Impressive mountain scenery, turquoise-blue water—since the middle of the 19th century, Lake Attersee has been a place of yearning for the bourgeoisie and a popular destination for annual summer retreats. Year after year, industrialists, bankers, doctors, scholars, poets, artists and eccentrics populated Seewalchen and Attersee, Unterach, Weißenbach or Steinbach. Luminaries such as Johannes Brahms, Ignaz Brüll, Victor Léon, Gustav Klimt and Gustav Mahler spent the summer here, as did the sopranos Maria Jeritza and Hilde Güden, or the actress Charlotte Wolter. The picturesque villas of Lake Attersee also housed many people whose names have been forgotten. Lake Attersee was not just a place for carefree summer holidays. In 1938, many a neighbor bought a villa “cheaply” and the owners, who were considered Jews, had to consent. Nazi organizations fought over the possessions, and the restitutions after the end of the war often cannot (and do not want to) hide the spirit of Nazi ideology.

Marie-Theres Arnbom embarks on an exciting journey into the past of Lake Attersee. Marie-Theres Arnbom, Dr. phil., born 1968 in Vienna, is a historian, author, curator and cultural manager. She publishes books and articles on contemporary and cultural-historical topics, which she also stages as a curator for museums, and writes playbills and articles for major concert promoters. She founded the St. Gilgen Children’s Music Festival as an integral part of the Music Summer in Salzkammergut and – together with Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz – the Research Institute for Operetta and Entertainment Theater. Among other things, she works on the history of Jewish intellectuals and tries to revive their world of ideas. Marie-Theres Arnbom lives with her husband, the genealogist Georg Gaugusch, in Vienna.

Advanced booking requested: Tel.: +43 1 535 04 31-110 or e-mail: events@jmw.at.

Free admission as of 6:15 p.m

Photo (c) Amalthea