Oberkappel is a municipality in the district of

Rohrbach Rohrbach or Röhrbach may refer to: Places Municipalities in Switzerland *Rohrbach, Switzerland, in the canton of Bern Municipalities in Germany *Rohrbach, Bavaria, in the district of Pfaffenhofen, Bavaria *Rohrbach, Birkenfeld, in the district o ...

in the state of

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states 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, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

Population

Geography

Oberkappel has an area of 12 km². The municipality is located in the north of the state of Upper Austria. It borders on

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and is very close to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Sports and recreation

The European walking routes E8 and

E10 E10, E 10 or E-10 may refer to: * E10 fuel, see Common ethanol fuel mixtures#E10 or less, a mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% petrol * Diabetes mellitus type 1 ICD-10 code * Entertainment Software Rating Board: E10+, the symbol for Everyone 10+, indic ...

run through this place. The E8 runs from Ireland via, among others, the Netherlands (called Oeverloperpad and Lingepad in the Netherlands) through Germany, the north of Austria and Slovakia to the borders of Poland and Ukraine, and also includes a section in Bulgaria, with the future target

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

in Turkey. The E10 comes from Lapland and runs via Finland, the former GDR, the Czech Republic and Austria to Bozen/Bolzano in northern Italy; There are plans to extend the route via France and the Spanish east coast to Gibraltar.

History

The town was originally part of the Hochstift

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

. According to the Land Registry of Rannariedl in 1581, Oberkappel belonged to the parish

Wegscheid Wegscheid is a municipality in the district of Passau in Bavaria in Germany. In November 1936, Fritz Wächtler Fritz Wächtler (7 January 1891 – 19 April 1945) was a Nazi Party official and politician who served as the ''Gauleiter'' of ...

. In

1783 Events January–March * January 20 – At Versailles, Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain signs preliminary peace treaties with the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Spain. * January 23 – The Confederation Congress ...

it became independent as a parish. During the secularization of 1803, the place with most of the Hochstiftischen area fell into the hands of Archduke Ferdinand of Tuscany and his electorate of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

. The place then came to Bavaria in 1805. Oberkappel has belonged to Upper Austria since 1814 and has been a border town with

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

ever since. During the Third Reich, the town belonged to the Gau Oberdonau. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Oberkappel was the place where Allied troops first entered Austrian territory.

Well-known Oberkappellers

* Franz R. Friedl (1892–1977), composer *

Kurt Krenn Kurt Krenn (28 June 1936 – 25 January 2014) was an Austrian Roman Catholic prelate and Bishop of Sankt Pölten, near Vienna, from 1991 to 2004. Childhood and youth Kurt Krenn was born in Rannariedl, in the municipality of Neustift im Mühlk ...

(1936–2014), bishop

References

Cities and towns in Rohrbach District {{UpperAustria-geo-stub