Forest School (Wiener Neustadt)
The forest school in Föhrenwald was founded in 1919 for the malnourished children of the city of Wiener Neustadt and today serves as a special education school for physically handicapped children. Affiliated is a home for medical-therapeutic rehabilitation .
The women's hunger demonstration in March 1919
After the First World War at the beginning of the First Republic of Austria , the provisional mayor Anton Ofenböck was confronted on March 26, 1919 with a strike to demand wages from the locomotive drivers and stokers of the southern railway . The State Secretary for Army Affairs Julius Deutsch and the Deputy Mayor and engine driver Josef Püchler were directly involved in the strike meetings of the railway workers, but could not prevent the strike. As a result, the wage demands were partially met.
These three opening sentences are mentioned because on March 28, 1919 the women of Wiener Neustadt held a hunger demonstration on the main square . Because the food market on the main square was empty and empty. In doing so, the women forced Mayor Ofenböck to search the municipality's slaughterhouse for food with the women on the same day. But no food was found in the slaughterhouse either. Thereupon it was decided by the Wiener Neustadt workers and soldiers council and the people's armed forces of the city that the shops of the city must sell flour and potatoes forcibly and immediately at a lower price. This calmed down the situation. As a result, a nutrition directorate was founded, to which mayor Ofenböck, his two deputies, four other city councils and four representatives of the workers 'and soldiers' council belonged.
An important follow-up comment is that on March 31, 1919, Hungary closed the border with Austria and thus the connection from Wiener Neustadt to the directly adjacent Neudörfl . This ended the supply of food from western Hungary to the population. This border barrier set by Hungary was a measure against the land grabbing of Burgenland .
The forest school with the forest school railway in the First Republic
As a result of the First World War, the population of Wiener Neustadt was malnourished, especially the children. For this reason, on January 16, 1919, Vice Mayor Josef Püchler applied to the city council to set up a forest school in Föhrenwald for the malnourished children. The Wiener Neustädter Workers 'and Soldiers' Council, in which Püchler held an influential position, relocated barracks from the Wöllersdorf ammunition factory and from the airfield barracks to the Föhrenwald. They bought a mobile field kitchen that was set up on the so-called Bischofswiese. Since the forest school was seven kilometers from the city center, the field railway , which had connected the Daimler works with the Corvinusring, was acquired. The city building authority planned the route of the so-called forest school railway. The starting point of the Waldschulbahn was a waiting room in the former armory, which is now used by the Federal Police. From there, the route led through Gymmelsdorfer Strasse and Schwarzauer Strasse over the Kehrbach and over the Bendek grounds into the Föhrenwald to the terminus at the southern end of the Bischofswiese. Since the Waldschulbahn also crossed the Aspangbahn and bridging the Aspangbahn was too expensive, the route was divided there. Therefore, two trains were required for the two separate routes to cover the route. The children had to cross the tracks of the Aspangbahn on foot in order to change from the first to the second carriage set. The Waldschulbahn was completed on May 9, 1920. The forest school was opened on May 10, 1920 with 200 girls and boys in four classes.
The forest school was unexpectedly visited by a commission from the Society of Friends . The head of the commission, Miss Andrews, was on the one hand impressed by the beauty of the facility and on the other hand appalled by the simplicity of the operation. Your suggestions and questions were as follows: Mayor Ofenböck, let the children sleep in the forest. Why don't the kids stay here to sleep. Why are you carrying water with you? Make a fountain! Mayor Ofenböck ruled this out because of the city's financial situation. As a result, with the financial support of the "Gesellschaft der Freunde", a well was dug over forty meters deep and tapped with an electric pump. A sleeping barrack with furniture and bed linen was also financed. As a result, the forest school was run in a healthy manner. The teaching activity was subordinated to the district school inspector Josef Pazelt and organized by him. The forest school was financed through a welfare tax from the city, which financed all welfare institutions in the city and collected two hellers from every wage crown earned in Wiener Neustadt. In the post-war period there was a lack of many essential things in daily life . The malnutrition of the population created a high risk of developing tuberculosis . That is why the school was located in the Föhrenwald in the interests of fresh, healthy air. The city established a tuberculosis and infant welfare office . Two doctors were employed, whose job was also the health of the forest school children. Its leader was Primarius Paul Habetin.
The forest school in Austrofascism and National Socialism
The forest school lost its financial basis due to changes in the law of the corporate state under Austrofascism and was therefore closed in 1934. The building was used for recreational activities in summer. After the annexation of Austria , the forest school was taken over by the National Socialist People's Welfare and used as a youth rest home. In 1944 the school building burned down.
The forest school in the Second Republic
After the Second World War in September 1945, the forest school was revitalized as a day nursery and then as a rest home for needy children. The reconstruction of the forest school was financed through donation campaigns. Among other things, Federal President Karl Renner donated his pension as a state librarian. In 1952, under Mayor Rudolf Wehrl, the forest school was rededicated to a special education school for physically handicapped children based on a concept by Hans Radl and started with three classes with Friedrich May as the first director. The project objective was an Austrian center for children from Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Styria, Burgenland, Salzburg, Carinthia and Tyrol. In 1977 on the 25th anniversary , children from Lower Austria , Upper Austria , Styria , Burgenland and Carinthia actually attended the forest school. From 1955 to 1966 there was a technical school for women’s and men’s tailoring, a technical school for linen goods production and a workshop for textiles as vocational preparation. In 1958, Minister of Education Heinrich Drimmel opened a new student hostel in which 140 students lived. In 1963, Director Ernst Waldner founded a dental practice that was donated by the Austrian Youth Red Cross . From 1965 to 1967 the boarding school was rebuilt. In 1977 the Lower Austrian Parliament decided to build a swimming pool and a gym, which were opened in 1980. A new school building was opened in 1992 with Regional Councilor Traude Votruba and Director Hermann Gruber.
architectural art
In the school courtyard hangs a bell from the Hilzer bell foundry , cast in 1887 by Peter Hilzer.
literature
- A “heavy” legacy. P. 75ff. In: Walter Edelbauer : Anton Ofenböck - Mayor of Wiener Neustadt from 1918 to 1934. Weilburg Verlag, Wiener Neustadt 1987, ISBN 3-900100-61-6 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Walter Edelbauer (1987) Anton Ofenböck (see literature) shows on page 77 a photo of the opening of the forest school on May 10, 1920 (lectern in the courtyard of the forest school with a speaker and adults, but no children) and a photo of the forest school railway with driver Mr. Lindermeyer with children (three covered, open, windowless wagons, at the first wagon an open engine stand, on the right the engine, above a lifting horn with a blower bag, in the middle the controls, on the left the driver on a seat)
Coordinates: 47 ° 46 ′ 1.8 ″ N , 16 ° 11 ′ 32.8 ″ E