The caesura of the First World War not only changed Innsbruck economically and socially, but also gave the city a new appearance. The visual arts reinvented themselves after the horrors of war. The classicism of the turn of the century was the architecture of a bourgeoisie that had tried to imitate the nobility. After the war, many citizens blamed this aristocracy for the horrors on the battlefields of Europe. Even before the war, sport and the phenomenon of leisure had become the expression of a new bourgeois self-image in contrast to the old order determined by the aristocracy. From now on, buildings and infrastructure were to serve every citizen equally. Aristocratic virtues and interest in classical antiquity had lost their lustre within a very short space of time.

The architects of the post-war period wanted to distinguish themselves from previous generations in terms of appearance, while at the same time maximising the functionality of the buildings. The end of the monarchy is reflected in the simplicity of the architecture. Lois Welzenbacher wrote about the architectural aberrations of this period in an article in the magazine Tiroler Hochland in 1920:

"As far as we can judge today, it is clear that the 19th century lacked the strength to create its own distinct style. It is the age of stillness... Thus details were reproduced with historical accuracy, mostly without any particular meaning or purpose, and without a harmonious overall picture that would have arisen from factual or artistic necessity."

Neue Formen der Gestaltung wie der Bauhausstil aus Weimar, Hochhäuser aus den USA und die Sowjetische Moderne aus der revolutionären UdSSR hielten Einzug in Design, Bauwesen und Handwerk. Die bekanntesten Tiroler Vertreter dieser neuen Art und Weise die Gestaltung des öffentlichen Raumes waren Siegfried Mazagg, Theodor Prachensky, Clemens Holzmeister und Lois Welzenbacher. Jeder dieser Architekten hatte seine Eigenheiten, wodurch die Tiroler Moderne nur schwer eindeutig zu definieren ist. Mit Bauwerken wie dem Elektrizitätswerk Innsbruck in der Salurnerstraße oder dem Adambräu beim Bahnhof entstanden markante Gebäude, nicht nur in ungeahnter Höhe, sondern auch in einem komplett neuen Stil. Bei aller Begeisterung für den Aufbruch in neue Zeiten spielte auch eine Gedankenströmung mit, die für uns Nachgeborene problematisch ist. Der Futurismus von Filippo Tommaso Marinetti übte nicht nur auf den italienischen Faschismus, sondern auch auf viele Vertreter der Kunst und Architektur der Moderne eine große Anziehungskraft aus.

Der bekannteste und im Innsbrucker Stadtbild am eindrücklichsten bis heute sichtbare Vertreter der sogenannten Tiroler Moderne war Franz Baumann (1892 – 1974). Baumann kam 1892 als Sohn eines Postbeamten in Innsbruck zur Welt. Der Theologe, Publizist und Kriegspropagandist Anton Müllner alias Bruder Willram wurde auf das zeichnerische Talent von Franz Baumann aufmerksam und ermöglichte dem jungen Mann mit 14 Jahren den Besuch der Staatsgewerbeschule, der heutigen HTL. Hier lernte er seinen späteren Schwager Theodor Prachensky kennen. Gemeinsam mit Baumanns Schwester Maria waren die beiden jungen Männer auf Ausflügen in der Gegend rund um Innsbruck unterwegs, um Bilder der Bergwelt und Natur zu malen. Während der Schulzeit sammelte er erste Berufserfahrungen als Maurer bei der Baufirma Huter & Söhne, die in Innsbruck für Großprojekte wie das Kloster zur Ewigen Anbetung oder die Kirche St. Nikolaus zuständig waren. 1910 folgte Baumann seinem Freund Prachensky nach Meran, um bei der Firma Musch & Lun zu arbeiten. Meran war damals Tirols wichtigster Tourismusort mit internationalen Kurgästen. Die vorrangigen Stile waren Jugendstil und Historismus. Unter dem Architekten Adalbert Erlebach machte er erste Erfahrungen bei der Planung von Großprojekten wie Hotels und Seilbahnen.

Like the majority of his generation, the First World War tore Baumann from his professional and everyday life. On the Italian front, he was shot in the stomach while fighting, from which he recovered in a military hospital in Prague. During this otherwise idle time, he painted cityscapes of buildings in and around Prague. These pictures, which would later help him to visualise his plans, were presented in his only exhibition in 1919.

After returning home from the war, Baumann worked at Grissemann & Walch and completed his professional qualification. Unlike Holzmeister or Welzenbacher, he had no academic training. In his spare time, he regularly took part in public tenders for public projects.

His big breakthrough came in the second half of the 1920s. Baumann was able to win the tenders for the remodelling of the Weinhaus Happ in the old town and the Nordkettenbahn railway. In addition to his creativity and ability to think holistically, he was also able to harmonise his approach with the legal situation and the requirements of the tenders of the 1920s. According to the federal constitution of the Republic of Austria, construction was a state matter. Since the previous year, the Tyrolean Heritage Protection Association gemeinsam mit der Bezirkshauptmannschaft als letztentscheidende Behörde bei Bauprojekten für Bewertung und Genehmigung zuständig. Kunibert Zimmeter hatte den Verein bereits 1908 gemeinsam mit Gotthard Graf Trapp gegründet. Zimmeter schrieb in seinem Buch „Unser Tirol. Ein Heimatschutzbuch“:

"Let us look at the flattening of our private lives, our amusements, at the centre of which, significantly, is the cinema, at the literary ephemera of our newspaper reading, at the hopeless and costly excesses of fashion in the field of women's clothing, let us take a look at our homes with the miserable factory furniture and all the dreadful products of our so-called gallantry goods industry, Things that thousands of people work to produce, creating worthless bric-a-brac in the process, or let us look at our apartment blocks and villas with their cement façades simulating palaces, countless superfluous towers and gables, our hotels with their pompous façades, what a waste of the people's wealth, what an abundance of tastelessness we must find there."

Natur und Ortsbilder sollten von allzu modischen Strömungen, überbordendem Tourismus und hässlichen Industriebauten geschützt werden. Bauprojekte sollten sich harmonisch, ansehnlich und zweckdienlich in die Umwelt eingliedern. Architekten mussten trotz der gesellschaftlichen und künstlerischen Neuerungen der Zeit den regionaltypischen Charakter mitdenken.

Nach dem ersten Weltkrieg entstand eine neue Kunden- und Gästeschicht, die neue Anforderungen an Gebäude und somit an das Baugewerbe richtete. In vielen Tiroler Dörfern hatten Hotels die Kirchen als größtes Bauwerk im Ortsbild abgelöst. Bergdörfer wie Igls, Seefeld oder St. Anton wurden vom Tourismus komplett umgestaltet, in Innsbruck entstand mit der Hungerburg ein neuer Stadtteil. Die aristokratische Distanz zur Bergwelt war einer bürgerlichen Sportbegeisterung gewichen. Das bedurfte neuer Lösungen in neuen Höhen. Man baute keine Grandhotels mehr auf 1500 m für den Kururlaub, sondern eine komplette Infrastruktur für Skisportler im hochalpinen Gelände wie der Nordkette. In seiner Zeit in Meran war Baumann schon mit dem Heimatschutzverband in Berührung gekommen. Genau hier lagen die Stärken seines Ansatzes des ganzheitlichen Bauens im Tiroler Sinne. Alle technischen Funktionen und Details, die Einbettung der Gebäude in die Landschaft unter Berücksichtigung der Topografie und des Sonnenlichtes spielten für ihn, der offiziell den Titel Architekt gar nicht führen durfte, eine Rolle. Er folgte damit den „Rules for those who build in the mountains" by the architect Adolf Loos from 1913:

Don't build picturesquely. Leave such effects to the walls, the mountains and the sun. The man who dresses picturesquely is not picturesque, but a buffoon. The farmer does not dress picturesquely. But he is...

Pay attention to the forms in which the farmer builds. For they are ancestral wisdom, congealed substance. But seek out the reason for the mould. If advances in technology have made it possible to improve the mould, then this improvement should always be used. The flail will be replaced by the threshing machine."

Baumann designed even the smallest details, from the exterior lighting to the furniture, and integrated them into his overall concept of the Tiroler Moderne in.

From 1927, Baumann worked independently in his studio in Schöpfstraße in Wilten. He repeatedly came into contact with his brother-in-law and employee of the building authority, Theodor Prachensky. From 1929, the two of them worked together to design the building for the new Hötting secondary school on Fürstenweg. Although boys and girls were still to be planned separately in the traditional way, the building was otherwise completely in keeping with the New Objectivity style in terms of form and furnishings, based on the principle of light, air and sun. In 1935 he managed the project Hörtnaglsiedlung in the west of the city.

In his heyday, he employed 14 people in his office. Thanks to his modern approach, which combined function, aesthetics and economical construction, he survived the economic crisis well. The 1,000-mark freeze that Hitler imposed on Austria in 1934 in order to put the Republic in financial difficulties heralded the slow decline of his architectural practice. Not only did the unemployment rate in tourism triple within a very short space of time, but the construction industry also ran into difficulties.

In 1935, Baumann became the shooting star of the Tyrolean architecture scene and was appointed head of the Central Association of Architects after he was finally allowed to use this professional title with a special licence. After the Anschluss in 1938, he quickly joined the NSDAP. On the one hand, he was probably not averse to the ideas of National Socialism, but on the other he was able to further his career as chairman of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts in Tyrol. In this position, he courageously opposed the destructive furore with which those in power wanted to change Innsbruck's cityscape, which did not correspond to his idea of urban planning. The mayor of Innsbruck, Egon Denz, wanted to remove the Triumphal Gate and St Anne's Column in order to make more room for traffic in Maria-Theresienstraße. The city centre was still a transit area from the Brenner Pass in the south to reach the main road to the east and west on today's Innrain. At the request of Gauleiter Franz Hofer, a statue of Adolf Hitler as a German herald was to be erected in place of St Anne's Column. Hofer also wanted to have the church towers of the collegiate church blown up. Baumann's opinion on these plans was negative. When the matter made it to Albert Speer's desk, he agreed with him. From this point onwards, Baumann was no longer awarded any public projects by Gauleiter Hofer.

After being questioned as part of the denazification process, Baumann began working at the city building authority, probably on the recommendation of his brother-in-law Prachensky. Baumann was fully exonerated, among other things by a statement from the Abbot of Wilten, but his reputation as an architect could no longer be repaired. Moreover, his studio in Schöpfstraße had been destroyed by a bomb in 1944. In his post-war career, he was responsible for the renovation of buildings damaged by the war. Under his leadership, Boznerplatz with the Rudolfsbrunnen fountain was rebuilt as well as Burggraben and the new Stadtsäle (Note: today House of Music).

Franz Baumann died in 1974 and his paintings, sketches and drawings are highly sought-after and highly traded. The diverse public and private buildings and projects of the ever-smoking architect still characterise Innsbruck today.

The first thing that strikes every visitor to Innsbruck are the mountains that seem to encircle the city. This mountain world is not only beautiful to look at, but has always influenced many things in the city. It starts with seemingly small things like the weather, as the contemporary view from days gone by proves:

""The warm wind or scirocco is a special phenomenon. It comes from the south, bounces off the northern mountains and falls with force into the valley. It likes to cause headaches, but it melts the winter snow quickly and promotes fertility immensely. This makes it possible to plant maize in Innsbruck""

This weather phenomenon may take its name from Scirocco and traffic was not yet a major problem in 1851. However, just like the Innsbruck car driver today, the blacksmith in the old town in 1450 and the legionnaire sent from central Italy to the Alps in 350 were certainly complaining about the warm downdraught, which seems to drive everyone crazy several times a month. In the past, people were happy about the warm air that melted the snow in the fields, but today, tourism experts moan about the apery ski slopes on the Nordkette.

The location between the Wipptal in the south and the Nordkette mountain range not only influences the frequency of migraines, but also the leisure activities of the people of Innsbruck, as Beda Weber recognised. "The locals are characterised by their cheerfulness and charity, they especially love shore excursions in the beautiful season." One may talk about Kindness and benevolence The Innsbruck locals argue that excursions in the form of hiking, skiing or cycling are still very popular today. No wonder, Innsbruck is surrounded by mountains. You can be in the middle of the forest within a few minutes from anywhere in the city. Young people from all over Europe spend at least part of their time studying at the University of Innsbruck, not only because of the excellent professors and facilities, but also to spend their free time on the slopes, mountain bike routes and hiking trails without having to miss out on urban flair. This is both a blessing and a curse. As a major employer and training centre, the university boosts the economy, while at the same time the cost of living in the city, which cannot grow any further because it is squeezed between the mountains, increases due to students from abroad.

Innsbruck's rise to become the political centre of Tyrol in the 15th century is also largely due to the city's location. The former provincial capital of Merano had no chance against the junction between the Brenner, Scharnitz and Achen Pass due to its remoteness. The Brenner Pass is very low and makes it relatively easy to cross the Alpine belt that winds around Italy's northern border. In the days before the railway brought goods and people effortlessly from A to B, crossing the Alps was hard work and the Brenner Pass was a welcome relief.

The location between Italy and Germany also favoured tourism, which was able to gain a foothold early on. Travellers appreciated the combination of easy accessibility, urban infrastructure and Alpine flair. With the development of the mountainous region by railway, it was easy to travel to and spend leisure time in the mountains or at one of the spas without having to forego the comforts of city life.

Alongside the mountains, the rivers played a key role in Innsbruck's development. Since the time of Maximilian, drinking water was piped into the city from the Nordkette, while the Inn and Sill were responsible for everything else. Washing was done on the Inn, waste was disposed of and cattle were led to the watering place. Goods were shipped on rafts on the Inn from the west to Innsbruck and from Innsbruck to the east. The Inn bridge brought customs revenue into the city coffers. The smaller river that crosses Innsbruck was just as important as the Inn. Where the Sill leaves the Sill Gorge today, the Sill Canal was created at the bottom of Wilten Abbey to supply the city with water. Initially intended primarily for fire protection, the businesses along this man-made canal soon utilised the flowing water to operate mills for power generation. The Small Sill flowed almost 3 kilometres from Wilten to the city centre to the area of today's Ing.-Etzel-Straße in Saggen and Dreiheiligen to the Pradler Bridge, where it rejoined the main river. For almost 700 years, the Sill Canal supplied Innsbruck with water and energy. It was not until the 1970s that the last parts of it disappeared after bombing damaged it during the Second World War.

Last but not least, it is the wide valley basin that favoured the development of Innsbruck. While the farmers in the higher-lying side valleys faced harsh conditions, the Inn Valley offered fertile soil and sufficient land for livestock farming and agriculture. The reclamation of the landscape allowed the town to grow. In the 13th century, as in many parts of Europe, the area around Innsbruck was subject to major and long-term human intervention in nature for economic purposes. Until the High Middle Ages, the Inn Valley had been much more heavily forested. The growth of cities and the rise in population also increased the demand for food. Contrary to what is often portrayed, the Middle Ages were not a primitive time of stagnation, during which people prayed to the Almighty and exposed themselves to the inexplicable forces of nature. It was a dynamic time, especially from the 12th century onwards, when people no longer relied on prayers and God's grace to escape the effects of regular crop failures. Innovations such as three-field farming made it possible to feed the agriculturally unproductive urban population, known in modern parlance as the Overhead would call it. Corn, which Beda Weber considered worthy of mention in Innsbruck's cityscape as early as 1851, is still growing vigorously and even today gives large areas on the outskirts of the city an agricultural flavour.

In the 1990s, an Austrian television series caused a scandal. The Piefke Saga written by the Tyrolean author Felix Mitterer, describes the relationship between the German holidaymaker family Sattmann and their hosts in a fictitious Tyrolean holiday resort in four bizarrely amusing episodes. Despite all the scepticism about tourism in its current, sometimes extreme, excesses, it should not be forgotten that tourism was an important factor in Innsbruck and the surrounding area in the 19th century, driving the region's development in the long term, and not just economically.

Initially, it was the mountain peaks of the Alps that attracted visitors. For a long time, the area between Mittenwald in Bavaria and Italy was only a kind of transit corridor. Although Innsbruck's inns and innkeepers were already earning money from merchants and the entourage of the court's aristocratic guests in the Middle Ages and early modern times, there was still no question of tourism as we understand it today. In addition to a growing middle class, this also required a new attitude towards the Alps. For a long time, the mountains had been a pure threat to the people. It was mainly the British who set out to conquer the world's mountains after the oceans. From the late 18th century, the era of Romanticism, news of the natural beauty of the Alps spread through travelogues.

In addition to the alpine attraction, it was the wild and exotic Natives Tirols, die international für Aufsehen sorgten. Der bärtige Revoluzzer namens Andreas Hofer, der es mit seinem Bauernheer geschafft hatte, Napoleons Armee in die Knie zu zwingen, erzeugte bei den Briten, den notorischen Erzfeinden der Franzosen, ebenso großes Interesse wie bei deutschen Nationalisten nördlich der Alpen, die in ihm einen frühen Protodeutschen sahen. Die Tiroler galten als unbeugsamer Menschenschlag, archetypisch und ungezähmt, ähnlich den Germanen unter Arminius, die das Imperium Romanum herausgefordert hatten. Die Beschreibungen Innsbrucks aus der Feder des Autors Beda Weber (1798 – 1858) und andere Reiseberichte in der boomenden Presselandschaft dieser Zeit trugen dazu bei, ein attraktives Bild Innsbrucks zu prägen.

Nun mussten die wilden Alpen nur noch der Masse an Touristen zugänglich gemacht werden, die zwar gerne den frühen Abenteurern auf ihren Expeditionen nacheifern wollten, deren Risikobereitschaft und Fitness mit den Wünschen nicht schritthalten konnten. Der German Alpine Club eröffnete 1869 eine Sektion Innsbruck, nachdem der 1862 Österreichische Alpenverein wenig erfolgreich war. Angetrieben vom großdeutschen Gedanken vieler Mitglieder fusionierten die beiden Institutionen 1873. Der Alpenverein ist bis heute bürgerlich geprägt, sein sozialdemokratisches Pendant sind die Naturfreunde. The network of trails grew through its development, as did the number of huts that could accommodate guests. The Tyrolean theologian Franz Senn (1831 - 1884) and the writer Adolf Pichler (1819 - 1900) were instrumental in surveying Tyrol and creating maps. Contrary to popular belief, the Tyroleans were not born mountaineers, but had to be taught the skills to conquer the mountains. Until then, mountains had been one thing above all: dangerous and arduous in everyday agricultural life. Climbing them had hardly occurred to anyone before. The Alpine clubs also trained mountain guides.

From the turn of the century, skiing came into fashion alongside hiking and mountaineering. There were no lifts yet, and to get up the mountains you had to use the skins that are still glued to touring skis today.  

The number of guests increased slowly but surely. In addition to the number of travellers who had an impact on life in the small town of Innsbruck, it was also the internationality of the visitors who gradually gave Innsbruck a new look. New hotels, cafés, inns, shops and means of transport were needed to meet the needs of the guests. The working world of many people changed. In June 1896, the Innsbrucker Nachrichten:

„Der Fremdenverkehr in Innsbruck bezifferte sich im Monat Mai auf 5647 Personen. Darunter befanden sich (außer 2763 Reisenden aus Oesterreich-Ungarn) 1974 Reichsdeutsche, 282 Engländer, 65 Italiener, 68 Franzosen, 53 Amerikaner, 51 Russen und 388 Personen aus verschiedenen anderen Ländern.“

With the Grand Hotel Europa had also opened a first-class hotel in Innsbruck in 1869, replacing the often outdated inns in the historic city centre as the accommodation of choice. This was followed in 1892 by the Reformhotel Habsburger Hof a second large company. The Habsburg Court already offered its guests electric light, an absolute sensation. The Arlberger Hof was also located at the railway station. What would be seen as a competitive disadvantage today was a selling point at the time. Railway stations were the centres of modern cities. The station squares were not overcrowded transport hubs like today, but sophisticated and well-kept places in front of the architecturally sophisticated halls where the trains arrived.

Innsbruck and the surrounding villages were also known for spa holidays, the predecessor of today's wellness, where wealthy clients recovered from various illnesses in an Alpine environment. The Igler Hof, at that time Grandhotel Igler Hof and the Sporthotel Igls, still partly exude the chic of that time. Michael Obexer, the founder of the spa town of Igls and owner of the Grand Hotel, was a tourism pioneer. There were two spas in Egerdach near Amras and in Mühlau. The facilities were not as well-known as the hotspots of the time in Bad Ischl, Marienbad or Baden near Vienna, as can be seen in old photos and postcards, but the treatments with brine, steam, gymnastics and even magnetism were in line with the standards of the time, some of which are still popular with spa and wellness holidaymakers today. Bad Egerdach near Innsbruck had been known as a healing spring since the 17th century. The spring was said to cure gout, skin diseases, anaemia and even the nervous disorder known in the 19th century as neurasthenia, the predecessor of burnout. The institution's chapel still exists today opposite the SOS Children's Village. The baths in Mühlau have existed since 1768 and were converted into an inn and spa in the style of the time in the course of the 19th century. The former bathing establishment is now a residential building worth seeing in Anton-Rauch-Straße.

1888 gründeten die Profiteure des Fremdenverkehrs in Innsbruck die Commission for the promotion of tourism, den Vorgänger des heutigen Tourismusverbands. Durch vereinte Kräfte in Werbung und Qualitätssicherung bei den Beherbergungsbetrieben hofften die einzelnen Betriebe, den Tourismus weiter anzukurbeln. Ab 1880 sorgten neben Werbung in Zeitungen auch Messen dafür, dass Innsbruck und Tirol international Bekanntheit erlangten.

„Alljährlich mehrt sich die Zahl der überseeischen Pilger, die unser Land und dessen gletscherbekrönte Berge zum Verdrusse unserer freundnachbarlichen Schweizer besuchen und manch klingenden Dollar zurücklassen. Die Engländer fangen an Tirol ebenso interessant zu finden wie die Schweiz, die Zahl der Franzosen und Niederländer, die den Sommer bei uns zubringen, mehrt sich von Jahr zu Jahr.“

Postkarten waren die ersten massentauglichen Influencer der Tourismusgeschichte. Viele Betriebe ließen ihre eigenen Postkarten drucken. Verlage produzierten unzählige Sujets der beliebtesten Sehenswürdigkeiten der Stadt. Es ist interessant zu sehen, was damals als sehenswert galt und auf den Karten abgebildet wurde. Anders als heute waren es vor allem die zeitgenössisch modernen Errungenschaften der Stadt: der Leopoldbrunnen, das Stadtcafé beim Theater, die Kettenbrücke, die Zahnradbahn auf die Hungerburg oder die 1845 eröffnete Stefansbrücke an der Brennerstraße, die als Steinbogen aus Quadern die Sill überquerte, waren die Attraktionen. Auch Andreas Hofer war ein gut funktionierendes Testimonial auf den Postkarten: Der Gasthof Schupfen in dem Andreas Hofer sein Hauptquartier hatte und der Berg Isel mit dem großen Andreas-Hofer-Denkmal waren gerne abgebildete Motive.

1914 gab es in Innsbruck 17 Hotels, die Gäste anlockten. Dazu kamen die Sommer- und Winterfrischler in Igls und dem Stubaital. Der Erste Weltkrieg ließ die erste touristische Welle mit einem Streich versanden. Gerade als sich der Fremdenverkehr Ende der 1920er Jahre langsam wieder erholt hatte, kamen mit der Wirtschaftskrise und Hitlers 1000 Mark blockThe next setback came in 1933, when he tried to put pressure on the Austrian government to end the ban on the NSDAP.

It required the Economic miracle in the 1950s and 1960s to revitalise tourism in Innsbruck after the destruction. After the arduous war years and the reconstruction of the European economy, Tyrol and Innsbruck were able to slowly but steadily establish tourism as a stable source of income, even away from the official hotels and guesthouses. Many Innsbruck families moved together in their already cramped flats to supplement their household budgets by renting out beds to guests from abroad. Tourism not only brought in foreign currency, but also enabled the locals to create a new image of themselves both internally and externally. The war enemies of past decades became guests and hosts.

Few eras are more difficult to grasp than the interwar period. The Roaring TwentiesJazz and automobiles come to mind, as do inflation and the economic crisis. In big cities like Berlin, young ladies behaved as Flappers with a bobbed head, cigarette and short skirts, lascivious to the new sounds, Innsbruck's population, as part of the young Republic of Austria, belonged for the most part to the faction of poverty, economic crisis and political polarisation.

Although the Republic of German-Austria had been proclaimed, it was unclear how things would continue in Austria. The monarchy and nobility were banned. The bureaucratic state of the k.u.k. Empire was seamlessly established under a new flag and name. As the successors to the old crown lands, the federal states were given a great deal of room for manoeuvre in legislation and administration within the framework of federalism. However, enthusiasm for the new state was limited. Not only was the supply situation miserable after the loss of the vast majority of the former Habsburg empire, but people also mistrusted the basic idea of the republic. The monarchy had not been perfect, but only very few people could relate to the idea of democracy. Instead of being subjects of the emperor, they were now citizens, but only citizens of a dwarf state with an oversized capital that was little loved in the provinces instead of a large empire. In the former crown lands, most of which were governed by Christian socialists, people liked to speak of the Viennese water headwho was fed by the yields of the industrious rural population.

Austria was deeply divided. Capital and provinces, city and countryside, citizens, workers and farmers - in the vacuum of the first post-war years, each group wanted to shape the future according to their own ideas. The divide did not only exist on a political level. Morality, family, leisure activities, education, faith, understanding of the law - every area of life was affected. Who should rule? How should wealth, rights and duties be distributed? What should be done with public buildings such as barracks, castles and palaces?

The revolution in Russia and the ensuing civil war with millions of deaths, expropriation and a complete reversal of the system cast a long shadow over Europe. The prospect of Soviet conditions made people afraid. A communist coup was not a real danger, especially in Tyrol, but could be easily instrumentalised in the media as a threat to discredit social democracy.

Italian troops occupied Innsbruck for almost two years after the end of the war. At the peace negotiations in Paris, the Brenner Pass was declared the new border. The historic Tyrol was divided in two. The military was stationed at the Brenner Pass to secure a border that had never existed before and was perceived as unnatural and unjust. Many people on both sides of the Brenner felt betrayed. Although the war was far from won, they did not see themselves as losers to Italy. Hatred of Italians reached its peak in the interwar period, even if the occupying troops were emphatically lenient. A passage from the short story collection "The front above the peaks" by the National Socialist author Karl Springenschmid from the 1930s reflects the general mood:

"The young girl says, 'Becoming Italian would be the worst thing.

Then old Tappeiner just nods and grumbles: 'I know it myself and we all know it: becoming a whale would be the worst thing'."

Die neu gegründete Tiroler Volkspartei stand Wien und der Sozialdemokratie gegenüber mindestens so ablehnend gegenüber wie den Italienern. Das neue Österreich erschien zu klein und nicht lebensfähig. Auch andere Bundesländer spielten mit dem Gedanken, sich von der Republik abzukoppeln, nachdem der von allen Parteien unterstützte Plan sich Deutschland anzuschließen von den Siegermächten des Ersten Weltkriegs untersagt worden war. Die Tiroler Pläne allerdings waren besonders spektakulär. Von einem neutralen Alpenstaat mit anderen Bundesländern, einem Freistaat bestehend aus Tirol und Bayern oder von Kufstein bis Salurn, einem Anschluss an die Schweiz bis hin zu einem katholischen Kirchenstaat unter päpstlicher Führung gab es viele Überlegungen. Der Anschluss an Deutschland erhielt in Tirol bei einer Abstimmung in Tirol einen Zuspruch von 98%, kam aber nie zustande.

However, high politics was only the framework for the real problems. The epidemic that went down in history as the Spanish flu also took its toll in Innsbruck in the years after the war. Exact figures were not recorded, but the number of deaths worldwide is estimated at 27 - 50 million. Many Innsbruck residents had not returned home from the battlefields and were missing as fathers, husbands and labourers. Many of those who had made it back were wounded and scarred by the horrors of war. As late as February 1920, the "Tyrolean Committee of the Siberians" at the Gasthof Breinößl "...in favour of the fund for the repatriation of our prisoners of war..." a charity evening.

Many people, especially civil servants and public sector employees, had lost their jobs after the League of Nations tied its loan to harsh austerity measures. Tourism as an economic factor was non-existent due to the problems in the neighbouring countries, which were also shaken by the war. It was only with the currency reorganisation and the introduction of the schilling as the new currency in 1925 under Chancellor Ignaz Seipel that Innsbruck slowly began to recover.

Die erste Republik war eine schwere Geburt aus den Überbleibseln der einstigen Monarchie und sie sollte nicht lange halten. Trotz vielen Nachkriegsproblemen passierte in der Ersten Republik aber auch viel Positives. Aus Untertanen wurden Bürgern. Was in der Zeit Maria Theresias begann, wurde nun unter neuen Vorzeichen weitergeführt. Der Wechsel vom Untertanen zum Bürger zeichnete sich nicht nur durch ein neues Wahlrecht, sondern vor allem durch die verstärkte Obsorge des Staates aus. Schulen, Kindergärten, Arbeitsämter, Krankenhäuser und städtische Wohnanlagen traten an die Stelle des Wohlwollens reicher Bürger, der Monarchie und der Kirche. Die Zeiten waren schwer und das neue System noch nicht eingeschliffen.

Bis heute basiert vieles im österreichischen Staatswesen sowie im Innsbrucker Stadtbild und der Infrastruktur auf dem, was nach dem Zusammenbruch der Monarchie entstanden war. In Innsbruck gibt es keine bewussten Erinnerungsorte an die Entstehung der Ersten Republik in Österreich. Die denkmalgeschützten Wohnbauprojekte wie der Schlachthofblock, der Pembaurblock oder der Mandelsbergerblock im Saggen sowie in Pradl und Wilten sind Stein gewordene Zeitzeugen.

Einer der wichtigsten Akteure der Stadtgeschichte war Wilhelm Greil (1850 – 1923). Von 1896 bis 1923 bekleidete der Unternehmer das Amt des Bürgermeisters, nachdem er vorher bereits als Vizebürgermeister die Geschicke der Stadt mitgestaltet hatte. Die zweite Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts war in der Politik vom Kampf liberaler und konservativer Kräfte geprägt. Die Konservativen hatten es, anders als im restlichen Tirol, schwer in Innsbruck, dessen Bevölkerung seit der Zeit Napoleons liberale Morgenluft geschnuppert hatte. Jede Seite hatte nicht nur Politiker, sondern auch Vereine und eigene Zeitungen. Steuern, Gesellschaftspolitik, Bildungswesen, Wohnbau und die Gestaltung des öffentlichen Raumes wurden mit Leidenschaft und Eifer diskutiert. Bedingt durch eine Wahlordnung, die auf das Stimmrecht über Vermögensklassen aufgebaut war, konnten nur etwa 10% der gesamten Innsbrucker Bevölkerung zur Wahlurne schreiten. Dabei galt das relative Wahlrecht innerhalb der drei Wahlkörper, was so viel heißt wie: The winner takes it all. Massenparteien wie die Sozialdemokraten konnten sich bis zur Wahlrechtsreform der Ersten Republik nicht durchsetzen. Bürgermeister wie Greil konnten auf 100% Rückhalt im Gemeinderat bauen, was die Entscheidungsfindung und Lenkung natürlich erheblich vereinfachte.

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. Albert Gruber gave a warning speech on this growth in 1907, in which he warned against uncontrolled growth in urban planning and land speculation.

"It is the most difficult and responsible task facing our city fathers. Up until the 1980s (note: 1880), let's say in view of our circumstances, a certain slow pace was maintained in urban expansion. Since the last 10 years, however, it can be said that cityscapes have been expanding at a tremendous pace. Old houses are being torn down and new ones erected in their place. Of course, if this demolition and construction is carried out haphazardly, without any thought, only for the benefit of the individual, then disasters, so-called architectural crimes, usually occur. In order to prevent such haphazard building, which does not benefit the general public, every city must ensure that individuals cannot do as they please: the city must set a limit to unrestricted speculation in the area of urban expansion. This includes above all land speculation."

Der Politiker Greil konnte sich bei den großen Bauprojekten der Zeit auf die Beamten und Stadtplaner Eduard Klingler, Jakob Albert und Theodor Prachensky stützen. Eine weitere Bebauung mit Einzelhäusern war wegen des Bevölkerungswachstums nicht mehr möglich. 1898 wurde beschlossen, östlich der Claudiastraße nur noch Wohnblöcke anstatt der geordneten Villen im Cottage Stil der Jahrzehnte nach 1850 zu bauen. Auch Infrastrukturprojekte wie das neue Rathaus in der Maria-Theresienstraße 1897, die Hungerburgbahn 1906 und die Karwendelbahn were realised. Other projects included the renovation of the market square and the construction of the market hall.

Vieles, was in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts vorangetrieben wurde, gehört heute zum Alltag. Für die Menschen dieser Zeit waren diese Dinge aber eine echte Sensation und lebensverändernd. Die vier Jahrzehnte zwischen der Wirtschaftskrise 1873 und dem Ersten Weltkrieg von einem nie dagewesenen Wirtschaftswachstum und einer rasenden Modernisierung gekennzeichnet. Die Wirtschaft der Stadt boomte. Betriebe in Pradl und Wilten gründeten sich und lockten Arbeitskräfte an. Auch der Tourismus brachte frisches Kapital in die Stadt. Die Ansammlung an Menschen auf engstem Raum unter teils prekären Hygieneverhältnissen brachte gleichzeitig aber auch Probleme mit sich. Besonders die Randbezirke der Stadt wurden immer wieder von Typhus heimgesucht.

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.