Wörgl

Wörgl (

German pronunciation: [ˈvœrɡəl]) is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol, in the Kufstein district. It is 20 km (12 mi) from the international border with Bavaria, Germany.

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1869	1,080	—
1880	1,485	+37.5%
1890	2,319	+56.2%
1900	3,126	+34.8%
1910	4,232	+35.4%
1923	4,155	−1.8%
1934	4,196	+1.0%
1939	4,689	+11.7%
1951	6,247	+33.2%
1961	6,828	+9.3%
1971	7,937	+16.2%
1981	8,598	+8.3%
1991	10,041	+16.8%
2001	10,885	+8.4%
2011	12,645	+16.2%

Transport

Wörgl is a railway junction in the line between Innsbruck and Munich, as well as the inner-Austrian line to Salzburg. Its railway station has been designated as a Hauptbahnhof (German: main station) since 10 December 2006.

European route E641 connects Wörgl with Salzburg. The E45 and E60 routes (Austrian autobahn A12) pass through Wörgl.

Wörgl railway station in 1900
Wörgl railway station in 1965

History

The Wörgl Experiment

One Schilling note with demurrage stamps from Wörgl

Wörgl was the site of the "Miracle of Wörgl", beginning on 31 July 1932 during the Great Depression. Beginning with the issuing of "Certified Compensation Bills", a form of local currency commonly known as Stamp Scrip or Freigeld. This was an application of the monetary theories of the economist Silvio Gesell by the town's then-mayor, Michael Unterguggenberger [de].

The experiment resulted in a growth of employment and meant that local government projects such as new houses, a reservoir, a ski jump and a bridge could all be completed, contrasting with much of the depression in the rest of the country. Inflation and deflation are also reputed to have been non-existent for the duration of the experiment.

Despite attracting great interest at the time, including from French Premier Edouard Daladier and economist Irving Fisher, the "experiment" was ended by Austria's central bank Oesterreichische Nationalbank on 1 September 1933, so that the federal government would maintain a monopoly on the country's legal tender.

British economist John Maynard Keynes thought that "future economics will learn more from Gesell's ideas than from Marx's".

In 2006, milestones were placed across the town to commemorate this event.

World War II

The nearby Itter Castle (8 kilometres (5 miles) away from Wörgl) was the site of one of the last European battles of World War II. The castle had been seized from Grüner by SS Lieutenant General Oswald Pohl under the orders of Heinrich Himmler on 7 February 1943. The transformation of the castle into a prison was completed by 25 April 1943, and the facility was placed under the administration of the Dachau concentration camp.

The Battle for Itter Castle took place on 5 May 1945, with surrendered Wehrmacht troops, the United States Army, Austrian Resistance fighters and former French political prisoners fighting against the 17th Waffen-SS Panzer Grenadier Division. The leader of the surrendered Wehrmacht troops, Major Josef Gangl, was killed during the battle by a sniper and is buried in Wörgl's municipal cemetery. Sepp Gangl-Straße is a street in Wörgl named after Gangl.

Waldemar von Knoeringen's [de] resistance network against the Nazi Party was based in Wörgl. Commemoratives plaques and memorials have been established in the town, including to resistance member Josefine Brunner.