https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from Austria in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed Hundreds of revellers flocked to Vienna's Central Cemetery on Friday to attend a graveyard concert commemorating the famous site's 150th birthday, doing justice to the local expression "Death must be a Viennese". https://www.thelocal.at/20240907/vienna-cemetery-celebrates-150-years-with-graveyard-concerts Sat, 07 Sep 2024 11:38:11 +0200 vienna-cemetery-celebrates-150-years-with-graveyard-concerts It is well-known that Austria is a “neutral country”, but what does it actually mean? Here’s what you need to know about Austria’s neutrality. https://www.thelocal.at/20220208/explained-the-history-behind-austrias-neutrality Tue, 08 Feb 2022 14:33:59 +0100 explained-the-history-behind-austrias-neutrality A few miles outside Vienna, close to the Danube River, lies a strange relic of Austria’s plans to introduce nuclear power in the 1970s. It is the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant, which was completed but never put into use after a campaign stopped it in its tracks in 1978. https://www.thelocal.at/20211103/why-is-austria-so-anti-nuclear-power Wed, 03 Nov 2021 09:21:41 +0100 why-is-austria-so-anti-nuclear-power For Howard Goodman, whose grandparents were killed in the Holocaust, taking up Austrian citizenship is "a way for me to explore half of who I am, the half I have little knowledge of". https://www.thelocal.at/20211109/interview-why-one-holocaust-descendant-chose-to-become-an-austrian-citizen Tue, 09 Nov 2021 18:12:51 +0100 interview-why-one-holocaust-descendant-chose-to-become-an-austrian-citizen An Austrian man who fled the Nazis with his family during World War II has bequeathed a large part of his fortune to the French village whose residents hid them from persecution for years. https://www.thelocal.at/20210129/french-village-inherits-fortune-from-austrian-who-fled-nazis Fri, 29 Jan 2021 14:58:39 +0100 french-village-inherits-fortune-from-austrian-who-fled-nazis A politician in the eastern Swiss canon of St Gallen has raised plenty of eyebrows by suggesting the Austrian state of Vorarlberg should join Switzerland. https://www.thelocal.at/20190920/this-politician-wants-austrias-voralberg-to-become-switzerland-newest-canton Fri, 20 Sep 2019 13:09:57 +0200 this-politician-wants-austrias-voralberg-to-become-switzerland-newest-canton Austria's top court has had its final say in a row over the house where Adolf Hitler was born. https://www.thelocal.at/20190805/austria-court-ends-legal-battle-over-hitlers-birth-house Mon, 05 Aug 2019 18:33:52 +0200 austria-court-ends-legal-battle-over-hitlers-birth-house A long-running legal battle over the house where Adolf Hitler was born erupted again this week when the Austrian government appealed against the amount of compensation it has been ordered to pay for seizing the property. https://www.thelocal.at/20190223/new-austria-row-over-hitlers-birth-house Sat, 23 Feb 2019 12:35:37 +0100 new-austria-row-over-hitlers-birth-house Pieces of art depicting Adolf Hitler have been found in the bowels of Austria's parliament -- more than 70 years after the Nazi leader's death. https://www.thelocal.at/20170916/paintings-of-hitler-found-in-austrian-parliament Sat, 16 Sep 2017 06:15:07 +0200 paintings-of-hitler-found-in-austrian-parliament An 80-year search effort by a Jewish family for a painting stolen by the Nazis has come to a somewhat disappointing end as the artwork will now go on auction at Sotheby's in London. https://www.thelocal.at/20170529/italian-masterpiece-stolen-by-nazis-from-austrian-family-goes-on-auction-in-london Mon, 29 May 2017 14:07:01 +0200 italian-masterpiece-stolen-by-nazis-from-austrian-family-goes-on-auction-in-london A 300-year-old statue of the Virgin Mary has been found hidden in a chapel next to a Catholic church in Loretto, Burgenland. https://www.thelocal.at/20161024/sensational-300-year-old-madonna-found-in-burgenland Mon, 24 Oct 2016 15:50:00 +0200 sensational-300-year-old-madonna-found-in-burgenland The woman whose participation in an impromptu kiss celebrating the end of the war with Japan has died on Thursday after a brief illness at the age of 92. https://www.thelocal.at/20160911/v-j-day-kiss-woman-passes-on-austrian Mon, 12 Sep 2016 00:00:33 +0200 v-j-day-kiss-woman-passes-on-austrian Experts in Austria have excavated two giant mammoth tusks thought to be over a million years old under roadworks just north of Vienna. https://www.thelocal.at/20160829/million-years-old-mammoth-tusks-found-in-vienna Mon, 29 Aug 2016 21:49:29 +0200 million-years-old-mammoth-tusks-found-in-vienna A priest carrying out renovation work on a church in Austria was surprised to discover a skull that could be up to 900 years old buried in a hidden wall cavity. https://www.thelocal.at/20160728/mystery-priest-skull-and-hat-found-in-austria Thu, 28 Jul 2016 13:15:58 +0200 mystery-priest-skull-and-hat-found-in-austria A 92-year-old woman who helped to bury 30 Red Army soldiers in her back garden in 1945 has had her ‘last wish’ of exhuming the bodies of the soldiers granted this week. https://www.thelocal.at/20160311/red-army-soldiers-exhumed-mass-grave-austria Fri, 11 Mar 2016 11:53:33 +0100 red-army-soldiers-exhumed-mass-grave-austria A new exhibition at Wien Museum is showcasing photos from Vienna's famous Prater fairground since 1766. https://www.thelocal.at/20160310/strong-men-in-the-19th-century-prater Thu, 10 Mar 2016 15:28:54 +0100 strong-men-in-the-19th-century-prater Recently-declassified nuclear targeting documents from 1959 describe how Washington planned to destroy cities in Eastern and Central Europe, including Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and a former Soviet air base on the border with Austria. https://www.thelocal.at/20151231/us-wanted-to-destroy-soviet-bloc-cities Thu, 31 Dec 2015 13:29:45 +0100 us-wanted-to-destroy-soviet-bloc-cities Italian explorer Christopher Columbus is often accused of bringing syphilis back to Europe from the New World, but new research shows he may not be guilty as charged. https://www.thelocal.at/20151123/colombus-didnt-bring-syphilis-to-europe-research-shows Mon, 23 Nov 2015 13:48:02 +0100 colombus-didnt-bring-syphilis-to-europe-research-shows An Austrian photographer has started a crowdfunding project to fund a book of images he is working on about his grandmother who was murdered in Ravensbrück concentration camp in northern Germany. https://www.thelocal.at/20150921/tracing-a-lost-grandmothers-footsteps Mon, 21 Sep 2015 16:31:06 +0200 tracing-a-lost-grandmothers-footsteps When German tourists Erika and Helmut Simons found a human body in the Austrian-Italian Alps, they had no idea what they'd stumbled upon. This iceman was over 5000 years old - and was something archaeologists had never seen before. https://www.thelocal.at/20150917/5000-years-under-ice-tzi-europes-oldest-celebrity Thu, 17 Sep 2015 17:57:47 +0200 5000-years-under-ice-tzi-europes-oldest-celebrity