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118-592: Otto Höfler was born in Vienna on 10 May 1901 to a highly educated upper middle class family. His father, Alois Höfler , was Professor of Philosophy and Pedagogy at the University of Vienna . Alois was a passionate admirer of Richard Wagner , and the author of a book on the Germanic god Odin . Otto's mother, Auguste Dornhöffer, was from Bayreuth and also a Wagner admirer. Höfler studied German and Nordic philology at

236-458: A humid subtropical ( Köppen : Cfa ) classification. The city has warm, showery summers, with average high temperatures ranging between 25 to 27 °C (77 to 81 °F) and a record maximum exceeding 38 °C (100 °F). Winters are relatively dry and cold with average temperatures at about freezing point. Spring is variable and autumn cool, with a chance of snow in November. Precipitation

354-630: A decline in the Viennese population. After World War II, the Soviets used force to repatriate key workers of Czech, Slovak and Hungarian origins to return to their ethnic homelands to further the Soviet bloc economy. The population of Vienna generally stagnated or declined through the remainder of the 20th century, not demonstrating significant growth again until the census of 2000. In 2020, Vienna's population remained significantly below its reported peak in 1916. Under

472-776: A different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene speakers call the city Dunaj , which in other Central European Slavic languages means the river Danube , on which the city stands. Duchy of Austria 1156–1453 [REDACTED] Archduchy of Austria 1453–1485, 1490–1804 [REDACTED]   Principality of Hungary 1485–1490 [REDACTED]   Austrian Empire 1804–1867 [REDACTED]   Austria-Hungary 1867–1918 [REDACTED]   First Austrian Republic 1919–1934 [REDACTED]   Federal State of Austria 1934–1938 [REDACTED]   Nazi Germany 1938–1945 [REDACTED] Allied-occupied Austria 1945–1955 [REDACTED]   Austria 1955–present In

590-630: A distinct German ethnic identity began to emerge among at least some them living within the Holy Roman Empire. However, variants of the same term were also used in the Low Countries , for the related dialects of what is still called Dutch in English, which is now a national language of the Netherlands and Belgium . The first information about the peoples living in what is now Germany was provided by

708-583: A diverse group, dominating a much larger area than Germany, stretching to the Vistula in the east, and Scandinavia in the north. German ethnicity began to emerge in medieval times among the descendants of those Germanic peoples who had lived under heavy Roman influence between the Rhine and Elbe rivers. This included Franks , Frisians , Saxons , Thuringii , Alemanni and Baiuvarii - all of whom spoke related dialects of West Germanic . These peoples had come under

826-687: A few more days until the Soviet Navy ’s Danube Flotilla naval force arrived with reinforcements. The remaining defending soldiers surrendered that same day. After the war, Vienna was part of Soviet-occupied Eastern Austria until September 1945. That month, Vienna was divided into sectors by the four powers: the US, the UK, France, and the Soviet Union and supervised by an Allied Commission . The four-power occupation of Vienna differed in one key respect from that of Berlin:

944-539: A main player among the German Cultural Institutes, Höfler provided language courses for "Danish Gestapo agents". Höflers Deutsche Heldensage (1941), which examined Medieval German literature , was highly influential, and republished in 1961. Höfler argued in favor of cultural continuity between modern Germans and early Germanic peoples . Sometime in 1945, Höfler was fired from the University of Munich and

1062-456: A major influence on the future research of Wikander and Dumézil, who would later examine similar societies among Indo-Iranians and Indo-Europeans . From 1935 he lectured at the University of Kiel, where he had been appointed chair of German philology, a promotion that was facilitated and influenced by both Walther Wüst —curator of the SS Ahnenerbe —and SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler , who

1180-630: A major prestige project. Former suburbs were incorporated, and the city of Vienna grew dramatically. In 1918, after World War I , Vienna became capital of the Republic of German-Austria , and then in 1919 of the First Republic of Austria . From the late-19th century to 1938, the city remained a center of high culture and of modernism . A world capital of music, Vienna played host to composers such as Johannes Brahms , Anton Bruckner , Gustav Mahler , and Richard Strauss . The city's cultural contributions in

1298-618: A novel and published it. Occupied Vienna is also depicted in the 1991 Philip Kerr novel, A German Requiem . The four-power control of Vienna lasted until the Austrian State Treaty was signed in May 1955 and came into force on 27 July 1955. By October, all soldiers had left the country. That year, after years of reconstruction and restoration, the State Opera and the Burgtheater , both on

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1416-479: A pivotal role as a leading European music center, from the age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. Vienna was home to the world's first psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud . The historic center of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque palaces and gardens, and the late-19th-century Ringstraße , which is lined with grand buildings, monuments, and parks. In 2024, Vienna retained its position as most livable city per

1534-517: A riot broke out in the city. The protestors, enraged by the decision, set the Palace of Justice ablaze. The police attempted to end the revolt with force and killed at least 84 protestors, with 5 policemen also dying. In 1933, right-wing Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss dissolved the parliament , essentially letting him run the country as a dictatorship , banned the Communist Party and severely limited

1652-505: A shared descent, culture, and history. Völkisch elements identified Germanness with "a shared Christian heritage" and "biological essence", to the exclusion of the notable Jewish minority. After the Holocaust and the downfall of Nazism, "any confident sense of Germanness had become suspect, if not impossible". East Germany and West Germany both sought to build up an identity on historical or ideological lines, distancing themselves both from

1770-643: A third of its population. In 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars , Vienna became the capital of the newly formed Austrian Empire . The city continued to play a major role in European and world politics, including hosting the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15. The city also saw major uprisings against Habsburg rule in 1848 , which were suppressed. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , Vienna remained

1888-646: A widespread prehistorical cult of Vindos , a Celtic deity who survives in Irish mythology as the warrior and seer Fionn mac Cumhaill. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech , Slovak , Polish and Ukrainian names of the city ( Vídeň , Viedeň , Wiedeń and Відень respectively) and in that of the city's district Wieden . The name of the city in Hungarian ( Bécs ), Serbo-Croatian ( Beč , Беч ) and Ottoman Turkish ( بچ , Beç ) has

2006-530: Is Austria's primate city , with just over two million inhabitants. Its larger metropolitan area has a population of nearly 2.9 million, representing nearly one-third of the country's population. Vienna is the cultural , economic , and political center of the country, the fifth-largest city by population in the European Union , and the most-populous of the cities on the Danube river . The city lies on

2124-605: Is an important part of German culture, particularly in Southern Germany and the Rhineland . An important German festival is the Oktoberfest . A steadily shrinking majority of Germans are Christians . About a third are Roman Catholics , while one third adheres to Protestantism . Another third does not profess any religion. Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter are celebrated by many Germans. The number of Muslims

2242-579: Is based on High German and Central German , and is the first or second language of most Germans, but notably not the Volga Germans . Low German , which is often considered to be a distinct language from both German and Dutch, was the historical language of most of northern Germany, and is still spoken by many Germans, often as a second language. It is estimated that there are over 100 million Germans today, most of whom live in Germany, where they constitute

2360-461: Is generally moderate throughout the year, averaging around 600 mm (23.6 in) annually, with considerable local variations, the Vienna Woods region in the west being the wettest part (700 to 800 mm (28 to 31 in) annually) and the flat plains in the east being the driest part (500 to 550 mm (20 to 22 in) annually). Snow in winter is common, even if not so frequent compared to

2478-505: Is growing. There is also a notable Jewish community, which was decimated in the Holocaust . Remembering the Holocaust is an important part of German culture. A German ethnic identity began to emerge during the early medieval period . These peoples came to be referred to by the High German term diutisc , which means "ethnic" or "relating to the people". The German endonym Deutsche is derived from this word. In subsequent centuries,

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2596-493: Is perhaps most well known for its Gemeindebauten , public housing buildings. Between 1925 and 1934, over 60,000 new apartments were built in the Gemeindebauten. Apartments were assigned on the basis of a point system favoring families and less affluent citizens. In July 1927 , after three nationalist far-right paramilitary members were acquitted of the killing of two social democratic Republikanischer Schutzbund members,

2714-601: Is plentiful. Remains of the military camp have been found under the city, as well as fragments of the canal system and figurines. Close ties with other Celtic peoples continued through the ages. The Irish monk Saint Colman (or Koloman, Irish Colmán , derived from colm "dove") is buried in Melk Abbey and Saint Fergil (Virgil the Geometer) served as Bishop of Salzburg for forty years. Irish Benedictines founded twelfth-century monastic settlements; evidence of these ties persists in

2832-611: Is ranked third among countries of the world in the number of total recipients. The English term Germans is derived from the ethnonym Germani , which was used for Germanic peoples in ancient times. Since the early modern period, it has been the most common name for the Germans in English. The term Germans may also be applied to any citizens, natives or inhabitants of Germany, regardless of whether they are considered to have German ethnicity. In some contexts, people of German descent are also called Germans. In historical discussions

2950-580: Is the seat of the Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna , in which is also vested the exempt Ordinariate for Byzantine-Rite Catholics in Austria; its Archbishop is Cardinal Christoph Schönborn . Many Catholic Churches in central Vienna feature performances of religious or other music, including masses sung to classical music and organ. Some of Vienna's most significant historical buildings are Catholic churches, including

3068-924: The Austrian Armed Forces shelled the Karl-Marx-Hof , a civilian housing estate, and the Schutzbund surrendered. On 15 March 1938, three days after German troops had first entered Austria, Adolf Hitler arrived in Vienna. 200,000 Austrians greeted him at the Heldenplatz , where he held a speech from a balcony in the Neue Burg, in which he announced that Austria would be absorbed into Nazi Germany . The persecution of Jews started almost immediately, Viennese Jews were harassed and hounded, their homes and businesses plundered. Some were forced to scrub pro-independence slogans off

3186-616: The Cold War , but were reunified in 1990. Although there were fears that the reunified Germany might resume nationalist politics, the country is today widely regarded as a "stablizing actor in the heart of Europe" and a "promoter of democratic integration". German is the native language of most Germans. It is the key marker of German ethnic identity. German is a West Germanic language closely related to Frisian (in particular North Frisian and Saterland Frisian ), Luxembourgish , English , Dutch , and Low German . Modern Standard German

3304-724: The Congress of Vienna (1815), and left most of the German states loosely united under the German Confederation . The confederation came to be dominated by the Catholic Austrian Empire , to the dismay of many German nationalists, who saw the German Confederation as an inadequate answer to the German Question . Throughout the 19th century, Prussia continued to grow in power. In 1848 , German revolutionaries set up

3422-621: The Drachenrunde . Highly sociable, Höfler played an important role at the university as a host of seminaries and parties at his vineyard , and arranged memorable excursions to Ravenna and other places, which were attended by his students and fellow professors and friends, such as Richard Wolfram and Eberhard Kranzmayer  [ de ] . Höfler retired from teaching 1971, but continued to teach and research. After his retirement, Höfler worked on refining his earlier theories, and authored extensive studies on Dietrich von Bern and Siegfried ,

3540-591: The Economist Intelligence Unit , and has spent every year since 2015 in the top 2 places, bar 2021 due to the COVID-19 lockdowns . The place is mentioned as Οϋι[νδ]όβονα (Oui[nd]obona) in the 2nd century AD (Ptolemy, Geography , II, 14, 3); Vindobona in the 3rd century ( Itinerarium Antonini Augusti 233, 8); Vindobona in the 4th century ( Tabula Peutingeriana , V, 1); Vindomana ab. 400 ( Notitia Dignitatum , 145, 16); Vindomina, Vendomina in

3658-602: The Kingdom of Poland , where they came to constitute a significant proportion of the population in many urban centers such as Gdańsk . During the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights began conquering the Old Prussians , and established what would eventually become the powerful German state of Prussia . Further south, Bohemia and Hungary developed as kingdoms with their own non-German speaking elites. The Austrian March on

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3776-639: The Middle Danube stopped expanding eastwards towards Hungary in the 11th century. Under Ottokar II , Bohemia (corresponding roughly to modern Czechia) became a kingdom within the empire, and even managed to take control of Austria, which was German-speaking. However, the late 13th century saw the election of Rudolf I of the House of Habsburg to the imperial throne, and he was able to acquire Austria for his own family. The Habsburgs would continue to play an important role in European history for centuries afterwards. Under

3894-533: The OSCE . In 2001, the city center was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site . In July 2017, it was moved to the list of World Heritage in Danger . Vienna has been called the "City of Music" due to its musical legacy, as many famous classical musicians such as Beethoven , Brahms , Bruckner , Haydn , Mahler , Mozart , Schoenberg , Schubert , Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II lived and worked there. It played

4012-735: The Ringstraße , reopened to the public. In the Autumn of 1956, Vienna accepted many Hungarian refugees , who had fled Hungary after an attempted revolution . The city experienced another wave of refugees after the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia in 1968, as well as after the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991. In 1972 the construction of the Donauinsel and the excavation of the New Danube began. In

4130-518: The Romantic era saw a notable flourishing of German culture. Germans of this period who contributed significantly to the arts and sciences include the writers Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Friedrich Schiller , Johann Gottfried Herder , Friedrich Hölderlin , E. T. A. Hoffmann , Heinrich Heine , Novalis and the Brothers Grimm , the philosopher Immanuel Kant , the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel ,

4248-719: The Soviet air force . Only after the Allies had taken Italy did the next raids commence. From 17 March 1944, 51 air raids were carried out in Vienna. Targets of the bombings were primarily the city's oil refineries . However, around a third of the city center was destroyed, and culturally important buildings such as the State Opera and the Burgtheater were burned, and the Albertina was heavily damaged. These air raids lasted until March 1945, just before

4366-603: The St. Stephen's Cathedral ( Stephansdom ), Karlskirche , Peterskirche and the Votivkirche . On the banks of the Danube is a Buddhist Peace Pagoda , built in 1983 by the monks and nuns of Nipponzan Myohoji . Vienna is located in northeastern Austria, at the easternmost extension of the Alps in the Vienna Basin . The earliest settlement, at the location of today's inner city , was south of

4484-510: The Western and Eastern blocs , which deeply distrusted each other. The city experienced an economic upturn due to the Marshall Plan . The atmosphere of four-power Vienna is the background for Graham Greene 's screenplay for the film The Third Man (1949). The film's theme music was composed and performed by Viennese musician Anton Karas using a zither . Later he adapted the screenplay as

4602-499: The celtic La Tène culture . However, the Germanic languages associated with later Germanic peoples were approaching the Rhine area since at least the 2nd century BC. The resulting demographic situation reported by Caesar was that migrating Celts and Germanic peoples were moving into areas which threatened the Alpine regions and the Romans. The modern German language is a descendant of

4720-573: The "humiliation of Versailles", continuing traditions of authoritarian and antisemitic ideologies, and the Great Depression all contributed to the rise of Austrian-born Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who after coming to power democratically in the early 1930s, abolished the Weimar Republic and formed the totalitarian Third Reich . In his quest to subjugate Europe, six million Jews were murdered in

4838-514: The 10th century, forming the core of the Holy Roman Empire . In subsequent centuries the political power and population of this empire grew considerably. It expanded eastwards, and eventually a substantial number of Germans migrated further eastwards into Eastern Europe . The empire itself was politically divided between many small princedoms, cities and bishoprics. Following the Reformation in

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4956-469: The 16th century of the Habsburg emperors of the Holy Roman Empire with an interruption between at the turn to the 17th century until 1806, becoming an important center in the empire. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Christian forces twice stopped Ottoman armies outside Vienna, in the 1529 siege of Vienna and the 1683 Battle of Vienna . The Great Plague of Vienna ravaged the city in 1679, killing nearly

5074-446: The 16th century, many of these states found themselves in bitter conflict concerning the rise of Protestantism . In the 19th century, the Holy Roman Empire dissolved, and German nationalism began to grow. At the same time however, the concept of German nationality became more complex. The multiethnic Kingdom of Prussia incorporated most Germans into its German Empire in 1871, and a substantial additional number of Germans were in

5192-399: The 1st century, the Romans set up the military camp of Vindobona in Pannonia on the site of today's Vienna city center near the Danube with an adjoining civilian town to secure the borders of the Roman Empire . Construction of the legionary camp began around 97 AD. At its peak, Vindobona had a population of around 15,000 people. It was a part of a trade and communications network across

5310-590: The 2021 census, 49.0% of Viennese were Christian. Among them, 31.8% were Catholic , 11.2% were Eastern Orthodox , and 3.7% were Protestant , mostly Lutheran , 34.1% had no religious affiliation, 14.8% were Muslim , and 2% were of other religions, including Jewish. One sources estimates that Vienna's Jewish community is of 8,000 members meanwhile another suggest 15,000. Based on information provided to city officials by various religious organizations about their membership, Vienna's Statistical Yearbook 2019 reports in 2018 an estimated 610,269 Roman Catholics, or 32.3% of

5428-778: The 6th century ( Jordanes , De origine actibusque Getarum , 50, 264). The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian name. The German name Wien comes from the name of the river Wien , mentioned ad UUeniam in 881 ( Wenia- in modern writing). The name of the Roman settlement on the same emplacement is of Celtic extraction Vindobona , probably meaning "white village, white settlement" from Celtic roots, vindo- , meaning "white" (Old Irish find "white", Welsh gwyn / gwenn , Old Breton guinn "white, bright" > Breton gwenn "white"), and -bona "foundation, settlement, village", related to Old Irish bun "base, foundation" and Welsh bon , same meaning. The Celtic word vindos may reflect

5546-411: The Elbe river. It is likely that first Germanic consonant shift , which defines the Germanic language family, occurred during this period. The earlier Nordic Bronze Age of southern Scandinavia also shows definite population and material continuities with the Jastorf Culture, but it is unclear whether these indicate ethnic continuity. Under Caesar's successors, the Romans began to conquer and control

5664-405: The Empire. Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius may have died here in 180 AD during a campaign against the Marcomanni . After a Germanic invasion in the second century the city was rebuilt. It served as a seat of the Roman government until the fifth century, when the population fled due to the Huns invasion of Pannonia. The city was abandoned for several centuries. Evidence of the Romans in the city

5782-415: The German inventor Johannes Gutenberg contributed to the formation of a new understanding of faith and reason. At this time, the German monk Martin Luther pushed for reforms within the Catholic Church. Luther's efforts culminated in the Protestant Reformation . Religious schism was a leading cause of the Thirty Years' War , a conflict that tore apart the Holy Roman Empire and its neighbours, leading to

5900-456: The German lands were relatively decentralized, leading to the maintenance of a number of strong regional identities. The German nationalist movement emerged among German intellectuals in the late 18th century. They saw the Germans as a people united by language and advocated the unification of all Germans into a single nation state, which was partially achieved in 1871. By the late 19th and early 20th century, German identity came to be defined by

6018-415: The German lands. The Habsburg dynasty managed to maintain their grip upon the imperial throne in the early modern period . While the empire itself continued to be largely de-centralized, the Habsburgs own personal power increased outside of the core German lands. Charles V personally inherited control of the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia, the wealthy low countries (roughly modern Belgium, Luxembourg and

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6136-407: The German language is widely seen as the primary, though not exclusive, criterion of German identity. Estimates on the total number of Germans in the world range from 100 to 150 million, most of whom live in Germany. The history of Germans as an ethnic group began with the separation of a distinct Kingdom of Germany from the eastern part of the Frankish Empire under the Ottonian dynasty in

6254-431: The German states, including the German emperor Wilhelm II , were overthrown in the November Revolution which led to the establishment of the Weimar Republic . The Germans of the Austrian side of the Dual Monarchy proclaimed the Republic of German-Austria , and sought to be incorporated into the German state, but this was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles and Treaty of Saint-Germain . What many Germans saw as

6372-402: The Germanic languages which spread during the Iron Age and Roman era. Scholars generally agree that it is possible to speak of Germanic languages existing as early as 500 BCE. These Germanic languages are believed to have dispersed towards the Rhine from the direction of the Jastorf culture , which was itself a Celtic influenced culture that existed in the Pre-Roman Iron Age , in the region near

6490-428: The Germans. By the late 18th century, German intellectuals such as Johann Gottfried Herder articulated the concept of a German identity rooted in language, and this notion helped spark the German nationalist movement, which sought to unify the Germans into a single nation state . Eventually, shared ancestry, culture and language (though not religion) came to define German nationalism. The Napoleonic Wars ended with

6608-439: The Holocaust led to World War II in which the Nazi regime was defeated by allied powers , led by the United States , the United Kingdom , and the former Soviet Union . In the aftermath of Germany's defeat in the war, the country was occupied and once again partitioned. Millions of Germans were expelled from Central and Eastern Europe. In 1990, West Germany and East Germany were reunified . In modern times, remembrance of

6726-449: The Holocaust . WWII resulted in widespread destruction and the deaths of tens of millions of soldiers and civilians, while the German state was partitioned. About 12 million Germans had to flee or were expelled from Eastern Europe. Significant damage was also done to the German reputation and identity, which became far less nationalistic than it previously was. The German states of West Germany and East Germany became focal points of

6844-474: The Holocaust, known as Erinnerungskultur ("culture of remembrance"), has become an integral part of German identity. Owing to their long history of political fragmentation, Germans are culturally diverse and often have strong regional identities. Arts and sciences are an integral part of German culture , and the Germans have been represented by many prominent personalities in a significant number of disciplines, including Nobel prize laureates where Germany

6962-400: The Nazi past and each other. After German reunification in 1990, the political discourse was characterized by the idea of a "shared, ethnoculturally defined Germanness", and the general climate became increasingly xenophobic during the 1990s. Today, discussion on Germanness may stress various aspects, such as commitment to pluralism and the German constitution ( constitutional patriotism ), or

7080-486: The Nazi regime, 65,000 Jews were deported and murdered in concentration camps by Nazi forces; approximately 130,000 fled. By 2001, 16% of people living in Austria had nationalities other than Austrian, nearly half of whom were from former Yugoslavia ; the next most numerous nationalities in Vienna were Turks (39,000; 2.5%), Poles (13,600; 0.9%) and Germans (12,700; 0.8%). As of 2012 , an official report from Statistics Austria showed that more than 660,000 (38.8%) of

7198-419: The Netherlands), the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Sicily, Naples, and Sardinia, and the Dukedom of Milan. Of these, the Bohemian and Hungarian titles remained connected to the imperial throne for centuries, making Austria a powerful multilingual empire in its own right. On the other hand, the low countries went to the Spanish crown and continued to evolve separately from Germany. The introduction of printing by

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7316-413: The Parliament, the French in Hotel Kummer on Mariahilferstraße, the Americans in the National Bank , and the British in Schönnbrunn Palace . The division of the city was not comparable to that of Berlin . Although the borders between the sectors were marked, travel between them was freely possible. During the ten years of the four-power occupation, Vienna was a hotbed for international espionage between

7434-471: The Roman general and dictator Julius Caesar , who gave an account of his conquest of neighbouring Gaul in the 1st century BC. Gaul included parts of what is now Germany, west of the Rhine river. He specifically noted the potential future threat which could come from the related Germanic peoples ( Germani ) east of the river. Archaeological evidence shows that at the time of Caesar's invasion, both Gaul and Germanic regions had long been strongly influenced by

7552-399: The Soviet troops started the Vienna offensive . The Red Army , who had previously marched through Hungary , first entered Vienna on 6 April. They first attacked the eastern and southern suburbs, before moving on to the western suburbs. By the 8th they had the center of the city surrounded. The following day the Soviets started with the infiltration of the city center. Fighting continued for

7670-434: The University of Vienna from 1920 to 1921 under Rudolf Much ; the latter gaining notoriety for his study of Tacitus 's Germania . Höfler joined the Wiener Akademischer Verein der Germanisten , a völkisch group of German academics in 1921. He joined the Austrian Nazi Party in 1922 after hearing Hitler speak in Vienna. Sometime in 1922, Höfler also became a member of the SA . Between September 1921 and April 1922, Höfler

7788-422: The Viennese population have full or partial migrant background, mostly from Ex-Yugoslavia, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Romania and Hungary. From 2005 to 2015 the city's population grew by 10.1%. According to UN-Habitat , Vienna could be the fastest growing city out of 17 European metropolitan areas until 2025 with an increase of 4.65% of its population, compared to 2010. Religion in Vienna (2021) According to

7906-506: The Western and Southern regions of Austria. Vienna is composed of 23 districts ( Bezirke ). Administrative district offices in Vienna, called Magistratische Bezirksämter, serve functions similar to those in the other Austrian states (called Bezirkshauptmannschaften), the officers being subject to the mayor of Vienna; with the notable exception of the police, which is under federal supervision. Germans Germans ( German : Deutsche , pronounced [ˈdɔʏtʃə] ) are

8024-532: The arts and crafts. In the late Middle Ages the German economy grew under the influence of urban centers, which increased in size and wealth and formed powerful leagues, such as the Hanseatic League and the Swabian League , in order to protect their interests, often through supporting the German kings in their struggles with the nobility. These urban leagues significantly contributed to the development of German commerce and banking. German merchants of Hanseatic cities settled in cities throughout Northern Europe beyond

8142-402: The capital of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918). In 1910, Vienna had more than two million inhabitants and was the third largest city in Europe after London and Paris. Around the start of the 20th century, Vienna was the city with the second-largest Czech population in the world (after Prague ). After World War I, many Czechs and Hungarians returned to their ancestral countries, resulting in

8260-409: The capital of it and all its successor states. Throughout the modern era Vienna has been among the largest German-speaking cities in the world, being the largest in the 18th and 19th century, peaking at two million inhabitants before it was overtaken by Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century. Vienna is host to many major international organizations , including the United Nations, OPEC and

8378-404: The capital of what became the Austro-Hungarian Empire . The city functioned as a center of classical music, for which the title of the First Viennese School (Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven) is sometimes applied. During the latter half of the 19th century, Vienna developed what had previously been the bastions and glacis into the Ringstraße , a new boulevard surrounding the historical town and

8496-464: The central area of the city, known as the first district, constituted an international zone in which the four powers alternated control on a monthly basis. The city was policed by the four powers on a day-to-day basis using the "four soldiers in a jeep" method, which had one soldier from each nation sitting together. The four powers all had separate headquarters, the Soviets in Palais Epstein next to

8614-506: The city were arrested. Adolf Eichmann held office in the expropriated Palais Rothschild and organized the expropriation and persecution of the Jews. Of the almost 200,000 Jews in Vienna, around 120,000 were driven to emigrate and around 65,000 were killed. After the end of the war, the Jewish population of Vienna was only about 5,000. In 1942 the city suffered its first air raid , carried out by

8732-523: The death of millions of Germans. The terms of the Peace of Westphalia (1648) ending the war, included a major reduction in the central authority of the Holy Roman Emperor. Among the most powerful German states to emerge in the aftermath was Protestant Prussia , under the rule of the House of Hohenzollern . Charles V and his Habsburg dynasty defended Roman Catholicism. In the 18th century, German culture

8850-451: The dominance of the western Franks starting with Clovis I , who established control of the Romanized and Frankish population of Gaul in the 5th century, and began a process of conquering the peoples east of the Rhine. The regions long continued to be divided into " Stem duchies ", corresponding to the old ethnic designations. By the early 9th century AD, large parts of Europe were united under

8968-759: The eastern edge of the Vienna Woods ( Wienerwald ), the northeasternmost foothills of the Alps , that separate Vienna from the more western parts of Austria, at the transition to the Pannonian Basin . It sits on the Danube , and is traversed by the highly regulated Wienfluss ( Vienna River ). Vienna is completely surrounded by Lower Austria , and lies around 50 km (31 mi) west of Slovakia and its capital Bratislava , 60 km (37 mi) northwest of Hungary , and 60 km (37 mi) south of Moravia ( Czech Republic ). The once Celtic settlement of Vedunia

9086-845: The end of World War I , Austria-Hungary and the German Empire were partitioned, resulting in many Germans becoming ethnic minorities in newly established countries. In the chaotic years that followed, Adolf Hitler became the dictator of Nazi Germany and embarked on a genocidal campaign to unify all Germans under his leadership. His Nazi movement defined Germans in a very specific way which included Austrians , Luxembourgers , eastern Belgians , and so-called Volksdeutsche , who were ethnic Germans elsewhere in Europe and globally. However, this Nazi conception expressly excluded German citizens of Jewish or Roma background. Nazi policies of military aggression and its persecution of those deemed non-Germans in

9204-584: The entire region between the Rhine and the Elbe which centuries later constituted the largest part of medieval Germany. These efforts were significantly hampered by the victory of a local alliance led by Arminius at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, which is considered a defining moment in German history. While the Romans were nevertheless victorious, rather than installing a Roman administration they controlled

9322-442: The field of comparative mythology . According to archaeologist, Neil Price, Höfler's early career may have been shaped by the political changes of the times, but the actual content of his works were of high quality and not tainted by political bias. Historian Elizabeth A. Rowe says that though criticized by some, Höfler's key theories have never been refuted. Price argues Höfler's research has continued to be of great relevance up to

9440-588: The first half of the 20th century included, among many, the Vienna Secession movement in art, the Second Viennese School , the architecture of Adolf Loos , the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein , and the Vienna Circle . The city of Vienna became the center of socialist politics from 1919 to 1934, a period referred to as Red Vienna ( Das rote Wien ). After a new breed of socialist politicians won

9558-463: The form of Vienna's great Schottenstift monastery (Scots Abbey), once home to many Irish monks. In 976, Leopold I of Babenberg became count of the Eastern March , a district centered on the Danube on the eastern frontier of Bavaria . This initial district grew into the duchy of Austria . Each succeeding Babenberg ruler expanded the march east along the Danube, eventually encompassing Vienna and

9676-454: The formation of a united German Empire . In the years following unification, German society was radically changed by numerous processes, including industrialization, rationalization, secularization and the rise of capitalism. German power increased considerably and numerous overseas colonies were established. During this time, the German population grew considerably, and many emigrated to other countries (mainly North America), contributing to

9794-775: The growth of the German diaspora . Competition for colonies between the Great Powers contributed to the outbreak of World War I , in which the German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires formed the Central Powers , an alliance that was ultimately defeated, with none of the empires comprising it surviving the aftermath of the war. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires were both dissolved and partitioned, resulting in millions of Germans becoming ethnic minorities in other countries. The monarchical rulers of

9912-582: The influence of the Social Democratic Party . This led to a civil war between the right-wing government and socialist forces the following year, which started in Linz and quickly spread to Vienna. Socialist members of the Republikanischer Schutzbund barricaded themselves inside the housing estates and exchanged fire with the police and paramilitary groups. The fighting in Vienna ended after

10030-638: The lands immediately east. In 1155, Henry II, Duke of Austria moved the Babenberg family residence with the founding of the Schottenstift from Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria to Vienna. From that time, Vienna remained the center of the Babenberg dynasty. Hungary occupied the city between 1485 and 1490. Vienna became at the turn to the 16th century the seat of the Aulic Council and subsequently later in

10148-499: The later control of powerful German dynasties it became an important region within modern Germany, and home to its modern capital, Berlin. German population also moved eastwards from the 11th century, in what is known as the Ostsiedlung . Over time, Slavic and German-speaking populations assimilated, meaning that many modern Germans have substantial Slavic ancestry. From the 12th century, many Germans settled as merchants and craftsmen in

10266-868: The leadership of Otto von Bismarck , Prussia expanded its sphere of influence and together with its German allies defeated Denmark in the Second Schleswig War and soon after Austria in the Austro-Prussian War , subsequently establishing the North German Confederation . In 1871, the Prussian coalition decisively defeated the Second French Empire in the Franco-Prussian War , annexing the German speaking region of Alsace-Lorraine . After taking Paris, Prussia and their allies proclaimed

10384-458: The leadership of the Habsburgs the Holy Roman Empire itself remained weak, and by the late Middle Ages much of Lotharingia and Burgundy had come under the control of French dynasts, the House of Valois-Burgundy and House of Valois-Anjou . Step by step, Italy, Switzerland, Lorraine , and Savoy were no longer subject to effective imperial control. Trade increased and there was a specialization of

10502-422: The local elections they engaged in a brief but ambitious municipal experiment. Social democrats had won an absolute majority in the May 1919 municipal election and commanded the city council with 100 of the 165 seats. Jakob Reumann was appointed by the city council as city mayor. The theoretical foundations of so-called Austromarxism were established by Otto Bauer , Karl Renner , and Max Adler . Red Vienna

10620-503: The long-term separation between the states of West Francia , Middle Francia and East Francia . Beginning with Henry the Fowler , non-Frankish dynasties also ruled the eastern kingdom, and under his son Otto I , East Francia, which was mostly German, constituted the core of the Holy Roman Empire . Also under control of this loosely controlled empire were the previously independent kingdoms of Italy , Burgundy , and Lotharingia . The latter

10738-551: The majority of the population. There are also sizable populations of Germans in Austria, Switzerland, the United States, Brazil, France, Kazakhstan, Russia, Argentina, Canada, Poland, Italy, Hungary, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Paraguay, and Namibia. The Germans are marked by great regional diversity, which makes identifying a single German culture quite difficult. The arts and sciences have for centuries been an important part of German identity. The Age of Enlightenment and

10856-412: The meandering Danube while the city now spans both sides of the river. Elevation ranges from 151 to 542 m (495 to 1,778 ft). The city has a total area of 414.65 square kilometers (160.1 sq mi), making it the largest city in Austria by area. Vienna has a borderline oceanic ( Köppen : Cfb ) and humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfb ), with some parts of the urban core being warm enough for

10974-572: The multiethnic kingdom of Austria-Hungary . During this time, a large number of Germans also emigrated to the New World , particularly to the United States , especially to present-day Pennsylvania . Large numbers also emigrated to Canada and Brazil , and they established sizable communities in New Zealand and Australia . The Russian Empire also included a substantial German population. Following

11092-444: The natives or inhabitants of Germany , or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language . The constitution of Germany , implemented in 1949 following the end of World War II , defines a German as a German citizen . During the 19th and much of the 20th century, discussions on German identity were dominated by concepts of a common language, culture, descent, and history. Today,

11210-515: The necessary political maneuvers on Höfler's behalf to ensure he obtained his prestigious post at Munich. Also in 1938, Höfler became a leader of the SS Ahnenerbe , an organization he had joined in 1937, and which was also partially responsible for him receiving his position in Munich. Höfler's ongoing research centered on early Germanic culture , particularly early Germanic religion and literature . German historian, Frank-Rutger Hausmann wrote that as

11328-573: The nobility for power. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, Germans actively participated in five Crusades to "liberate" the Holy Land . From the beginnings of the kingdom, its dynasties also participated in a push eastwards into Slavic-speaking regions. At the Saxon Eastern March in the north, the Polabian Slavs east of the Elbe were conquered over generations of often brutal conflict. Under

11446-469: The noble families, who often sought to have weak kings elected in order to preserve their own independence. This prevented an early unification of the Germans. A warrior nobility dominated the feudal German society of the Middle Ages, while most of the German population consisted of peasants with few political rights. The church played an important role among Germans in the Middle Ages, and competed with

11564-493: The painter Caspar David Friedrich , and the composers Johann Sebastian Bach , Ludwig van Beethoven , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Joseph Haydn , Johannes Brahms , Franz Schubert , Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner . Popular German dishes include brown bread and stew . Germans consume a high amount of alcohol , particularly beer, compared to other European peoples. Obesity is relatively widespread among Germans. Carnival (German: Karneval , Fasching , or Fastnacht )

11682-499: The population, and 200,000 (10.4%) Muslims, 70,298 (3.7%) Orthodox, 57,502 (3.0%) other Christians, and 9,504 (0.5%) other religions. A study conducted by the Vienna Institute of Demography estimated the 2018 proportions to be 34% Catholic, 30% unaffiliated, 15% Muslim, 10% Orthodox, 4% Protestant, and 6% other religions. As of the spring of 2014, Muslims made up 30% of the total proportion of schoolchildren in Vienna. Vienna

11800-500: The present day. On the other hand, Julia Zernack  [ de ] argues that Höfler’s work is "an example of the self-subjugation of Germanic scholarship to völkisch-nationalistic and National Socialistic ideologies." Jan Hirschbiegel argues that Höfler's work served less to uncover new academic knowledge than to create an ideological foundation for the National Socialist state, that Höfler's cultic group of Odin's warriors

11918-595: The region indirectly for centuries, recruiting soldiers there, and playing the tribes off against each other. The early Germanic peoples were later famously described in more detail in Germania by the 1st century Roman historian Tacitus . At this time, the Germanic peoples, or Germani , were fragmented into a large number of peoples who were frequently in conflict with both the Roman Empire and one another. He described them as

12036-667: The rule of the Frankish leader Charlemagne , who expanded the Frankish empire in several directions including east of the Rhine, consolidating power over the Saxons and Frisians , and establishing the Carolingian Empire . Charlemagne was crowned emperor by Pope Leo I in 800. In the generations after Charlemagne the empire was partitioned at the Treaty of Verdun (843), eventually resulting in

12154-615: The same decade, Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky inaugurated the Vienna International Centre , a new area of the city created to host international institutions. Vienna has regained much of its former international stature by hosting international organisations, such as the United Nations. Because of the industrialization and migration from other parts of the Empire, the population of Vienna increased sharply during its time as

12272-461: The scholars who have accepted them ignore the ideological background of Höfler's theories, the essentially unprovable nature of his main theses, and the objections of other folklorists. Vienna Vienna ( / v i ˈ ɛ n ə / vee- EN -ə ; German: Wien [viːn] ; Austro-Bavarian : Wean [veɐ̯n] ) is the capital, most populous city , and one of nine federal states of Austria . It

12390-630: The seat of the Babenbergs , who ruled Austria from 976 to 1246. In 1221, Vienna was granted city rights. During the 16th century, the Habsburgs , who had succeeded the Babenbergs, established Vienna as the seat of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire , a position it held until the empire's dissolution in 1806, with only a brief interruption. With the formation of the Austrian Empire in 1804, Vienna became

12508-721: The streets. This culminated in the Kristallnacht , a nationwide pogrom against the Jews carried out by the Schutzstaffel and the Sturmabteilung , with support of the Hitler Youth and German civilians. All synagogues and prayer houses in the city were destroyed, bar the Stadttempel , due to its proximity to residential buildings. Vienna lost its status as a capital to Berlin , as Austria had ceased to exist. The few resistors in

12626-564: The temporary Frankfurt Parliament , but failed in their aim of forming a united German homeland. The Prussians proposed an Erfurt Union of the German states, but this effort was torpedoed by the Austrians through the Punctation of Olmütz (1850), recreating the German Confederation. In response, Prussia sought to use the Zollverein customs union to increase its power among the German states. Under

12744-575: The term "Germans" is also occasionally used as a way to refer to members of the Germanic peoples during the time of the Roman Empire . The German endonym Deutsche is derived from the Old High German term diutisc , which means "ethnic" or "relating to the people". This term was used for speakers of West-Germanic languages in Central Europe since at least the 8th century, after which time

12862-803: The two most important characters in Medieval German literature. He argued that Siegfried was derived from the Germanic chieftain Arminius , who defeated the Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. Höfler died in Vienna on 25 August 1987. Höfler's scholarship and legacy are controversial. Höfler had a major influence on Georges Dumézil's trifunctional hypothesis of Indo-European society . He worked closely with Dumézil and scholars such as Stig Wikander, Émile Benveniste and Jan de Vries on developing study on Indo-European mythology , and has been credited with having significantly contributed to reviving

12980-404: Was a Roman and Frankish area which contained some of the oldest and most important old German cities including Aachen , Cologne and Trier , all west of the Rhine. Leaders of the stem duchies which constituted this eastern kingdom — Bavaria , Franconia , Swabia , Thuringia , and Saxony ― continued to wield considerable power independently of the king. German kings were elected by members of

13098-669: Was a guest student at Lund University in Sweden, where he studied modern Scandinavian languages and Nordic philology. He also studied at Kiel (under Andreas Heusler ), Marburg , Basel , and completed his PhD at the University of Vienna in 1926 with the dissertation Altnordische Lehnwortstudien , which examined loanwords in Old Norse . Höfler's scholarly interests encompassed a wide array of intellectual disciplines that included history, philology, religion, cultural morphology, folklore studies, and historical linguistics. From 1928 to 1934, Höfler

13216-412: Was a lecturer in German at Uppsala University . At Uppsala, Höfler befriended the fellow philologists Stig Wikander and Georges Dumézil , who all remained lifelong friends and intellectual collaborators. He completed his habilitation at the University of Vienna in 1931 with the dissertation Kultische Geheimbünde der Germanen , which examined secret societies of the early Germanic peoples . It had

13334-617: Was appointed Professor and Chair of German Language and Old German Literature at the University of Vienna. Gschwantler accompanied him as an assistant, and would eventually become a full professor. A talented and highly popular teacher, Höfler taught and supervised a generation of very influential scholars at Vienna, including Helmut Birkhan , Hermann Reichert , Peter Wiesinger , Erika Kartschoke , Edith Marold , Klaus Düwel , Waltraud Hunke and Wolfgang Lange . A group of Höfler's most dedicated students, which included Gschwantler, Birkhan, Wiesinger and Kartschoke, were affectionately known as

13452-638: Was converted by the Romans into the castrum Vindobona (province of Pannonia ) in the 1st century, and was elevated to a municipium with Roman city rights in 212. This was followed by a time in the sphere of influence of the Lombards and later the Pannonian Avars , when Slavs formed the majority of the region's population. From the 8th century on, the region was settled by the Baiuvarii . In 1155, Vienna became

13570-622: Was impressed by Höfler's research. Höfler was considered an "ideal candidate for the SS" for having provided expert opinions and lectures at SS training camps. In that same year he became a member of the selection committee for the Reichsberufswettkampf , an organization associated with the SS . From 1938, Höfler was Professor and Chair of Germanic Philology and Ethnology at the University of Munich . Much like his appointment at Kiel, Wüst and Himmler made

13688-545: Was meant as spiritual predecessor of the National Socialist "death cult" and its "death symbolism", and that Höfler never distanced himself from the völkisch elements of his earlier work. Wolfgang Behringer and Klaus von See similarly point to his Kultische Geheimbünde der Germanen as, in Behringer's words, a "sensationalist apology for the SS". Courtney Marie Burrell writes that while several of Höfler's ideas have become popular or achieved consensus in scholarship as of 2023,

13806-509: Was significantly influenced by the Enlightenment . After centuries of political fragmentation, a sense of German unity began to emerge in the 18th century. The Holy Roman Empire continued to decline until being dissolved altogether by Napoleon in 1806. In central Europe, the Napoleonic wars ushered in great social, political and economic changes, and catalyzed a national awakening among

13924-441: Was subsequently prohibited from teaching. In 1950, he received a license to teach Scandinavian studies . In 1954, Höfler was appointed Associate Professor of Nordic Philology and Germanic Antiquity at the University of Munich. Although nominally Associate Professor, Höfler was for all practical purposes a full Professor during this time. Among his notable students at Munich were Heinrich Beck and Otto Gschwantler . In 1957, Höfler

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