Articles

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A BRIDGE ACROSS THE DANUBE

by Salvatore J. Rizza

 

[Figure 1] (click for larger image)	The Nibelungen Bridge spans the Danube River, at a length of 373 meters, connecting the City of Linz, capital of the State of Upper Austria, to its suburb of Urfahr.
A Linz city map, at Figure 2, shows the Nibelungen Bridge and its environs.		[Figure 2] (click for larger image)
[Figure 3] (click for larger image	The first bridge was built at this spot in 1497 [Figure 3], when it replaced the ferry that was then used to cross the Danube.

 

In 1 938, with the Anschluss of Austria by Nazi Germany, the Austrian-born Adolf Hitler came home. The Fuehrer considered Linz as his ňhometown.Ó In his youth the German leader had lived in the city of Leonding as well as Linz and its suburb of Urfahr, on the eastern side of the river. He attended the Staats-Realschule situated on the Steingasse from 1900 to 1904. The young Hitler would mostly take a train to school from Leonding, but sometimes he would walk for an hour and a half. When he did so the young man would see the Kurnburg Castle in the distance, where local lore had it that the Nibelungenlied was written. When the youthful Adolf moved to Urfahr he had to walk or ride across the old Danube Bridge [Figure 4].

[Figure 4]
(click for larger image)

Over time, the conviction grew in him that this river span was a monstrosity and should one day be replaced. With the annexation of Austria to Germany, the 48-year-old Adolf Hitler at last had the opportunity to make

Linz the showcase of German city planning, using his own drawings and ideas. On 13 March 1938, August Kubizek, HitlerĚs childhood school friend from Linz dropped in for a visit at the Hotel Weinzinger where Hitler was staying prior to his triumphal entry into Vienna. Hitler told his old friend of his plans for a new Linz, including a modern granite arched span across the Danube to be named the Nibelungen Bridge. Two months later, on 13 May 1 938, the German leader gave the order for the construction of the new bridge. Work on the new river crossing was begun in 1 941, with a pre-set completion date of two years. The original concept envisioned a high suspension bridge, but the type of cast-iron chains needed for this structure could not be manufactured by German steel companies in 1940; so the simpler version was built. The work in progress can be seen in the photo in Figure 5.

[Figure 5]
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It was completed in 1943. The Fuehrer was able to see it during his last visit to Linz in that year. The bridgehead on the Linz side had two huge plaster-cast statues of Siegfried and Kriemhild, characters from the Nibelungen legend.

[Figure 6]
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Two years later tank barriers had been erected in Linz, and all factories, bridges and roads were mined as of 30 April 1945. A week later, on 5 May, shortly after 11:00 a.m., the first American tanks appeared in the Adolf Hitler Platz (now and previous to the Anschluss, the Hauptplatz in Figure 2), and thereupon captured the nearby Nibelungen Bridge. TheGerman Army had failed to blow up all the bridges across the Danube in this area. At the end of the Second World War, in 1945, Austria was occupied by the American, British, French, and Russian Armies. The Iron Curtain literally split the Nibelungen Bridge at Linz in half. The western part belonged to the American Zone; the eastern half belonged to the Russian Zone.

[Figure 7]
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The one schilling postal card was issued in 1951 when the Iron Curtain still existed in Austria. The view on the front of this card shows the American Zone end of the bridge. The Nibelungen legend statues were removed in 1945.§§§§§§§§§ §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ §§§§§§§§§§§

In May of 1 953, as a U.S. Department of the Army civilian employee, I had an opportunity to visit Linz and at that time photographed the U.S. ArmyĚs ňCheck Point CharleyÓ type military police guard post at the western end of the Nibelungen Bridge.

[Figure 8]
(click for larger image)

The U.S. Army had long ago stopped checking for identification from Austrian citizens entering the American Zone, but the Russian soldiers at their end of the bridge checked the identification cards of all Austrians crossing into their zone. It was only the citizens of the three Western Occupation Powers that were denied access to the Russian Zone from this location. Red Army checks of Austrians crossing this bridge and other zonal crossing points were halted on 8 June 1953, as Russian strategy on the status of Austria changed. Two years later the occupation of Austria ended in October of 1955.

The Austrian Post Office has also issued several postal view cards touching on the same location. Two 1 schilling postal view cards were issued in 1958 [Figures 9], and 101. A 2.50 schilling postage stamp with the bridge depicted thereon was issued in 1962. There also was issued, in 1971, the 2.50 schilling postal card with the same imprinted stamp as that issued in 1962 [Figure 11]. This 2.50 schilling card also included issues with scenic Austrian views and the invitation in three languages, ňCome to Austria!Ó [Figure 12]. These ňBildpostkartenÓ made use of a different printing method from that used on postal cards without views.

[Figure 9] (click for larger image)

[Figure 10] (click for larger image)

[Figure 11] (click for larger image)

The Nibelungen Bridge stamp is part of a long set of adhesives and postal stationery featuring famous Austrian construction and memorial sites that were issued in a time period of 22 years between 1951 and 1973 by the Austrian Post Office. Despite the grandiose plans that the German dictator had envisioned for the City of Linz, the only completed work was the Nibelungen Bridge. It remains to this day a famed Linz landmark.