in the rural community. Gai was one of the few communities in the region to record a significant increase in population over the past few decades.

• 1869 1,195
• 1900 1,108
• 1934 1,068
• 1951 1,022
• 1961 1,143
• 1971 1,171
• 1981 1,404
• 1991 1,565
• 2001 1,735

Economy and Infrastructure

Via Russenstraße (the "Russenbichl") you can get to Edling , Sankt Peter-Freienstein and further to the nearby district capital Leoben . The name came about because this road was built by Russian prisoners of war during the First World War in 1915. Before that there was only a simple connection.

Culture and sights

Sports

• Golf: The spacious fairways operated by the Reiting-Gai Golf and Country Club, with extensive greens, sand bunkers and water hazards, a golf school and a 6-hole short course for individual shot training are located on around 40 hectares .
• Cycling: The area is particularly suitable for family bike tours, but there are also challenging routes.
• Mountaineering: The dominant mountain figure is the Reiting with its highest elevation, the 2214 m high Gßeck.
• In the west of the village there is a south-facing slope that was used as a paragliding practice area by a flight school from Graz around 1992-2000 .

Regular events

• Volkskultur Gai - a Styrian singers and musicians meeting that takes place in the middle of April in the local multi-purpose hall.

Personalities

Honorary citizen

• 1971: Josef Krainer (1903–1971), Governor of Styria 1948–1971

Sons and daughters of the church

• Ulrike Kaufmann (1953–2014), stage and costume designer, graphic artist and actress

literature

• Elfriede Maria Huber-Reismann, Bernhard A. Reismann: Gai. The story of a rural community , three volumes. Self-published by the municipality of Gai, 2005.

Web links

Commons : Gai, Steiermark  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Former website of the community ( memento of March 23, 2004 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Georg Göth : Das Herzogthum Steiermark , second volume, Verlag JG Heubner, Vienna 1841, pp. 93 and 117
2. ^ Reismann: Gai, Geschichte einer Landgemeinde , Volume 1 2005, p. 284
3. ↑ Styria State Law Gazette No. 106/2012. (PDF) Retrieved November 27, 2012 . 
4. ^ Bernhard Zechner new mayor . kleinezeitung.at, January 9, 2012, accessed September 4, 2015.
5. ↑ Kleine Zeitung (September 1, 1971), p. 13.