50 years of the city of Traun: “A huge reason to celebrate”

50 years ago there was no tram from Linz to Traun. No spinning. No indoor pool. No HTL. With examples like these, Mayor Karl-Heinz Koll (VP) underlined on Saturday how much has happened in the decades since the city was granted city status on May 21, 1973 in Upper Austria’s fifth largest city. And took the opportunity to “thank you from the bottom of my heart” to all those responsible and committed citizens who made this development possible. 50 years of the city of Traun, that is truly “a huge reason to celebrate”.

For three days, from Friday up to and including this Sunday, the anniversary in Traun will be celebrated with a colorful programme, and the official ceremony took place on Saturday evening. This was used to take a look back and at the same time into the future.

“Take people on the journey”

“Keep the good, don’t fear the new” was the motto that Koll exclaimed, it was particularly important to him “to take people on the journey so that they can contribute their ideas and opinions”.

Like Koll and his party colleague, city party chairman Wolfgang Stadlinger, the other representatives of city politics – Deputy Mayor Herwig Mahr (FP), Greens parliamentary group chairman Robert Kabelac and Josef Gokl (Pro Traun) – also emphasized (political) cooperation and tackling things together.

However, it was not mentioned that the SPÖ, the largest group in the municipal council, stayed away from the celebrations. They had previously announced that they would not take part in order to express their protest against the anniversary commemorative publication. The fact that the “red” mayors were kept silent there was “not tolerable”.

Koll’s attempt to change the mind of the Social Democrats with an apology and an offer of speaking time for the three SP mayors who were still alive – Peter Schlögl, Harald Seidl and Rudolf Scharinger – was unsuccessful. On Saturday, when looking back, Koll mentioned his five SP predecessors by name, but officially the Festschrift scandal on stage was not an issue. Nevertheless, this was the conversation among the guests.

Chancellor as guest of honour

At the ceremony, former governor Josef Pühringer (VP), who has been active again in city politics since the 2021 elections, was equally involved as a keynote speaker and contemporary witness. “I was able to experience the city for 50 years and partly design it in different functions,” he shared with the guests about his memories. The image as “Austria’s largest village” was “virtually celebrated” for a long time, said Pühringer. The strong population growth was just one reason why Traun finally wanted to become a city. In this way, they also wanted to resolutely oppose the growing efforts of Linz to incorporate Leonding, Pasching and Traun.

In contrast to the celebrations for the city elevation (which, by the way, only took place in 1974), the incumbent Federal Chancellor could be welcomed on the occasion of the 50th anniversary. Karl Nehammer (VP), who also emphasized the importance of social cohesion, wished everyone in Traun “a nice party and all the best for the coming decades”.