Old documents surfaced: the town of Rohrbach-Berg is rewriting history

ROHRBACH MOUNTAIN. What was it like in the past, when the bourgeoisie was still valid in Rohrbach and Berg was administered by the Rödern family? Which road did the important salt take to get to the market, and how did people once drive or walk from Rohrbach to Haslach? These questions are of burning interest to Albert Ettmayer. With a well-known team, he wants to present a history book in April next year – a lively treatise on life over the centuries.

Time-consuming research

Information about days long gone is not only slumbering in the records of the communities of Rohrbach and Berg, but also in archives in Vienna, Linz and Munich. Ettmayer and his team set themselves the goal of excavating these treasures and found what they were looking for: Old, forgotten documents from the years 1200 and 1256 relating to Rohrbach-Berg were found in painstaking research work. “We sometimes worked our way from footnote to footnote and experienced so many connections or made new ones. Sometimes we were just lucky.”

Ettmayer gets help from the renowned historian Roman Sandgruber or from consultant Fritz Bertlwieser, the monastery archivist Petrus Bayer, Wolfgang Sauber, the archivist of Sprinzenstein Castle, and of course Bernhard Lanzerstorfer, the long-standing archivist of the Rohrbach city archive. Franz Gumpenberger is also represented with interesting contributions.

Looking for old photos

“The illustration of this book is very important to us. That’s why we’re looking for old photos, pictures and old views up to around 1950 that shed light on Rohrbach-Berg, but also on everyday working life and public life at that time,” explains Ettmayer and asks for submissions to mir@rohrbach-berg.ooe .gv.at. Documents can also be handed in at Villa Sinnenreich and at the town hall. Of course, everyone is welcome to keep their originals themselves. “As a small thank you, we are giving away 100 euros in Rohrbacher coins among the entries”, invites Mayor Andreas Lindorfer to take part in the campaign.

A picture of the past

With the help of the citizens, an interesting book should be created, which is dedicated to life in the early days and does not omit the most recent historical developments in Rohrbach-Berg – for example the merger of the municipalities, which was voted on eight years ago. “We don’t want to publish a Heimatbuch in the classic sense, but simply draw an overall picture of the history of Rohrbach and Berg for the first time. The focus is always on the way people live,” explains Ettmayer. The book should be designed to be lively, but also contain historically sound information. (fur)