Ebensee am Traunsee (

Central Bavarian Central Bavarian form a subgroup of Bavarian dialects in large parts of Austria and the German state of Bavaria along the Danube river, on the northern side of the Eastern Alps. They are spoken in the ' Old Bavarian' regions of Upper Bavaria ( ...

: ''Emsee'') is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

in the

Traunviertel The Traunviertel (literally German for the ''Traun'' quarter or district) is an Austrian region belonging to the state of Upper Austria: it is one of four "quarters" of Upper Austria the others being Hausruckviertel, Mühlviertel, and Innviertel. ...

region 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

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, an ...

, located within the Salzkammergut Mountains at the southern end of the Traunsee. The regional capital

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

lies approximately to the north, nearest towns are

Gmunden Gmunden () is a town in Upper Austria, Austria in the district of Gmunden. It has 13,204 inhabitants (estimates 2016 ). It is much frequented as a health and summer resort, and has a variety of lake, brine, vegetable and pine-cone baths, a hydrop ...

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 municipality also comprises the

Katastralgemeinde 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, Sloven ...

n of Langwies, Oberlangbath, Rindbach, Kohlstatt and Roith.

History

With the Traunviertel, Ebensee since 1180 belonged to the

Duchy of Styria The Duchy of Styria (german: Herzogtum Steiermark; sl, Vojvodina Štajerska; hu, Stájer Hercegség) was a duchy located in modern-day southern Austria and northern Slovenia. It was a part of the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 180 ...

held by the

House of Babenberg The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its ...

from 1192, until in 1254 King

Ottokar II of Bohemia Ottokar II ( cs, Přemysl Otakar II.; , in Městec Králové, Bohemia – 26 August 1278, in Dürnkrut, Lower Austria), the Iron and Golden King, was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until his dea ...

finally allocated it to his Austrian duchy. Ebensee itself was first mentioned in a 1447 deed. From 1596 on Emperor

Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Ho ...

had a

salt evaporation pond A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The Salt pans are shallow and large of size because it will be easier for sunlight to travel and reach the sea water. Natural sal ...

erected near the settlement, supplied with

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for ...

being delivered via a long pipeline from the salt mines around

Hallstatt Hallstatt ( , , ) is a small town in the district of Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Salzkammergut ...

. Ebensee therefore was the primary production centre for salt in Austria. Historically, the site was chosen because of the rich forests, whose wood was used to boil the salt out of the brine. In 1883 the Belgian chemist Ernest Solvay established soda works of the

Solvay Solvay may refer to: Companies and organizations * Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Brussels, Belgium * Solvay Conference, founded by Ernest Solvay, deals with open questions in physics and chemistry * Solvay Indupa, an Argentin ...

company at Ebensee. Although a former industrial center in the larger

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 Mou ...

region, it has recently fallen on bad fortunes with the closure of some of the larger factories.

Nazi concentration camp

In 1943, the SS established Ebensee concentration camp (codename "Zement") near the town, a planned emergency location for the

Peenemünde Peenemünde (, en, " Peene iverMouth") is a municipality on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is part of the ''Amt'' (collective municipality) of Usedom-Nord. The commu ...

research centre after the RAF Operation Hydra attack. It was part of the Mauthausen network. Slave laborers were worked to death digging tunnels for armaments storage. The camp was liberated by American soldiers in May 1945. Due to the extremely high death rates, Ebensee is considered one of the most horrific Nazi concentration camps. Used as a

Displaced Persons camp A refugee camp is a temporary 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 internally displaced peo ...

after the war, the area is today site of a memorial and a museum.

Population

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Gemeinderat'') as of 2021 elections: *

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): 16 *

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 curre ...

(ÖVP): 6 * Citizens' List for Ebensee (BÜFE): 11 * Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ): 4

Tourism

Ebensee is surrounded by three picturesque lakes, the Traunsee, the Offensee and the Langbathsee. The Traunsee is large enough to be used for boating, while the other two lakes are smaller, surrounded by mountains, and used only for bathing; both are protected natural areas. On the shore of the Langbathsee is a 19th-century hunting lodge erected at the behest of 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 other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until ...

. Since 1927 an

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

built by the

Bleichert Bleichert, short for Adolf Bleichert & Co., was a German engineering firm founded in 1874 by Adolf Bleichert. The company dominated the aerial wire ropeway industry during the first half of the 20th century, and its portfolio included cranes, el ...

engineering company runs up to the summit of the Feuerkogel mountain. Other tourist attractions include the Gasselhöhle

show cave A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

and a small skiing area with about ten lifts. Parts of the 1968 ''

Where Eagles Dare ''Where Eagles Dare'' is a 1968 war film directed by Brian G. Hutton and starring Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood and Mary Ure. It follows a joint British-American Special Operations Executive team of paratroopers raiding a castle (shot on lo ...

'' film were shot in the Ebensee area.

Twin towns – sister cities

Ebensee is twinned with: *

Prato Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 ...

, Italy, since 1987 * Zawiercie, Poland, since 2000

Notable people

Frederick Katzer Frederick Xavier Katzer (February 7, 1844 – July 20, 1903) was an Austrian-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay in Wisconsin (1886–1891) and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in Wiscon ...

(1844–1903), Bishop of Green Bay

References

External links

* {{Authority control Mauthausen concentration camp Cities and towns in Gmunden District