The couple Martin (1880 - 1926) and Maria Rapoldi (1884 - 1975) were among the most impressive personalities in Innsbruck city politics from the end of the monarchy to the post-war period. Martin Rapoldi came to Innsbruck via Carinthia, Vienna and Bohemia. He first came into contact with socially critical ideas during his carpentry apprenticeship. Together with other apprentices, he founded a kind of anarchist trade union in Klagenfurt with youthful fervour. In the capital of the Danube Monarchy and in Zatek in what is now the Czech Republic, he became involved in the trade union and the recently officially founded Social Democratic Party. In 1904, he moved to Innsbruck, where the man in his mid-twenties soon attracted attention as an ambitious organiser and rousing speaker. The following year, he married his wife Maria, who was also politically active. Thanks to his linguistic talent, he took over the Volkszeitungthe press organ of the Tyrolean Social Democrats. Despite initial euphoria in favour of entering the war, including on the part of the Social Democrats, the anti-clerical Pfaffenfresser Rapoldi soon came out in favour of peace and the introduction of universal suffrage at municipal level. After 1918, he was completely in line with the party line and in favour of unification with the German Reich.

In the early years of the First Republic, he had a short but stellar career. He was elected a member of the provincial parliament in Tyrol and a member of the first National Council in Vienna. In Innsbruck, he managed to make the Social Democrats the strongest party in the local council. However, due to the anti-socialist stance of the other parliamentary groups in the municipal council, he was never able to fill the position of mayor. Housing construction and the municipal energy supply were of particular concern to him. During Rapoldi's time on the municipal council, the major projects in today's Pembaurstraße were realised. He was instrumental in the development of Innsbrucker Lichtwerke, today's Innsbrucker Kommunalbetriebeinvolved. At the end of the war, negotiations began between the city of Innsbruck and the St. Georgenberg monastery regarding the purchase of Lake Achensee for the construction of a power plant. Martin Rapoldi was the driving force behind the construction of the Achensee railway, the Achensee power station and the founding of Tiroler Wasserkraft TIWAG. In 1926 the enterprising man died. Red journeyman carpenter at the age of 46 from the consequences of kidney inflammation.

The life of his wife Maria is no less impressive. She came into contact with social democratic ideas at an early age in her parents' household in Wörgl. A trained accountant, she moved to Innsbruck. She probably met her future husband while working for the health insurance company. Despite having two small daughters, Maria was already involved in the regional women's conference of the Social Democrats in 1912. After the death of her husband, she remained active in social democracy. As an employee of the Volkszeitung During the years of Austrofascism, it was repeatedly targeted by the Vaterländischen Front. After the Volkszeitung was banned by the regime as part of the censorship programme, she had to eke out a living as an unemployed widow. She opened a stamp shop in the historic city centre. At the same time, she worked underground at the Red AidShe was also involved in supporting the families of imprisoned members of the Republican Protection League. During the National Socialist era, she was imprisoned for a short time. After the war, she also stepped out of the shadow of her husband Martin, who died young, in an official capacity. From 1946 to 1959, she was a member of Innsbruck's municipal council. She campaigned for social agendas such as old people's homes, children's homes and the improvement of food and health care in the post-war period. As a member of the Tyrolean relief organisation, the city school board, the board of trustees of the Sieberer orphanage and the administrative committee of the Innsbruck secondary school for girls

Martin and Maria Rapoldi are buried in a grave of honour at Innsbruck's Westfriedhof cemetery. In Kranebitten, the Social Democratic Party erected a monument to him after Martin's early death, which was destroyed by members of the Home Army in 1934. The park in Pradl, which was opened in 1927, also bears the names of the two city politicians worthy of remembrance.

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 new Austria seemed too small and not viable. The monarchy and nobility were banned. The bureaucratic state of the k.u.k. Empire seamlessly asserted itself under a new flag and name. The federal states, as successors to the old crown lands, 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 among the population. Not only was the supply situation miserable after the loss of the vast majority of the former Habsburg empire, people 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.

Other federal states also toyed with the idea of seceding from the Republic after the plan to join Germany, which was supported by all parties, was prohibited by the victorious powers of the First World War. The Tyrolean plans, however, were particularly spectacular. From a neutral Alpine state with other federal states, a free state consisting of Tyrol and Bavaria or from Kufstein to Salurn, an annexation to Switzerland and even a Catholic church state under papal leadership, there were many ideas. The most obvious solution was particularly popular. In Tyrol, feeling German was nothing new. So why not align oneself politically with the big brother in the north? This desire was particularly pronounced among urban elites and students. The annexation to Germany was approved by 98% in a vote in Tyrol, but never materialised.

Instead of becoming part of Germany, they were subject to the unloved Wallschen. 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. In 1924, the Innsbruck municipal council decided to name squares and streets around the main railway station after South Tyrolean towns. Bozner Platz, Brixnerstrasse and Salurnerstrasse still bear their names today. 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.

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

Trouble also loomed in domestic politics. The revolution in Russia and the ensuing civil war with millions of deaths, expropriation and a complete reversal of the system cast its long shadow all the way to Austria. The prospect of Soviet conditions made people afraid. 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 was not only 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? 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. In 1919, a workers', peasants' and soldiers' council modelled on the Soviet model was formed in Innsbruck, but its influence remained limited and was not supported by any party. The soldiers' councils officially formed from 1920 onwards were dominated by Christian socialists. The peasant and middle-class camp to the right of centre subsequently militarised with the Tiroler Heimatwehr more professionally and in greater numbers than left-wing groups. Nevertheless, social democracy was criticised from church pulpits and in the conservative media as Jewish Party and homeless traitors to their country. They were all too readily blamed for the lost war and its consequences. The Tiroler Anzeiger summarised the people's fears in a nutshell: "Woe to the Christian people if the Jews=Socialists win the elections!".

While in the rural districts the Tyrolean People's Party as a merger of Farmers' Union, People's Association und Catholic Labour Despite the strong headwinds in Innsbruck, the Social Democrats under the leadership of Martin Rapoldi were able to win between 30 and 50% of the vote in the first elections in 1919. The fact that it did not work out for the comrades with the mayor's seat was due to the majorities in the municipal council through alliances of the other parties. Liberals and Tyrolean People's Party was at least as hostile to social democracy as he was to the federal capital Vienna and the Italian occupiers.

But high politics was only the framework of the actual misery. The as Spanish flu This epidemic, which has gone down in history, also took its toll in Innsbruck in the years following 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..." organised a charity evening. Long after the war, the province of Tyrol still needed help from abroad to feed the population. Under the heading "Significant expansion of the American children's aid programme in Tyrol" was published on 9 April 1921 in the Innsbrucker Nachrichten to read: "Taking into account the needs of the province of Tyrol, the American representatives for Austria have most generously increased the daily number of meals to 18,000 portions.“

Then there was unemployment. Civil servants and public sector employees in particular 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. Urban planning was also faced with big questions. What was to be done with public buildings such as barracks, castles and palaces? Very little happened in the first few years. It was only with the currency restructuring and the introduction of the schilling as the new currency in 1925 under Chancellor Ignaz Seipel that Innsbruck slowly began to recover and was able to initiate the modernisation of the city. Major projects such as the Tivoli, the municipal indoor swimming pool, the high road to the Hungerburg, the mountain railways to Mount Isel and the Nordkette, new schools and apartment blocks could only be built after the first post-war problems had been overcome. The signature of the new, large mass parties in the design of these projects cannot be overlooked.

The first republic was a difficult birth from the remnants of the former monarchy and it was not to last long. Despite the post-war problems, however, a lot of positive things also happened in the First Republic. Subjects became citizens. What began in the time of Maria Theresa was now continued under new auspices. The change from subject to citizen was characterised not only by a new right to vote, but above all by the increased care of the state. State regulations, schools, kindergartens, labour offices, hospitals and municipal housing estates replaced the benevolence of wealthy citizens, the monarchy and the church. Times were hard and the new system had not yet been honed.

To this day, much of the Austrian state and Innsbruck's cityscape and infrastructure are based on what emerged after the collapse of the monarchy. In Innsbruck, there are no conscious memorials to the emergence of the First Republic in Austria. The listed residential complexes such as the Slaughterhouse blockthe Pembaurblock or the Mandelsbergerblock oder die Pembaur School are contemporary witnesses turned to stone.

After the end of the war, US troops controlled Tyrol for two months. The victorious French then took over the administration. The Tyroleans were spared the Soviet occupation that descended on eastern Austria. Hunger was the people's greatest enemy, especially in the first three years after the war. May 1945 brought not only the end of the war, but also snow. The winter of 1946/47 went down in Tyrolean climate history as particularly cold and long, the summer as particularly hot and dry. There were crop failures of up to 50%.

The supply situation was catastrophic, especially in the city in the immediate post-war period. The daily procurement of food became a life-threatening concern in the everyday lives of the people of Innsbruck. In addition to the city's own citizens, thousands of Displaced PersonsThe Tyrolean government had to feed a large number of people, freed forced labourers and occupying soldiers. To accomplish this task, the Tyrolean provincial government had to rely on outside help. The chairman of the UNRRA (Note: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration), which supplied war zones with essentials, Fiorello La Guardia counted Austria "to those peoples of the world who are closest to starvation.“

Milk, bread, eggs, sugar, flour, fat - there was too little of everything. The French occupation was unable to meet the demand for the required kilocalories per capita, as the local population and the emergency services often lacked supplies. Until 1946, they even took goods from the Tyrolean economy.

Food was supplied via ration cards just a few weeks after the end of the war. Adults had to present a confirmation from the labour office in order to obtain these cards. The rations differed depending on the category of labourer. Heavy labourers, pregnant women and nursing mothers received food with a "value" of 2700 calories. Craftsmen with light occupations, civil servants and freelancers received 1850 kilocalories, white-collar workers 1450 calories. Housewives and other "normal consumers" could only receive 1200 calories.

There were also initiatives such as community kitchens and meals for schoolchildren, which were provided by foreign aid organisations. Care packages arrived from America from the charity organisation Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe. Many children were sent to foster homes in Switzerland in the summer to regain their strength and put a few extra kilos on their ribs.

However, all these measures were not enough for everyone. Housewives and other "normal consumers" in particular suffered from the low allocations. Despite the risk of being arrested, many Innsbruck residents travelled to the surrounding villages to hoard. Those who had money paid sometimes utopian prices to the farmers. Those who had none had to beg for food. In extreme cases, women whose husbands had been killed, captured or were missing saw no other way out than to prostitute themselves. These women, especially the unfortunate ones who became pregnant, had to endure the worst abuse for themselves and their offspring. Austria was still 30 years away from legalised abortion.

Politicians were largely powerless in the face of this. Even in normal times, it was impossible to pacify all interests. Many decisions between the parliament in Vienna, the Tyrolean provincial parliament and Innsbruck town hall were incomprehensible to the people. While children had to do without fruit and vitamins, some farmers legally distilled profitable schnapps. Official buildings and commercial enterprises were given free rein by the Innsbruck electricity company, while private households were restricted access to electricity at several times of the day from October 1945. The same disadvantage for households compared to businesses applied to the supply of coal.

The old rifts between town and country also grew wider and more hateful. Innsbruckers accused the surrounding population of deliberately withholding food for the black market. There were assaults, thefts and woodcutting. Transports at the railway station were guarded by armed units. The first Tyrolean governor Gruber, himself an illegal member of the resistance during the war, sympathised with the situation of the people who rebelled against the system, but was unable to do anything about it. The mayor of Innsbruck, Anton Melzer, also had his hands tied. Not only was it difficult to reconcile the needs of all interest groups, there were repeated cases of corruption and favours to relatives and acquaintances among the civil servants. Gruber's successor in the provincial governor's chair, Alfons Weißgatterer, had to survive several small riots when the people's anger was vented and stones flew towards the provincial parliament:

„Are the broken windows that clattered from the country house onto the street yesterday suitable arguments to prove our will to rebuild? Shouldn't we remember that economic difficulties have never been resolved by demonstrations and rallies in any country?“

The housing situation was at least as bad. An estimated 30,000 Innsbruck residents were homeless, living in cramped conditions with relatives or in shanty towns such as the former labour camp in Reichenau, the shanty town for displaced persons from the former German territories of Europe, popularly known as the "Ausländerlager", or the "Ausländerlager". Bocksiedlung. There are few reminders of the disastrous state Innsbruck was in after the air raids of the last years of the war in the first years after the war. Tens of thousands of citizens helped to clear rubble and debris from the streets. Maria-Theresien-Straße, Museumstraße, the Bahnhofsviertel, Wilten and Pradlerstraße would probably have been much more attractive if the holes in the streetscape had not had to be quickly filled in order to create living space for the many homeless and returnees as quickly as possible.

However, aesthetics were a luxury that could not be afforded in this situation. The emaciated population needed new living space to escape the unhealthy living conditions in which large families were sometimes quartered in one-room flats. As after the First World War, when the Spanish flu claimed many victims, there was also an increase in dangerous infections in 1945. Vaccines against tuberculosis could not be supplied in the first winter. Hospital beds were also in short supply.

Even though the situation eased after 1947, living conditions in Tyrol remained precarious. Food rationing was only stopped on 1 July 1953. In the same year, Mayor Greiter was able to announce that all the buildings destroyed during the air raids had been repaired.

This was also thanks to the occupying forces. The French troops under Emile Bethouart behaved very mildly towards the former enemy and were friendly and open-minded towards the Tyrolean culture and population. Initially hostile towards the occupying power - yet another war had been lost - the scepticism of the people of Innsbruck gradually gave way. The soldiers were particularly popular with the children because of the chocolates and sweets they handed out. Many people were given jobs within the French administration. Many a Tyrolean saw dark-skinned people for the first time thanks to the uniformed members of the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division, who made up the majority of the soldiers until September 1945.

The monument to the French on Landhausplatz commemorates the French occupation. At the Emile Bethouart footbridgeThe memorial plaque on the river Inn, which connects St. Nikolaus and the city centre, is a good expression of the relationship between the occupation and the population:

"Arrived as a winner.

Remained as a protector.

Returned home as a friend."

"Light air and sun" was the motto of the Lebensreform, a collective movement of alternative lifestyles that began in Germany in the late 19th century in step with the development of social democracy. Both movements were reactions to the living conditions in the rapidly growing cities. Urbanisation was increasingly perceived as a burden. The traffic on the streets, the exhaust fumes from the factories, the cramped living conditions in the tenements and the hitherto unknown haste, which made new illnesses such as neurasthenia acceptable, provoked counter-movements. Although Innsbruck was not comparable to Paris or London in terms of city size and the intensity of industrialisation, the fall from grace for many inhabitants of the former rural districts was enormous. The infrastructural problems were also similar.

Since 1869 the German quarterly for public health carewhich focussed on improving nutrition, hygiene and living space. In 1881, the Austrian Society for Healthcare was founded. Private associations organised educational events on clean and healthy living. There was political lobbying for the construction of parks in public spaces and the improvement of infrastructure such as baths, hospitals, sewage systems and water pipes. Assanation und Social hygiene were the slogans of a bourgeois elite concerned about their fellow human beings and public health. Like all elitist movements, the Lebensreform also took on some absurd forms, at least from the perspective of the time. Movements such as vegetarianism, naturism, garden cities, various esoteric movements and other alternative lifestyles, which have survived in one form or another to this day, emerged during this period. 

The seemingly eccentric lifestyle that was possible for wealthy citizens in their villas in Saggen, Wilten and Pradl was usually denied to workers. Many tenement blocks were dreary and overcrowded biotopes with no infrastructure such as sports facilities or parks. It was the early social democrats who politically confronted the realities of workers' lives. Modern housing estates should be functional, comfortable, affordable and connected with green spaces. These views also prevailed in public authorities. Albert Gruber, professor at the Innsbruck trade schoolwrote in 1907:

„I've often heard people say that we in Innsbruck don't need plants, that nature gives us everything, but that's not true. What could be nicer than when working people can walk from their place of work to their home through a series of plants. It turns the journey to and from work into a relaxing walk. Incidentally, there are many reasons why planting trees and gardens in urban areas is beneficial. I do not want to emphasise the interaction between people and plants, which is probably well known. In another way, plants improve the air we breathe by reducing dust.“

Even before the First World War, there were changes in everyday politics. Social democracy as a political movement had officially existed as a political party since 1889, but under the Habsburg monarchy it only had very limited opportunities to organise. The labour movement was particularly important as a social counterweight to the Catholic structures that dominated everything in Tyrol. In 1865, the first Tyrolean Labour education association. Workers should become aware of their position within society before the impending world revolution. For this, it was essential to have a minimum level of education and to be able to read and write. 10 years later, Franz Reisch founded the General Workers' Association in Innsbruck. Another two years later, the "Allgemeine Arbeiter-, Kranken-, und Invaliden-Casse" (General Workers', Sickness and Invalids' Fund) was launched throughout the country. Despite state repression, there were always considerable gatherings of the Radicals. From 1893, the social democratic Volkszeitung was published in Innsbruck as a counter-voice to the Catholic papers.

In 1899, the Erste Tiroler Arbeiter-Bäckerei, or ETAB for short, was opened in what is now Maximilianstraße. The co-operative set itself the goal of producing high-quality bread at fair prices under good working and hygiene conditions. After several relocations, the ETAB ended up in Hallerstraße, where it produced fresh baked goods every day until 1999.

The first free elections within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to the Imperial Council for all male citizens in 1907 changed not only the political but also the social balance of power. Monarchy to the Imperial Council for all male citizens in 1907 changed not only the political but also the social balance of power. The Pofel now had a political say. Important laws such as restrictions on working hours and improvements in working conditions could now be demanded with greater vigour. Together with Upper Austria, the crown land of Tyrol had the longest working hours in the entire Danube Monarchy. Although the number of trade union members also increased, Tyrol was too rural outside of the small town centres to be able to exert any significant pressure.

At municipal level, the census electoral law, which had given Greater German liberal and conservative clerical politicians a free pass to power for decades, remained in place until after the war. Even after the first municipal council elections after 1918, the fulfilment of the resulting demands had to wait. The post-war coffers were only meagrely filled. The major infrastructure and housing projects in Innsbruck, such as the Tivoli, the municipal indoor swimming pool, the Pembaur, Mandelsberger and Schlachthof blocks, were not realised until the First Republic.

Josef Prachensky (1861 - 1931), the father of architect and urban planner Theodor Prachensky, was a well-known Innsbruck representative of the Lebensreform and social democracy. He grew up in German-speaking Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a trained book printer, he discovered the labour movement during his wanderings in Vienna during the book printers' strike. After marrying a Tyrolean woman, he settled in Innsbruck, where he worked as an editor for the social democratic Volkszeitung for Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Josef Prachensky supported the Arbeiter-Consum-Vereinwhich Tyrolean labourers' bakery and founded the catering business "Non-alcoholic" in Museumstraße, which aimed to improve general health in the spirit of the life reform movement and socialism. Friedrich Engels (1820 - 1895), the co-author of the Communist Manifesto, had already recognised schnapps and brandy as an evil of the working class in the first half of the 19th century. Socialism shared the goal of getting people away from alcohol with church organisations. The world revolution was no more feasible with addicts than a virtuous, God-pleasing life. Prachensky was involved in the founding of the Tyrolean Social Democratic Party in 1890 and, after the First World War, in the founding of the Tyrolean Republican Defence League RESCH, the left-wing counterpart to the right-wing Heimwehr organisations. A particular political concern of his was the restriction of the church on school teaching, which was still very important in the 19th and early 20th century, even in the actually liberal Innsbruck, which had to adhere to the national school regulations.

Life reform and the growing influence of social democracy also influenced art and architecture. People wanted to distance themselves from what Max Weber described as the Protestant ethic, industry, time clocks and, in general, rapid technological progress with all its effects on people and the social fabric. People as individuals, not their economic performance, should once again take centre stage. The culture of the old society, in which the nobility and clergy stood above the rest of society, was to be overcome. Art Nouveau in its playfulness was the artistic response of an eccentric and alternative section of the middle classes to this Back to the origin the turn of the century. In the housing of the First Republic, the architectural style of the Neuen Sachlichkeit the upper hand.

In the 15th century, the first early form of industrialisation began to develop in Innsbruck. Bell and weapon founders such as the Löfflers built factories in Hötting, Mühlau and Dreiheiligen, which were among the leading factories of their time. Between the Sill gorge and Dreiheiligen, a number of mills and businesses utilised the energy provided by the Sill Canal. There was a munitions factory in what is now Adamgasse, which exploded in 1636, and a hammer mill was located in Jahnstraße. Work and money attracted a new class of people. Industry not only changed the rules of the social game with the influx of new workers and their families, it also had an impact on the appearance of Innsbruck. Unlike the farmers, the labourers were not the subjects of any master. Although entrepreneurs were not of noble blood, they often had more capital at their disposal than the aristocracy. The old hierarchies still existed, but were beginning to become at least somewhat fragile. The new citizens brought with them new fashions and dressed differently. Capital from outside came into the city. Houses and churches were built for the newly arrived subjects. The large workshops changed the smell and sound of the city. The smelting works were loud, the smoke from the furnaces polluted the air.

The second wave of industrialisation came late in Innsbruck compared to other European regions. The Small craftThe town's former craft businesses, which were organised in guilds, came under pressure from the achievements of modern goods production. In St. Nikolaus, Wilten, Mühlau and Pradl, modern factories were built along the Mühlbach stream and the Sill Canal. Many innovative company founders came from outside Innsbruck. Peter Walde, who moved to Innsbruck from Lusatia, founded his company in 1777 in what is now Innstrasse 23, producing products made from fat, such as tallow candles and soaps. Eight generations later, Walde is still one of the oldest family businesses in Austria. Today you can buy the result of centuries of tradition in soap and candle form in the listed main building with its Gothic vaults. Franz Josef Adam came from the Vinschgau Valley to found the city's largest brewery to date in a former aristocratic residence. In 1838, the spinning machine arrived via the Dornbirn company Herrburger & Rhomberg over the Arlberg to Pradl. H&R had acquired a plot of land on the Sillgründe. Thanks to the river's water power, the site was ideal for the heavy machinery used in the textile industry. In addition to the traditional sheep's wool, cotton was now also processed.

Just like 400 years earlier, the Second Industrial Revolution changed the city forever. Neighbourhoods such as Mühlau, Pradl and Wilten grew rapidly. The factories were often located in the centre of residential areas. Around 1900, over 20 businesses were still using the Sill Canal. The Haidmühle The power plant in Salurnerstraße existed from 1315 to 1907 and supplied a textile factory in Dreiheiligenstraße with energy from the Sill Canal. The noise and exhaust fumes from the engines were hell for the neighbours, as a newspaper article from 1912 shows:

„Entrüstung ruft bei den Bewohnern des nächst dem Hauptbahnhofe gelegenen Stadtteiles der seit einiger Zeit in der hibler´schen Feigenkaffeefabrik aufgestellte Explosionsmotor hervor. Der Lärm, welchen diese Maschine fast den ganzen Tag ununterbrochen verbreitet, stört die ganz Umgebung in der empfindlichsten Weise und muß die umliegenden Wohnungen entwerten. In den am Bahnhofplatze liegenden Hotels sind die früher so gesuchten und beliebten Gartenzimmer kaum mehr zu vermieten. Noch schlimmer als der ruhestörende Lärm aber ist der Qualm und Gestank der neuen Maschine…“

Aristocrats who rested too long on their birth earnings while the economic and social rules of the game changed had to sell their estates to the new moneyed aristocracy. Skilful individuals took advantage of their opportunities and invested family property and income from the 1848 land relief in industry and business. The growing demand for labour was met by former farmhands and farmers without land. While the new wealthy entrepreneurial class had villas built in Wilten, Pradl and Saggen and middle-class employees lived in apartment buildings in the same neighbourhoods, the workers were housed in workers' hostels and mass accommodation. Some worked in businesses such as the gas works, the quarry or in one of the factories, while others consumed the wealth. Shifts of 12 hours in cramped, noisy and sooty conditions demanded everything from the workers. Child labour was not banned until the 1840s. Women earned only a fraction of what men were paid. Workers often lived in tenements built by their employers and were at their mercy due to the lack of labour laws. There was no social security or unemployment insurance. Those who were unable to work had to rely on the welfare organisations of their home town. It should be noted that this everyday life of labourers, which we find terrifying, was no different from the working conditions in the villages, but developed from them. Child labour, inequality and precarious working conditions were also the norm in agriculture.

However, industrialisation did not only affect everyday material life. Innsbruck experienced the kind of gentrification that can be observed today in trendy urban neighbourhoods such as Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin. The change from the rural life of the village to the city involved more than just a change of location. In one of his texts, the Innsbruck writer Josef Leitgeb tells us how people experienced the urbanisation of what was once a rural area:

„…viel fremdes, billig gekleidetes Volk, in wachsenden Wohnblocks zusammengedrängt, morgens, mittags und abends die Straßen füllend, wenn es zur Arbeit ging oder von ihr kam, aus Werkstätten, Läden, Fabriken, vom Bahndienst, die Gesichter oft blaß und vorzeitig alternd, in Haltung, Sprache und Kleidung nichts Persönliches mehr, sondern ein Allgemeines, massenhaft Wiederholtes und Wiederholbares: städtischer Arbeitsmensch. Bahnhof und Gaswerk erschienen als Kern dieser neuen, unsäglich fremden Landschaft.“

For many Innsbruck residents, the revolutionary year of 1848 and the new economic circumstances led to bourgeoisie. There were always stories of people who rose through the ranks with hard work, luck, talent and a little financial start-up aid. Well-known Innsbruck examples outside the hotel and catering industry that still exist today are the Tyrolean stained glass business, the Hörtnagl grocery store and the Walde soap factory. Successful entrepreneurs took over the former role of the aristocratic landlords. Together with the numerous academics, they formed a new class that also gained more and more political influence. Beda Weber wrote about this in 1851:

„Their social circles are without constraint, and there is a distinctly metropolitan flavour that is not so easy to find elsewhere in Tyrol."

The workers also became bourgeois. While the landlord in the countryside was still master of the private lives of his farmhands and maidservants and was able to determine their lifestyle up to and including sexuality via the release for marriage, the labourers were now at least somewhat freer individually. They were poorly paid, but at least they now received their own wages instead of board and lodging and were able to organise their private affairs for themselves without the landlord's guardianship.

Innsbruck is not a traditional working-class city. Nevertheless, Tyrol never saw the formation of a significant labour movement as in Vienna. Innsbruck has always been predominantly a commercial and university city. Although there were social democrats and a handful of communists, the number of workers was always too small to really make a difference. May Day marches are only attended by the majority of people for cheap schnitzel and free beer. There are hardly any other memorials to industrialisation and the achievements of the working class. In St.-Nikolaus-Gasse and in many tenement houses in Wilten and Pradl, a few houses have been preserved that give an impression of the everyday life of Innsbruck's working class.