Stiwoll

Stiwoll
coat of arms	Austria map
Basic data
Country:	Austria
State :	Styria
Political District :	Graz area
License plate :	GU
Surface:	13.01 km²
Coordinates :	47 ° 6 '  N , 15 ° 13'  E Coordinates: 47 ° 6 '8 "  N , 15 ° 13' 9"  E
Height :	495  m above sea level A.
Residents :	706 (January 1, 2020)
Population density :	54 inhabitants per km²
Postal code :	8113
Area code :	03142
Community code :	6 06 47
Address of the municipal administration:	Stiwoll 24 8113 Stiwoll
Website:	[1]
politics
Mayor :	Alfred Brettenthaler ( ÖVP )
Municipal Council : (2020) (9 members)	6th 3 6th 3  A total of 9 seats ÖVP : 6 SPÖ : 3
Location of Stiwoll in the Graz-Umgebung district
View from the west of Stiwoll
Source: Municipal data from Statistics Austria

The parish church in Stiwoll.

The Lourdes grotto in Stiwoll, the water of which is said to be beneficial against eye diseases.

Stiwoll is a municipality west of Graz in the Austrian state of Styria with 706 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020).

geography

Geographical location

Stiwoll is located in western Styria in the Graz-Umgebung district approx. 15 km west of the provincial capital Graz. The community is located on the Lieboch , a tributary of the Kainach .

Community structure

Apart from Stiwoll, the municipality does not include any other localities. Districts are Fallentsch, Farmegg, Kornberg, Weizberg and numerous individual layers.

Neighboring communities

Gschnaidt	Gschnaidt	Eisbach
Soedingberg		Eisbach
Soedingberg	Stallhofen	Saint Bartholomew

History of Stiwoll and the upper Liebochtal

Neolithic to Great Migration

With 3000 BC The find (around 1991) of a round-neck ax from the Neolithic period is dated to BC . 2000 years later, 1000 BC BC, the Illyrians from East Germany moved into the area and inhabited it in the Bronze Age. Around 500 BC The Celts and the Tauriskans settled in and merged with the Illyrians. You already know how iron is made. A bridge in Södingtal was preserved from Roman times (15 BC-484 AD), which was only torn away in 1980 by a flood. In Stallhofen a villa was uncovered and researched. After the reign of Rome around 500, the tribes of the Longobards and Goths temporarily invaded Styria. Ninety years later (around 590) the Slavs followed .

middle Ages

In the year 743 the Christianization and settlement of uninhabited areas began in what is now the municipality. In 860, the East Franconian King Ludwig the German gave the Archbishop of Salzburg two royal hooves in the Gratkorner Basin , which subsequently lead to the founding of the church and mother parish of Gratwein .

Magyars invade the Hungarian lowlands in 894 and devastate German and Slavic settlements from there. The later Emperor Otto I defeated the Magyars on Lechfeld in 955 . As a result, brands are founded again. As the nucleus of Styria, the Mark on the Mur , later also called the Karantanische or Kärntner Mark . 970 the first mention of the county of the Marquis Marquart, an Eppensteiner count from the upper Murtal (Judenburg). A few years later (976), Emperor Otto II divided the Duchy of Baiern. Carinthia becomes the first duchy in Austria and Marquart becomes its duke.

The miners' chapel is built in the village around 1200. Twenty years later (1220) the first documentary mention of Stiwoll takes place. The Romanesque baptismal font in the church should also come from this period. After the plague attacks, entire villages in the Södingtal are exterminated and areas of land are farmed by a few survivors (in 1496 one survivor in Prunleithen alone farms eight farms). In the 16th century, after the Reformation, the majority of Styria became Protestant. There are uprisings among farmers in the Graz area because of the oppressive tax burden.

Beginning of the modern era to the 19th century

The next catastrophe after the plague followed with the Thirty Years War (1618–1648). This brings impoverishment, suffering and death. Over a hundred years later (around 1760) a small organ with four registers in the church, which has been in use since the first decades of the 18th century, was renovated. In 1786 the parish of Burgstall ( St. Pankrazen and Stiwoll) with the branch church becomes its own parish and receives a local curate and a parish school. In the past, several courts of a rulership in the vicinity were combined to form one office. A farmer is appointed bailiff by his rulership . He serves as a middleman between landlords and farmers and also as a judge among the neighbors. For this, some taxes, the “official right”, are waived. With a second bailiff, he represents the rulership in probate negotiations as an appraiser. From 1771 a local judge was in charge of the administration of the cadastral community. He is already elected by male tax authorities and then confirmed as a local judge by the Rein district authority with his seat in Gratwein. With this, a small co-determination begins in the country through individual questioning and acclamation. From 1850, the mayor of the community is appointed. Until 1897, however, only men with a corresponding tax revenue are eligible to vote; after the First World War everyone is entitled to vote.

In 1869 the parish school was handed over to the school community. In 1876 there was the first daily mail delivery from St. Bartholomä. In the last decade of the 19th century, from 1890 onwards, there is an agricultural crisis. The consequence is a forced switch to cattle farming after 1900.

1900 to 1945

In 1900, a Raiffeisenkasse was founded for the purpose of farmers to help themselves. In 1906 the volunteer fire brigade was founded. On August 5, 1925, there is electric light for the first time in St. Oswald. In 1938 the annexation to the German Reich takes place . In the hope of an end to the hardship, 100% vote yes to Adolf Hitler as leader (as Reich President and Reich Chancellor). Debt rescheduling takes place for the impoverished and seized farmers. The municipal council received a politically tightly controlled additional administrative apparatus which, with the onset of total war from 1943 onwards, barely allowed the council to take action. Because the men were called up for the armed forces , there was no orderly work in the parish hall.

Since 1946

After the capitulation in 1945, the Russians occupy western Styria and with it Stiwoll. From June 1945 to 1955, Styria was assigned to the British zone of occupation. The former mayor from 1938 is provisionally reinstated in 1945.

In 1948, the volunteer fire brigade received its own rescue vehicle for the first time. As of March 10, 1951, electric light is available in the village and in the school. At the end of the same year, on December 24, 1951, there was a telephone connection in the municipal office. From the 1950s onwards, state roads were gradually asphalted, municipal roads and courtyard access roads were built. In 1955 a private water pipe is built for the town center and a communal washing machine is purchased at the same time. One year later (1956) the construction of the municipal water pipeline from Fallentsch to Oswaldeck and into the village began, with simultaneous laying of the telephone cables. 1959 saw the first television set at Baderweber, the Kirchenwirt, and two deep-freeze stores were built. On September 3, 1978 the sports club Stiwoll is founded. Shortly before the turn of the millennium, on December 31, 1999, the big bell that was destroyed in the war was replaced and ushered in the new millennium. In 2000 the construction of the sewer system started.

The place became known to a wider public from October 29, 2017, when the township citizen Friedrich Felzmann is said to have shot two neighbors using a small-bore rifle and injured a woman in the course of land disputes. He probably escaped with his gun. The following day, the police helicopter (with FLIR ) found his escape vehicle locked a few kilometers away. Extensive searches with considerable personnel deployment by the police, assisted by two armored IVECO "Hussar" vehicles of the armed forces , were unsuccessful. Forces of the task force Cobra examined the tunnels of the former "silver mine" and other caves "under the most adverse conditions". On December 7, 2017, Felzmann was added to the list of "Europe's Most Wanted Fugitives" as a fugitive. On January 26, 2018, it was reported that the 20-person special commission of Friedrich the police, which processed around 400 reports, will be disbanded at the beginning of February. A reward of 5000 euros is offered for tips that lead to the capture of Felzmann. In the aftermath of the crime, schools and kindergartens remained closed and the All Saints' Day procession was canceled.

activities

In the Middle Ages, every family had to provide for rent, taxes, tithes for the parish and many other obligations as well as family members who were not gainfully employed. The peasants are subject to the aristocracy, as shown by a request from a 69-year-old ex-graduate penniless clerk (notary) from Stiwoll. He is forced to seek help out of necessity and writes to the authorities, the son of his former employer, in whom he - blind, deaf and in need of care - for admission to the imperial hospital or to the rulers themselves, together with his son who cares for him, asks. He doesn't get an answer! The ruling class at the time showed no understanding for subordinates.

Life in this rather secluded valley was very modest even then. There were very few occupations because the area did not offer any special opportunities. Almost all of them worked full-time as small farmers, but they needed a sideline to survive. Those who were skilled at handicraft specialized themselves as a shoemaker, weaver, wagner, blacksmith or miller. Even today you can find many surnames or house names that go back to this time. It was not until the 19th century that we found trained craftsmen in the rural community, who then went to the sturgeon and stayed on a farm until they were no longer needed. With the advancement of technology, better education and increasing mobility after the Second World War , this type of employment ended.

Mining

Mining was very important in this area. Probably the Bavarians started with it. But the name of the hill where the mining took place, Raudnerkogel, is derived from the Slavic "ruda", which means ore in German. This suggests that the Karantans already knew about the ore deposits.

It is known with certainty that mining ceased between 1752 and 1768 due to a lack of income. There is also a legend about this which tells that a woman and her son once passed the bowling squires. The cocky men tore off the boy's head, used it as a ball, and his feet as a cone. The woman thereupon emptied a sack of semolina and shouted: “As many years as there are grains here, there should be no more ore!” The next day the miners actually found none. Another story has it that water broke into the mining industry. Most of the tunnels are still preserved, the whole system of tunnels is very extensive. Nothing is known about the processing of the ores, but there are names in the vicinity of the mine such as B. Schmelzer, the Münzgraben or the Kohlwiese, which indicate ore processing.

When the presumed main tunnel entrance was opened by a teacher in 1900, he could still see the remains of wooden rails at that time, a collapse in the ceiling prevented further exploration. Over time, more and more tunnels were opened. During the exploration of the corridors and digs by experts (1950), it is noticeable that the entire mine lies under a mighty slate of slate, where all the ore-bearing layers have been excavated.

The ore deposits belong to those of the Graz Paleozoic Era that have been thoroughly investigated.

school

Elementary school in Stiwoll

As early as 1786, with the establishment of an independent parish at Vulgo Dorfpeter, there were lessons for 3 years, while the Messnerhäusel had been expanded into a schoolhouse. From 1789 the teacher lived in the school house. He was also a sacristan and organist. School books were already available. Initially, of 32 school-age children, only 15 went to class. The highest number of pupils in 1875 was 203 children. Of these, however, only 165 pupils in 3 classes attended classes at times (the school district extended to Söding, to Schirning, with parts of Jaritzberg and Rassberg). In 1963 the new school building with 3 classrooms, a gymnastics room and a school kitchen, initially also the vocational school for girls, was put into operation. With the introduction of compulsory secondary school in 1986, the kitchen was converted into a kindergarten. The old school house was demolished in 1973. Around 40 primary school students in two classes currently take part in lessons in Stiwoll every year.

Agriculture

Agriculture was the main livelihood of the local population. For centuries it hardly changed. Instead of oxen, farmers used draft cows because cows could calve and produce milk. The meadows were only mowed after the flowering of grass so that seeds could fall out beforehand. The farmhands wore the same indestructible leather pants and nailed shoes all summer long. Around 1890, the trade brought cheap grain by rail from abroad. Grain cultivation was no longer worthwhile for the mountain farmers, soon they were so indebted without income that the pieces of land and farms had to be auctioned over and over again. Farmers could hardly afford servants any more. Shoes were only worn on public holidays, and mountain boots nailed to work. Children walked to school barefoot until the first snow fell.

After 1950: agricultural teachers train farmers. Conscious animal husbandry and manure management lead to an increase in milk yield from 2000 liters to over 8000 liters per year. The first tractors are purchased after 1950. This saves time and increases the yield. The use of the available space changed as a result of technology and living conditions. In the past they were used for agriculture to ensure their own nutrition, today they are mostly used as meadows and pastures to feed the cattle in order to produce milk and meat.

The better training also enables the small farmers to commute to work as skilled workers with their own vehicles. Many young people are now studying and are leaving their homes. The valley is aging increasingly, but is becoming increasingly popular as a second home.

Population development

Culture and sights

See also:  List of listed objects in Stiwoll

Buildings

There is the following legend about the origin of the parish church of Stiwoll : Originally it was wanted to build it on the plateau of the Kornberg (Kornberg and Weizberg are the two hills between which the village lies). The ground was fenced in, a picture of the Mother of God was put up, and three corpses had already been buried there. But the next day the picture was gone; it was found in a thorn bush in the valley. It was brought back up the mountain. When it was found a third time in the thorn bushes, they believed in God's providence and built the church on the site. Old people still know the path, the "Hale Stiagn" (Holy Staircase), which the portrait is said to have taken. But this way came off after the roads were expanded. The construction date of the church, which is said to have been a miners' chapel at first (more on that later), is unknown. According to the legend, around 1300 the miners donated the “silver” Barbara bell. It is one of the oldest bells in Styria that is still in use today.

The long nave with an originally timbered, probably painted ceiling is late Romanesque. Inside on the north side, a Romanesque fresco of St. Christopher is exposed, which is partially covered by the pillars of the early Gothic barrel vault that was added later. The font with the basin is from the local conglomerate. In front of the altar, a skeleton (presumably the founder of the chapel) was discovered and lowered. Under the 5/8 end of the choir (1422), an almost square wall remnant of an earlier east tower was found. The west tower dates from 1539 and has 4 bells: before 1300 (Barbara's bell), 1555, 1694 and the 1st half of the 19th century, which was destroyed in the First World War and renewed in 1999 at the turn of the millennium. The general renovation takes place from 1970 to 1972.

The Lourdes Grotto is located around one kilometer west of the town center . Your water should have a beneficial effect against eye diseases.

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Stiwoll is off the main roads. The Pyhrn Autobahn (A9) is approx. 17 km away and can be reached via the Gratkorn junction (173), the south autobahn is approx. 24 km and can be reached via the Mooskirchen junction (200).

There is no train station in Stiwoll. The closest train station is Gratwein -Gratkorn and is approx. 13 km away. It offers access to the Südbahn with hourly regional train connections to Graz and Bruck an der Mur .

The Graz Airport is about 30 km away.

politics

Municipal office in Stiwoll

mayor

Mayor of the community is Alfred Brettenthaler (ÖVP).

Municipal council

The municipal council consists of nine members and, following the 2015 municipal council elections, will be composed of mandataries from the following parties:

• 6 ÖVP and
• 3 SPÖ .

The last municipal council elections brought the following results:

Political party	2015			2010			2005			2000
	Sti.	%	M.	Sti.	%	M.	Sti.	%	M.	Sti.	%	M.
ÖVP	299	60	6th	289	56	5	284	54	5	282	56	5
SPÖ	196	40	3	231	44	4th	246	46	4th	220	44	4th
voter turnout	83%			89%			91%			90%

literature

• Erich Fink: Stiwoll and the upper Liebochtal. A chronicle . Municipality of Stiwoll (ed.), Graz 2005.

Web links

Commons : Stiwoll  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• 60647 - Stiwoll. Community data, Statistics Austria .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ derstandard.at - "After double murder in Stiwoll: Suspect now on" Most Wanted List "
2. ^ After a double murder: the tunnel system searched orf.at, November 1, 2017, accessed November 1, 2017
3. ↑ Soko Friedrich is hired, now 5000 Euro "head money" kleinezeitung.at, January 26th 2018, accessed January 26th 2018. - Photo report, chronology.
4. ^ Leopold Weber: The lead-zinc ore deposits of the Graz Palaeozoic and their geological framework. Archive for deposit research of the Federal Geological Institute, Volume 12, Vienna 1990. ISBN 978-3-900312-72-5 . (29 MB; PDF)