The Mühlviertel () is an

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 region belonging to the 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 ...

: it is one of four "quarters" of Upper Austria, the others being

Hausruckviertel The Hausruckviertel (literally German for the ''Hausruck'' 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 Traunviertel, Mühlviertel, and Innv ...

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. ...

, and

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 Bava ...

. It is named after the three rivers ', ', and '. Mühlviertel scenery, Rohrbach district, Austria

Region

The Mühlviertel consists of the four Upper Austrian districts that lie north of the river

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

: Rohrbach, Urfahr-Umgebung,

Freistadt Freistadt (, literally "Freetown") is a small Austrian town in the state of Upper Austria in the region Mühlviertel. With a population of approximately 7,500 residents, it is a trade centre for local villages. Freistadt is the economic centre of ...

and Perg. The parts of the state 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 ...

that lie north of the Danube also belong to the Mühlviertel. Geologically it is a part of the Bohemian Massif. Major towns include Rohrbach, Bad Leonfelden,

and Perg.

History

The region was the site of a notorious war crime at the end 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, when hundreds of starving Soviet POWs escaped from nearby Mauthausen concentration camp and were pursued and murdered around Mühlviertel; the SS referred to the event as the

Mühlviertler Hasenjagd The Mühlviertler Hasenjagd () was a war crime in which 500 Soviet officers, who had revolted and escaped from the Mühlviertel subcamp of Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp on 2 February 1945, were hunted down. Local civilians, soldiers and ...

("Mühlviertel rabbit hunt"). During the

Allied occupation of 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, howeve ...

after World War II, the Mühlviertel belonged to the Soviet occupation zone, while the rest of Upper Austria belonged to the American occupation zone.

External links

* Geography of Upper Austria {{UpperAustria-geo-stub

Region

History

See also

External links