X-Nico

5 unusual facts about Altaussee


1945 in art

Allied forces reach the Nazi stolen art repository in the salt mines at Altaussee in Austria, finding more than 6,500 paintings.

Edith Hauer

Edith Hauer-Frischmuth (born 1913 in Vienna; died 2004 in Altaussee) was an Austrian Righteous Among the Nations.

Ghent Altarpiece

After Allied air raids made the castle too dangerous for the painting, it was stored in the Altaussee salt mines.

Loser Plateau

It is most easily accessed up a toll road from the town of Altaussee.

Norman Baillie-Stewart

In 1944, Baillie-Stewart had himself sent to Vienna for medical treatment, where he was arrested in 1945 in Altaussee, while wearing "chamois leather shorts, embroidered braces and a forester's jacket" and was sent to Britain to face charges of high treason.


Leopold Blauensteiner

He also prevented the destruction of works of "degenerate art" (entartete Kunst) by Carry Hauser, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele and others, which he caused to be stored in the mine workings at Altaussee.


see also