Strobl (or Strobl am Wolfgangsee) is a municipality of the
Salzburg-Umgebung District
The Bezirk Salzburg-Umgebung (German, "surrounding area of Salzburg") is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, and congruent with the Flachgau region (), except for the Statutarstadt of Salzburg, whic ...
(''Flachgau''), in the northeastern portion of 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
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
, right on the border with
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 ...
. It comprises the
Katastralgemeinde
A cadastral community or cadastral municipality, is a Cadastre, cadastral subdivision of Municipality, municipalities in the nations of Austria,Cadastral Template for Austria, web-pageCT-AT Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Ser ...
n of Aigen, Gschwendt, Strobl, and Weißenbach.
Geography
It lies on the eastern side of lake
Wolfgangsee
Lake Wolfgang (german: Wolfgangsee) is a lake in Austria that lies mostly within the state of Salzburg and is one of the best known lakes in the Salzkammergut resort region. The municipalities on its shore are Strobl, St. Gilgen with the villages ...
in the
Salzkammergut
The Salzkammergut (; ; bar, Soizkaumaguad, label=Central Austro-Bavarian) is a resort area in Austria, stretching from the city of Salzburg eastwards along the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mounta ...
resort region, close to
Sankt Gilgen and the
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 ...
n municipalities of
St. Wolfgang and
Bad Ischl
Bad Ischl (Austrian German ) is a spa town in Austria. It lies in the southern part of Upper Austria, at the Traun River in the centre of the Salzkammergut region. The town consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Ahorn'', ''Bad Ischl'', ''Haiden' ...
. The town has a population of 3,453 (2001) and an area of 93.89 km
2. Both the main road (No. 158), from Salzburg and St. Gilgen to Bad Ischl, and the road to St. Wolfgang pass on the edge of Strobl so there is no through traffic. There are several villages around the lake - the main ones being St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut, and St. Gilgen at the other end of the Wolfgangsee, plus the hamlet of Weissenbach bei Strobl.
![Strobl Richtung Wolfgangsee](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Strobl_Richtung_Wolfgangsee.jpg)
A small steamer operates on the lake. Also in Strobl, the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
operates the ''Bundesinstitut für Erwachsenenbildung'', an adult-education institution, and a frequent location for academic conferences or for the Summer School for International and European Studies. Another famous event is the yearly "Voice of Strobl" song contest at the lake. There is a promenade on the lakeshore, where one can see sculpture by Toni Schneider-Manzell,
:de:Toni Schneider-Manzell, Ilse Sprohar, and Eva Mazzucco.
The famous town of
St. Wolfgang is within hiking distance, and common excursions from Strobl include the
Postalm plateau and the
Schafberg (1783m), which can be ascended via a cog railway, the
Schafbergbahn
The Schafberg Railway (german: Schafbergbahn) is a metre gauge cog railway in Upper Austria and Salzburg leading from Sankt Wolfgang im Salzkammergut up to the Schafberg (1,783 m). With a total length of 5.85 km it gains about 1,200 m in h ...
, as well as Bad Ischl, where Emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the Grand title of the Emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg m ...
often spent his summers. The Laimer Family folk musicians are a local attraction. The area is popular for hiking and watersports in the summer, for skiing in the winter, and is well-served by pensions and hotels. The former ''
Salzkammergut-Lokalbahn
The SKGLB-museum is a railway museum in Mondsee in Upper Austria. It shows relics of the 1957 closed Salzkammergut-Lokalbahn (abbreviation: SKGLB) that was a railway line in gauge track from Salzburg to Bad Ischl
Bad Ischl (Austrian German ...
''
narrow gauge railway
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...
to Salzburg went out of service in 1957.
History
The name ''Strobl'' originally meant "scrubby" or "unkempt"; the town's name goes back to the 14th century, when the Wolfgangsee was known as the Abersee, and one Friedrich Stroblo appears as the owner of a ''Seege''a fishpond or weir. Wolf Strobl took over property from the Laimer family about 1553, which became known as ''Am Schober'', an inn which provided the basis for the later settlement's first given official mention in 1593, in connection with Hanns III Strobl, who was a local official and tavernkeeper in 1587. Later, Joseph Sigmund Berchtold und Sonnenburg married into the Strobl family and came into the property. Nonetheless, the name "Strobl" was firmly attached to the area around the ''Am Schober'' inn. The first lane as one enters the town from the east is still called the "Schoberweg".
Around 1800, with the expansion of post and stagecoach lines, the ''Platzlhof'' inn was established as a station on the Postal line of
Thurn und Taxis
The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (german: link=no, Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end ...
. Due to its picturesque setting the village prospered from 1877 to 1890 with tourist trade spilling over from Bad Ischl. The author
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.
Early life
Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, the son of an upper-class ...
spent his vacations at Strobl and around 1900, it became a residence of Baron Gecmen-Waldeck, whose family industries generated enormous wealth, and supported a sumptuous residence in
Hietzing
Hietzing () is the 13th municipal District of Vienna (german: 13. Bezirk, Hietzing). It is located west of the central districts, west of Meidling. Hietzing is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings, but also contains lar ...
(Vienna) as well as vast properties in Bohemia. During this period as well Strobl regularly hosted events for the aristocracy and high bourgeoise summering in Bad Ischl. After the Second World War, a portion of the estate was converted into the Kurhotel Schloss Strobl.
After
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
Strobl became a popular summer resort for film stars like
Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss born German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' The L ...
and
Theo Lingen
Theo Lingen (; 10 June 1903 – 10 November 1978), born Franz Theodor Schmitz, was a German actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1929 and 1978, and directed 21 films between 1936 and 1960.
Life and c ...
. Princess
Marie Vassiltchikov
Princess Marie Illarionovna Vassiltchikov (russian: Мария Илларионовна Васильчикова; 11 January 1917 – 12 August 1978) was a Russian princess who wrote ''Berlin Diaries, 1940-1945'', which described the effects of t ...
, in her memoir ''Berlin Diaries'', mentions stopping in Strobl during her flight after the
July 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...
against
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
.
In the last days of
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 ...
, King
Leopold III of Belgium
Leopold III (3 November 1901 – 25 September 1983) was King of the Belgians from 23 February 1934 until his abdication on 16 July 1951. At the outbreak of World War II, Leopold tried to maintain Belgian neutrality, but after the German invasi ...
and
Princess Lilian were interned at Strobl, closely guarded by a
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
contingent. Immediately upon the King being liberated by the US Army, his brother
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
and Belgian PM
Achille Van Acker
Achille Van Acker (8 April 1898 – 10 July 1975) was a Belgian politician who served three terms as the prime minister of Belgium between 1946 and 1958. A moderate from Flanders, Van Acker was a member of the Belgian Socialist Party (PSB–BSP) ...
arrived in Strobl to confront the King with allegations of his having collaborated with the Nazi occupation in its earlier stages; the hot controversy known as "The
Royal Question", which was to dominate Belgian politics until 1950, can thus be said to have started in the Austrian town.
The town was in the US zone of
Allied-occupied Austria
The Allied occupation of Austria started on 8 May 1945 with the fall of Nazi Germany and ended with the Austrian State Treaty on 27 July 1955.
After the in 1938, Austria had generally been recognized as part of Nazi Germany. In 1943, however, ...
after the war, where the
villa of the Viennese banking family Deutsch (expropriated by the Nazis in 1938) served as an officers' club. Strobl was the site of a
Displaced Persons camp
A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for interna ...
.
[Archives of the ]Ghetto Fighters' House
The Ghetto Fighters' House ( he, בית לוחמי הגטאות, ''Beit Lohamei Ha-Getaot''), full name, Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum, Documentation and Study Center, was founded in 1949 by members of Kibbut ...
In 2008, the Cultural Center which now occupies the villa presented a historical exhibition on local resistance to the Nazis.
St. Sigismund Parish Church
![Strobl Kirche Außenansicht 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Strobl_Kirche_Au%C3%9Fenansicht_2.jpg)
Strobl has an attractive church (
:de:Pfarrkirche St. Sigismund (Strobl)), where Prince Tassilo von
Fürstenberg Fürstenberg (also Fuerstenberg and Furstenberg) may refer to:
Historical states
* Fürstenberg-Baar, county (1441–1559)
* Fürstenberg-Blumberg, county (1559–1614)
* Fürstenberg-Donaueschingen, county (1617–1698)
* Fürstenberg-Fürsten ...
(
:de:Tassilo von Fürstenberg) is buried.
In 1758 the archbishop Sigismund III (Christoph von Schrattenbach) commissioned Kassian Singer, master builder from
Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel district (). Kitzbühel ...
, to build a church in the village. Singer died before the completion of the project, which was given to Palier Andrä Huber of St. Gilgen. The church was dedicated to the archbishop's patron saint on May 3, 1761.
The building's original late
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 ...
appearance is maintained in virtually pristine condition. The high altar painting, by Johann Benedikt Werkstätter (
:de:Benedikt Werkstätter), depicts St. Sigmund along with the Holy Trinity. There are also statues of St. Christopher and St. Joseph by Sebastian Eberl. The high altar and tabernacle were made by Lorenz Hörmbler. On the left side-altar is depicted Our Lady of Good Counsel, and on the right, St. Francis de Sales, painted by Peter Anton Lorenzoni.
A new organ (built by Orgelbau Felsberg) was dedicated in 2003.
Politics
Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2009 elections:
*
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): 13
*
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): 6
*
Freedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"Aust ...
(FPÖ): 2
Notable residents
*
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.
Early life
Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, the son of an upper-class ...
chose Strobl as his favorite retreat.
* Strobl was the summer home of the actor
Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings (born Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, 23 July 1884 – 2 January 1950) was a Swiss born German actor, popular in the 1920s in Hollywood. He was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in '' The L ...
from 1929, and his primary residence after 1945, where he died in 1950.
* After the deposition of the Nazi officials in May 1945, the actor
Theo Lingen
Theo Lingen (; 10 June 1903 – 10 November 1978), born Franz Theodor Schmitz, was a German actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1929 and 1978, and directed 21 films between 1936 and 1960.
Life and c ...
served a few days as ''de facto'' mayor of the town.
* In spring 1945 King
Leopold III of Belgium
Leopold III (3 November 1901 – 25 September 1983) was King of the Belgians from 23 February 1934 until his abdication on 16 July 1951. At the outbreak of World War II, Leopold tried to maintain Belgian neutrality, but after the German invasi ...
was held here as a prisoner of war with his family by 200 men of the Waffen-SS until he was freed by the
106th Cavalry Group of the US Army in May 1945.
* In 1973
Hildegard Knef
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (; 28 December 19251 February 2002) was a German actress, voice actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.
Early years
Hildegard Knef was born ...
lived at the ''Hubertushof'' hunting lodge of Prince Fürstenberg.
*
Helene Thimig
Helene Ottilie Thimig (5 June 1889 – 7 November 1974) was an Austrian stage and film actress.
Personal life
Helene Thimig was the daughter of actor Hugo Thimig and the sister of actors Hermann and Hans Thimig.
Thimig was married to the ...
actress and wife of theatre director
Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...
, lived more than 20 years in Strobl. She is memorialized by a bust on the Promenade.
References
External links
*
Strobl official siteWebcam on the village square
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Salzburg-Umgebung District