Leopoldstadt

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This article is about a district of Vienna. For the town in Slovakia called Leopoldstadt in German, see Leopoldov.
Leopoldstadt
—  2nd District of Vienna  —

Coat of arms
Location of the district within Vienna
Country Austria
City Vienna
Government
 • District Director Gerhard Kubik (SPÖ)
 • First Deputy Rudolf Kauba (SPÖ)
 • Second Deputy Adolf Hasch (Green)
 • Representation
   (60 Members)		 SPÖ 26, FPÖ 13, Green 13,
ÖVP 7, KPÖ 1
Area
 • Total 19.27 km2 (7.44 sq mi)
Population (2011-01-01)[1]
 • Total 96,016
 • Density 5,000/km2 (13,000/sq mi)
Postal code A-1020
Address of
District Office		 Karmelitergasse 9
A-1020 Wien
Website www.wien.gv.at
  /bezirke/leopoldstadt/
Orthodox Jews at the Karmeliterplatz in Leopoldstadt during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 1915. The once flourishing Viennese Jewish culture was destroyed during the Holocaust.
The Volksprater amusement park in the Wiener Prater.
The Hauptallee in the Prater

Leopoldstadt (Austro-Bavarian: Leopoidstod, "Leopold-Town") is the 2nd municipal District of Vienna (German: 2. Bezirk). There are 96,016 inhabitants (as of 2011-01-01) over 19.27 km2 (7 sq mi). It is situated in the heart of the city and, together with Brigittenau (20th district), forms a large island surrounded by the Danube Canal and, to the north, the Danube. It is named after Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. Due to its relatively high percentage of Jewish inhabitants (38.5 per cent in 1923, i.e. before the Holocaust), Leopoldstadt gained the nickname Mazzesinsel ("Matzoh Island"). This context was a significant aspect for the district twinning with the New York City borough Brooklyn in 2007.[2]

Places of interest include the Wiener Prater (from Latin pratum "meadow"), former imperial hunting grounds to which the public was denied access until 1766. The area of the Prater closest to the city centre contains a large amusement park, known as the Volksprater ("People's Prater") or Wurstelprater (after the Harlequin-type figure of Hanswurst), and at its entrance there is the giant Wiener Riesenrad Ferris wheel opened in 1897 which features prominently in the movie The Third Man and which has become one of Vienna's trademarks. There is also a miniature steam railway ("Liliputbahn") which, on its track through the woodland parallel to the Hauptallee, passes Vienna's Ernst-Happel-Stadion. The Schweizerhaus ("Swiss Hut"), an establishment boasting a huge beer garden, sells the original Czech Budweiser draught beer. The owners claim that, back in the 1920s, the potato crisp was invented there. Nearby you can find the "Republic of Kugelmugel", a micronation proclaimed in 1984 that became a landmark of the area.

Another, smaller, park in Leopoldstadt is the topiary-type Augarten, which is the home of the Vienna Boys' Choir and of a porcelain manufactory ("Augarten-Porzellan"). Sadly, its distinguishing marks are two disused Flak towers built towards the end of the Second World War. For features of this versatile district not listed here, see the bottom-linked Leopoldstadt Category page.

Contents

[edit] Jewish Leopoldstadt

In 1625 Rabbi Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller became the rabbi of Vienna. At the time the Jews of Vienna were scattered throughout the city, not having a central community. Heller obtained for the Jews the right to establish a central Jewish community in Leopoldstadt, which was already then a suburb of Vienna. He was instrumental in reorganizing the community, and he drew up its constitution.

By the mid-17th century, part of the built-up area was the Jewish ghetto. At that time the area was called "Im Werd", with the Jewish population living in an area called "Unterer Werd". The hatred that Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor held for the Jews led to the forceful expulsion and destruction of the Jewish community (gesera), with the popular support of the local non-Jewish population. As a thanksgiving for the expulsion, the inhabitants renamed the area Leopoldstadt ("Leopold's city"), after the emperor. During the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Jewish immigrants from eastern parts of the realm again flocked to Leopoldstadt, owing to the proximity of the Nordbahnhof railway station, which was one of the main train stations at which migrants from other parts of the empire arrived in Vienna. The high number of Jewish inhabitants led to the area being called Mazzesinsel ("Island of Matzo", a type of unleavened bread). Several important synagogues were located there, including the Schiff Shul, the Leopoldstädter Tempel, the Türkischer Tempel, the Polnische Schul, and the Pazmanitentempel, as well as yeshivas.

None of the synagogues escaped the destruction during the Kristallnacht pogroms of November 1938 following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. The Jewish population was increasingly isolated and terrorised and was finally deported and murdered in concentration camps such as Auschwitz. The once thriving communal life was completely destroyed. Only a handful of survivors were able to hide until the end of the war, from an original population of several thousands.

With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 and renewed immigration from Eastern Europe, especially the former Soviet Union, the Jewish population of Leopoldstadt was able to grow again. Today, many members of Vienna's Jewish community live there again, and there are a number of shops selling kosher food. Several parts of the old residential areas have been gentrified, resulting in a gentle shift from Leopoldstadt's traditional, predominantly working class roots towards a somewhat wealthier population.

The new extension of the U2 metro line, opened in May 2008 in time for the European Football Championship, links Leopoldstadt with the city centre.

[edit] Coat of Arms (Crest)

Crest of Leopoldstadt.

The arms of the Leopoldstadt district, since the retirement of Brigittenau from the 2nd District, contains three parts, symbolizing the former independent communities:

  • Saint Leopold in the upper left part (heraldic: upper right) part, symbolizes the historical Leopoldstadt, the former Lower Werd, the area between Augarten, Taborstraße and the Danube Canal. He is in a blue skirt and a red sheath dress; on his head, he wears the Austrian Herzogshut hat. In his hands, he holds the banner of Erzherzogtums Austria below the Enns, and also a church model that symbolizes the patronage of the parish church.
  • The upper right (heraldic: upper left) part of the crest represents the district section Jägerzeile, the area around today's Praterstraße. It shows the silver Hubertusallee deer on a green meadow. The deer wears 12-point golden antlers, with a golden cross standing out in the middle. As a symbol of the hunt, the deer gives the earlier meaning of the Prater and the Danube as a hunting area.
  • The lower part of the coat of arms stands for the district section Zwischenbrücken. It shows a red tongue on a blue background, surrounded by a golden halo, which has five gold stars. The emblem symbolizes St. John of Nepomuk, the patron saint of bridges, and stands for the original among several poor Danube and its bridges, the area extending from the Danube 1870-1875 regulators around bridge between rich and extends north bridge (and since 1900 became part of the 20th district).

[edit] Arts and culture

Wiener Riesenrad Ferris wheel
Volksprater, seen from the Ferris wheel
Galopprennplatz Freudenau

[edit] Museums

Leopoldstadt is devoted to the museum district, in particular the arts. The focus is on, inter alia, the Theater in Leopoldstadt, the Carl-Theater, the Leopoldstädter Theater, the Prater and the Jewish Ghetto. The Museum für Unterhaltungskunst covers the history of clowns, artists and circuses; whereas the Museum des Blindenwesens in his exhibition shows the development of teaching and lessons for the blind and Braille. The Wiener Kriminalmuseum ("Vienna Crime Museum"), connected with the Museum of the Vienna Federal Police Directorate, brings the visitor the history of the judiciary and the police and crime from the late Middle Ages forward.

Two major museums in Vienna have branch offices in Leopoldstadt. The Vienna Museum (formerly the Museum of the City of Vienna) operates the Prater Museum (next to the Ferris wheel) on the history of the Wurstelprater amusement park and also allows visits to the home of the "Waltz King" Johann Strauss the Younger in the Praterstraße. The Belvedere has also two branch offices in the 2nd District: Augarten Contemporary (contemporary art) and the neighboring Gustinus-Ambrosi Museum. The Augarten porcelain factory is in the foyer of the castle, for regular porcelain.

[edit] Theater

See also: Theater in der Leopoldstadt, Carltheater (until 1929)

In the great hall of the former Agricultural Products Exchange (Taborstraße 10), the team of Serapions Ensembles to Erwin Piplits and Ulrike Kaufmann with the assistance of the City Council until 1988, created the "Odeon", a flexible theater recordable space of considerable proportions. Here are the Serapionsensemble and other artists. The name is reminiscent of the 1845 opened, in 1848 spent "Odeon", which was the largest, several thousand people making ballroom of Vienna (4641 square meters of floor space); in the present, in the quarter after the stock market is located.

[edit] Outdoor cinema & former cinemas

As a traditional theater district, Leopoldstadt had, in the middle of the 20th Century, numerous cinemas. As a result of the spread of television in Austria from the late 1950s, cinemas began to close in the 1960s, by which the 2nd District was severely affected. By and by, Leopold townspeople cinemas were closed, and now there is no single regular cinema in the district area. Even the UCI opened in 1999, at the Mehrsälekino Lassallestraße, was already closed three years later because of poor attendance.

The former cinemas, in the order of closure, are:[3]

  • Stern (Rotensterngasse 7a), –1962
  • Adria (Am Tabor 22), –1964
  • Diana (Praterstraße 25), –1968
  • Luna (Taborstraße 69), –1971
  • Planetarium Studio 2 (Oswald Thomas Platz 1, at the Planetarium), –1972
  • Augarten (Malzgasse 2), –1973
  • Nestroy (Nestroyplatz, im Nestroyhof), –1975
  • Wohlmuth (Wohlmuthstraße 15–17), –1979
  • Filmpalast (Prater, near Wiener Riesenrad), –1981 (abgebrannt); aka Lustspieltheater, Lustspielkino, Leopoldstädter Volkskino und Tegethoff
  • Helios (Taborstraße 36), –1983
  • Münstedt Kino Palast (Prater), –1984
  • Panorama Center 1-3 (Praterstern, in Schnellbahnviadukt), –1993; first Mehrsälekino of Vienna.
  • Tabor (Taborstraße 8), –1996
  • Prater Nonstop (Prater), –1997; Sexkino
  • UCI (Lassallestraße 7a), –2002; 1999 opened as Mehrsälekino

This development is however an increasing demand for outdoor summer cinema, since the early 1990s, before the Vienna City Hall every summer, the Film Festival at the Vienna City Hall Square takes place. In the 2nd District, there are currently four summer open-air cinemas:

  • Kino unter Sternen ("Cinema under the stars") - Augarten, beim Flakturm
  • Kino wie noch nie ("Cinema as never before") - Augartenspitz, Obere Augartenstraße 1
  • Prater Film Festival (Kaiserweise, before the Wiener Riesenrad)
  • Sommerkino Tribüne Krieau ("Summer movie gallery") - Trabrennplatz Krieau

In Augarten (Obere Augartenstraße 1), the Austrian film archive established here and at the Metro Cinema (1st district) shows historical films and scientific research.

[edit] District Partnership

In the year 2007, Brooklyn (borough of New York City) entered into a district partnership with the Viennese district Leopoldstadt.[4]

[edit] Notable residents

See also Category: People from Leopoldstadt

[edit] See also

[edit] Gallery

  • View of Liliputbahn

  • Liliputbahn1

  • Liliputbahn2

  • Church of the Barmherzigen Brüder

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Statistik Austria – Bevölkerung zu Jahresbeginn seit 2002 nach Politischen Bezirken", Statistik Austria.
  2. ^ Partnership with Brooklyn: scroll down to New York City, then proceed to Brooklyn on the list of sister cities in New York.
  3. ^ Office for Theatre - in the 2nd cinema District.
  4. ^ http://diepresse.com/home/politik/aussenpolitik/289167/index.do?from=suche.intern.portal

[edit] References

[Parts of this article were translated from German Wikipedia.]

[edit] External links

Media related to Leopoldstadt at Wikimedia Commons

Districts of Leopoldstadt (Vienna)
Coat of arms of Vienna
Coat of arms of Leopoldstadt
Districts
by
Number
Vienna districts large numbers.gif

Coordinates: 48°12′37″N 16°24′44″E / 48.21028°N 16.41222°E / 48.21028; 16.41222

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