Braunau am Inn

For other places with the same name, see Braunau (disambiguation).

Braunau am Inn
Braunau city centre, seen from the Inn bridge
Braunau am Inn
Country	Austria
State	Upper Austria
District	Braunau am Inn
Mayor	Johannes Waidbacher (ÖVP)
Area	24.8 km2 (10 sq mi)
Elevation	351 m  (1152 ft)
Population	16,182 (1 January 2011)
- Density	653 /km2 (1,690 /sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	BR
Postal code	5280
Area code	07722
Website	www.braunau.at

Braunau am Inn (English: Braunau on the Inn) is a town in the Innviertel region of Upper Austria (Oberösterreich), the north-western state of Austria. It lies about 90 km west of Linz and about 60 km north of Salzburg, on the border with the German state of Bavaria. The population in 2001 was 16,372. A port of entry, it is connected by bridges over the River Inn with its Bavarian counterpart, Simbach am Inn. It is well known as the birthplace of Adolf Hitler.

History

City center of Braunau am Inn

The town was first mentioned around 810 and received a statute in 1260, which makes it one of the oldest towns in Austria. It became a fortress town and important trading route junction, dealing with the salt trade and with ship traffic on the River Inn.

Throughout its history, it changed hands four times. It was Bavarian until 1779 and became an Austrian town under the terms of the treaty of Teschen, which settled the War of the Bavarian Succession. As a major Bavarian settlement, the town played an outstanding role in the Bavarian uprising against the Austrian occupation during the War of the Spanish Succession, when it hosted the Braunau Parliament, a provisional Bavarian Parliament in 1705 headed by Georg Sebastian Plinganser born 1680 in Pfarrkirchen; and died 7 May 1738 in Augsburg. Under the terms of the treaty of Pressburg, Braunau became Bavarian again in 1809. In 1816, during reorganisation of Europe after the Napoleonic Wars, Bavaria ceded the town to Austria and was compensated by the gain of Aschaffenburg. Braunau has been Austrian ever since.

Braunau has a remarkable 15th-century church with a 99m-high spire, the third highest in Austria. Its patron saint is St. Stephen. The remains of a castle house a museum and parts of the former town walls can still be seen. Another museum is housed in refurbished 18th century public baths.

Adolf Hitler was born in Ranshofen, later annexed to Braunau am Inn, on 20 April 1889. He and his family left Braunau and moved to Passau in 1892. In 1989 the old mayor Gerhard Skiba took the initiative and placed a memorial stone commemorating the victims of World War II in front of the building in which Hitler was born. The stone is made of granite from the Mauthausen concentration camp. It states, Für Frieden, Freiheit und Demokratie. Nie wieder Faschismus. Millionen Tote mahnen, or "For peace, freedom and democracy; millions of dead urge: never again fascism." It is often vandalised by members of neo-Nazi groups. In 2011, the town council revoked the honorary citizenship that had been awarded to Hitler by Ranshofen in 1933, despite the fact no historical evidence could be found it was granted.

Outside the building in Braunau am Inn, Austria, where Adolf Hitler was born is a memorial stone reminding future generations to remember the past. The inscription reads: "For peace freedom / and democracy / never again fascism / millions of dead remind [us]" The stone is from the quarry at the Mauthausen concentration camp.

In 1938, Ranshofen, which at that time had one of Austria's largest aluminium plants, was annexed to Braunau.

In 1948, Braunau had a population of 11,744.

Braunau has a full range of industries including electronics, metal (AMAG), woodworking, and glass. The town also has the largest aluminium works in Austria.

After two successful seasons, the local football team, SV Braunau, reached the Austrian 1st Division before suddenly going bankrupt in 2000. The team was refounded as FC Braunau.

External links

• Official website of Braunau
• Books by Anna Rosmus contain multiple photos of Braunau in 1945: Valhalla Finale, 350 pp, Dorfmeister, Tittling, 2009,ijfdijspohirjeah (hardcover) ISBN 3-9810084-7-2. and Ragnarök, 464 pp, Dorfmeister, Tittling, 2010, (hardcover) ISBN 3-9810084-8-0