St. Martin im Innkreis is a municipality in Ried District, in the

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 ...

n state of

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

Geography

St. Martin lies in the

Innviertel The Innviertel (literally German for "Inn Quarter"; officially called the ''Innkreis''; ) is a traditional Austrian region southeast of the Inn river. It forms the western part of the state of Upper Austria and borders the German state of Bavari ...

(''Innkreis'') region, situated on the west slope of the Troßkolm forest in the

Antiesen Antiesen is a river of Upper Austria and a right tributary of the Inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; ...

valley. It is located about north of the district capital Ried im Innkreis on the Hausruck Straße highway (B143) near the Ort im Innkreis junction of the

Innkreis Autobahn The ''Innkreis Autobahn'' (A8, Innkreis Motorway) is a motorway, or ''Autobahn'', in Austria. It runs from the A1 and A9 junction to the border with Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Ce ...

(A8). The municipal area comprises the

cadastral communities A cadastral community or cadastral municipality, is a cadastral subdivision of municipalities in the nations of Austria,Cadastral Template for Austria, web-pageCT-AT Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, ...

of Diesseits and Jenseits (literally "On This Side" and "Beyond"), referring to the Antiesen River.

History

The Sankt Martin parish church was first mentioned in a 1084 deed, when the surrounding estates were held by the Bavarian

Bishops of Passau The Diocese of Passau is a Roman Catholic diocese in Germany that is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.Peasants' War in Upper Austria in 1626 and was rebuilt in a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style. With the whole Innviertel region Sankt Martin belonged to the

Duchy of Bavaria The Duchy of Bavaria (German: ''Herzogtum Bayern'') was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarian tribes and ruled by dukes (''duces'') under Fr ...

(

Electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district An ...

from 1623) until it was ceded to the

Archduchy of Austria The Archduchy of Austria (german: Erzherzogtum Österreich) was a major Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered at th ...

according to the 1779 Treaty of Teschen. After the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, Sankt Martin was incorporated into the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

crown land of Upper Austria. The present-day municipality was established in 1850. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Oberst Alois Podhajsky, director of the

Spanish Riding School The Spanish Riding School (german: Spanische Hofreitschule) is an Austrian institution dedicated to the preservation of classical dressage and the training of Lipizzaner horses, based in Vienna, Austria, whose performances in the Hofburg are also ...

in Vienna, had most of the Lipizzan stallions evacuated to St. Martin. His hostess was at that time the Swedish born Countess Gertrud Arco- auf Valley - Wallenberg (1895–1983), alias Gertrud ”Calle” Wallenberg. She has been a member of the Swedish banking dynasty, and cousin of anti-Nazi hero

Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. 31 J ...

. There Oberst Podhajsky met on the seventh of May 1945 with the American General

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

and Robert Porter Patterson, Sr. the United States Under Secretary of War under President Franklin Roosevelt and the United States Secretary of War under President Harry S. Truman. The remaining horses and riders of the school orchestrated an impressive performance in the indoor school of the castle for their foreign guests, whereafter the Americans agreed to place the white stallions under the protection of the United States.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2009 local elections: * Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ): 7 *

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is currentl ...

(ÖVP): 7 *

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

(SPÖ): 5

Notable people

Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley Anton von Padua Alfred Emil Hubert Georg Graf von Arco auf Valley (5 February 1897 – 29 June 1945), commonly known as Anton Arco-Valley, was a German far-right activist, Bavarian nationalism, Bavarian nationalist and nobleman. He assassina ...

(1897–1945), political activist, assassin of Bavarian premier Kurt Eisner.

References

* Ein Leben für die Lipizzaner Alois Podhajsky, Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, Munich 1960 {{UpperAustria-geo-stub Cities and towns in Ried im Innkreis District