History of Graz
In the history of Graz , the provincial capital of Styria , the first settlements were already around 3000 BC. Occupied.
Stone age
There is historical evidence that the area around the Graz Schlossberg has been settled since the Copper Age (around 3000 BC). Finds of stone tools in the area of the Sackstrasse, which around the year 2000 BC. BC, suggest that there may have been a settlement south of the castle hill.
During the urn field culture , several fortifications have been proven for the Graz area . The various tribes were sometimes hostile to one another, but society began to become politicized and specialize.
Roman times
The Grazerfeld was in the Roman Empire a densely populated agricultural landscape, as evidenced by numerous finds. The largest known Roman facility in Styria was located in the area of today 's Graz-Thalerhof Airport and was completely destroyed when it was expanded in the 1940s. As a continuity from antiquity , supra-regional traffic routes have been preserved: which was known in the Middle Ages as “ strata hungarica ” ( coming from the east, from Pannonia , leading into the Grazer Feld at St. Leonhard and crossing the Mur further west ), and the Römerstraße , today's Alte Poststraße , which crosses the Grazer Feld in a north-south direction and crosses with the strata hungarica am Steinfeld (in the area of today's Reinighaus-Grund).
Slavs, Avars, Bavaria; City name
In the 6th century, Slavs invaded the sparsely populated country as subjects of the Avars and founded the Principality of Carantania in what is now Carinthia , Styria and Carniola .
Slavs later built a castle in this place - grad in Old Church Slavonic , Slovene gradec , `` small castle, fortified place ''. The place name 'Graz' is derived from this, the earlier spelling of which was Gratz and, until the 19th century, Grätz , before the spelling of the pronunciation was adapted. In the Middle Ages, the city was regularly referred to as Bayrisch-Grätz or Bairisch-Grätz to distinguish it from Windisch-Grätz in Lower Styria , and in the 16th century it was often called Grätz in Steyr (Latin Gratia Styriae or Graecium Styriae ) - the city is still called im today Slovenian Gradec .
The Slavs were Christianized and gradually assimilated by the Bavarians and Franks from the 8th century , the Avars were politically and militarily eliminated by Charlemagne around the year 800 .
Hungarian conquest
During the Hungarian invasions at the beginning of the 10th century, the Hungarians tried to gain a foothold in what is now Styria. Franconian and Bavarian landlords , aristocrats and clergymen were expelled or murdered. Many places were set on fire and thus destroyed.
After Otto the Great had finally defeated the Hungarians in the battle on the Lechfeld in 955, the Baier colonization of the area continued. To ward off further attacks, the emperor formed border marks in the outskirts , which were subordinate to margraves . The Mark on the middle Mur extended into Graz .
Eppensteiner, Lambacher, Traungauer
From 970 to 1035 the Eppensteiners were the lords of the Mark on the middle Mur . From 1035 onwards, the Wels-Lambach family took on the margrave dignity of the Styrian region (including Graz ), but the Eppensteiners were allowed to keep their landed property ( Karantanien ). The rule of the Wels-Lambacher lasted only 15 years , after which this family was extinct. The Otakare from Traungau , called Traungauers , followed them. Their seat was in Steyr .
1122 was a crucial year for Styria. The Eppensteiner died out and the property passed to the Traungau. At that time, however, the Graz area was not yet owned by the Traungau family, from the Mur to St. Ruprecht an der Raab it belonged to the freeman Bernhard von Stübing , a grandson of the Count Palatine Aribo . A Romanesque manor castle was built on the Schlossberg by his servants . But the civil city also began to develop; Directly below the new castle, in the area of today's Freiheitsplatz, the associated Meierhof was founded between 1125 and 1130 . As a result, a separate commercial and market center was built in the area of today's Sackstrasse. This alley market was about 180 meters long. This laid the foundation for Graz to play a central role in the future of Styria. The greater importance was also reflected in the fact that it was mentioned more and more frequently in documents .
The planned settlement of the Graz Basin began during this time.
First documentary mention
The first mention is likely to be on an undated document of the Margrave Leopold , with which he left some goods near Hartberg to his ministerial Rüdiger , which should fall to the Rein monastery after his death . This document no longer exists in the original, there is only a copy from the 15th century. This document may not have been written until the last third of the 12th century, but its content can be dated to 1128/29. It was quite common at that time to have verbal promises written down much later. The first reliable mention of Graz comes from the year 1140, when Udalrich von Graz testified in a document that the Augustinian Canons - Stift zu St. Marein an der Feistritz (today: Seckau Abbey ) was established by Adalram von Waldeck .
Graz falls to Margrave Ottokar III.
Regalia that previously belonged to the king in this area , such as mountain sovereignty , Jewish and coin shelves , tolls and customs posts , could be managed by Leopold's son, Ottokar III. to win for the nascent country. The country jurisdiction passed to him. With the adoption of a house coat of arms ( panther ) and the designation of the margrave as princeps ( prince ) in the years around 1160, the outward appearance for a completed state formation was fulfilled, after he had succeeded by 1156 in eliminating the heirs of Bernhard von Stübing and the whole Remove the Graz area of the Aribon clan. Around 1160, the second, large market in Graz was founded on what is now the main square, which at that time extended to Landhausgasse.
As Ottokar III. He died in 1164 and everything seemed to indicate that this upswing would only last for a short time, as he left only a one-year-old son, Ottokar IV , for whom his widow Kunigunde took over the reign. But Styria remained a unit. As the last of its brands, the Karantanische Mark had split off from the Duchy of Carinthia. Ottokar I. from the Baier family of counts of the Traungau, as well as his successors were from 1056 margraves of the Carantanian marches. Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa raised the Karantanische Mark, which was also called Styria after the ancestral castle in Steyr, to an independent duchy in 1180 , which kept the mark name.
The Georgenberger Handfeste
Since Ottokar IV remained childless and had contracted the leprosy, he contacted Duke Leopold V of Babenberg . They met on the Georgenberg near Enns and concluded an inheritance contract in 1186 , in which the Traungauer designated the Babenberger as his heir.
First city wall and coat of arms
Around 1233 there are the first records that speak of a walling of the market .
“The Graz ring wall enclosed the settlement area around the market and the oldest suburbs immediately adjacent to it. It ran from Schlossberg to today's Ursuline Church, ran along the north and Murs side of Palais Attems and crossed Murgasse. Including the Franciscan Church, it moved along the back of the eastern row of houses in the Kälbernesviertel until it turned diagonally from the Mur in front of Albrechtgasse. Now the wall led along the west side of the old Joanneum to today's corner of Kalchberggasse / Schmiedgasse and here along the house front Hans-Sachs-Gasse to Tummelplatz. The east wall now ran through the middle of the block east of Bischofplatz and continued behind the eastern row of houses on Färbergasse. The Sporgasse was crossed below the staircase church and the wall continued to the lower castle near the clock tower. "
Graz had now collected all the external and legal features necessary for a city : a market , its own jurisdiction and a fortification . The first suburbs also began to develop, i.e. an area around the city walls that was dependent on the city. Graz also received its coat of arms around 1245 , which was based on the Styrian : In green, a silver, gold- armored panther without horns, walking upright to the right, crowned with a golden, three-leaf crown of leaves, with tongues of red flames blowing out of the body openings.
Graz as the residence of the Habsburgs
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In 1379, Graz became the residence of the Habsburgs - the Habsburgs lived in the Graz Castle and ruled Inner Austria from there , which included Styria, Carinthia and parts of today's Italy ( Trieste and Inner Istria) and Slovenia (Carniola and Lower Styria).
During the reign (1435–1493) of Emperor Friedrich III (V) , some structural measures were taken that still shape the cityscape of Graz today: Among other things, the city castle and Gothic parish church, today's cathedral , were renewed and the city wall expanded. After his death, his son Maximilian succeeded the throne. Another well-known sight of Graz dates from his reign, the double spiral staircase in a wing of Graz Castle.
In 1497 all Jewish communities were expelled from Styria by order of Maximilian I. The Jews in Graz also had to leave the city.
→ See: History of the Jews in Styria
Graz (along with Vienna and Innsbruck ) remained a Habsburg residence until 1619.
reformation
After the first evangelical influences in the 1520s, the majority of the population became evangelical under the pharmacist and mayor Simon Arbeiter. Efforts of the evangelical Hans III. Ungnad von Weißenwolff, Freiherr von Sonnegg for religious freedom failed - despite his influence as Governor of Styria (1530 ff.), Supreme Field Captain and from 1542 to 1544 additionally governor of the Archduchy of Austria under the Enns under King Ferdinand I.
University, Kepler, Counter Reformation and Patent of Tolerance
As early as 1573, in competition with the flourishing evangelical landscape school, a three-class Latin school was established in Graz as the “Archiducale Gymnasium Soc. Jesu Graecensis “was founded. In 1585 the first university was founded by Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria. In 1586 the Latin School (later the Academic Gymnasium on Tummelplatz) was affiliated to the new University of Graz, overall name: Academia, Gymnasium et Universitas . However, in the same year it was handed over to the Societas Jesu with the aim of giving all social classes an elite education. At that time, Italian artists and builders shaped the city. One of the most famous buildings is the country house, which was built in the Renaissance style. The Styrian estates met here . From 1594 to 1600 Johannes Kepler taught at the collegiate school. This university was the Protestant counterpart to the University of Graz .
After the evangelical preachers were expelled in 1598 and the evangelical schools closed in 1599, religious commissions were charged with naming and condemning evangelicals. They were given the choice of emigrating or becoming Catholics, as did the nobility, who had been spared until then, from 1628 onwards. Johannes Kepler was one of the numerous exiles . The Protestants were only able to practice their religion publicly with the tolerance patent from Emperor Joseph II (see Evangelical Church A. and HB in Austria # Tolerance patent from 1781 and subsequent period ). The immigrant evangelicals contributed to the economic upswing in Graz. In 1821 the "Evangelical Community of Augsburg and Helvetian Confession " was founded as a branch of the closest parish of Wald am Schoberpaß . A prayer house was built in 1824 and an evangelical school was set up in 1828.
The Turks repeatedly reached the Graz area during their campaigns. In 1619 the entire court moved to the Vienna Hofburg .
Napoleon in Graz
On April 10, 1797, a French corps entered Graz for the first time . General Bonaparte and his general staff followed on April 12, 1797 . He moved into the Stubenbergschen Haus ( Herrengasse 13). Two days later he left for his headquarters in Goss near Leoben . His troops left Graz after an eighteen-day stay and sensitive requisitions. The second occupation by the French under General Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont began on November 14, 1805 , and only ended on January 11, 1806 with the withdrawal of French troops from Graz.
On May 30, 1809, the third invasion of French troops under General Macdonald took place . Graz, as an open city, was surrendered without a fight, the fortress on the Schlossberg was defended on the orders of Archduke Johann , the commander of the Southern Army, by Major Franz Hackher zu Hart and around 800 men. From June 13, 1809, the French general Jean-Baptiste Broussier had the fortress bombarded from three batteries. On June 15, 1809, Croatians under Banus Giulaj advanced and began fighting with the French. Although they withdrew from Graz on June 21, 1809, they occupied the city again on June 27, 1809 under Generals Broussier and Viesse de Marmont. On July 24, 1809, the armistice of Znojmo contractually forced the withdrawal of the Austrian garrison from the fortress on the Graz Schlossberg. In the Peace Treaty of Schönbrunn in October, the razing of the fortress was agreed; on November 15, 1809, the blasting began. The Schlossberg remained unaffected until it was razed. The citizens of Graz bought the clock tower (today's landmark) and the bell tower from being destroyed by French miners for 2987 guilders and 11 cruisers (approx. 87,000 euros based on today's value). On January 4th, 1810, the French troops finally withdrew, leaving behind a largely demolished mountain.
Wilhelminian style and industrialization
After the withdrawal of the French army, Graz began to clean up and wake up: cultural life, economic initiatives and new technical achievements shaped the rapid development of the city until the end of the monarchy. During this early period , important economic and industrial companies emerged, Josef Körösi founds today's Andritz AG , Johann Puch begins to build up bicycle production , the development of the railway made Graz an important traffic junction on the southern railway , the end of the Hungarian western railway and the starting point of the Graz-Köflacher Railroad . Archduke Johann set significant, sustainable impulses by founding the technical university , the Styrian State Museum , the State Library , etc. Municipal facilities such as water supply, sewerage, the city slaughterhouse and the horse-drawn tram to Mariatrost are built. From the middle of the 19th century, in the then rural suburbs of Geidorf , Jakomini and St. Leonhard, front gardens were created as a link between the house and public space, following a design concept that promoted urbanity. The inner-city cemeteries are closed and the Graz Central Cemetery is created. The city wall and the glacis will be abandoned, the Graz City Park will be created in their place and the shattered Schlossberg will be greened, Graz will literally blossom.
In 1911 the first international women's day took place in Graz. On the first women's day, women workers demand the right to vote, freedom and self-determination. A commemorative plaque can be found at Annenstraße 29 today.
In the late period of the monarchy, Graz was known as "Pensionopolis", as it was preferred as a retirement home by retired civil servants.
First republic
A “welfare committee” took over the Styrian state administration in the emerging power vacuum from October 20, 1918. On November 12, 1918, the social democrat Ludwig Oberzaucher proclaimed the republic from the balcony of the theater in front of a large crowd on Freiheitsplatz . In May 1919 there was the first election for the municipal council, in which the social democrat Vinzenz Muchitsch became mayor, and it was to remain so until he was forcibly removed in 1934.
The peace treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye , signed on September 10, 1919, stipulated that Lower Styria was separated to the newly created Yugoslav state, but the areas around Soboth and Radkersburg , which were also claimed by Yugoslavia , remained with Austria . Thus Styria lost a third of its territory. This was a big blow for Graz, because it meant that it was finally relegated from an inland city of a large state to a border town of a small state and cut off from many important supply areas.
On June 7, 1920, a hunger riot called “ cherry riot ” erupted. Between 1931 and 1932, the Graz crematorium was the first to be built in Styria according to plans by the architect Erich Boltenstern .
time of the nationalsocialism
As early as February 24, 1938, thousands of National Socialists had marched through the center of Graz in demonstrations , although their party was banned under Austrofascism . In the course of the " Anschluss ", the local National Socialists took control of the city even before the German troops arrived at Thalerhof Airport and, with the consent of the Mayor, to flag the streets and the town hall with swastika flags, which the city called the "stronghold of National Socialism “Entered. The students from Graz universities also took part in the marches and were in large numbers members of the SA and SS. They also welcomed the unification with the German Reich and suggested that the university should be renamed "Adolf Hitler University" . The universities of Graz were, in their understanding, the south-eastern outpost of German science, "pioneers of Germanism" and a "bulwark against the dangers from the east".
As a prelude to his propaganda trip through Austria, for the referendum on the "Anschluss" that had already taken place, Adolf Hitler visited Graz on April 3rd and 4th, 1938. The election event, which was broadcast on the radio, took place in front of 30,000 crowded people in the assembly hall of a wagon factory that had been idle for several years due to the global economic crisis. Then Hitler drove through the streets of Graz in a triumphal procession. Cheering crowds lined the 4.3-kilometer route through the city, including tens of thousands of Styrians who had come to the state capital by special trains, buses and trucks to see the “Führer”.
Immediately after the National Socialists came to power, representatives of the other parties were arrested, as well as around 2,400 Graz residents who were considered Jews under the Nuremberg Laws , persecuted, robbed of their property , forced to emigrate or deported to Vienna. The ceremonial hall and synagogue were destroyed in the November pogroms in 1938 . In March 1940, Styria was considered " Jew-free ". On the occasion of a celebration on July 25, 1938, in which the Styrian National Socialists commemorated the putschists of 1934 with the motto “And you have won”, Hitler awarded the city the title “ City of Popular Uprising ”.
After the National Socialists came to power in Austria , Greater Graz was created with the incorporation of Liebenau , St. Peter , Waltendorf , Ries , Maria Trost , Andritz , Gösting , Eggenberg , Wetzelsdorf and Straßgang . Graz had 16 districts, this division is still largely upright today , only Puntigam, as today's 17th district, was then still a part of Straßgang.
During the Second World War , Graz was continuously overflown with the opening of the second Allied air front on August 13, 1943. The units of the 15th US Air Force stationed in the Foggia area flew over Styria for almost all missions. Graz recorded the most air raids of all Austrian cities - a total of 56, which took place between February 25, 1943 and April 2, 1945, mostly during the day. Around 29,000 incendiary and high-explosive bombs were dropped. The main targets of the attacks were the main train station and the large industrial facilities in the west and south of the city. The poorly equipped air defense with 16- and 17-year-old air force helpers on the flak batteries hit around six of 800 aircraft. The tunnels in the Schlossberg were expanded extensively from 1943 with the help of forced laborers and provided protection for up to 50,000 people during the bombing. As a result, the number of bomb victims in relation to the severity of the attacks remained low: 1,980 dead and around 2,000 wounded. 7,802 buildings and around 20,000 apartments were destroyed, the area around the main train station being the worst hit. Up until the end of the war, all bombs were drawn on a road map, the “bomb plan”, which can be viewed in the Graz City Archives.
In the first months of 1945 the population of Graz had decreased significantly. On the one hand because the majority of the men were in the war and on the other hand because since 1944 all men between the ages of 16 and 60 who were not drafted into the Wehrmacht were called up for nationality. Many also fled the city. In addition to the difficult conditions, in particular because of the heavy bombing, women and girls had to do hard work during the clean-up work. After March 1945 around 100,000 people were on the run after the Red Army broke through at Lake Balaton. The main reason for the women and girls to flee was fear of sexual assault on the part of the Soviet soldiers.
When the Red Army approached at Easter 1945, the Puch works in Graz-Thondorf provided bicycles so that the hastily assembled units of 15,000 men could get to their locations on the Ostwall . Only larger groups were transported by bus. Gauleiter Sigfried Uiberreither had a group of resistance fighters executed in the Feliferhof on May 7, 1945, the day before his own escape, and political opponents were also murdered to the last in the courtyard of the police headquarters. Uiberreither handed the business over to his inner-party opponent, the more moderate Armin Dadieu . At noon he relieved all district and local group leaders of the NSDAP in Styria from their functions and ordered that the Nero order not be obeyed.
Second republic
In 1945 Soviet troops and later British troops moved into Graz, which remained until the conclusion of the State Treaty in 1955. The Styrian autumn was the 1968 Styriarte set up in 1985 for the first time in life. Since then, these festivals, which are culturally significant for Graz, have taken place every year. New bridges were built and the first pedestrian zone opened in 1972. At the end of the 1980s, Graz developed into a gateway to the southeast. In 1988 Puntigam was raised to a separate district and the city received its current size of 17 districts. In 1993, Graz was awarded the Climate Protection Prize by Greenpeace . In the same year Graz organized the "European Culture Month" on behalf of the culture ministers of the European Union . In 1999 the old town of Graz was declared a World Heritage Site.
21st century
According to the criteria drawn up by Schulamit König , Graz became the first human rights city in Europe in 2001. In 2002 the city was awarded the “Climate Star” from among 140 applicants for the “Ökodrive” project.
In 2003 Graz became the European Capital of Culture . It was one of the largest cultural projects that Austria has ever seen. An attempt was made to put Graz with all its qualities in the center of European attention. Over 100 projects and over 6000 events from all areas of culture were presented to the public. The Murinsel with an amphitheater , children's playground and café was built, the art house and children's museum FRida & freD were built, an art taxi was created and a whole series of exhibitions opened. The overall motto for the events was: Graz is allowed to do everything!
In 2006 Graz joined the UNESCO city coalition against racism.
In 2015, Graz was awarded the honorary title of “ Reformation City of Europe ” by the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe .
In June 2015 , a 26-year-old killed 3 people and injured 36 in a car rampage in the city center.
In November 2017, UNESCO decided to set up the second UNESCO human rights center in Graz in addition to Buenos Aires.
literature
- Walter Brunner on behalf of the City of Graz, Cultural Office (Ed.): History of the City of Graz. 4 volumes. Self-published by the City of Graz, Graz 2003, ISBN 3-902234-02-4 .
- Werner W. Strahalm, Peter Laukhardt: Graz - A city history . Strahalm, Graz 2008, ISBN 3-900526-84-2 .
- Carmen Unterholzer, Ilse Wieser (eds.): Liesl is true above the roofs of Graz. A city history of the women of Graz. Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-85286-021-0 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Walter Brunner on behalf of the City of Graz, Kulturamt (ed.): History of the City of Graz. 4 volumes. Self-published by the City of Graz, Graz 2003, ISBN 3-902234-02-4 .
-
↑ Christian Weyers: Place name termination: The Alhama de Aragón type in Castilian toponymy (= Romance studies in past and present. Volume 13th supplement, ISSN 0947-0573 ). Habil.-Schrift, Technische Univ., Dresden 2000 ( preview in the Google book search),
Romance studies in past and present (= Romance studies in past and present. Vol. 13). Buske Verlag, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-87548-408-8 , p. 136, note 303. - ↑ Documents (1129-1600) AI / 0 (entry for the document in the documents of the Rein monastery) in the European document archive Monasterium.net .
- ↑ a b c See the city portrait of the project “Reformation cities in Europe”: Reformation city Graz: emigrate or become Catholic. In: reformation-cities.org, accessed December 4, 2017.
- ↑ According to another account, the Latin School was elevated to the status of the first university in 1585 due to a lack of popularity. Reformation city Graz: emigrate or become Catholic. In: reformation-cities.org, accessed December 6, 2017.
- ^ Graz around 1600. In: keplerraum.at, accessed on December 4, 2017.
- ↑ index_WOMENT. Retrieved March 12, 2020 .
- ↑ Heinz D. Kurz, Richard Sturm: Schumpeter for everyone. Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch, Frankfurt 2012, ISBN 978-3-89981-260-2 , p. 15.
- ^ Margarete Grandner: Cooperative trade union policy in the war economy. Austria's free trade unions in World War I. Böhlau, Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-205-05411-3 , p. 409.
- ^ Entry on Boltenstern, Erich in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon ).
- ↑ Erich Boltenstern. In: dasrotewien.at - Web dictionary of the Viennese social democracy. SPÖ Vienna (ed.).
- ^ Stefan Karner : Styria in the Third Reich 1938–1945. 3. Edition. Leykam Buchverlag, Graz 1986, ISBN 3-7011-7171-8 , p. 62 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- ↑ Austria in History and Literature with Geography, Vol. 30/31 (1986), p. 123
- ↑ Carmen Unterholzer, Ilsa Wieser: Liesl is true above the roofs of Graz . A city history of the women of Graz, Vienna 1996
- ^ Stefan Karner: Styria in the Third Reich 1938–1945 . 3. Edition. Leykam Buchverlag, Graz 1986, ISBN 3-7011-7302-8 , p. 391-423 .
- ^ Website of the city of Graz, Kleine Zeitung, Steirerkrone.
- ^ Austrian Commission for UNESCO: City of Graz - Historic Center and Eggenberg Palace. Retrieved March 26, 2020 .
- ^ Graz - first European city of human rights. Retrieved March 26, 2020 .
- ^ Graz 2003: European Capital of Culture. Retrieved March 26, 2020 .
- ^ History of the human rights city of Graz. In: graz.at. Retrieved December 6, 2017 .
- ↑ UNESCO Human Rights Center in Graz. In: graz.at, accessed on December 6, 2017.