Hainburger Au

How the “Krone” helped save a jewel 40 years ago

The peaceful occupiers of the Au were to be evicted with a brutal police operation. Blood even flowed during the eviction operation.(Bild: Erwin Schuh)

The fight for the Hainburger Au is considered the birth of the Green Party and the modern environmental movement in Austria. The fact that the jewel was saved from destruction in 1984 is thanks to the support of "Krone" founder Hans Dichand.

It was Siberian cold and the trees, which had been bare for a long time, were facing a fiercer winter than they had seen for years. It was getting colder by the day, and when a star march set off on December 8, 40 years ago, into the floodplain forests near Hainburg, which were acutely threatened by deforestation, the ground was frozen. Inside the thicket, the first campfires blazed, warming the hearts and hopes of the courageous occupiers - initially only dozens, then hundreds and finally tens of thousands.