Franciscans, Premonstratensians, Carmelites, Servites, Capuchins, Ursulines. Anyone visiting Innsbruck will walk past many monasteries, usually without realising it. The Jesuits were probably the most politically and socially influential order in the history of the city from the 16th century onwards. The "Soldaten Christi" were founded by the Spanish nobleman Ignatius of Loyola (1491 - 1556) in 1540. Loyola was a moral reformer and influential church politician who had access to the highest circles of power of his time. He wanted to change the church, but unlike Luther, not without the Pope as head. Dissolution of the monasteries' property was also not on his programme. Renewing the faith from the top down instead of destroying the existing order was the motto of the Societas Jesu.

The order quickly gained influence. The organisation and structure adopted from the military, the combination of humanist teachings and Catholic traditions, a penchant for science and education in combination with a mystical popular piety made them attractive to many people who were disappointed by the clergy's medieval decline in morals. With these characteristics, the Jesuits had their finger on the pulse of a time that was characterised by new political, social and economic structures. Like Protestant reformers, they skilfully used the new medium of book printing to disseminate their writings. You could say that they were the denominational continuation of social penetration by the state, new media and double-entry bookkeeping.

The political situation in the middle of the 16th century was muddled and crisis-ridden. Italy was badly affected by the wars between France and the Habsburgs. Large trading groups such as the Fuggers and the Welsers were gaining more and more influence. The German lands had suffered from the Peasants' Wars. Inflation was a threat and the many technical innovations of the period around 1500 frightened many people. But how could the wrath of God be averted because of the misdemeanours of the Renaissance popes and the impending end of the world if not through moral improvement and moral living according to the teachings of Christ?

A keen supporter of the Jesuits in Tyrol was Prince and later Emperor Ferdinand I. Like Ignatius of Loyola, he had grown up in Spain. He had just as many difficulties with the customs of the Germans and the non-existent Reformation movement in Spain as he did with the language. The Tyrolean population, on the other hand, were alienated from their sovereign, who, with his foreign court, could easily be mistaken for an occupying power. A connecting element between the two worlds was the Roman Church, especially the modern Jesuit order.

Probably the most important Jesuit theologian was Petrus Canisius (1521 - 1597). He grew up as Peter Canis in an upper middle-class household in the Netherlands. His father was the mayor of Nijmegen. From an early age, the future church strategist gained his first experience of high politics and learnt courtly behaviour before going to Cologne to study. Canisius was the first member of the order in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire. The intelligent and educated young man had a stellar career. Ferdinand summoned him to Vienna, where he was appointed episcopal administrator and responsible for maintaining order at the university. One of his main activities at the university, in addition to teaching and research, was to track down and interrogate university members suspected of Protestantism.

Canisius also spent several years in Innsbruck. The Jesuits were actually supposed to move into the completed Hofkirche to take over the choral prayers for Maximilian I at his burial place. As the highest representative of the order north of the Alps, Canisius politely but firmly refused. He wrote a prayer guide for Ferdinand to set the prince on the right path. In 1563, the emperor managed to lure him to the Alps after all. The scholar was to assist him as an advisor and consultant for a dispute with the Pope at the Council of Trent. While the people of Innsbruck were suspicious of many of the other foreign preachers and counsellors who frequented the court, Canisius was an approachable man of the people. In October 1571, the parish of Wilten learnt from him of the victory of the papal-imperial fleet against the Ottomans at Lepanto. From the pulpit, Canisius proclaimed the triumph of the Christian forces against the impending pagan threat in the greatest naval battle in history in the style of a Catholic newsreader.

As a court preacher, Canisius was an advisor to the aristocracy, but his pious enthusiasm also made him a churchman for the masses. On behalf of the Lord, or rather his secular and ecclesiastical masters, he travelled across Europe. Like Martin Luther, he also looked "In the mouth of the people". It should not be forgotten that walking was the primary way of travelling for most people. Canisius is said to have travelled over 100,000 kilometres between the Netherlands, Rome and Poland. He usually stayed in simple inns while travelling. He knew how important it was to get the rural population behind him. While his brothers were proselytising in faraway India, he was proselytising against Protestantism in the German lands. He realised that preaching in Latin was not suitable for immunising peasants, farmhands and maids against the threat posed by Luther's Protestantism to the Roman Church. With his Catechism Petrus Canisius wrote an important German-language collection of ideas in the Catholic struggle against the Reformation, which was quickly translated into all European languages and was long regarded as a guide for the Catholic Church. Between 1555 and 1558, three differently complex versions of the work were created for different audiences. Resourceful editors created a pictorial catechism for illiterate readers in order to spread the ideas of the church to the people. Even in the 20th century, the Kanisi, as the work was affectionately nicknamed, was still the basis of religious education in schools.

Canisius also used the new medium of the pamphlet to reach as many people as possible. His writings, together with those of Luther, were probably the most widely read of the 16th century. Until well into the 19th century, and in some regions even after the Second World War, the Kanisias the catechism was affectionately known, was the most influential religious-philosophical work in Tyrol.

However, the strongest and most enduring pillar in the fight against the reformers was education. Canisius saw many bishops and politicians as corrupt, morally corrupt and sinful. Instead of eradicating them, however, they were to reform under the wing of the soldiers of Jesus. By opening new colleges, the Jesuits aimed to improve the education of civil servants, the nobility and the clergy and to set higher moral standards in everyday church life, orientated towards Christian roots. To this end, they founded colleges throughout the empire. Protestant countries and cities had begun German schoolsacademies and grammar schools. As many subjects as possible should be able to read in order to find piety and salvation in individual and direct Bible reading. The Jesuits, on the other hand, concentrated on educating the elite and thus gained lasting influence in the centres of power of the Catholic states.

The Jesuits founded the Latin school in Innsbruck, from which the university would later emerge. The new educational institute had a major impact on the city's development. The intelligentsia was educated here, enabling Innsbruck's rise as an administrative and economic centre. In addition to professorships at the university, they also had the Theresianum about. From 1775 to 1848, the aristocratic pupils of the grammar school and students were taught courtly manners and virtuous behaviour and prepared for their professional careers on the premises of the Franciscan monastery. The Theresian Knights' Academy The school housed the young men and taught them diplomatic skills such as foreign languages and dancing and military skills such as fencing. Their activities were interrupted under Joseph II. He disempowered and expropriated ecclesiastical orders, including the Jesuits, whom he disliked, who were also considered too powerful by the Pope and were therefore banned. The University of Innsbruck was downgraded to a lyceum in 1781. The space freed up in the Jesuit College was used to create the first botanical garden. When the Theresianum was also abolished in 1808 under Bavarian administration, the gardens were extended. In 1838, the Jesuits were called back to Innsbruck. In 1910, the garden had to move to Hötting as part of the new school building.

The order grew rapidly thanks to its network of influential posts and its influence on the education system. As loyal allies of the dynasty, the Jesuits managed to build up a special relationship with the Habsburgs, especially during the Counter-Reformation. Many members of the dynasty can be recognised in their rule and actions as having been influenced by the order from which they received their education. Jesuits such as Bartholomew Viller or Wilhelm Lamormaini were politically influential as confessors and advisors to the Habsburgs in the early modern period. It is no coincidence that the Jesuits are still the adversaries of the Freemasons in countless conspiracy theories and novels and are regarded by many as the modern-day equivalent of the James Bond villain. They were very open to research, the gathering of knowledge and education and wanted to learn to understand the world in terms of Christian creation. For Catholics, this made them a hip antithesis to both the dusty existing religious orders and the Protestants. Faith and empiricism combined to form a kind of pre-modern science that attempted to explain nature and physics. Ferdinand II's collection at Ambras Castle bears witness to the research drive of the time, as do the seemingly absurd alchemical experiments carried out by Emperor Matthias (1557 - 1619).

For all their love of the rational, mysticism also returned to everyday church life under the Jesuits. Passion plays, Easter sepulchres, processions and feast days were intended to soften the strict principles of the faith with drama and spectacle. Work hard - play hard was the motto. The celebrations during processions often degenerated into lavish festivities, which led to fights, sometimes even tumultuous and bloody scenes, similar to today's tent festivals. The bread and wine of the Lord were celebrated in the style of Panem et Circenses (bread and games) in ancient Rome. Petrus Canisius was commissioned by Ferdinand I to write a book about a miracle in Seefeld with the evocative name "Of the highly publicised miracle that took place with the most sacred sacrament of the altar on the Seefeld in the princely county of Tyrol in 1384 and what else is to be considered Christian and useful in this regard." to fuel the pilgrimage there.

This principle of mass social appropriation has survived to this day. The Marian Congregationknown as MK in Innsbruck, was one of the largest youth centres in Europe. In a modern sense, it can certainly be seen in the tradition of the church's gentle introduction to the faith and the education of young people.

The Jesuit order, fully committed to popular belief, was also highly motivated when it came to persecuting witches and people of other faiths. Peter Canisius was one of the masterminds behind the early modern witch hunts:

"Witches are being punished everywhere, and they are multiplying strangely.... They envy children the grace of baptism and deprive them of it. There are large numbers of child murderers among them... Never before in Germany have you seen people so devoted and dedicated to the devil..."

He also attracted attention as an exorcist, especially among noble ladies infected by the virus of Protestantism. Canisius used the attention that witches and people possessed by the devil attracted to publicise the power of the Catholic Church.

The Jesuits were also eagerly involved in the missionary work of pagans in the then recently discovered New World in America and Asia. St Francis Xavier, one of Ignatius of Loyola's first companions, died on a missionary journey to China. In a side chapel of the Jesuit church in Innsbruck, this Soldaten Christi an altar was consecrated.

The Jesuits still hold their teaching hand over Innsbruck today. Peter Canisius' stay made the city one of the theological centres of the German-speaking world in the 16th century. His appearance as a preacher and scholar in the city could be compared to Albert Einstein's lectureship at the university in the 1930s. He himself was also fond of the pious Alpine people.

"The Tyrol deserves our special attention, because it is even more Catholic than any other region of Germany and has not yet allowed itself to be ensnared by the heretics like the other countries. Even if many places have already been corrupted [...]. Innsbruck is ... the heart and life of the whole country."

When Innsbruck became its own diocese in 1964 under the Jesuit Paulus Rusch, St Peter Canisius was chosen as its patron saint. Today, Karl-Rahner-Platz is not only home to the Jesuit Church, but also the Faculty of Theology at the University of Innsbruck. In Saggen, the Collegium Canisianum belongs to the Jesuits. The MK is also still active in youth work.

In the 1920s and 30s, the NSDAP also grew and prospered in Tyrol. The first local branch of the NSDAP in Innsbruck was founded in 1923. With "Der Nationalsozialist - Combat Gazette for Tyrol and Vorarlberg“ published its own weekly newspaper. In 1933, the NSDAP also experienced a meteoric rise in Innsbruck with the tailwind from Germany. The general dissatisfaction and disenchantment with politics among the citizens and theatrically staged torchlight processions through the city, including swastika-shaped bonfires on the Nordkette mountain range during the election campaign, helped the party to make huge gains. Over 1800 Innsbruck residents were members of the SA, which had its headquarters at Bürgerstraße 10. While the National Socialists were only able to win 2.8% of the vote in their first municipal council election in 1921, this figure had already risen to 41% by the 1933 elections. Nine mandataries, including the later mayor Egon Denz and the Gauleiter of Tyrol Franz Hofer, were elected to the municipal council. It was not only Hitler's election as Reich Chancellor in Germany, but also campaigns and manifestations in Innsbruck that helped the party, which had been banned in Austria since 1934, to achieve this result. As everywhere else, it was mainly young people in Innsbruck who were enthusiastic about National Socialism. They were attracted by the new, the clearing away of old hierarchies and structures such as the Catholic Church, the upheaval and the unprecedented style. National Socialism was particularly popular among the big German-minded lads of the student fraternities and often also among professors.

When the annexation of Austria to Germany took place in March 1938, civil war-like scenes ensued. Already in the run-up to the invasion, there had been repeated marches and rallies by the National Socialists after the ban on the party had been lifted. Even before Federal Chancellor Schuschnigg gave his last speech to the people before handing over power to the National Socialists with the words "God bless Austria" had closed on 11 March 1938, the National Socialists were already gathering in the city centre to celebrate the invasion of the German troops. The police of the corporative state were partly sympathetic to the riots of the organised manifestations and partly powerless in the face of the goings-on. Although the Landhaus and Maria-Theresien-Straße were cordoned off and secured with machine-gun posts, there was no question of any crackdown by the executive. "One people - one empire - one leader" echoed through the city. The threat of the German military and the deployment of SA troops dispelled the last doubts. More and more of the enthusiastic population joined in. At the Tiroler Landhaus, then still in Maria-Theresienstraße, and at the provisional headquarters of the National Socialists in the Gasthaus Old Innspruggthe swastika flag was hoisted.

On 12 March, the people of Innsbruck gave the German military a frenetic welcome. To ensure hospitality towards the National Socialists, Mayor Egon Denz had each worker paid a week's wages. On 5 April, Adolf Hitler personally visited Innsbruck to be celebrated by the crowd. Archive photos show a euphoric crowd awaiting the Führer, the promise of salvation. Mountain fires in the shape of swastikas were lit on the Nordkette. The referendum on 10 April resulted in a vote of over 99% in favour of Austria's annexation to Germany. After the economic hardship of the interwar period, the economic crisis and the governments under Dollfuß and Schuschnigg, people were tired and wanted change. What kind of change was initially less important than the change itself. "Showing them up there", that was Hitler's promise. The Wehrmacht and industry offered young people a perspective, even those who had little to do with the ideology of National Socialism in and of itself. The fact that there were repeated outbreaks of violence was not unusual for the interwar period in Austria anyway. Unlike today, democracy was not something that anyone could have got used to in the short period between the monarchy in 1918 and the elimination of parliament under Dollfuß in 1933, which was characterised by political extremes. There is no need to abolish something that does not actually exist in the minds of the population.

Tyrol and Vorarlberg were combined into a Reichsgau with Innsbruck as its capital. Even though National Socialism was viewed sceptically by a large part of the population, there was hardly any organised or even armed resistance, as the Catholic resistance OE5 and the left in Tyrol were not strong enough for this. There were isolated instances of unorganised subversive behaviour by the population, especially in the arch-Catholic rural communities around Innsbruck. The power apparatus dominated people's everyday lives too comprehensively. Many jobs and other comforts of life were tied to an at least outwardly loyal attitude to the party. The majority of the population was spared imprisonment, but the fear of it was omnipresent.

The regime under Hofer and Gestapo chief Werner Hilliges also did a great job of suppression. In Tyrol, the church was the biggest obstacle. During National Socialism, the Catholic Church was systematically combated. Catholic schools were converted, youth organisations and associations were banned, monasteries were closed, religious education was abolished and a church tax was introduced. Particularly stubborn priests such as Otto Neururer were sent to concentration camps. Local politicians such as the later Innsbruck mayors Anton Melzer and Franz Greiter also had to flee or were arrested. It would go beyond the scope of this article to summarise the violence and crimes committed against the Jewish population, the clergy, political suspects, civilians and prisoners of war. The Gestapo headquarters were located at Herrengasse 1, where suspects were severely abused and sometimes beaten to death with fists. In 1941, the Reichenau labour camp was set up in Rossau near the Innsbruck building yard. Suspects of all kinds were kept here for forced labour in shabby barracks. Over 130 people died in this camp consisting of 20 barracks due to illness, the poor conditions, labour accidents or executions. Prisoners were also forced to work at the Messerschmitt factory in the village of Kematen, 10 kilometres from Innsbruck. These included political prisoners, Russian prisoners of war and Jews. The forced labour included, among other things, the construction of the South Tyrolean settlements in the final phase or the tunnels to protect against air raids in the south of Innsbruck. In the Innsbruck clinic, disabled people and those deemed unacceptable by the system, such as homosexuals, were forcibly sterilised.

The memorials to the National Socialist era are few and far between. The Tiroler Landhaus with the Liberation Monument and the building of the Old University are the two most striking memorials. The forecourt of the university and a small column at the southern entrance to the hospital were also designed to commemorate what was probably the darkest chapter in Austria's history.

In the pre-war period, the United States of America was regarded as the Land of unlimited possibilitieswhere dishwashers became millionaires. However, these success stories are not an exclusive phenomenon of the New World. Even in the society of the Danube Monarchy, which was not yet regulated down to the last detail, hard-working and capable people from the farming classes, the working classes or craftsmen were able to achieve astonishing success without formal training, qualification examinations or state authorisation. The three founders of the Tyrolean Glass Painting and Mosaic Institute, Josef von Stadl, Georg Mader and Albert Neuhauser, are examples of such a success story from Innsbruck's city history. While most of Innsbruck's industrial and craft businesses focussed on supplying the local market with tried and tested, solid products and consumer goods, the glass painting business was one of the few innovative and export-oriented companies of its time.

Josef von Stadl (1828 - 1893) grew up on his parents' farm and inn in Steinach am Brenner. Even as a child, he had to help out on the farm. The hard labour gave him periostitis in his arm at the age of nine. This made heavy physical labour impossible for him. Instead, the boy with a talent for drawing attended the model secondary school in Innsbruck, now the BORG. In 1848, he joined the Tyrolean snipers in his home town, but was not called up to fight on the country's borders. He then gained experience as a locksmith and turner. The talented young man worked on the reconstruction of the church in Steinach in 1853 after a village band. His skills were soon recognised and he gradually rose from labourer to master builder.

Georg Mader (1824 - 1881) also came from Steinach. He too had to work as a farm labourer at a young age. On the patronage of his brother, a clergyman, the pious youth was able to complete an apprenticeship with a painter, but had to give up his passion to work in the local mill. After his journeyman's journey, he decided to concentrate on painting. In Munich, he deepened his knowledge under Kaulbach and Schraudolph. After working on the cathedral in Speyer, he returned to Tyrol. As a history painter, he kept his head above water with commissions from the church.

Albert Neuhauser (1832 - 1901) learnt his trade in his father's glazier's and tinsmith's shop. He also had to give up his intended career path at an early age. He developed lung problems at the age of ten. Instead of working in his father's successful business, he travelled to Venice. For centuries, Murano had been home to the best glassworks for artistic glass production. Fascinated by this trade, he attended the stained glass school in Munich against his father's wishes. The products of the recently founded Bavarian factory did not meet his quality expectations. In his father's flat in Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, he undertook his first experiments with glass, similar to the nerds who would lay the foundations for the personal computer in their own garage a hundred years later.

Neuhauser's tinkering and experiments aroused the curiosity of his friend von Stadl. He made contact with the art-loving Mader. In 1861, the three decided to pool their expertise in an official company. Today, the founding of the company would probably be referred to as a start-up. Neuhauser took on the technical and commercial side as well as product development, Von Stadl took care of the decorative aspects and liaised with master builders and Mader took on the figurative design of the works, most of which were created for churches. The first branch, consisting of two painters and a burner, was set up on the third floor of the Gasthof zur Rose in the historic city centre. The raw material came from England, as the local glass did not meet Neuhauser's high quality standards. However, 25% duty was added to the import. Together with a chemistry teacher, Neuhauser managed to achieve the desired requirements himself after a trip to Birmingham and a lot of tinkering.

Josef von Stadl married the painter and doctor's daughter Maria Pfefferer in 1867. The farmer's boy from the Wipptal valley with the broken arm had not only become a member of the upper middle class, his wife's dowry also allowed him to live independently financially. In 1869, the three partners decided to expand the successful glass painting business with the financial support of Neuhauser's father. How dynamic and unregulated it was as a Wilhelminian style The example of the glassworks on the Wiltener Felder, which was opened in 1872 as an additional part of the Tyrolean Stained glass went into operation. Only 110 days after the start of construction, which was never officially authorised by the Wilten municipal administration, production began.

Starting with Neuhauser, who had to leave the company in 1874 due to health problems, the three company founders soon left their start-up to others, but remained partners in the Tyrolean stained glass company. In addition to their activities for the joint company, each of the three partners worked successfully on their own projects in their respective fields of activity.

Von Stadl had a lasting impact on Innsbruck. In its heyday, the number of employees at the stained glass factory had risen to over 70. In 1878, residential buildings for the company's employees, workers, artists and craftsmen were built according to von Stadl's plans. The Stained glass settlement comprised the houses at Müllerstrasse 39 - 57, Schöpfstrasse 18 - 24 and Speckbacherstrasse 14 - 16, which still exist today and differ markedly in their architecture from the neighbouring houses of the late Gründerzeit. Von Stadl was more sparing with the decoration of the houses, but was careful to include a small front garden. Workers and employees who lived in these houses were not supposed to feel inferior in any way to the residents of the cottage-style villas in Saggen. It was not unusual for large companies of the time to plan their own housing estates - think of Siemensstadt in Berlin - but it shows a company's self-image and vision for the future when a company like the Glasmalerei sees itself not only as a provider of labour and wages, but also as a provider of accommodation for its employees. The state maternity hospital in Wilten was another major project in Innsbruck that was realised under von Stadl's pen. After the construction of the Vinzentinum in 1878, he was made an honorary citizen and diocesan architect of Brixen. Pope Leo XIII awarded him the Order of St Gregory for his services. St Nicholas' Church, for which the Tyrolean stained glass company had produced the windows, became his final resting place.

Georg Mader continued to work as a painter on sacred buildings. He became a member of the Vienna Academy of Art as early as 1868. When he suffered a stroke in 1881, he was taken to Badgastein for rehabilitation. The spa town in Salzburg was a meeting place for the European aristocracy and upper middle classes at the time. In the midst of high society, the former journeyman miller died a wealthy man.

The restless and creative Neuhauser travelled to Venice again after resigning from his post as director of the Tyrolean stained glass workshop in order to found Austria's first mosaic studio with new inspiration. The merger of the two companies in 1900 opened up a wider range of opportunities. He was awarded the Order of Franz Joseph for his artistic merits. Neuhauserstraße in Wilten was named after him.