Schwechat
# Schwechat

Schwechat (German pronunciation: (listen)) is a city southeast of Vienna known for the Vienna International Airport and Schwechater beer. The city is home to the refineries of the Austrian national oil company OMV.

## Geography

Schwechat is named after the river Schwechat, which flows through the centre of town. The city subdivisions, called Katastralgemeinde (Cadastre), are Kledering, Mannswörth, Rannersdorf and Schwechat.

## History

Home to the settlement Ala Nova of the Roman Empire, the city was first mentioned in a document in 1334. The meeting at Schwechat of Emperor Leopold I with Jan Sobieski in 1683, after the liberation of Vienna, is commemorated by an obelisk. The imperial troops defeated the Hungarian insurgents in a battle fought here in October 1848.

In 1724, a textile factory was established in Schwechat. Schwechat profited massively from the Austrian industrialisation wave of the 19th century, many of the companies established then still exist (i.e. the Dreher Brewery, founded in 1796 by Franz Anton Dreher the Younger). Schwechat became a city in 1924 and was incorporated into Vienna in 1938. The city's oil refinery was a bombing target of the Allied Oil Campaign of World War II, with the southern aviation plant complex of the Heinkel firm (Germany-based at Rostock-Schmarl as Heinkel-Nord, the Schwechat offices/facility was called Heinkel-Süd) also targeted in late 1943 and lasting through the spring of 1944.

Schwechat became an independent city in 1954. Since 2017 it belongs to Bruck an der Leitha District because Wien-Umgebung was dissolved at the end of 2016.

## Economy

Vienna International Airport and the headquarters of Austrian Airlines are in the city of Schwechat.

When Lauda Air was an independent airline, it had its corporate headquarters in Schwechat. Niki was also based in Schwechat.

## Education

Schools include:

Primary schools:

* Volksschule I & II
* Volksschule Mannswörth
* Volksschule Rannersdorf

Secondary:

* Allgemeine Sonderschule Schwechat
* Bundesgymnasium & Bundesrealgymnasium Schwechat
* Neue Mittelschule Schwechat Frauenfeld
* Neue Sport- & Sprach-Mittelschule Schwechat - Schmidgasse

## Notable people

* Christopher Dibon (born 1990), footballer, ÖFB national team
* Anton Dreher senior (1810–1863), brewer, inventor of Schwechater Lagerbier
* Joseph von Eybler (1765–1846), composer and Hofkapellmeister
* Rudolf Hausleithner (1840–1918), painter
* Alfred Horn (1898–1959), mayor and freeman of Schwechat
* Viktor Klima (born 1947), Social Democrat politician, Chancellor of Austria 1997—2000
* Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg (1862–1931), jurist, Minister-President of Cisleithania 1917/18
* Max Stotz (1912–1943), military pilot
* Karl Trabitsch (1929–2003), politician and merchant
* Rudolf Viertl (1902—1981), football player
* Rudolf Vytlačil (1912—1977), football player
* Leopold Weinhofer (1879–1947), politician and mayor

## Popular culture

Schwechat (as Megacity Schwechat) plays an important role in the Austrian sci-fi movie Die Gstettensaga: The Rise of Echsenfriedl.

