Traiskirchen

Traiskirchen
Coat of arms
Traiskirchen Location within Austria
Coordinates: 48°1′N 16°18′E / 48.017°N 16.300°E / 48.017; 16.300Coordinates: 48°1′N 16°18′E / 48.017°N 16.300°E / 48.017; 16.300
Country	Austria
State	Lower Austria
District	Baden
Government
• Mayor	Andreas Babler
Area
• Total	29.08 km2 (11.23 sq mi)
Elevation	200 m (700 ft)
Population (1 January 2016)[1]
• Total	18,515
• Density	640/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	2514
Area code	02252
Website	www.traiskirchen.gv.at

Traiskirchen is a town in the district of Baden in Lower Austria in Austria. It is 20 km south of Vienna and located in the famous Thermenlinie region of Lower Austria known for its wine and heurigers. Traiskirchen is home to the Traiskirchen Lions,^[2] a team which plays in the Austrian basketball first league. The town has the oldest public observatory in Lower Austria. The city is also nationwide and internationally known for its refugee camp the "Bundesbetreuungsstelle für Asylwerber".

Population

Refugee Camp (Bundesbetreuungsstelle für Asylwerber)

Refugee camp in 2015

Traiskirchen is home of the largest refugee camp in Austria and one of the largest of these camps in the EU. The refugee camp is based in the centre of Traiskirchen on the area of the formally Imperial Artillery Cadet School^[3] which was built in 1900. The Cadet School Traiskirchen could accommodate up to 340 cadets, 160 person staff and 110 horses (for riding lessons).

During the occupation of Austria a barrack of the Soviet army^[4]( about 2000 Soviet armored troops ) and a hospital was housed in the former buildings until the autumn of 1955 .

The buildings have been first used from the government as a refugee camp 1956 - 1960. The camp was used as a shelter for Hungarian refugees who left their country according to the Hungarian Revolution in November in 1956 for the first time. 113,810 people came to Austria on the 5th of the month and 6000 were taken to the camp in Traiskirchen. This was the first large use as a refugee camp and according to this act further decisions to host refugees from around the world were taken. The Federal Ministry of the Interior assigned an amount of 20 million Schilling (€1.45 million) for the renovation of the building substance on 8 March 1957. Even after the Prague Spring (1968 ) Czech and Slovak refugees were brought here. In the 1970s and 1980s, refugees mainly from Eastern Europe, but also from Uganda, Chile, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam have been accommodated. Many prominent refugees found initial reception here: The later Vienna State Opera Director Ioan Holender as well as the journalist^[5] Paul Lendvai.

In May 1990 it was announced by the Mayor of Traiskirchen that according to promise of the Minister of the Interior the institute will be closed permanently . This plan was rejected because only a few refugees could be accommodated up elsewhere during the year 1990 and it was likely to accommodate new refugees from the Soviet Union in January 1991.

In 1993, the refugee camp was renamed the Asylum Office of the Federal Ministry of the Interior ("Bundesbetreuungsstelle für Asylwerber").

In 2015, as a result of the European migrant crisis, the Asylum Office in Traiskirchen had to admit a rising number of illegal immigrants. Due to heavy criticism by the press and civilians alike, Amnesty International inspected the facility on August 6, 2015.

More than 4500 people were accommodated by the end of July 2015. On August 5, one day prior to the inspection, the authorities declared a stop to further admittances. However, at the time of inspection circa 1500 people were unsheltered, amongst them more than 500 unattended children and teenagers.

According to the report, the conditions at the refugee camp are inhumane and unworthy of any human being: lack of staff and translators, lack of organization, food supply problems (two hours wait), terrible sanitary conditions, no separate sections for women and men, point system for punishment when fighting but also for complaints, resulting in spending several nights outside the facility.^[6]

Issues

The refugee camp in Traiskirchen is always subject to political and media debates in Austria. The poor living conditions of refugees have been criticized. On the other hand, the inmates have been accused of dealing with drugs, property crimes and also violent crimes. The police is also often accused of conducting partly unlawful actions in raids inside and outside the camp.

Interior Minister Ernst Strasser outsourced the camp to the German company European Home Care In 2003. This (criticized)^[7] contract was cancelled form the company in 2010 because of low occupancy of the camp.

Sights

Franz-Koller Observatory

This observatory is the oldest in the state of Lower Austria and has been open to the public since 1967. It is unlike many observatories due to its location in the middle of the city and its low elevation, making it susceptible to the winter fog that plagues the region.

St. Nicholas Church

This church is notable for its age. It was built around the year 1400.^[8]

Personality

• Joseph Fendi, the father of the painter Peter Fendi came from Traiskirchen
• Hans Seischab (1898-1965), professor of Business Administration
• Hellmuth Swietelsky (1905-1995), contractor
• Franz Kroller (1923-2000), director of the University Library Graz
• Otto Vogl (1927-2013), chemist
• Harald Neudorfer (born 1962), professor of propulsion technology

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Traiskirchen.

• Official Traiskirchen website