ABSTRACT
Dornbirn, which in the summer of 1941 celebrated its 20,000th inhabitant—elevating it to the status of a medium-sized city—was the newest, yet by far most populous, city of Vorarlberg. In the case of Dornbirn, at any rate, the Nazi party succeeded in filling not only the first, but also the second set of leadership positions in the municipal administration for the most part with alte Kampfer. A comparison with small and medium-sized Austrian cities is indispensable. The new sports and recreation facilities, which the regional government, in a circular of December 1938, had encouraged the municipalities to build by pointing to "the already existing conditions, in this regard, in the Altreich," also only partially materialized. Incidentally, these projects were not only meant to convey the Nazi regime's promise of a better future of prosperity and more leisure; they were the object of personal enthusiasm by the first Nazi mayor, the holder of the "Austrian sports medal" in bronze and silver.
