In 1830, the world's first railway line was opened between Liverpool and Manchester. Just a few decades later, the Tyrol, which had been somewhat remote from the main trade routes and economically underdeveloped for some time, was also connected to the world with spectacular railway constructions across the Alps. While travelling had previously been expensive, long and arduous journeys in carriages, on horseback or on foot, the ever-expanding railway network meant unprecedented comfort and speed.

It was Innsbruck's mayor Joseph Valentin Maurer (1797 - 1843) who recognised the importance of the railway as an opportunity for the Alpine region. In 1836, he advocated the construction of a railway line in order to make the beautiful but hard-to-reach region accessible to the widest possible, wealthy public. The first practical pioneer of railway transport in Tyrol was Alois von Negrelli (1799 - 1858), who also played a key role in the Suez Canal project of the century. At the end of the 1830s, when the first railway lines of the Danube Monarchy went into operation in the east of the empire, he drew up a "Expert opinion on the railway from Innsbruck via Kufstein to the royal Bavarian border at the Otto Chapel near Kiefersfelden“ vorgelegt. Negrelli hatte in jungen Jahren in der k.k. Baudirektion Innsbruck service, so he knew the city very well. His report already contained sketches and a list of costs. He had suggested the Triumphpforte and the Hofgarten as a site for the main railway station. In a letter, he commented on the railway line through his former home town with these words:

"...I also hear with the deepest sympathy that the railway from Innsbruck to Kufstein is being taken seriously, as the Laage is very suitable for this and the area along the Inn is so rich in natural products and so populated that I cannot doubt its success, nor will I fail to take an active part in it myself and through my business friends when it comes to the purchase of shares. You have no idea of the new life that such an endeavour will awaken in the other side..."

Friedrich List, known as the father of the German railway, put forward the plan for a rail link from the Hanseatic cities of northern Germany via Tyrol to the Italian Adriatic. On the Austrian side, Carl Ritter von Ghega (1803 - 1860) inherited overall responsibility for the railway project within the giant Habsburg empire from Negrelli, who died young. In 1851, Austria and Bavaria signed an agreement to build a railway line to the Tyrolean capital. Construction began in May 1855. It was the largest construction site Innsbruck had ever seen. Not only was the railway station built, but the railway viaducts out of the city towards the north-east also had to be constructed.

On 24 November 1858, the railway line between Innsbruck and Kufstein and on to Munich via Rosenheim went into operation. The line was ahead of its time. Unlike the rest of the railway, which was not privatised until 1860, the line opened as a private railway, operated by the previously founded Imperial and Royal Privileged Southern State, Lombard, Venetian and Central Italian Railway Company. This move meant that the costly railway construction could be excluded from Austria's already tight state budget. The first step was taken with this opening towards the eastern parts of the monarchy, especially to Munich. Goods and travellers could now be transported quickly and conveniently from Bavaria to the Alps and back. In South Tyrol, the first trains rolled over the tracks between Verona and Trento in the spring of 1859.

However, the north-south corridor was still unfinished. The first serious considerations regarding the Brenner railway were made in 1847. In 1854, the disputes south of the Brenner Pass and the commercial necessity of connecting the two parts of the country prompted the Permanent Central Fortification Commission on the plan. The loss of Lombardy after the war with France and Sardinia-Piedmont in 1859 delayed the project in northern Italy, which had become politically unstable. From the Imperial and Royal Privileged Southern State, Lombard, Venetian and Central Italian Railway Company 1860 had to Imperial and Royal Privileged Southern Railway Company to start with the detailed planning. In the following year, the mastermind behind this outstanding infrastructural achievement of the time, engineer Carl von Etzel (1812 - 1865), began to survey the site and draw up concrete plans for the layout of the railway. The planner was instructed by the private company's investors to be as economical as possible and to manage without large viaducts and bridges. Contrary to earlier considerations by Carl Ritter von Ghega to cushion the gradient up to the pass at 1370 metres above sea level by starting the line in Hall, Etzel drew up the plan, which included Innsbruck, together with his construction manager Achilles Thommen and chose the Sill Gorge as the best route. This not only saved seven kilometres of track and a lot of money, but also secured Innsbruck's important status as a transport hub. The alpine terrain, mudslides, snowstorms and floods were major challenges during construction. River courses had to be relocated, rocks blasted, earthworks dug and walls built to cope with the alpine route. The worst problems, however, were caused by the war that broke out in Italy in 1866. Patriotic German-speaking workers in particular refused to work with the "enemy". 14,000 Italian-speaking workers had to be dismissed before work could continue. Despite this, the W's highest regular railway line with its 22 tunnels blasted out of the rock was completed in a remarkably short construction time. It is not known how many men lost their lives working on the Brenner railway.

The opening was remarkably unspectacular. Many people were not sure whether they liked the technical innovation or not. Economic sectors such as lorry transport and the post stations along the Brenner line were doomed, as the death of the rafting industry after the opening of the railway line to the lowlands had shown. Even during the construction work, there were protests from farmers who feared for their profits due to the threat of importing agricultural goods. Just as the construction of the railway line had previously been influenced by world politics, a celebration was held. Austria was in national mourning due to the execution of the former Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, the brother of Franz Josef I, before a revolutionary court martial. A grand state ceremony worthy of the project was dispensed with. Instead of a priestly consecration and festive christening, the Southern Railway Company donated 6,000 guilders to the poor relief fund. Also in the Innsbrucker Nachrichten there is not a word about the revolution in transport, apart from the announcement of the last express train over the Brenner Pass and the publication of the timetable for the Southern Railway.

(The last express coach). Yesterday evening at half past seven the last express coach to South Tyrol departed from here. The oldest postilion in Innsbruck was driving the horses, his hat was fluttered with mourning, and the carriage was decorated with branches of weeping willows for the last journey. Two marksmen travelling to Matrei were the only passengers to pay their last respects to the express coach. In the last days of 1797, the beautiful, otherwise so lively and now deserted road was conspicuously dead.

Until the opening of the railway line over the Brenner Pass on 24 August 1867, Innsbruck was a terminus station of regional importance. The new, spectacular Brenner railway across the Alps connected the northern and southern parts of the country as well as Germany and Italy. The Alps had lost their divisive character and their terror for transit, at least a little. The second obstacle that had to be overcome to unify the country was the Arlberg. The first plans for a railway line that would connect the region around Lake Constance with the rest of the Danube Monarchy were made as early as 1847, but the project was repeatedly postponed. In 1871, food export bans due to the Franco-Prussian War led to a famine in Vorarlberg because food could not be delivered quickly enough from the east of the vast empire to the far west. Nevertheless, the economic crisis of 1873 delayed construction once again. It was not until seven years later that the decision was made in parliament to realise the railway line. In the same year, the complicated construction work began to the east and west of the Arlberg massif. 38 torrents and 54 avalanche danger points had to be built with 3100 structures in precarious weather conditions in the alpine terrain. The most remarkable achievement was the ten kilometre long tunnel, which carries two tracks.

On 30 June 1883, the last postal transport travelled from Innsbruck to Landeck by horse-drawn carriage in ceremonial mourning. The following day, the railway took over this service. With the opening of the railway from Innsbruck to Landeck and the final completion of the Arlberg railway to Bludenz in 1884, including the tunnel through the Arlberg, Innsbruck had once again become a transport hub between Germany and Italy, France, Switzerland and Vienna. In 1904, the Stubai Valley railway was opened, followed by the Mittenwald railway in 1912. Both projects were planned by Josef Riehl (1842 - 1917) as a private railway entrepreneur. Born in Bolzano, Riehl had gained his first experience with the Brenner railway under Etzel before he opened up the inner-Alpine region with many projects as a pioneer under his own company in 1870.

The railway was the most directly noticeable feature of progress for a large part of the population. The railway viaducts, built from Höttinger Breccie from the nearby quarry, put a physical and visible end to the town in the east towards Pradl. But the railway did not just change the country from a purely technical perspective. It also brought immense social change. The railway stations along the line revitalised the towns immensely. The station forecourt in Innsbruck became one of the new centres of the city. Workers, students, soldiers and tourists flocked to the city in large numbers, bringing with them new lifestyles and ideas. However, not everyone was happy with this development. Shipping on the Inn, until then an important transport route, came to an almost immediate standstill. The small aristocracy, which had already been severely plucked after 1848, and particularly strict clerics feared the collapse of local agriculture and the final decline in morals caused by the foreigners in the city.

By 1870, Innsbruck's population had risen from 12,000 to 17,000, mainly due to the economic stimulus provided by the railway. Local producers benefited from the opportunity to import and export goods cheaply and quickly. The labour market changed. Before the railway lines opened, 9 out of 10 Tyroleans worked in agriculture. With the opening of the Brenner railway, this figure fell to less than 70%.

The railway was worth its weight in gold for tourism. It was now possible to reach the remote and exotic mountain world of the Tyrolean Alps. Health resorts such as Igls and entire valleys such as the Stubaital, as well as Innsbruck's city transport, benefited from the development of the railway. In 1891, a local railway between Innsbruck's main railway station and Hall was built to transport day trippers back and forth between the two cities. Two years after its construction, the AG Lokalbahn Innsbruck - Hall i.T. was formed, which operated local transport including all trams and buses until 1943 and was merged into the Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe AG, today's IVB. This was followed in 1900 by the Innsbruck - Igls narrow-gauge railway, which still chugs picturesquely through the forests on the Patschberg as the 6 train. Four years later, the Stubaitalbahn became the first Austrian railway with alternating current to connect the side valley with the capital. On 24 December 1904, 780,000 crowns, the equivalent of around 6 million euros, were subscribed as capital stock for tram line 1. In the summer of the following year, the line connected the new districts of Pradl and Wilten with Saggen and the city centre. Three years later, Line 3 opened the next inner-city public transport connection, which only ran to the remote village in 1942 after Amras was connected to Innsbruck.

The new means of transport contributed to the democratisation and bourgeoisification of society. Not only for wealthy tourists, but also for subjects who did not belong to the upper class, the railway made excursions into the surrounding area possible. New foods changed people's diet. The first department stores emerged with the appearance of consumer goods that were previously unavailable. The appearance of the people of Innsbruck changed with new, fashionable clothing, which became affordable for many for the first time. The transport of goods on the Inn received its final death blow. In the 1870s, the city's last raft unloading site, where Waltherpark in St. Nikolaus is located today, was closed.

The Die Bundesbahndirektion der K.u.K. General-Direction der österreichischen Staatsbahnen in Innsbruck was one of only three directorates in Cisleithania. New social classes were created by the railway as an employer. People from all walks of life were needed to keep the railway running. Workers and craftsmen were able to climb the social ladder at the railway, similar to the state administration or the military. New professions such as railway attendant, conductor, stoker or engine driver emerged. Working for the railway brought with it a certain prestige. Not only were you part of the most modern industry of the time, the titles and uniforms turned employees and workers into respected figures.

The railway was also of great importance to the military. As early as 1866, at the Battle of Königgrätz between Austria and Prussia, it was clear how important troop transport would be in the future. Until 1918, Austria was a huge empire that stretched from Vorarlberg and Tyrol in the south-west to Galicia, an area in what is now Poland, and Ukraine in the east. The Brenner Railway was needed to reinforce the turbulent southern border with its new neighbour, the Kingdom of Italy. Tyrolean soldiers were also deployed in Galicia during the first years of the First World War until Italy declared war on Austria. When the front line was opened up in South Tyrol, the railway was important for moving troops quickly from the east of the empire to the southern front.

Carl von Etzel, who did not live to see the opening of the Brenner railway, is commemorated today by Ing.-Etzel-Straße in Saggen along the railway viaducts. Josef Riehl is commemorated by Dr.-Ing.-Riehl-Straße in Wilten near the Westbahnhof railway station. There is also a street dedicated to Achilles Thommen. As a walker or cyclist, you can cross the Karwendel Bridge in the Höttinger Au one floor below the Karwendel railway and admire the steel framework. You can get a good impression of the golden age of the railway by visiting the ÖBB administration building in Saggen or the listed Westbahnhof railway station in Wilten. In the viaduct arches in Saggen, you can enjoy Innsbruck's nightlife in one of the many pubs covered by history.

In the 1950s, Innsbruck began to recover from the crisis and war years of the first half of the 20th century. On 15 May 1955, Federal Chancellor Leopold Figl declared with the famous words "Austria is free" and the signing of the State Treaty officially marked the political turning point. In many households, the "political turnaround" became established in the years known as Economic miracle moderate prosperity in the years that went down in history. This period not only brought material change, but also social change. People's desires became more outlandish as prosperity increased and the lifestyle conveyed in advertising and the media became more sophisticated. The phenomenon of a new youth culture began to spread gently amidst the grey society of post-war Austria. The terms Teenager and latchkey child entered the Austrian language in the 1950s.

Films brought the big world to Innsbruck. Cinema screenings and cinemas already existed in Innsbruck at the turn of the century, but in the post-war period the programme was adapted to a young audience for the first time. Hardly anyone had a television set in their living room and the programme was meagre. The Chamber light theatre in Wilhelm-Greilstraße, the Laurin cinema in the Gumppstraße, the Central cinema in Maria-Theresienstraße, which Löwen-Lichtspiele in the Höttingergasse and the Leocinema of the Catholic Workers' Association in Anichstraße courted the public's favour with scandalous films.

1956 saw the publication of the magazine BRAVO. For the first time, there was a medium that was orientated towards the interests of young people. The first issue featured Marylin Monroe, including the question: Did Marylin's curves get married too? The big stars of the early years were James Dean and Peter Kraus, before the Beatles took over in the 1960s. After the Summer of Love Dr Sommer explained about love and sex. The first photo love story with bare breasts did not follow until 1982.

Bars, discos, nightclubs, pubs and event venues gradually opened in Innsbruck. Events such as the 5 o'clock tea dance at the Sporthotel Igls attracted young people looking for a mate. Establishments such as the Falconry cellar in the Gilmstraße, the Uptown Jazzsalon in Hötting, the Clima Club in Saggen, the Scotch Club in the Angerzellgasse and the Tangent in Bruneckerstraße had nothing in common with the traditional Tyrolean beer and wine bar. The performances by the Rolling Stones and Deep Purple in the Olympic Hall in 1973 were the high point of Innsbruck's spring awakening for the time being. Innsbruck may not have become London or San Francisco, but it had at least breathed a breath of rock'n'roll.

However, the vast majority of the social life of the city's young people did not take place in disreputable dives, but in the orderly channels of Catholic youth organisations. What is still anchored in cultural memory today as the '68 movement took place in the Holy Land hardly took place. Neither workers nor students took to the barricades in droves. Although there were individual groups in the 1970s, such as the Communist Group Innsbruck or the Committee for Solidarity with Vietnambut there was no mass movement. Beethoven's wisdom that "As long as the Austrians still have brown beer and sausages, they won't revolt," was true.

Nevertheless, society was quietly and secretly changing. A look at the annual charts gives an indication of this. In 1964, it was still Chaplain Alfred Flury and Freddy with "Leave the little things“ and „Give me your word" and the Beatles with their German version of "Come, give me your hand", which dominated the Top 10, musical tastes changed in the years leading up to the 1970s. Peter Alexander and Mireille Mathieu were still to be found in the charts. From 1967, however, it was international bands with foreign-language lyrics such as The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, The Monkees, Scott McKenzie, Adriano Celentano and Simon and Garfunkel, some of whom had socially critical lyrics, that occupied the top positions in large numbers.

The spearhead of the conservative counter-revolution was the Innsbruck bishop Paulus Rusch. Cigarettes, alcohol, overly permissive fashion, holidays abroad, working women, nightclubs, premarital sex, the 40-hour week, Sunday sporting events, dance evenings, mixed sex in school and leisure - all of these were strictly forbidden to the strict churchman and follower of the Sacred Heart cult.

Peter Paul Rusch was born in Munich in 1903 and grew up in Vorarlberg as the youngest of three children in a middle-class household. Both parents and his older sister died of tuberculosis before he reached adulthood. At the young age of 17, Rusch had to fend for himself in the meagre post-war period. Inflation had eaten up his father's inheritance, which could have financed his studies, in no time at all. Rusch worked for six years at the Bank for Tyrol and Vorarlbergin order to finance his theological studies. He entered the Collegium Canisianum in 1927 and was ordained a priest of the Jesuit order six years later. His stellar career took the intelligent young man first to Lech and Hohenems as chaplain and then back to Innsbruck as head of the seminary. Here he became titular bishop of Lykopolis in 1938, Innsbruck only becoming its own diocese in 1964, and Apostolic Administrator for Tyrol and Vorarlberg. As the youngest bishop in Europe, he had to survive the harassment of the church by the National Socialist rulers. Although his critical attitude towards National Socialism was well known, Rusch himself was never imprisoned. Those in power were too afraid of turning the popular young bishop into a martyr.

After the war, the socially and politically committed bishop was at the forefront of reconstruction efforts. He wanted the church to have more influence on people's everyday lives again. His father had worked his way up from carpenter to architect and probably gave him a soft spot for the building industry. He also had his own experience at BTV. Thanks to his training as a banker, Rusch recognised the opportunities for the church to get involved and make a name for itself as a helper in times of need. It was not only the churches that had been damaged in the war that were rebuilt. The Catholic Youth under Rusch's leadership, was involved free of charge in the construction of the Heiligjahrsiedlung in the Höttinger Au. The diocese bought a building plot from the Ursuline order for this purpose. The loans for the settlers were advanced interest-free by the church. Decades later, his rustic approach to the housing issue would earn him the title of "Red Bishop" to the new home. In the modest little houses with self-catering gardens, in line with the ideas of the dogmatic and frugal "working-class bishop", 41 families, preferably with many children, found a new home.

By alleviating the housing shortage, the greatest threats in the Cold WarCommunism and socialism, from his community. The atheism prescribed by communism and the consumer-orientated capitalism that had swept into Western Europe from the USA after the war were anathema to him. In 1953, Rusch's book "Young worker, where to?". What sounds like revolutionary, left-wing reading from the Kremlin showed the principles of Christian social teaching, which castigated both capitalism and socialism. Families should live modestly in order to live in Christian harmony with the moderate financial means of a single father. Entrepreneurs, employees and workers were to form a peaceful unity. Co-operation instead of class warfare, the basis of today's social partnership. To each his own place in a Christian sense, a kind of modern feudal system that was already planned for use in Dollfuß's corporative state. He shared his political views with Governor Eduard Wallnöfer and Mayor Alois Lugger, who, together with the bishop, organised the Holy Trinity of conservative Tyrol at the time of the economic miracle. Rusch combined this with a latent Catholic anti-Semitism that was still widespread in Tyrol after 1945 and which, thanks to aberrations such as the veneration of the Anderle von Rinn has long been a tradition.

Education and training were of particular concern to the pugnacious Jesuit. Despite a speech impediment, Rusch was a charismatic character who was extremely popular with his young colleagues and young people. In 1936, he was elected regional field master of the scouts in Vorarlberg. In his opinion, only a sound education under the wing of the church according to the Christian model could save the salvation of young people. In order to give young people a perspective and steer them in an orderly direction with a home and family, the Youth building society savings strengthened. In the parishes, kindergartens, youth centres and educational institutions such as the House of encounter am Rennweg in order to have education in the hands of the church from the very beginning.

In the 1960s and 70s there were two church youth movements in Innsbruck. The education of the elites in the spirit of the Jesuit order was provided in Innsbruck since 1578 by the Marian Congregation. This youth organisation, still known today as the MK, took care of secondary school pupils. The MK had a strict hierarchical structure in order to give the young Soldaten Christi obedience from the very beginning. Father Sigmund Kripp took over the MK in 1959. Under his leadership, the young people built projects such as the Mittergrathütte including its own material cable car in Kühtai and the MK youth centre Kennedyhaus in Sillgasse with financial support from the church, state and parents and with a great deal of personal effort. Chancellor Klaus and members of the American embassy were present at the laying of the foundation stone for this youth centre, which was to become the largest of its kind in Europe with almost 1,500 members, as the building was dedicated to the first Catholic president of the USA, who had only recently been assassinated.

The other church youth organisation in Innsbruck was Z6. The city's youth chaplain, Chaplain Meinrad Schumacher, took care of the youth organisation as part of the Action 4-5-6 to all young people who are in the MK or the Catholic Student Union had no place. Working-class children and apprentices met in various youth centres such as Pradl or Reichenau before the new centre, also built by the members themselves, was opened at Zollerstraße 6 in 1971. Josef Windischer took over the management of the centre. The Z6 already had more to do with what Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda were doing on the big screen on their motorbikes in Easy Rider was shown. Things were rougher here than in the MK. Rock gangs like the Santanas, petty criminals and drug addicts also spent their free time in Z6. While Schumacher reeled off his programme upstairs with the "good" youngsters, Windischer and the Outsiders the basement to help the lost sheep as much as possible.

At the end of the 1960s, both the MK and the Z6 decided to open up to non-members. Girls' and boys' groups were partially merged and non-members were also admitted. Although the two youth centres had different target groups, the concept was the same. Theological knowledge and Christian morals were taught in a playful, age-appropriate environment. Sections such as chess, football, hockey, basketball, music, cinema films and a party room catered to the young people's needs for games, sport and their first sexual experiences. The youth centres offered a space in which young people of both sexes could meet. However, the MK in particular remained an institution that had nothing to do with the wild life of the '68ers, as it is often portrayed in films. For example, dance courses did not take place during Advent, carnival or on Saturdays, and were forbidden for under-17s.

Nevertheless, the youth centres went too far for Bishop Rusch. The critical articles in the MK newspaper We discuss found less and less favour. After years of disputes between the bishop and the youth centre, it came to a showdown in 1973. When Father Kripp published his book Farewell to tomorrow in which he reported on his pedagogical concept and the work in the MK, there were non-public proceedings within the diocese and the Jesuit order against the director of the youth centre. Despite massive protests from parents and members, Kripp was removed. Neither the intervention within the church by the eminent theologian Karl Rahner, nor a petition launched by the artist Paul Flora, nor regional and national outrage in the press could save the overly liberal priest from the wrath of Rusch, who even secured the papal blessing from Rome for his removal from office. In July 1974, the Z6 was also temporarily closed. Rusch had the keys to the youth centre exchanged without further ado, a method he also used at the Catholic Student Union when it got too close to a left-wing action group. The Tiroler Tageszeitung noted this in a small article on 1 August 1974:

"In recent weeks, there had been profound disputes between the educators and the bishop over fundamental issues. According to the bishop, the views expressed in "Z 6" were "no longer in line with church teaching". For example, the leadership of the centre granted young people absolute freedom of conscience without simultaneously recognising objective norms and also permitted sexual relations before marriage."

It was his adherence to conservative values and his stubbornness that damaged Rusch's reputation in the last 20 years of his life. When he was consecrated as the first bishop of the newly founded diocese of Innsbruck in 1964, times were changing. The progressive with practical life experience of the past was overtaken by the modern life of a new generation and the needs of the emerging consumer society. The bishop's constant criticism of the lifestyle of his flock and his stubborn adherence to his overly conservative values, coupled with some bizarre statements, turned the co-founder of development aid into a Brother in needthe young, hands-on bishop of the reconstruction, from the late 1960s onwards as a reason for leaving the church. His concept of repentance and penance took on bizarre forms. He demanded guilt and atonement from the Tyroleans for their misdemeanours during the Nazi era, but at the same time described the denazification laws as too far-reaching and strict. In response to the new sexual practices and abortion laws under Chancellor Kreisky, he said that girls and young women who have premature sexual intercourse are up to twelve times more likely to develop cancer of the mother's organs. Rusch described Hamburg as a cesspool of sin and he suspected that the simple minds of the Tyrolean population were not up to phenomena such as tourism and nightclubs and were tempted to immoral behaviour. He feared that technology and progress were making people too independent of God. He was strictly against the new custom of double income. People should be satisfied with a spiritual family home with a vegetable garden and not strive for more; women should concentrate on their traditional role as housewife and mother.

In 1973, after 35 years at the head of the church community in Tyrol and Innsbruck, Bishop Rusch was made an honorary citizen of the city of Innsbruck. He resigned from his office in 1981. In 1986, Innsbruck's first bishop was laid to rest in St Jakob's Cathedral. The Bishop Paul's Student Residence The church of St Peter Canisius in the Höttinger Au, which was built under him, commemorates him.

After its closure in 1974, the Z6 youth centre moved to Andreas-Hofer-Straße 11 before finding its current home in Dreiheiligenstraße, in the middle of the working-class district of the early modern period opposite the Pest Church. Jussuf Windischer remained in Innsbruck after working on social projects in Brazil. The father of four children continued to work with socially marginalised groups, was a lecturer at the Social Academy, prison chaplain and director of the Caritas Integration House in Innsbruck.

The MK also still exists today, even though the Kennedy House, which was converted into a Sigmund Kripp House was renamed, no longer exists. In 2005, Kripp was made an honorary citizen of the city of Innsbruck by his former sodalist and later deputy mayor, like Bishop Rusch before him.

Die Bögen, das ist in Innsbruck da, wo die guten Innsbrucker nicht hingehen. Außer sie sind angesoffen, weil sie mit den weniger guten Innsbruckern davor irgendwo anders waren, wo die weniger guten sie zum Alkohol überredet haben, den die guten ja gar nicht trinken wollten, wie sie ihrem Lebensabschnittspartner, Gatten, Erziehungsberechtigten oder Unterhaltspflichtigen beim Heimkommen am nächsten Tag, reumütig für die Schwäche und aufgebracht über das erlittene Unheil durch die weniger guten Innsbrucker, erzählen werden. Aber Wurscht, die guten Innsbrucker gehen da nicht hin, weil in den Bögen trifft sich alles, was sich sonst nirgends trifft: Männer mit Hemd, Frauen mit Kleid, Frauen mit Hosen, Männer mit Kilt, Männer mit langen Haaren, Frauen mit gefärbten Haaren, Rocker, Hackler, Studenten, Jungbauern, Sportler, Musiker, Punks – kurzum, damit wir da fertig werden – alles. Zum Angst bekommen ist das. Und da wird nicht nur getrunken, da wird auch gedealt, hergeschlagen und mit dem Messer abgestochen. Ich habe es zwar nicht gesehen wie da hergeschlagen wird, zumindest nicht mehr als in anderen Lokalen, wo angesoffene Leute zusammenkommen, abgestochen sowieso nicht, aber es steht in der Zeitung und damit wird es wohl so sein.

Manchmal, früher war es öfter, weil ich bin ja schon alt, wenn ich mit so einem guten Innsbrucker in Bierlaune zu sprechen komme, und das Gespräch geht irgendwann im Lauf des Abends Richtung Bögen und wie schlimm die sind, dann erkläre ich gern, dass die Bögen, wenn man der Theorie von Einstein mit der Raumzeit folgt, die ich zwar nicht verstehe, aber trotzdem gerne anbringe, um den guten Innsbruckern, die sie ebenfalls nicht verstehen, zu imponieren, weder gut noch schlecht, sondern maximal relativ sind. Das versteht dann niemand und ich muss es erklären. Die Bögen sind nämlich relativ, weil sie weder zeitlich noch räumlich einen Anfang oder ein Ende haben, und zwar im Kleinen nicht und im Großen auch nicht.

Im kleinen Zeitlichen nicht, weil die Bögen ja nie so richtig zusperren. Wenn die letzte Bar zumacht, dann macht die erste schon wieder auf. Der Brennpunkt verkauft seinen Kaffee an die Hipster nämlich mehr in der Früh wie am Abend. Und im großen Zeitlichen auch nicht, weil die Sachen, die dort passieren, sich wie in einer endlosen Zeitschleife wiederholen, nur dass alles schlechter wird, natürlich. Weil als ich jünger war, da war natürlich alles besser als jetzt wo mein Sohn mit dem Ausgehen anfängt, die Musik sowieso und so teuer war es auch nicht und wir haben uns auch nicht so blöd angezogen und nicht so blöd miteinander geredet, wie die Jungen heute. Und wenn ich ihm von früher erzähle und wie super da alles war, besonders in den Bögen, dann hört er mir natürlich ehrfürchtig zu so wie ich meinem Papa immer zugehört habe, wenn er mir erzählt hat, wie früher alles besser war.

Und nicht nur die Bögen sind in dieser Zeitschleife, auch das, was wegen den Bögen danach passiert ändert sich nicht, so alt kann man gar nicht werden. Meine Mama, als ich noch jünger gewesen bin und daheim gewohnt habe, also halt bei meinen Eltern, daheim wohnt man ja sowieso, hat sich immer beschwert, wenn ich erst in der Früh und angetrunken heimgekommen bin. „Warst du schon wieder in den Bögen herumsaufen, ha?“. Als ich dann ausgezogen bin und eine Freundin gehabt hab, die überhaupt keinen Alkohol getrunken hat und deswegen auch nie in die Bögen mitgegangen ist, da bin ich dann zwar auch nicht mehr so oft dort gewesen, aber immer, wenn es passiert ist, dann hat sie sich auch beschwert. Jetzt habe ich eine Freundin, die früher auch immer in den Bögen war und wenn ich jetzt dort hin gehe, dann geht sie mit und wenn man jetzt meint, dass sich dann wohl kaum jemand beschweren kann, dann täuscht man sich, weil die Beschwerde ist halt dann deswegen, weil sie wegen mir Kopfweh und einen Kater hat am nächsten Tag, weil sie ja mitgehen musste. Es nützt also nichts, wenn man erwachsen wird, wenn man in die Bögen geht, egal ob allein oder nicht, wird man geschimpft.

Und das Räumliche, das ist auch relativ, denn die Bögen haben zwei Anfänge und zwei Enden, und man eigentlich nicht sagen, wo sie beginnen und aufhören, weil das ja davon abhängt, wo man reingeht und dann wieder rausgeht wenn man fertig hat. Für mich beginnen die Bögen vorne, also beim Sillpark, wo früher das Viaduktstüberl war, ein Lokal, das immer dreckige Scheiben mit Unterberg-Reklame gehabt hat und wo es dir hat passieren können, dass sich jemand schon ganz früh am Abend wild aufgeführt hat, weil man da, wo die Bögen anfangen auch früh schon mit dem Alkoholtrinken angefangen hat. Jetzt ist in diesem Bogen übrigens ein Essenslokal, wo Familien reingehen sollen.

Für jemand anderen beginnen die Bögen sicher hinten beim Sillzwickl wo der Outsider Motorcycle Club sein Vereinslokal hat, obwohl ich das komisch finde, aber diese falsche Meinung muss man als weltoffener Mensch respektieren. Ich war da einmal bei einer 150er Geburtstagsfeier. Wie ich 30 geworden bin, habe ich mit vier Freunden, die auch 30 geworden sind, eine Party gemacht. Das war übrigens auch komisch, vor allem wie die Freundin von einem von meinen Freunden mit einem der Motorradkellner geschmust hat, das war dann das Ende eben am Ende von den Bögen.

Aber besser zurück zum Anfang. Mit den Bögen ist es nämlich so. Es sind, wenn man den letzten Bogen hinterm Outsider, der eigentlich ein Durchgang ist, mitzählt, 175. Diese 175 Bögen verteilen sich auf 1,7 Kilometer. Ich weiß das, weil ich es mit meiner Sportuhr extra ausgemessen habe. Zwischen dem Outsider und dem nächsten Lokal, dem Cafe zum Mo im 103er Bogen, sind eigentlich auf den ersten 650 m, oder eben den letzten, wie man es halt sieht, nur Auto- und Mopedwerkstätten und das Veloflott für Fahrräder, also Mobilität, und mich interessiert halt mehr das Alkoholische an den Bögen. Und da ist der interessante Teil der erste, denn auf diesem Kilometer sind die Bars und Gasthäuser.

Die erste ist das Little Rock, das ein bisschen ausschaut wie ein Saloon und wo wir früher, wo alles besser war, immer gesagt haben, dass wir da nicht reingehen, weil es eh ganz ähnlich ist wie das Down Under, nur dass das Down Under viel cooler ist. Blöd halt, dass es das Down Under nicht mehr gibt. Wo ich da vor der Tür gestanden bin und gemerkt hab, dass das zugesperrt hat, das war so wie für einen Katholiken, wenn der Papst stirbt, und der Katholik merkt es nicht und wie er dann irgendwann in Rom steht heißt es: „Der Papst ist gestorben.“ So habe ich da wohl auch ausgeschaut in dem Moment wo ich das erfahren habe, mit einem ganz verwunderten und traurigen Gesicht, weil im Down Under habe ich schon viel Bier oben bei den Tischen und an der Bar getrunken. Und wenn es so einen Ort wie das Down Under nicht mehr gibt, merkt man – Holla, ich bin auch nicht mehr jung. Das ist wie wenn dein Kindergarten abgerissen wird und es schon so lange her ist, dass du da drinnen warst, dass du dich gar nicht mehr daran erinnern kannst. Unterschied zwischen dem Down Under und dem Kindergarten, dass es im Kindergarten keinen Tequila gegeben hat. Und die Musik war dort auch immer gut, also im Down Under, nicht im Kindergarten. Genau so laut nämlich, dass man sich noch unterhalten hat können. Deswegen ist man immer eher ins Down Under, wo man noch hat reden können und noch nicht ganz betrunken war, und erst später ins PMK, wo immer Konzerte sind und die Musik lauter ist. Außerdem waren im Down Under die Leute immer gemütlicher als im PMK, da waren immer alle gestresst. 

Wenn man jetzt meint, das PMK war das Gegenteil vom Down Under, dann ist das falsch. Das Gegenteil vom PMK ist nämlich wieder auf der anderen Seite der Bögen, wo jetzt die neue Bahnstation ist. Die Bögen haben nämlich, wie es sich gehört, einen eigenen Bahnhof. Das Gegenteil vom PMK mit den ganzen Alternativen und Linken ist nämlich sowohl geographisch wie auch ideell das Andreasstüberl, wo der Wirt, der Ander, wie ein Häuptling seinen Indianern, von denen die meisten schon zu viele Sommer und Winter in den Bögen verbracht haben, zu Schlagermusik Bier und Ramazzotti ausschenkt.

Neben dem Andreasstüberl ist das Shakespeare´s, da kann es dir auch passieren, dass du Schlagermusik hörst, weil dort oft Karaoke gesungen wird und wenn der DJ gut aufgelegt ist, dann singt der vielleicht auch einen Schlager, obwohl er selber eher Metal-Fan ist.

Wenn man dann alles zusammennimmt zwischen dem Little Rock und dem Cafe zum Mo, dann ist zwar alles relativ, wie es der Einstein sagt, aber ein Zentrum gibt es trotzdem. Weil da kann man noch so sehr Physiker sein, in der echten Welt, die sowohl der gute wie auch der weniger gute Innsbrucker begreifen, da braucht es ein Zentrum. Und in den Bögen, da ist dieses Zentrum das Plateau. Natürlich ist auch das Plateau wie alles schlechter geworden, weil da ja nix mehr los ist, was natürlich daran liegen kann, dass ich es nicht mehr bis Drei Uhr aushalte, davor war da ja da nie was los, aber ich denke schon, dass es früher besser war. Eigentlich ist es ja auch egal, weil das Plateau, das ist wirklich die Definition von Raumzeit, zumindest soweit ich es verstehe. Wie sonst soll es sein, dass es da keine Zeit gibt, der kleine Raum immer viel größer ausschaut und einem auch alles relativ Wurscht ist, wenn man da drinnen ist. Man geht zum Beispiel irgendwann nach Mitternacht rein und um Halb wieder raus. Halb ist die Zeit, wo es draußen schon hell ist und die Vögel zwitschern und die guten Innsbrucker, die nicht in der Raumzeit gefangen waren, zur Arbeit gehen und im Plateau ist es immer noch dunkel, weil da ist es ja erst kurz nach Mitternacht.

Als ich jung war, da habe ich Geld gebraucht und deswegen sogar zwei Wochen lang in den Weihnachtsferien im Plateau die Abrechnung gemacht und den Boden geschrubbt und die Klos geputzt. Wie ich also in der Früh reingehe, da sitzen noch die Kellner drinnen und trinken und rauchen und ich war nüchtern und wollte putzen, aber das ging nicht, weil in der Raumzeit im Plateau, da haben die Betrunkenen Vorrang. Vor der Tür kann es ruhig schon da sein, aber in diesem kleinen Raum, da ist es immer Halb.

Und wenn die guten Innsbrucker immer auf das Plateau und das Andreasstüberl und das PMK und die anderen Bögen schimpfen, dann muss ich sagen, dass ich es toll finde, dass wir in der Stadt etwas haben, wo sich alle treffen und alle gleich sind und sogar der Raum und die Zeit nicht mehr ganz so exakt sind und es auch einmal OK ist, wenn es Halb wird. So!