Swedish settlement (Linz)

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Houses on the Uppsalaweg

The Sweden settlement is after the flood disaster in 1954 of Swedish with the help of donations built residential area in Linz on the Danube in Upper Austria . It includes 50 houses.

geography

The Swedish settlement actually consists of two settlements: the western settlement on Uppsalaweg, where many of the two-family houses are still preserved, and the eastern settlement. The following street names in the Swedish settlement contribute to the fact that the term Swedish settlement is firmly anchored in the local population:

  • Uppsalaweg , named after the university town of Uppsala
  • Stockholmweg , named after Stockholm , the capital of Sweden
  • Göteborgweg , named after the port city of Gothenburg
  • Brändströmweg , named after the nurse Elsa Brändström (1888–1948), the angel of Siberia
  • Strindbergweg , named after the well-known author August Strindberg , who stayed in Upper Austria from 1893–1896

history

The city of Linz had to struggle with an extreme housing shortage around 1955 for several reasons:

  • Bomb damage: In 1945, after the end of the Second World War , 6,273 buildings were counted in Linz that were totally destroyed or seriously damaged by bombs. In 1954, 238 of these objects had still not been rebuilt, 35 of which were owned by the City of Linz.
  • Refugees: In the post-war years, especially from Yugoslavia , Romania and the Czech Republic, many so-called expellees or ethnic Germans came to the Upper Austrian central area, who were temporarily housed in barracks in Linz.
  • Floods: From July 7, 1954, heavy rainfall led to a catastrophic flood of the century that flooded large parts of the Eferdinger Basin and Machland in Upper Austria . On July 11, 1954, a record water level of 962 cm was measured in Linz. In the urban area of ​​Linz, more than 2000 hectares were flooded, 5500 people had to be evacuated. The rescue operations lacked the barges , which were destroyed after 1945 on the orders of the Russian occupation in order to prevent the escape across the Danube.

The flood destroyed 325 houses (333 houses according to the census of the building and fire police office). North of the Danube, the areas of the Urfahrwand, Alturfahr (mainly Ottensheimer Straße), Heilhamerau and Katzbach were affected, south of the Danube St. Margarethen , Obere Donaulände, Lustenau (especially Hafenstraße, Lederergasse , Ludlgasse) and Ebelsberg . 2,755 people from 975 households lost their homes. To alleviate the worst housing shortage, emergency shelters were built in schools, where in August 1954 the following number of people displaced by floods were counted:

  • Baumbach School: 10 people
  • Diesterweg School : 130–143 people
  • Village hall school: 31 people
  • Ebelsberg School: 50 people
  • Goethe School : 195 people
  • Hort Ing.-Stern-Straße: 26 people
  • Teacher training institute : 91-104 people
  • MH 2 and MV 4: 164-169 people
  • Mozart and Neustädter School: 161 people
  • Posthof School: 11–23 people
  • Weavers' school : 98 people

In this housing misery, the following measures were taken:

  • On January 10, 1955, an aid contract was signed in Stockholm between the Föreningen Rädda Barnen and the Svenska Röda Korset on the one hand and the city of Linz / Danube on the other . Shortly thereafter, the housing office made the following announcement: In Urfahr (Gründberg and Kellergrund), the installation of the 50 houses handed over by the two Swedish aid organizations Rädda Barnen and Röda Korset as well as by the Swedish state to the municipality of Linz for the purpose of accommodating flood-damaged people will begin shortly. The objects, each of which contains 2 apartments, should be ready for occupancy in July 1955 and then allocated to parties affected by the floods. (Gz 622-BST / 55, signed by Head of Office OAR Feischl)
  • Housing program 1955
  • Barrack removal program 1955–1956

With the prospect of the early withdrawal of the Russian occupation from the area north of the Danube, Linz-Urfahr suddenly became a preferred residential area for the people of Linz in 1955. Since flood victims also like to choose a hilly area for new settlement, the slopes of the Gründberg were ideal terrain for urban expansion. The 50 Swedish houses were built in 2 areas:

  • To the north of the former estate called Gründberghof , 14 property houses were built to the left and right of today's Uppsalaweg.
  • To the southeast of the unwooded Gründberg hill , a total of 34 apartment buildings were built on the cellar grounds, as the victims do not meet the qualifications required by the Flood Damage Act to obtain a loan . (Gz H-000-4-30, July 20, 1955, signed by Head of OMR Dr. Seitlinger)

On June 4, 1955, it was also decided in which order the flood victims should be considered. After a long debate, the following order was decided:

  1. Homeowners who suffered flood damage and who lived in the damaged property themselves.
  2. Flood victims who have not yet been allocated alternative accommodation.
  3. Flood victims who have already been assigned alternative accommodation.
  4. Inhabitants of objects in the tank port and in Heilhamerau.
  5. Flood victims who suffered flood damage but did not live in their property themselves.

The 14 houses in the western Swedish settlement are currently at Uppsalaweg 3–13 and 2–12.

The addresses of the 36 houses in the eastern settlement still require a precise delimitation, but they are located roughly at Stockholmweg 27–45 and 38–48 and at Göteborgweg 11–27 and 6–22.

In 2016 the Swedish houses look like this:

  • About half of the houses still look true to the original, namely Uppsalaweg 4, 8, 9, 11 and 13; Stockholmweg 27, 29, 39, 41, 42, 43 and 44 as well as Göteborgweg 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25 and 27.
  • Some (otherwise true to the original) houses received a fiber cement facade cladding (Eternit), namely Uppsalaweg 2, 6, 7 and 12 as well as Stockholmweg 45, 46 and 48, or a modern thermal insulation: Uppsalaweg 3, Stockholmweg 33, 35 and 38 and Göteborgweg 14th
  • There are new buildings or major renovations on Uppsalaweg 10, Stockholmweg 27, 29, 39, 41, 42, 43 and 44 as well as Göteborgweg 14.
  • There is a vacant lot at Uppsalaweg 5 (new building 2016).

House types

Houses on Stockholmweg
white house on Uppsalaweg

On the Gründberg 7 houses of the type A and 7 houses of the type B were built, on the cellar grounds 21 houses of the type A and 15 houses of the type B.

Type A houses
  • 23 m² apartment in the basement with 11.5 m² kitchen and 11.5 m² cabinet, accessories
  • 52 m² apartment on the upper floor with 21 m² kitchen-cum-living room, 3 cabinets of 14.3 m², 8.4 m² and 8.3 m², accessories
Type B houses
  • 32 m² apartment in the basement with 12 m² kitchen and 2 cabinets of 12 m² and 8 m², accessories
  • 55.7 m² apartment on the first floor with 21.5 m² kitchen-cum-living-room, bathroom, 3 cabinets of 13.9 m², 10.7 m² and 9.6 m², accessories

Equipment (excerpt from the original text):

  • Type of foundation: concrete foundations
  • Type of load-bearing walls: basement on the mountain side, concrete masonry, on the valley side, slag concrete hollow block masonry, upper floor wooden walls (prefabricated wood parts)
  • Type of roof construction: gable roof with board trusses
  • Type of roofing: Eternite roofing
  • Type of stairs: wooden stairs, spiral
  • Type of floors: ship floor, toilet and bathroom solid floor with covering, laundry room and pantries concrete floors
  • Type of doors: smooth doors (with hardboard) painted with oil paint
  • Type of windows: composite windows, painted with oil paint, Swedish window locks
  • Type of blinds: wooden shutters with fixed blind boards (only in the basement)
  • Type and number of toilets: 1 toilet with water flush per floor
  • Type and number of bathrooms: only on the first floor 1 bathroom per house with enamelled bathtub

financing

Transfers to the city of Linz between August 22, 1955 and April 26, 1956

The following financing plan was in place for the 36 houses on the cellar grounds (Gz 600-1 / 56, III):

  • 30.7% own funds 2.213,000.–, ie 30,736 schillings per residential unit
  • 49.9% Swedish aid: 3,600,000.–, per WE ÖS 50,000.–
  • 19.4% loan from the Federal Housing and Settlement Fund: 1,400,000.00, per WE ÖS 19,444.00

a total of 7,213,000.00, per WE ÖS 100,180.00

The following was recorded for the formation of the rent: According to the agreement reached between the municipality of Linz and Föreningen Rädda Barnen (represented by Mr. Westman) on November 15, 1955, the monthly rent for the apartments in the settlement on the Kellerergrund was set at S 4.70 per m² of living space . This rent consists of S 4, - plus S -, 70 for operating costs (Gz 600-1 / 56, V)

Naming

The Swedish settlement in Linz has a twofold relationship to Sweden:

  • because the settlement was built with the help of Swedish donations.
  • because of the colorful wooden houses, which also gave its name to other settlements, e.g. B. Borkwalde or Steinbach .

literature

  • Archives of the city of Linz : Swedish settlement folder in a cardboard box Housing Office Bomb Damaged Apartments No. B272a.
  • Archive of the City of Linz: Folders Swedish settlement as well as housing program 1955 and barrack removal program 1955–1956 in a slipcase Housing Barracks Financing Funds aid no. 1-17 1954–1962 , folder no. 8 of the BauWA Bauwirtschaftsamt.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Water levels (Linz gauge). In: linz.at. Retrieved March 2, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b flood in Upper Austria in the forum OoeGeschichte.at.

Coordinates: 48 ° 20 '17.3 "  N , 14 ° 17' 2.3"  E