Krimml is an Austrian municipality in the Zell am See (Pinzgau)
district in the Salzburg region with 830 inhabitants (as of January
1, 2020). It is located in the Oberpinzgau region, about 26
kilometers from the main town of Mittersill and 54 kilometers from
the district capital of Zell am See and is part of the Hohe Tauern
National Park communities.
There are different theories about
the origin of the place name itself. On the one hand, reference is
made to the Slavic word “Chrumbas”, meaning “hostel”, which could
indicate the importance of the place as a resting place when
crossing the Krimmler Tauern. At Lahnsteiner there is a derivation
of the word "curvature", as the Krimmler Ache has a strong loop
shortly before its confluence with the Salzach at today's municipal
boundary between Krimml and Wald im Pinzgau.
The center of
Krimml is 1067 meters above sea level, below the Gerlos Pass in a
valley basin. Krimml is the most south-westerly municipality in the
state and, in addition to state borders with the Tyrolean districts
Schwaz and Lienz, also has a federal border with Italy. Above the
waterfalls, the Krimmler Achental extends with the two side valleys
Rainbach and Windbachtal. From the Krimmler Achental, two foot
crossings, the Birnlücke and the Krimmler Tauern, lead to the
neighboring Ahrntal and thus to Italy. About the Rainbachtal resp.
the Rainbachscharte leads to the Wildgerlostal, which also belongs
to Krimml.
Krimml is best known for the Krimmler Waterfalls,
where the Krimmler Ache plunges in three stages with a total drop of
380 m from the Krimmler Achental into the Krimml basin. While today
the origin of the Salzach is generally located on the Salzachgeier,
and Krimml cannot therefore be counted as part of the Pinzgau
Salzach Valley, it is largely certain that in the past the Krimmler
Ache was seen as the uppermost course of the Salzach. It was not
until the Salzburg pedagogue and enlightener Franz Michael Viertaler
determined the origin in the north-west corner of the Oberpinzgau in
1796.
Prehistory and early history to antiquity
Traces of the first
settlement of today's municipality of Krimml go back to the Early
Bronze Age. These are documented by numerous finds from this epoch
as well as from the later Bronze Age and the early Hallstatt Age,
which excavations under the prehistorian Martin Hell in the middle
of the 20th century brought to light.
How permanent these
early settlements were is difficult to reconstruct today. At the
turn of the 7th to the 6th century BC, the change to a new culture
took place in the western Alps, which is commonly referred to as
Celtic. With a bit of a time lag, this also caught on in the Eastern
Alpine region.
With the Celtic settlement or "Celtization" of
the resident population of today's Pinzgau, the transition from
prehistory or prehistory to the historical age for this region can
be dated. According to general agreement, the whole of today's
Pinzgau and with it Krimml was the settlement area of the
Ambisonts. Around 200 BC, the Kingdom of Noricum emerged as a loose
association of Celtic tribes, which very soon came into contact with
its Roman neighbors. 15 BC The Alpine Celts were finally subjugated
by the Romans under the step-sons of Augustus, Tiberius and Drusus,
including the Ambisonters, who are listed next to almost fifty other
Celtic tribes at the great victory monument of La Turbie.
In
the year 10th BC Regnum Noricum became part of the Roman Empire.
Like the cisalpine, the transalpine Celts became Romans. The use of
the Krimmler Tauern as a transition has been documented since that
time, but has been assumed to be probable since the Bronze Age.
With the Romans, a new language, a new culture and new goods
came to the region and many of these goods found their way across
the Krimmler Tauern. Belonging to the Roman Empire lasted 500 years.
Assimilation to Roman culture meant that the Celts in this area were
referred to by the Germanic peoples as "Romanen" or "Walchen". Under
Claudius, Noricum finally became a Roman province, Iuvavum a
municipality town, whose administrative district also included the
area of today's Krimml as a peripheral area.
There are no
indications of a permanent settlement in today's municipal area in
Celtic and Roman times. During this time, too, its importance as a
transport connection to the neighboring Ahrntal is crucial.
According to Lahnsteiner, Albert Muchar writes in his first volume
of The Roman Noricum about the significant remains of a Roman road
up to the Krimmler Tauern and about the fact that today's Edenlehen
was an old restaurant and, above all, a rest stop before the climb
to the Tauern. There is also said to have been a rock cellar for
storing wines in the Schmiedpalfen. Otherwise, as for the rest of
the Inner Mountains, the settlement was extremely sparse (for
example, an estate in today's Bramberger district of Weyer is
occupied). The increasing incursions of the Alemanni and other
Germanic tribes also led to the abandonment of most of the manors
and unprotected villages. In 488 the population of Ufernoricum was
evacuated and transferred to Italy. Smaller parts of the population
remained in the country and were referred to by the Teutons as Roman
and Walchen.
Middle age
After the Celts and Romans, it was
the Bavarians who brought a new language and culture into the
country. In the first phase of the Bavarian conquest, however, the
Inner Mountains remained unattractive for heavy settlement.
As part of the Duchy of Bavaria, the County of Oberpinzgau was given
to the Counts of Lechsgemünd in 1100. During this time there was
also increased clearing and reclamation in the Upper Pinzgau, which
was also caused by a general increase in population. In a purchase
agreement between the “Hauskloster” Kaisheim in Lechs- münd and the
Archbishop of Salzburg, an estate with the name “Chrvmbel” is
mentioned for the first time. In 1228 the Upper Pinzgau came to the
Archbishopric of Salzburg under Archbishop Eberhard II Eberhard von
Regensberg.
With the exception of the church, only a few
traces have survived from the Middle Ages. However, this is one of
the oldest in Pinzgau. In 1244, the Raitenhaslach monastery received
a hat from the "Churches in the Khrumbe" - the first mention of the
Krimml parish church through a donation from Eberhard II. The
importance of the Tauern traffic in this context is evident from the
fact that the goods belonging to the Raitenhaslach monastery had to
pay an annual fee to Wallisch-Wein (wine from Italy).
In the middle of the 14th century, the archbishop's land register
for Krimml had 12 houses. The transitions into the neighboring
Ahrntal valley into today's South Tyrol were particularly important
for craftsmen and merchants (wine and cattle trade) as well as for
the farmers who grazed their cattle in the Krimmler Achental in
summer. The Krimmler Tauernhaus was documented in writing as early
as 1389 as an important station before the transition to Tyrol. This
is now in operation as a hostel and snack bar.
Modern times
The Reformation and the Peasant Wars also affected the most remote
corners of the Archdiocese of Salzburg. In his chronicle for Krimml,
the priest Josef Lahnsteiner lists in detail those families and
fiefs who sympathized with Protestantism. Those who were not
prepared to renounce the teachings of the Reformation were also
expelled from Krimml.
Krimml formed the westernmost cross
costume in the archbishopric of Salzburg (administrative district
with a church), consisting of the Ober- and Unterkrimml ranks, in
the administrative area of the Mittersill nursing court.
Krimml belonged to Bramberg church until 1555, then to Neukirchen am
Großvenediger until 1675 and then to Wald im Pinzgau until 1784. In
1784 Krimml became independent as a vicariate.
Lorenz Huebner
gave a short description of the inhabitants of Krimml in 1796:
“There are now 300 people here, a funny, liberal and open-hearted
people, without deception or falsehood. The Ortswirthshaus also
witnesses that there is a happy crowd who eats and likes to dance
and jump. "
In 1803, with secularization, the spiritual rule
over Salzburg ended after a millennium. This was followed by the
short-lived Electorate of Salzburg 1803-1805, the years of belonging
to the Austrian Empire until 1809 and that of the Kingdom of Bavaria
between 1810 and 1816 as the Salzach District. When French and
Bavarian troops occupied parts of Salzburg in 1809, the son of the
farmer's back in Krimml, Anton Wallner, excelled in resisting the
occupiers. The Anton Wallner monument is still located in the center
of Krimml today. Both the historic rifle company and the local music
band are named after Anton Wallner. The Anton Wallner Bräu
microbrewery has also existed in the village for several years.
Between 1816 and 1849 Salzburg was part of the province of Upper
Austria and Salzburg as the Salzburg district before the crown land
of Salzburg was established in 1849/50. The Zillertal was separated
from Salzburg in 1816. For Krimml this means that the Gerlos Pass
has now also become a border pass.
As is typical for the
entire region, Krimml was primarily characterized by the cattle
farming, which was limited to the production of milk and dairy
products. Due to the labor-intensive production in the high mountain
region, it was not competitive in comparison with that of other
crown lands. This only changed with the advent of early tourism,
alpinism and the associated transport links in the late 19th
century.
As early as 1835, the keeper of Mittersill, Ignaz
von Kürsinger, had a path and a tourist and painter's house built to
the upper end of the lower waterfall. In 1879, the German Alpine
Club and the Austrian Alpine Club built a path with viewing
platforms and bridges. Finally, in 1898, the Pinzgauer Lokalbahn
runs from Zell am See to Vorderkrimml (district of Wald im Pinzgau),
which means that more and more people are visiting the waterfalls.
This makes a renewed expansion of the waterfall path necessary,
which is finally carried out by the Warnsdorf Alpine Club section.
Until the outbreak of the First World War, tourism increased
gradually, which is reflected in the construction of numerous
refuges and inns. The railway restoration at Krimml station was
carried out in 1898, the Falkenstein restoration in 1899, the Hotel
Krimmler Hof in 1900, the Filzstein inn in Hochkrimml in 1901, and
the "Hotel zu den Krimmlerfälle" in 1902.
Contemporary history
Of the 85 men who were engaged in the
First World War from Krimml, 20 died. In the inter-war period, the
change from a purely agricultural to a tourist community continued,
and the beginning winter tourism in particular became increasingly
important. A restaurant built on the Gerlosplatte in 1903 is
expanded into a Plattenhotel in 1932. However, the global economic
crisis and the thousand-mark block ultimately resulted in an almost
complete collapse in tourism.
At the beginning of the 1930s,
Krimml was one of the strongholds of the National Socialists in the
Inner Mountains, where they achieved the best result in the district
with 37.92% in the 1932 state elections. After the annexation of
Austria, Krimml and Wald were combined to form the municipality of
Krimml-Wald on January 1, 1939, and only divided again at the end of
the Second World War. In the years 1939–1942, the former mayor of
Wald, the farmer Johann Oberhauser, acted as mayor of Krimml-Wald,
then until 1945 the former mayor of Krimml, the businessman Johann
Schleinzer.
The historian Sonja Nothdurfter-Grausgruber
describes the Krimmler's relationship to the Nazi regime as
ambivalent, since the bourgeois camp clung to the new rulers
unconditionally, while the enthusiasm of the Christian-social
peasants was less, because church struggle, restriction of their
property rights by the Hereditary Farm Act and the Court controls of
the National Socialists were rejected.
Tourism came to a
standstill in the war years 1939–1945. The hotels and inns were used
differently accordingly. A rest home for the German railway workers
existed in Krimml as well as a rest home for mothers run by the
National Socialist People's Welfare. The Krimmler Achental was used
as a hunting area by high-ranking National Socialists. Numerous
foreign workers (“Eastern workers”, prisoners of war) were also
deployed in Krimml, primarily in agriculture. Towards the end of the
war, according to Lahnsteiner, many SS men came from Italy over the
Krimmler Tauern in order to get to their homeland from here. In
addition, more than 1,000 bomb refugees were quartered in the Krimml
households. Of the 125 Krimml men who had been involved in World War
II, 34 died. On May 10, 1945, a colonel in the US Army took quarters
with his officers at the Waltl Inn.
The fact that Krimml was
the only municipality in the state of Salzburg - located in the
American zone of occupation from 1945 to 1955 - bordered on Italy
(western North Tyrol was French, southern East Tyrol was occupied by
the British) led to the Krimml Jews fleeing from Krimml in the
summer of 1947. After the previously used Alpine crossings in the
British and French occupation zones of Austria were closed to the
thousands of Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe, 5000 Jewish
refugees crossed the Krimmler Tauern Pass on their way via Italy to
Palestine. The hut owner Liesl Geisler-Scharfetter looked after
these people in the Krimmler Tauernhaus before they finally started
the arduous crossing into the South Tyrolean Ahrntal. However, the
perpetrators were also on the run, and many of them also chose the
route over the Krimmler Tauern to Italy and from there often on to
South America. During this time, the municipality of Krimml issued
many identity cards for crossing the border.
With the economic miracle, tourism resumed early after the Second
World War, which over the decades has increasingly focused on winter
tourism. The construction of the Gerlos Alpine Road and the
Durlaßboden reservoir in the early 1960s represented major
infrastructure projects. In 1963 the first drag lifts were built on
the Gerlosplatte and the ski area was gradually expanded. The
preliminary highlight was the merger with neighboring ski areas in
Königsleiten and the Zillertal to form the Zillertalarena in 2003.
In the Hochkrimml, an alpine village was built, similar to the
Königsleiten settlement in the municipality of Wald im Pinzgau,
whereby winter tourists could be accommodated in the immediate
vicinity of the ski area. So far, not implemented, but discussed
again and again is a cable car project that is supposed to connect
the actual town of Krimml directly with the Zillertal Arena.
In 1967 the Krimml Waterfalls were awarded the European Diploma for
Protected Areas and with the establishment of the Hohe Tauern
National Park in 1981, Krimml became a national park community.