Settler coup in Oberau

The Oberau settler coup was a violent conquest of former imperial soil around Orth Castle in Lower Austria .

Course of events

The Obere Au near Orth, third regional survey

On the night of September 16-17, 1926, around 120 people, mostly unemployed from Vienna, occupied the former hunting grounds of Franz Ferdinand near Orth on the Danube , which belonged to the War Disabled Fund and were commonly called Obere Au or Oberau . The reclamation began immediately and on the following days the settlers in several columns of vehicles brought their belongings. In the quickly erected tent camp, collected firewood was burned, cooked and even large trees were felled. The new settlers were organized in the Colonies in Home Association, whose chairman was the SPÖ politician Josef Wagner . In July, however, the War Disabled Fund had made it clear to the association that settlement of Oberau was out of the question due to the recent risk of flooding.

The settlers told the authorities, who were initially at a loss, not to leave the country under any circumstances. The media coverage attracted the settlers, so that their number increased to over 800 in a few days before Lower Austrian gendarmes and police officers from Vienna took up positions and issued an ultimatum demanding that their request be abandoned.

After several weeks of negotiations, the Oberau was finally evacuated peacefully because the settlers were assured that they would be provided with more suitable land elsewhere. In November the republic leased a cleared area on the Kaiserplateau to the unemployed.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Inner colonists occupy Oberau near Orth. In:  Oesterreichische Kronen-Zeitung. Illustrirtes Tagblatt / Illustrierte Kronen-Zeitung / Wiener Kronen-Zeitung , September 18, 1926, p. 3, above (online at ANNO ).
2. ^ Settlers' coup on the Danube. In:  Neues Wiener Journal , September 18, 1926, p. 5, right, center (online at ANNO ).
3. ^ With the colonists in Oberau. In:  Oesterreichische Kronen-Zeitung. Illustrirtes Tagblatt / Illustrierte Kronen-Zeitung / Wiener Kronen-Zeitung , September 19, 1926, p. 4, left (online at ANNO ).
4. ^ The incidents in Oberau. In:  Wiener Zeitung , ERROR. September 1926, p. 2, full page (online at ANNO ).
5. ↑ Gendarmerie army camp in Oberau. In:  The wake-up call / The social revolution / Die Rote Fahne , September 21, 1926, p. 3, right (online at ANNO ).
6. ↑ Today the ultimatum for Oberau expires. In:  The wake-up call / The social revolution / Die Rote Fahne , September 24, 1926, p. 6, full page (online at ANNO ).
7. ↑ The Oberau must be evacuated! In:  Neuigkeits-Welt-Blatt , October 8, 1926, p. 5, top right (online at ANNO ).