Lochau is a municipality in the westernmost

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...

n state of Vorarlberg. It is located on Lake Constance, in the

Bregenz Bregenz (; gsw, label= Vorarlbergian, Breagaz ) is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost state of Austria. The city lies on the east and southeast shores of Lake Constance, the third-largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, between Switz ...

district, near the border to Germany. About 50.3% of the municipality's area is forest. The

Pfänder The Pfänder is a mountain in western Austria close to Lake Constance (Bodensee). The city of Bregenz lies at the foot of the mountain on the shores of the lake. With its views over the lake and the surrounding mountain peaks, the Pfänder is o ...

, the landmark mountain of the neighboring municipality of Bregenz, also lies within Lochau's boundaries. In the west, the

Leiblach The Leiblach is a tributary of Lake Constance and the Rhine. The Leiblach source is near the German municipality of Heimenkirch, flowing to the southwest. Near the Austrian town of Hohenweiler, the river joins a small tributary, the . This tri ...

river forms the border to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

county (Landkreis) of Lindau.

History

The Habsburgs ruled over their Vorarlberg lands alternately from Tyrol and

Further Austria Further Austria, Outer Austria or Anterior Austria (german: Vorderösterreich, formerly ''die Vorlande'' (pl.)) was the collective name for the early (and later) possessions of the House of Habsburg in the former Swabian stem duchy of south-we ...

. From 1805 to 1814 Lochau belonged to

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, then reverted to

. In 1861 it became part of the Austrian Federal State of Vorarlberg. During World War II, a subcamp of

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

was located there. Between 1945 and 1955 the municipality was part of the French occupation zone in Austria.

History

Population

References

External links