The Danube has always been a lifeline for the Perg district. Ship anchorages developed into lively trading centers. During a conversation among local collectors of historical photographs, the idea arose to create a joint picture brochure about a river that brings people together.
“History is exciting, inspired, enthusiastic and informed,” says the chairman of the “Sharing History” association, Johannes Gstöttenmayer from Linz: “Each of us collects and has a large archive with a lot of information. We want to meaningfully integrate these sources into a common whole be packaged.” This consideration was the basis for the plan to initiate a brochure on the topic “The Danube connects Upper Austria”.
Last weekend, Roland Enzenhofer, owner of the Rauscherhaus Mauthausen, made his premises available for a first networking meeting of history and local researchers from the region. The framework conditions for the new illustrated book were determined. This is intended to recount the history of the Danube communities over the past 100 years. The journey through time along the Danube should begin in Linz and end in St. Nikola.
In order to get the project rolling, old photos, postcards and books are now being collected; ideally from the 1930s – festivals, everyday scenes and portraits. “Appropriate historical photos are very welcome. I will carefully process them, scan them and return them,” says chairman Gstöttenmayer about the initiative.
In addition to the photos, short stories about life on the Danube as well as portraits of people with a close connection to the Danube will also be included in the book. The journalist and biographer Gerlinde Riegler-Aspelmayr will be responsible for editing the texts received.
