Wels Dragoons have to close their museum in the Dragoon Barracks

“We can no longer afford the rent of almost 14,000 euros a year and have to close our museum,” says Manfred Weickinger, chairman and commander of the Association of Former 4th Dragoons from Wels. The traditional association with its eight uniformed and 24 supporting members ran a small museum with uniforms and equipment of the dragoons of the Austro-Hungarian Army in the former dragoon barracks for a quarter of a century. In order to be able to afford the rent to the WAG at all, the dragoons have already sold a number of museum pieces to collectors.

At the moment, they are already clearing things out and looking for a place to stay. Weickinger likes the idea of ​​city councilor Thomas Rammerstorfer (Greens) that the club could find a new home in the old and last camp barracks in Wels. “The barracks would be ideal in terms of size to hold meetings and receive guests and also to be able to stay overnight,” says Weickinger. The club members regularly wear their uniforms to events at home and abroad and maintain contacts with traditional military clubs.

Camp barracks have been empty for years

The last Wels camp barracks in Lichtenegg on Schulstrasse, which is a listed building, has been empty for years. Displaced persons found temporary accommodation here between 1945 and 1964. “We have an empty barracks and an association or a museum without a place to stay. We could do something about that,” says city councillor Rammerstorfer. The barracks are owned by Welser Heimstätte.

“If we were to get the barracks, it would be justified,” says Weickinger, who complains that the Dragoons have so far received very little municipal funding.

Rammerstorfer believes the city has a duty. “On the one hand, we have to preserve the camp barracks, and that works best when they are used, and on the other hand, it’s about a club that has been active since 1919.”