Braunau am Inn

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For other places with the same name, see Braunau.

Braunau am Inn
Braunau city centre, seen from the Inn bridge
Coat of arms	Location

Administration
Country	Austria
State	Upper Austria
District	Braunau am Inn
Mayor	Gerhard Skiba (SPÖ)
Basic statistics
Area	24.8 km² (9.6 sq mi)
Elevation	351 m (1152 ft)
Population	17,333 (09/06/2008)
- Density	699 /km² (1,810 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	BR
Postal code	5280
Area code	07722
Website	www.braunau.at Coordinates: 48°15′30″N 13°02′00″E / 48.25833, 13.033333

Braunau am Inn is a city in the Innviertel region of Upper Austria (Oberösterreich), the north-western state of Austria. It lies about 90 km west of Linz and about 60 km north of Salzburg, on the border with the German state of Bavaria. The population in 2001 was 16,372. A port of entry, it is connected by bridges over the Inn River with its Bavarian counterpart, Simbach am Inn. It is well-known as the birthplace of Adolf Hitler.

City center of Braunau am Inn

The town was first mentioned around 810 and received the city statute in 1260, which makes it one of the oldest cities in Austria.

It became a fortress and important trading route junction, dealing with the salt trade and with ship traffic on the River Inn.

Throughout its history it changed hands four times. It was Bavarian until 1779 and became an Austrian town under the terms of the treaty of Teschen, which settled the War of the Bavarian Succession. As a major Bavarian city, the town played an outstanding role in the Bavarian uprising against the Austrian occupation during the War of the Spanish Succession, when it hosted the Braunau Parliament, a provisional Bavarian Parliament in 1705 headed by Georg Sebastian Plinganser born 1680 in Pfarrkirchen; and died 7 May 1738 in Augsburg. Under the terms of the treaty of Pressburg, Braunau became Bavarian again in 1809. In 1816, during reorganisation of Europe after the Napoleonic Wars, Bavaria ceded the town to Austria and was compensated by the gain of Aschaffenburg. Braunau has been an Austrian city ever since.

Braunau has a remarkable 15th-century church with a 99m-high spire, the third highest in Austria. Its patron saint is St. Stephen. The remains of a castle house a museum and parts of the former town walls can still be seen. Another museum is housed in refurbished 18th century public baths.

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau on 20 April 1889; but he and his family left Braunau and moved to Linz in 1894. Outside the building in which he was born is a memorial stone commemorating the victims of World War II. The stone is made of granite from the Mauthausen concentration camp. It states: Für Frieden, Freiheit und Demokratie. Nie wieder Faschismus. Millionen Tote mahnen, or "For Peace, Freedom and Democracy, never Again Fascism, Millions of Dead Warn (us)."

In 1938 Ranshofen, which at that time had one of Austria's largest aluminum plants, was annexed to Braunau. In 1948 Braunau had a population of 11,744.

Braunau has a full range of industries including electronics, metal (AMAG), woodworking, and glass. The town also has the largest aluminium works in Austria.

After two successful seasons, the local football team, S.V. Braunau, reached the Austrian 1st Division before suddenly going bankrupt in 2000. The team was refounded as F.C. Braunau.