Wels is a city in Upper Austria. With 62,470 inhabitants (as of
January 1, 2020), Wels is the second largest city in the federal
state of Upper Austria after the state capital Linz and ranks eighth
on the list of cities in Austria.
In terms of administrative
law, the municipality of Wels is one of three Upper Austrian cities
with its own statute (statutory city) and thus performs the tasks of
the district administration itself. The Wels-Land district
administration and the district and regional court of Wels are also
located here.
The city experienced two heydays during Roman
times and the Middle Ages. Wels acquired its current economic
importance as a trade fair and industrial city and as a traffic
junction.
The oldest finds from the Wels area date from the younger Stone
Age, i.e. the period from 3500 to 1700 BC. They found simple tools,
especially on the banks of the Traun and in what is now the city
center.
In the Bronze Age, from 1700 BC Cemetery fields were
created in the area of today's airport as well as an urn field not
far from it, which is dated to the time of the urn field culture
(1100–750 BC). There were 60 graves with additions, such as bronze
jewelry or food.
Swords from the Hallstatt period (750–400
BC) were found in the Pernau.
In the Latène period (up to 100
BC) Celts populated the area around Wels and left behind gold coins,
swords and fibulas made of iron and earthenware. The name "Traun"
comes from this time. The name "catfish" may also be of Celtic
origin. Wels would then mean something like “settlement on the
Traunwindungen”.
As has been established from layers
deposited in the course of floods, the Traun formed an extensive
river system with numerous tributaries in the Wels area. The
division of the water masses led to the fact that the arms of the
Traun at Wels were shallow and it was therefore possible to cross at
fords.
Roman times
The small settlement developed into an
important base and outpost of the Roman Empire. Under Emperor
Hadrian what was then Ovilava or Ovilavis was elevated to a city
(municipium). The built-up area included the area from the Traun to
the height of today's Kaiser-Josef-Platz. There were already brick
houses, steam baths, an arena and an irrigation system that brought
water from the Reinberg across the Traun.
As a result, Wels
became a large city (colonia) under Emperor Caracalla. Due to the
threat of the Alemanni, the city was expanded, surrounded by a city
wall - the area was about 90 hectares - and a road from Passau was
built along the Danube. What is certain is that six towers and a
gate system were integrated into the walls, which were built from
the castle along the Western Railway and across Feldgasse back
towards the banks of the Traun.
As part of his reform of the
provincial system, Emperor Diocletian made Wels a capital that
administered the area of the Roman Empire north of the Alps, the
Ufernoricum (Noricum Ripense). Two duumviri who acted as city
judges, two aediles who advocated compliance with laws and market
rights, a quaestor who administered the city treasury, and a
100-member city council headed the city.
Ovilava administered
an area that was enclosed by the Inn and Danube, bounded to the east
by the administrative areas of Lauriacum (Enns), and reached as far
as Bad Ischl. The city district included border fortifications,
which also included Linz (Lentia) and Passau (Boiodurum), and
countless settlements on Upper Austrian and Salzburg soil.
What is striking about the Roman burial culture in Wels is that only
a few precious things were buried. This was due, on the one hand, to
the nearby border with the constant threat of raids and wars, and,
on the other hand, to the severe climate, which is why only a few
wealthy citizens settled there. Richer graves only come from earlier
periods of settlement.
From the 3rd to the 5th century, the
area around Wels was often invaded by Germanic and Vandal tribes as
well as by Attila's army in the course of the beginning of the
migration of the peoples. Under Emperor Gallienus, the province of
Noricum was described as devastated. The officer and king of Italy,
Odoacer, had Noricum evacuated as it could no longer be held.
From the 4th century, Wels is likely to have become a small and
insignificant settlement again for a few centuries. In the Antonini
Itinerary (3rd century) the city is mentioned several times under
the name Ovilavis, but it is no longer mentioned in the Vita Sancti
Severini, which reflects the situation at the end of the 4th
century.
Economy in the Roman Wels
Agriculture and border
trade as well as brick production, pottery and stone mining were the
economic basis of the town.
Since several Roman imperial
roads ran through the city, including the great east-west connection
to Enns, many goods were imported from the west, such as Gaul and
the Rhine area, including terra sigillata vessels and statuettes,
including the so-called "Venus of Wels". But there was also brisk
trade with Italy. Amphorae, oyster shells and bronze figures of
Italian origin were found.
The cultivation of grain just
covered the regional consumption; cattle and horses were probably
exported. In today's urban area, the oldest granary in the Eastern
Alps was found, in which, according to the findings, mainly wheat,
dwarf wheat, emmer, barley and rye were stored.
Religion in
the Roman Wels
There is evidence that a pontiff and the College of Sexviri, a
community devoted to the imperial cult, were resident. Their temple,
dedicated to the Capitoline Triassic, has not yet been found.
However, consecration stones have been found for other gods and
spirit beings such as Apollo, Jupiter, Vulcanus, Genius and Laren.
Some statues of Diana, Venus, Fortuna, Mercurius and Minerva could
also be excavated.
The Celtic world of gods could only be
proven on the basis of a statue of a mother goddess and an image of
the Celtic bull god Tarvos Trigaranus.
The emerging
Christianity was represented in Wels since the 3rd or 4th century.
These first years of the Christian religion were mainly
characterized by persecution and oppression, but Florian von Lorch
is said to have worked in Wels before he fled to St. Pölten. Part of
a pilaster provides information about an early Christian church from
the 4th or 5th century and suggests a larger Christian community.
The Ursa tombstone is considered to be one of the oldest finds
from an early Christian community. The tombstone was commissioned by
a Roman soldier for his wife.
Great Migration
The
Bavarians settled the region around Wels in the 6th century. Weapons
found in Bavarian burial grounds date from the 7th century.
In the 8th century Wels was again equipped with fortifications. Wels
was first mentioned in 776 as castrum uueles, which means something
like "fortified settlement Wels" or "castle Wels". Before the
official seat of Count Machelm, a relative of the Agilolfinger, Wels
came to the Carolingian possessions until the late 9th century.
middle age
From the year 1000 Wels was called the "market"
and was known for its cloth trade. Since Wels belonged to the
Lambach monastery in the 11th century, it was later assigned to the
diocese of Würzburg.
In the 12th century Wels was properly
divided, because the market rights, the toll for the bridge, the
parish church and a Marienkapelle were administered separately by
Würzburg, Lambach Abbey, Kremsmünster Abbey and some nobles. The
oldest surviving Wels documents date from this time. These are
Bruckamt bills, i.e. records of the income from the Traun Bridge,
which was created between 1138 and 1140.
After the death of
the last Traungauer in 1192, Wels came into the possession of the
Babenbergers through an inheritance contract, who in 1222 registered
Wels as a city (civitas). At that time, Wels was already one of the
largest fortifications in Upper Austria, along with Linz and Steyr,
and was the scene of a battle between the armies of Duke Heinrich
XIII. of Bavaria and King Ottokar II of Bohemia.
In 1233 Duke
Otto II of Bavaria broke into the territory of the Babenbergs, to
which he was subject after the occupation of the city of Wels.
The town square was built in the 13th century and the leather
gate, the forerunner of the leather tower, was mentioned in 1326.
The Habsburgs doubled the size of the city.
On June 13, 1295,
a Wels seal was used for the first time.
In the 14th century,
the market rights were expanded, protective devices were built
against flooding, the beverage tax was exempted, the right of
seizure and stacking rights were granted, and the city only had to
pay taxes to the sovereign.
Characteristic for the 14th and
15th centuries was the emergence of the first wealthy middle-class
families who built their houses - some of which have been preserved
to this day - in the area of the town square and the Traungasse,
and the training of craft guilds, the so-called "collieries". Their
houses were and are mainly in today's Schmidt- and Bäckergasse.
Similarly, some noble families, parishes and monasteries owned
houses for which they wanted to obtain the status of (tax-exempt)
free houses.
Emperor Maximilian I.
Emperor Maximilian I
stayed in Wels very often, much more often than other emperors. One
reason for this was certainly his hunting lodge in the Welser Heide.
Under him, the town hall and Wels Castle were expanded in 1514 and
he granted some privileges to the city. In 1519 he gave the city the
right to seal in red wax.
At the end of 1518 the emperor made
the last stop in Wels. An illness prevented him from recovering, so
that he died in the castle at the beginning of 1519 with the words
“I am fully equipped for this journey with God's grace”. Emperor
Maximilian I was buried in Wiener Neustadt.
Reformation
In
the 16th century, Wels experienced an economic boom due to its
position as a transshipment point for agricultural goods from the
area and from long-distance trade. Structures that have survived
from this period are the water tower, built around 1577, which
stored water drawn up from the Mühlbach, which was distributed
through a pipe system in the city, and the Ledererturm, which was
renewed in 1619.
The Reformation movement was mainly supported by the Wels nobles
and students. Since the middle of the 16th century, mainly
Protestant citizens lived in Wels. The theologian Konrad Cordatus,
an acquaintance of Martin Luther, came from the area of Wels. An
event hall next to the Protestant church is named after him. The
re-Catholicization ordered by Emperor Ferdinand II was carried out
very strictly and resulted in a strong wave of emigration,
especially among the leading families.
With the exception of
1626, Wels was largely spared from peasant revolts and the efforts
of the Counter-Reformation. When the rebellious farmers under Stefan
Fadinger stopped in Wels, the city fell victim to the flames, damage
from which Wels found it difficult to recover.
In the second
half of the 16th century, about 200 houses were built, and the
economy and arts and crafts began to flourish. Iron processing,
wholesaling and money business became important at this time.
From 1569, the mayor and city judge, who were elected annually,
joined the existing political administration of the city. From this
point on, the city judge only had legal duties.
Baroque
After the Thirty Years War, during which troops were quartered in
Wels several times, the city coffers were empty. The plague, floods
and an earthquake in 1690 caused great damage. The population of
Wels at the time was around 4,000 people who lived in around 550
houses.
The economic order of the city changed: the iron
trade and weavers lost their importance, only the number of
breweries rose to five. The country's largest grain market and some
representatives of handicrafts survived the recession. Nevertheless,
many new monuments were built in the 18th century, and some old
buildings were renovated or rebuilt under the leadership of Wolfgang
Grinzenberger and Johann Michael Prunner. The former bread tower at
Kaiser-Josef-Platz (1733), the town hall (1739) and the Minorite
monastery (1745) were built or significantly changed.
In the
17th century the portcullis was added to the city arms.
Emperor Josef II.
The reforms of Emperor Josef II showed their
effects in Wels. On the one hand, some chapels were demolished or
closed. In 1784 the Minorite monastery was closed, but in 1781 the
foundation stone for the Protestant community was laid; the first
meetings took place. In the year the suburban parish was founded
(1785), the moat was drained.
Around 1800, Wels was
repeatedly occupied and looted by French troops, but also served as
the headquarters of several Austrian regiments. Inflation brought
factories to a standstill and grain prices fell because of too good
harvests.
Today a monument in the form of a statue is
dedicated to Emperor Josef II on the Kaiser-Josef-Platz named after
him, which refers to the lifting of heir subservience.
Biedermeier and Vormärz
High politics in the 19th century was
shaped by the Metternich system, and Wels was not subjected to any
major reforms either. The city grew slowly and was, among other
things, the base of the k. u. k. Hussar Regiment 12, got new offices
and from 1823 uniform city lighting.
In 1829 the Wels Theater
Association was founded, which played four times a week in the
former hospital church, and later five times. It was not until 1883
that the Linz State Theater took over the program for the Wels
stage.
The opening of the Budweis – Linz – Gmunden
horse-drawn railway in 1835, which was not replaced by the railway
until 1860, was important for economic development. The economy was
shaped by the beginning of industrialization. In the second half of
the 19th century, a nail and hat factory as well as a few machine
factories and the Wels art mill Fritsch were established.
After the March Revolution in 1848, numerous newspapers were
founded, including the first weekly "Der Welser Landbote", published
by Michael Haas. His son Johann Nepomuk Haas (1820–1897) later
headed the weekly newspaper "Welser Anzeiger", which had been
published since 1855 and which until 1939 was one of the most
important newspapers in Upper Austria. Today his former shop houses
a bookshop on Wels town square.
The building of the dragoon
barracks, which was as big as the old town at the time, was
significant. It was completed in 1858 and immediately occupied by
Hussar Regiment No. 6. Until the end of the First World War, dragoon
regiments, most recently the fourth, were stationed in Wels.
The opening of the “k.k. privileged Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Bahn
”(Western Railway) in 1860. This gave Wels a connection to the
Austrian railway network, so that Vienna, Linz and Salzburg could be
reached within hours.
Fin de siècle
The turn of the 20th century was marked by brisk
construction activity, buildings such as the Sparkasse on
Ringstrasse and the hospital were built, as well as factories,
including the Knorr food factory, the Teufelberger hemp and wire
rope production, the Reformwerk agricultural machinery factory, the
Nöttling frame factory and the power station founded.
In 1904
the city museum was opened in the Sparkasse building on the Ring.
First World War and the interwar period
The First World War
tore a deep hole in the city's budget. The city had to take care of
the wounded and secure basic supplies for the civilian population,
but it was also not allowed to forget economic issues. Inflation
dominated the postwar economy until it was slowed down for a few
years in 1924.
The increasing number of citizens led to the
founding of the Welser Heimstättengenossenschaft in 1911 and to
large building projects in the housing sector on the part of the
municipal authorities. The milling school was founded in 1921 and
the state women's clinic in 1923.
After the war things picked
up again, the city grew very quickly and new industrial companies
were founded, such as the Tigerwerk paint factory. Nevertheless,
high unemployment and financial crises dominated the city at the end
of the 1920s.
During this time, the city became known for the
first industrial application of composting, a process developed by
the researcher couple Annie Francé-Harrar and Raoul Heinrich Francé.
On December 28, 1920 the "Welser natural fertilizer factory" was
founded, which was operated until 1939.
time of the
nationalsocialism
The preparations for the takeover of power by
the National Socialists were made on the evening before March 12,
1938 in Café Markut on Ringstrasse. The military was placed under
the Nazi leadership and the police were taken over by the SS and the
SA.
During the Second World War, the villages of Lichtenegg,
Pernau and Puchberg were incorporated. The Vogelweide district was
also created during this time, and in 1939 the airport was used as
the home base for the III. Group of Kampfgeschwader 76 expanded. The
Gunskirchen concentration camp, a subsidiary of the Mauthausen
concentration camp, was located in the neighboring community of
Gunskirchen. In 1938 the Welfen acquired a machine factory that
produced tractors and their company Flugzeug- und Metallbauwerke
Wels (FMW) worked for the German Air Force; about 45 percent were
employed in slave labor. In Wels there were several large camps for
prisoners of war and foreign civilian workers: the “Rennbahn” camp
for French prisoners of war was housed in an exhibition hall on the
“Reichsnährstandsgelände” (exhibition grounds), a camp for male
foreign civilian workers on Wiesenstrasse and the one on
Römerstrasse “Wispl” camp for Eastern workers, the “Oberhaid” camp
for Soviet prisoners of war on Wallerer Strasse and a camp for
Italian military internees in “Herminenhof”. Thousands of people had
to do forced labor in countless factories and work details.
During the National Socialist era, Wels was an important location
for the German Wehrmacht: on the one hand, numerous units of the
field and reserve army and the air force were stationed here, on the
other hand, extensive military facilities were built. In addition to
schools and various other larger public buildings such as the
Herminenhof and the “Deutsche Turnhalle” (today's ÖTB gymnasium),
private properties were also used - sometimes under duress - to
accommodate soldiers. The Wehrmacht set up several barracks barracks
camps (in Lichtenegg and Neustadt), residential buildings for
soldiers, construction camps for prisoners of war (in Pernau),
reserve hospitals (in addition to the air force hospital in Neustadt
there was a general hospital as well as in the school buildings of
today's secondary school Dr.-Schauerstraße and the grammar school /
middle school in Vogelweiderstraße lazarette) and various military
offices (Heerespflegungsamt, Heereszeugamt, Heimatkraftfahrpark,
Heeresbauamt, Army base administration) The military airport that
existed before the Nazi era was extensively expanded as the Wels air
base. An aircraft pilot school trained more than 1,000 soldiers.
5000 Welser served in the German Wehrmacht, around 700 lost their
lives in the process.
After the Gunskirchen concentration camp was liberated by US
troops on May 5, 1945, numerous surviving prisoners were taken to
hospitals, including those in Wels. By the end of August 1945, 1,032
liberated people had died in the city as a result of their
imprisonment. The dead were buried at the northwest end of the Wels
city cemetery. A memorial erected in 1947 and a memorial erected in
2001 with the inscription “About 1030 people who died as a result of
the Nazi regime after their liberation from the Gunskirchen subcamp
in Wels rest here”, commemorate these victims.
At least 131
people related to the city of Wels or the communities of today's
Wels-Land district were definitely or (in the case of
“decentralized” killings) victims of Nazi euthanasia in the Hartheim
Castle killing facility, the Niedernhart sanctuary and the facility
" At the Spiegelgrund ”. At least 13 people of Jewish origin from
Wels were victims of the Holocaust.
In 1944 and 1945, more
than 500 people died in a total of eleven Allied air bomb attacks.
Almost 300 residential buildings were destroyed and hundreds more
damaged. Around a fifth of the living space was thus destroyed. In
May 1945 the city was liberated by the US Army.
Dealing with
the Nazi era after 1945
Since the end of the 1990s, the Austrian
Green Party and the Communist Party of Austria have been trying to
rename streets and squares with the names of personalities who are
believed to have a close relationship with National Socialism.
Examples of this are Wagner-Jauregg-Strasse, named after the Nobel
Prize laureate Julius Wagner-Jauregg, who was born in Wels,
Ginzkeystrasse, named after Franz Karl Ginzkey, an author and member
of the NSDAP, and Waggerlstrasse, named after Karl Heinrich Waggerl,
a writer and also a member of the NSDAP. A memorial plaque for
SS-Kameradschaft IV, which was placed in the "Sigmar" chapel in 1964
and was criticized for years, was removed in 1995 by unknown
perpetrators. The name of the gym of the Wels gymnastics club,
"Moritz-Etzold-Halle", which had been controversial for decades, was
changed to "Gym Wels" in 1997. Moritz Etzold had been a NSDAP
district trainer. In the same year, Ottokar-Kernstock-Strasse, named
in 1955 after the author of the "Hakenkreuz-Lied", was renamed. The
then mayor Karl Bregartner had previously stated that he had no
problem with the name Kernstock.
In 2008, six stumbling
blocks were laid in Wels in memory of victims of National Socialism
- three people of Jewish origin and three resistance fighters.
post war period
Until 1948 the food supply was precarious,
industry was down and livestock was severely reduced. The railroad
was destroyed, the economy took ten years to recover somewhat. New
companies were founded during this difficult time, such as the Vogel
pump factory in 1945 or the Rübig steel goods company in 1947.
The increasing traffic and the high number of students were
important problems in the following period. They were largely
resolved with the expansion and new construction of roads and
railways and the commercial academy (1952) and the technical college
(1962). All of today's kindergartens were founded at that time, and
the housing associations invested heavily in new living space.
The foundations for most of today's public facilities were laid
in the 1960s and 1970s. The city library, the adult education center
or the music school were launched at the time.
The high point
of the good economic and socio-political development was the
granting of a separate statute for the city in 1964, Wels was
elevated to a separate (city) district after decades of efforts. In
the course of this, the coat of arms and the city colors green and
red were officially included in the municipal statutes. In the
official description of the city arms it says:
“In blue on a
green, corrugated shield base, a silver, two-tower, tinned gate, the
openwork arched gate with raised, golden portcullis, the towers with
three black open windows each, one placed above two. The Austrian
red-white-red sign hovers above the building. "
The coat of
arms symbolizes Wels Castle or the former fortifications of the city
in the Middle Ages with the Traun River in front of it.
During this time, Eisenfeld Castle from the 18th century was
destroyed.
In addition to the founding of the Noitzmühle
district and many social institutions, such as the Lebenshilfe and
advice centers for drug and alcohol addicts, the 1970s also brought
energy crises and economic setbacks in the form of bankruptcies of
some large companies such as the Reisner & Wolff company or the
Welsermühl paper mill.
By plane
Linz Airport (LNZ / LOWL) is only
about 15 km away, but Wels Airport (LOLW) with 1390 m of asphalt
runway is also available for general aviation.
By train
Wels is an important rail junction on the Salzburg - Vienna route
and a stop for almost all international trains.
By
street
From Salzburg on the A1 to Voralpenkreuz and on the
Innkreis Autobahn A8 to Wels. From Vienna on the A1 to the Haid
junction and on the A25 to Wels. From Passau via the A8.
Around the city
Several city bus routes make every point in the city relatively
quick to reach.
NO bus service on Sundays, but it is possible
to call an "AST" taxi by phone.
Call (07242 20 69 69) at
least 30 minutes before departure and give your name, departure
point (number), departure time, destination (free choice of
destination in the timetable area) and number of people.