Orphanage & Siebererschule
Siebererstraße 7-9
Worth knowing
Als am 1. Oktober 1889 das Sieberer Waisenhaus eröffnet wurde, überschlugen sich die Innsbrucker Nachrichten in ihrem Lob für den Gönner Johann von Sieberer, dessen Spende das Projekt erst ermöglicht hatte.
"Rarely does a municipality have a more just and justified reason to rejoice and festively decorate itself than the city of Innsbruck today, as a foundation is being handed over to it, such as a city can rarely enjoy. This joy and festive mood is heightened by the presence of the illustrious brother of our beloved monarch, His Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Karl Ludwig, who has come here to prove how highly the noble prince appreciates a work of the purest philanthropy and to pay tribute to it. The Tyrolean heart beats faster at the mere sound of the imperial prince's name...."
Sieberer made the decision to build the orphanage back in 1885 after the province of Salzburg turned down his offer on the grounds that there were already enough such institutions there. It was pure luck that Sieberer remembered his Tyrolean roots and chose the capital city of Innsbruck for his endeavours. The city itself had already considered a venture in this direction, but lacked the financial means. Sieberer gave the city part of his assets in the form of a deposit on his Viennese property to pay for the land and building.
The dedication was linked to the condition that the orphanage would be run by the Sisters of Mercy and that a maximum of 200 Catholic children of Innsbruck parents between the ages of 6 and 15 could be admitted. The building was constructed between 1886 and 1889 and was elaborately realised in the neo-Renaissance style. The two statues above the entrance represent the "Lessons" and the "Love of humanity", two things that were very important to the Catholic humanist Sieberer. At the behest of the founder, the architect Eugen Sehnal was required to anchor his ideas of morality and virtue in the city's architecture.
The Enlightenment also brought about a change in the way illegitimate children were treated. While it had previously been a criminal offence and sometimes punished with the pillory or worse if a woman gave birth to an illegitimate child, this was no longer a criminal offence. Unmarried servants and maids in particular were often unable to keep their children. If there was no possibility of placement within the family, the children were handed over to Catholic foster parents or an orphanage. The Christian morals of the people did not follow suit with the law for a long time. Although a significant proportion of the children were illegitimate, the women concerned remained marginalised until well into the 20th century. Goethe's drama Fist gives a good insight into the mores of the time about the fate of Gretchen, who takes her own life because of an illegitimate pregnancy.
State orphanages often prepared boys for a career in the military. Drills were part of the daily routine from an early age. Orphanages were a source for the military to satisfy the increasing demand for human material in the 18th century. At the same time, the military provided orphans with a career path that had previously been denied to the socially disadvantaged. However, the pious Sieberer did not want the children to receive a military but a Christian education. A chaplain organised masses and religious instruction, while the nuns of the Sisters of Mercy took care of the food and other education.
The daily lives of the orphanage's pupils were organised strictly according to Catholic standards, in keeping with Sieberer's philosophy. The founder was personally in constant contact with the staff to monitor health, nutrition, discipline and school success. The daily routine was strictly regulated and disorder was not tolerated among either the staff or the children.
The writer Josef Leitgeb (1897 - 1952), who, together with his brother, was a pupil at the orphanage between 1906 and 1910 after the death of his mother, described the atmosphere of the home in his autobiographical novel The intact year like this:
„...the geometric rectangularity of the building was reflected in the house rules, which now covered our lives like a network of fine wires. We had gone from a warm, blossoming approximation to a cool grey regularity.“
Mit dem Ersten Weltkrieg und den Problemen der Folgezeit mit Geldentwertung und Wirtschaftskrise kam das Waisenhaus nach dem Tod des Stifters in finanzielle Bedrängnis. Damit einher ging der Verlust der Qualität der Versorgung und Erziehung. Das Waisenhaus ist heute eine Volksschule mit Kindergarten. Im Untergeschoss ließ sich Freiherr Johann von Sieberer seine Gruft samt einer letzten Ruhestätte aus Marmor errichten.
Johann von Sieberer: Innsbruck's good spirit
Whereas in the Middle Ages and early modern times it was primarily the church and the aristocracy who were responsible for the development of infrastructure and buildings in public spaces, in the 18th and 19th centuries members of the wealthy middle classes set out to shape the cityscape with their projects. The best-known member of this new class of successful entrepreneurs in Innsbruck was Baron Johann von Sieberer.
Johann Sieberer was born in Going near Kitzbühel in 1830 as an illegitimate child. The Bishop of Salzburg liked to spend his days off in the Tyrolean mountains. The school system in the Tyrolean lowlands was also administered by the diocese of Salzburg at the time. During a visit to the local primary school, he noticed a particularly bright boy.
In 1840, at the behest of the bishop, Sieberer was appointed to the Borromeo in Salzburg as a choirboy. The Archbishop of Salzburg recognised the boy's outstanding talent early on and allowed him to attend the Franciscan grammar school in Hall in Tyrol.
After leaving school, he studied law in Vienna before entering the service of the family of the Bishop of Salzburg, the Princes of Schwarzenberg. This family was one of the most influential in the Austrian aristocracy. Archduke Albrecht, in whose service Sieberer was, was the founder of the Viennese art collection Albertina. Sieberer worked in the administration of the family's industrial plants and got to know many members of the aristocracy and moneyed gentry of the K&K monarchy while travelling through the monarchy. When, through Albrecht's mediation, he worked from 1860 for the Insurance company Österreichischer Phönix he was able to turn these contacts into money. He amassed a large fortune by selling high policies to members of the Habsburg family and other aristocrats. He acquired his private villa in Meidling near Vienna and invested his money in apartment blocks in the capital.
Johann von Sieberer is best known for his generous foundations in Innsbruck. With the social changes of the 19th century, the traditional extended family began to lose its role as the first port of call in times of need in urban areas. Although the state had increasingly taken over welfare from the church since Maria Theresa and outsourced it to the local authorities, there was often a lack of funds. Sieberer, a devout Catholic in Innsbruck, filled this gap as a kind of patriotic patron in the spirit of Christian charity.
From 1885 until his death in 1914, Sieberer was a benefactor to the Tyrolean capital. The orphanage and a fund to run it, as well as the Franz Joseph Jubilee Travellers' Asylum, can be traced back to the philanthropist Sieberer's donations. He also contributed to the remodelling of the Jesuit church. Unfortunately, only archive photos show the magnificent Unification fountainwhich was erected in 1906 on the then still ostentatious station square in the style of historicism and had to make way for the new transport concept in 1940.
The orphanage and the Emperor Franz Josef travellers' asylum were infrastructure that could not be financed by the city due to the tight financial situation. The aristocracy and the church also ceased to be sponsors after the reforms of 1848. Sieberer felt he belonged to what Max Weber called the Protestant work ethic, but imitated the conservative aristocratic circles in which he had been socialised. The individual, virtuous citizen was to serve as an example to the collective. His two building projects were statements and expressions of a new bourgeois self-image. It is interesting to note that Sieberer, unlike monarchs and princes of the past, did not allow himself to be staged by name on his projects.
In 1909, Sieberer was made an honorary citizen of Innsbruck by Mayor Wilhelm Greil, and in 1910 he was made a baron by the Emperor. In Innsbruck, Siebererstraße in the Saggen district commemorates this great Innsbrucker. A memorial in honour of Sieberer was planned during his lifetime. The First World War and the political and financial problems that followed prevented its erection.
Wilhelm Greil: DER Bürgermeister Innsbrucks
One of the most important figures in the town's history was Wilhelm Greil (1850 - 1923). From 1896 to 1923, the businessman held the office of mayor, having previously helped to shape the city's fortunes as deputy mayor. Due to an electoral system based on the right to vote via property classes, large mass parties such as the Social Democrats were not yet able to assert themselves. The second half of the 19th century was characterised by the struggle between liberal and conservative forces in Innsbruck city politics. In contrast to the rest of Tyrol, the conservatives had a hard time in Innsbruck, whose population had been in favour of liberal ideas since the Napoleonic era.
Greil belonged to the "Deutschen Volkspartei", a liberal and national-Great German party. What appears to us today as a contradiction, liberal and national, was a politically common and well-functioning pair of ideas in the 19th century. Pan-Germanism was not a political peculiarity of a radical right-wing minority, but rather a centrist trend, particularly in German-speaking cities of the Reich, which was important in varying forms through almost all parties until after the Second World War. Whoever issues the liberal Innsbrucker Nachrichten of the period around the turn of the century, you will find countless articles in which the common ground between the German Reich and the German-speaking countries was made the topic of the day.
Greil was a skilful politician who operated within the predetermined power structures of his time. He knew how to skilfully manoeuvre around the traditional powers, the monarchy and the clergy, and how to come to terms with them. Under him, the city purchased land with foresight in the spirit of the merchant in order to make projects possible. Under Wilhelm Greil, Innsbruck expanded considerably. The politician Greil was able to rely on the civil servants and town planners Eduard Klingler, Jakob Albert and Theodor Prachensky for the major building projects of the time. In addition to the villas in Saggen, residential buildings were also built in the eastern part of the neighbourhood. Infrastructure projects such as the new town hall in Maria-Theresienstraße in 1897, the Hungerburg railway in 1906 and the Karwendelbahn were realised. Other projects included the renovation of the market square and the construction of the market hall.
Much of what was pioneered in the second half of the 19th century is part of everyday life today. For the people of that time, however, these things were a real sensation and life-changing. The four decades between the economic crisis of 1873 and the First World War were characterised by unprecedented economic growth and rapid modernisation. The city's economy boomed. Businesses were established in Pradl and Wilten, attracting workers. Tourism also brought fresh capital into the city.
His predecessor, Mayor Heinrich Falk (1840 - 1917), had already contributed significantly to the modernisation of the town and the settlement of Saggen. Since 1859, the lighting of the city with gas pipelines had progressed steadily. Between 1887 and 1891, Innsbruck was equipped with a modern high-pressure water pipeline, which could also be used to supply flats on higher floors with fresh water. Wilhelm Greil arranged for the gas works in Pradl and the electricity works in Mühlau to be taken over into municipal ownership. The street lighting was converted to electric light.
Greil was able to secure Innsbrucker Renaissance on patrons from the town's middle classes. Baron Johann von Sieberer donated the old people's asylum and the orphanage in Saggen. Leonhard Lang donated the building, previously used as a hotel, to which the town hall moved from the old town in 1897, in return for the town's promise to build a home for apprentices.
In his last years in office, Greil accompanied Innsbruck through the transition from the Habsburg Monarchy to the Republic, a period characterised above all by hunger, misery, scarcity of resources and insecurity. He was 68 years old when Italian troops occupied the city after the First World War and Tyrol was divided at the Brenner Pass, which was particularly bitter for him as a representative of German nationalism.
In 1928, former mayor Greil died as an honorary citizen of the city of Innsbruck at the age of 78. Wilhelm-Greil-Straße was named after him during his lifetime.