Hainburg on the Danube

Borough

coat of arms

Austria map

Basic data

Country:

Austria

State :

Lower Austria

Political District :

Bruck an der Leitha

License plate :

BL

Surface:

25.02 km²

Coordinates :

48 ° 9 ' N , 16 ° 57' E Coordinates: 48 ° 8 '52 " N , 16 ° 56' 31" E

Height :

161 m above sea level A.

Residents :

6,837 (January 1, 2020)

Postal code :

2410

Area code :

02165

Community code :

3 07 10

NUTS region

AT127

Address of the
municipal administration:

Hauptplatz 23
2410 Hainburg an der Donau

Website:

www.hainburg.at

politics

Mayor :

Helmut Schmid ( ÖVP )

Municipal Council : ( 2020 )
(29 members)

18th

9

2

18th 9 2

A total of 29 seats

ÖVP : 18
SPÖ : 9
FPÖ : 2

Location of Hainburg an der Donau in the Bruck an der Leitha district

Southwest view of Hainburg

Source: Municipal data from Statistics Austria

Hainburg an der Donau is a municipality in the Bruck an der Leitha district in Lower Austria with 6,837 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020).

geography

The city of Hainburg is located on the Danube between Vienna and Bratislava in the industrial district in Lower Austria. In the northeast of the city, the Danube forms the border with the Slovakian capital Bratislava ( Devín district , which borders on the hunting lodge settlement). There is no border crossing to Bratislava from Hainburg. Furthermore, Hainburg is the easternmost city in Austria, but the easternmost municipality in Austria is Deutsch Jahrndorf in Burgenland , which also borders Bratislava. Hainburg is also between the geographical border of the Carpathian Mountains (to which the Braunsberg still belongs) in the east and the Danube in the north.

The area of the municipality covers 25.02 km², about 46% of the area is forested.

Hainburg has no other localities. Districts are the Jägerhaussiedlung , the Karolinenhof , the Kramerkapelle and the ruins of Röthelstein .

history

View of Hainburg on the Danube around 1900

Hainburg around 1873 ( recording sheet of the state survey)

The first settlement possibly goes back to the Celts on the Braunsberg. However, there are indications of an earlier settlement by the Urnfield culture or during the Hallstatt period due to the strategically excellent location. Today's urban area was in the catchment area of Carnuntum , the capital of the Roman province of Pannonia , in which Mark Aurel also temporarily resided.

The first written mention was made in the Nibelungenlied in connection with Rüdiger von Bechelaren .

Emperor Heinrich III. around 1050 ordered the Heimenburg to be built on the Schlossberg . It was finally built by Bishop Gebhard III. von Regensburg, Duke Konrad I of Bavaria and Margrave Adalbert the Victorious .

With its 2.5 km long city walls , three preserved gates and 15 towers from the 13th century, Hainburg has one of the oldest and best preserved city fortifications in Europe.

In 1108 the castle came into the possession of the Babenbergs . In the second half of the 12th century, the castle was expanded with the ransom for Richard the Lionheart . Around 1220–1225 the fortifications were reinforced. Among other things, the Wienertor and thus the largest medieval city gate in Europe was built. The lower part was built in the first half of the 13th century, the upper part in 1267/68 by Ottokar II of Bohemia .

On February 11, 1252, the sister of the last Duke of Babenberg , Friedrich II, Margarethe von Babenberg , married the Margrave of Moravia and later King of Bohemia Ottokar II in the castle chapel on the Schlossberg .

In 1278 Ottokar lost the Battle of Dürnkrut . The castle came into the possession of the Habsburgs . They pledged the castle to various owners. The city was neglected and lost its importance. The castle became the property of the city in 1629.

In the course of the first Turkish siege of Vienna , the Ottoman army crossed the border near Hainburg in September 1529. During the conquest, the city and castle were devastated.

On July 11, 1683, in the “second Ottoman campaign” ( Great Turkish War ), the city was captured and completely destroyed, the castle complex and fortifications suffered severe damage. The population tried to escape through the Fischertor into the Donauauen, but the gate wings could not be opened in time. Mass panic and slaughter broke out in the narrow alley in front of the Fischertor (the alley is now called “Blutgasse” in memory of the massacre). According to tradition, in addition to the then city population of approx. 4000 people, there was also an approximately as large number of people seeking protection from the surrounding area in the city. Of these over 8,000 people, all but 100 were killed. One of the few survivors was the Wagner journeyman Thomas Haydn, grandfather of Joseph and Michael Haydn .

In 1709, Count Löwenberg repaired the castle chapel. In 1784, Joseph II established a tobacco factory in the city with the tobacco patent , thereby establishing tobacco processing in Hainburg, where cigarettes and smoking tobacco were produced until 2011. The city was almost completely repopulated.

In the 19th century, Hainburg also became a garrison town , where officer candidates are trained. After the First World War , the city became Austria's easternmost city in 1918 .

During the Second World War , the city was almost spared from attacks. In 1945 the death march of the Hungarian Jews who had been conscripted as slave labor to build the south-east wall led through Hainburg.

After the war, the tobacco factory was practically one of the few sources of income for the new republic (in 1945 more than half of the tax revenue was covered by the tobacco tax). Although occupied by the Soviet Army , Hainburg was also the first port of call for the German-speaking population in Slovakia and Hungary .

In the 1960s, a viewing road was built on the Braunsberg, which from this point on became the “ Iron Curtain ” observation tower . From 1975 the old castle complex was gradually rebuilt.

In 1984 the then DOKW (now part of the Verbund group) wanted to build a power plant in the Hainburger Au on the northern side of the Danube. The protests were so massive that after the occupation of the Hainburger Au and a dispute with the gendarmerie forces, the federal government finally withdrew the project. Today the area is part of the Donau-Auen National Park .

Since 2009 the city has also been connected to the public transport system of the city of Bratislava ( Dopravný podnik Bratislava ). Line 901 operates on the Bratislava - Wolfsthal - Hainburg route.

In 2017, the city of Hainburg was named the most culture-friendly municipality in the Bruck an der Leitha district by the Culture.Region.Lower Austria .

On September 1, 2018, a pioneer jet boat of the armed forces had a boat accident on the Danube. In the course of a girl camp, 8 young participants went along, a boat capsized in a wave, 2 women, 18 and 22 years old, were caught under the boat by their life jackets for 39 and 45 minutes respectively and were seriously injured. The criminal case against the skipper was concluded with Diversion in May 2019.

Population development

Since the price of land in Bratislava rose sharply in the 2000s, many Slovaks move to the not far away Hainburg, whose population development was previously rather negative.

Culture and sights

Catholic parish church on the main square

Evangelical Martin Luther Church

Catholic parish church of St. Philip and James
Evangelical Martin Luther Church
Marian column: erected in 1749, a rococo column
Anger: former village center from the 11th century, with Karner (former cemetery chapel, around 1220), light column, rectory and pillory
Castle on the Schlossberg in Hainburg: medieval city fortifications of European rank with a 2.5 km long city wall , three gates and 15 towers from the 13th century. The castle complex is one of the oldest and best preserved city fortifications in Europe:
- Wienertor : southwest city gate around 1235, overbuilding around 1280; largest preserved medieval city gate in Europe (see web links)
- Ungartor: eastern and oldest city gate, around 1230; four-storey gate tower including battlement platform
- Fischertor: northwestern gate to the Danube (name) around 1280, four-storey gate tower, alterations in the 15th and 16th centuries
- Halterturm: square five-storey tower with battlements, highest tower in the city wall, 13th century
- Götzenturm: octagonal water tower from the 14th century
- Heimenburg
- Schlossberg
Donau-Auen National Park: The national park emerged from the occupation of the Hainburger Au in 1984 against the construction of a power plant on site.

Hainburg castle ruins on the Schlossberg

Hainburg Kulturfabrik station (former freight station)

Hundsheimer Berg
Braunsberg : with a panoramic road and a Celtic hill fort from the 2nd century BC Chr.
Kulturfabrik Hainburg : In 2011 the Kulturfabrik Hainburg was part of the Lower Austrian State Exhibition 2011 Conquer - Discover - Experience in the Roman region of Carnuntum (April 16 to November 15, 2011)

Regular events

Hainburg Castle Games: annually in summer / autumn in the old passenger station
Hainburger Haydngesellschaft : annual concert cycle in the Kulturfabrik Hainburg

Vienna Gate
Fisherman's gate
Hungarian
Karner

economy

In 2001 there were 242 non-agricultural workplaces, and according to the 1999 survey there were 292 agricultural and forestry businesses. The number of people in employment at home was 2,512 according to the 2001 census. The employment rate in 2001 was 45%. In 2003 there were an annual average of 70 unemployed in the village.

Hainburg is the starting point of the Zentralalpenweg 02 , an Austrian long-distance hiking trail that leads from here to Feldkirch in Vorarlberg. Also for the Eastern Austrian Grenzlandweg 07 from Nebelstein in the Waldviertel to Bad Radkersburg through the municipality.

politics

Municipal council

The municipal council has 29 members.

After the municipal council elections in 1990, the municipal council had the following distribution: 12 SPÖ, 11 ÖVP, 5?, And 1 KPÖ.
After the municipal council elections in 1995, the municipal council had the following distribution: 13 SPÖ, 10 ÖVP, 3 FPÖ, 2 BLH, and 1 KPÖ.
After the municipal council elections in 2000, the municipal council had the following distribution: 14 SPÖ, 7 ÖVP, 4 BLH (Hainburg citizens' list), 3 FPÖ, and 1 KPÖ.
After the municipal council elections in 2005, the municipal council had the following distribution: 11 SPÖ, 10 ÖVP, 4 non-partisan citizens' list Hainburg (BLH), 3 Hainburger Initiative, and 1 FPÖ.
After the municipal council elections in 2010 , the municipal council had the following distribution: 14 ÖVP, 9 SPÖ, 3 List Hainburg (LH), 2 FPÖ, and 1 We for the Hainburg population (WFH).
After the municipal council elections in 2015 , the municipal council has the following distribution: 18 ÖVP, 7 SPÖ, 3 FPÖ, and 1 EQUAL.
After the 2020 municipal council elections, the municipal council has the following distribution: 18 ÖVP, 9 SPÖ and 2 FPÖ.

mayor

until 1990 Josef Reiter (ÖVP)
1990-2002 Franz Hirschl (SPÖ)
2002-2005 Raimund Holcik (SPÖ)
2005–2013 Karl Kindl (ÖVP)
2014–2016 Josef Zeitelhofer (ÖVP)
since 2016 Helmut Schmid (ÖVP)

coat of arms

Blazon : “In blue on a green shield base in a natural color, a golden, striding, rear-looking lion with a raised right paw, behind this a silver, black jointed, tinned butter churn tower with a closed stone -framed portal in the substructure and a black window over two similar round openings growing out of the shield base in the essay. "

Town twinning

Nieder-Roden ( Hesse , Germany ): Since 1975 there has been a town partnership with the then independent municipality of Nieder-Roden, which became part of the town of Rodgau in1977 as part of the Hessian regional reform.
Šamorín (Slovakia), since June 14, 2008

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the township

Konrad von Hainburg († 1360) Carthusian monk and author of Latin songs for saints and Mary
Martin Geiger (around 1602–1669), auxiliary bishop in Passau
Joseph Hillmer (* 1719), oculist and professor of ophthalmology in Berlin, a. a. active in Russia, Leipzig, Berlin, Scandinavia, England and France
Helga Erlinger (* 1947), politician ( GREEN )
Franz von Felbinger (1844–1906), technician, industrialist and painter
Michaela Gansterer (* 1959), politician ( ÖVP ) and innkeeper
Karl Hayd (1882–1945), painter and graphic artist
Peter Hofbauer (* 1998), basketball player
Janet Kath (* 1964), manager and entrepreneur
Josef Ernst Köpplinger (* 1964), theater director and director
Michael Pand (* 1955), actor, writer, radio play author and documentary filmmaker
Adolf Tuma (* 1956), lithographer and stamp designer
Ernest Windholz (* 1960), politician ( FPÖ / BZÖ )
Mauritz von Wiktorin (1883–1956), officer, most recently general of the infantry in World War II
Peter Fleissner (* 1944), university professor for information science at the Technical University of Vienna