St. Johann im Pongau (Saiga Håns or Sainig Håns in the local Pongau dialect, abbreviated St.Johann/Pg.) is a city in the state of Salzburg, Austria. It is the administrative centre of the St. Johann im Pongau District.
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The city lies in the centre of the Salzburg Pongau region. The municipal area consists of cadastral communities of Ginau, Hallmoos, Maschl, Einöden, Plankenau, Reinbach, Rettenstein, St. Johann, and Urreiting.
The setting of the city, allows the area to be largely dependent on tourism, Alpine skiing in winter and hiking in the summer months. A gorge called Liechtensteinklamm lies south of the city. This gorge is about 4 kilometres (2.5mi) long and can be explored via walkways, first built by Prince Johann II of Liechtenstein in 1875.
History
The Salzach Valley, an ancient copper mining area, has been settled at least since the Bronze Age. The settlement was first mentioned as Sanctum Johannem in Villa in a 1074 deed, named after John the Baptist. For centuries, it was a possession held by the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg.
In 1939, following the Austrian Anschluss to Nazi Germany, St. Johann was renamed Markt Pongau and from 1941 was the site of the World War IIStalag XVIII-C (317) German prisoner-of-war camp run by the Wehrmacht.[3] Mainly French, Serbian and Red ArmyPOWs, but also Polish, Belgian, Dutch, British, American, Hungarian and Italian POWs, were interred here.[3] About 4,000 Soviet inmates were killed or succumbed to the conditions of their detention. A Russian Cemetery and a monument to this camp are located on the north end of the city. The camp was liberated by American troops on May 8, 1945.[4]
On 24 June 2000 St. Johann completed the Stadtserhebung process and received official city privileges from the Austrian government.
Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p.307. ISBN978-0-253-06089-1.
Sankt Johann im Pongau, view to the town from the station
Sankt Johann im Pongau, street near the town hall
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