Linz is a town in the north of Austria of 191,767 inhabitants, the third largest Austrian town and the capital of the federal state of Upper Austria.

Linz lies in the north of central Austria, only 30 kilometers from the border with the Czech Republic, 160 km west of Vienna, along both banks of the Danube. Surrounded by the Linzer Becken valley surrounded by the mountains, today it is connected with the surrounding cities (Amstetten, Wels and Steyr) and formed a small metropolis.

Linz developed from the Roman military fortress - Lentia, which became an important shopping center in the Middle Ages. Linz is mentioned for the first time in 799 when Bavaria expanded to the south and occupied the area. By the 13th century, Linz had acquired all the external features of the city but had not yet had the status of the city. This status was acquired only in the 15th century when he was in the car of the Holy Roman Emperor - Fridrik III., Then became known for his fairs.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Linz had taught mathematics for the first time by the famous astronomer Johannes Kepler, today called the Johann Kepler's Local University, founded in 1966. [2] At the same time Protestantism expanded around the city and the surrounding area, which led the Jesuits to carry out the counter-Reformation. Numerous baroque buildings were built within the 17th century. Since 1785, Linz has become the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese. [2] During the War for the Austrian legacy, the city was occupied by the Bavarian and French troops in 1741, and in 1800 the city burned down the fire. In addition to Linz in 1809, the Battle of Ebelsberg between the Austrian and Napoleonic forces in the War of the Fifth Coalition.

The first European railroad (outside England) still hunted by horses was built between Linz and Budweis - 1832. During that period, the Danube was flourishing, so Linz became a major port for numerous industrial goods from the Czech Republic, which was transported by rail to Linz , and continued to drive ships along the Danube across the monarchy. A major leap in the development of the city was the construction of the 1861 railway to Vienna and Salzburg. Since 1880, Linz has a horse-drawn tram that was electrified in 1897. Since the middle of the 19th century, the industry has started to develop into metal processing and textile.

Adolf Hitler spent part of childhood and youth in Linz, where he attended high school with Ludwig Wittgenstein - jealousy for his humble life, allegedly had a decisive influence on his later attitudes about the Jews. In 1934, in Linz, the Schiff Nazi hotel tried to revolt against the Austrian authorities. After the Anschlus of Austria in the Third Reich in Linz, in 1938, construction of steelworks and other heavy industry plants began as a branch of the state-owned joint stock company "Hermann Göring" in Berlin. This large complex began with the production of war material in 1941 and was constantly being built with thousands of foreign workers, some of whom volunteered for themselves, but also with a large number of forcibly recruited workers and prisoners of concentration camps were used to construct manufacturing and armaments. By the end of the Second World War, these drives were the target of heavy allied bombings - so these post-war drives have been renewed for a long time.

Linz is one of the largest Austrian industrial centers, known for its large steel company Voestalpine, which was built at the time of the Third Reich. In addition to Voestalpine, Linz operates a number of other smaller plants that produce machines, electrical equipment, textiles, glass, furniture, beverages, footwear, rubber and tobacco products. With its numerous shopping malls and large wholesale stores, Linz is the trade center of that part of Austria.

Ptuj is located in the eastern part of Slovenia, in the southern part of the province of Styria. The city is located 30 km southeast of Maribor, the first major city.

Ptuj is an important traffic hub. The city runs the railroad from Pragerski to Ormož and further to Croatia or Murska Sobota, and further into Hungary via Hodoš.

The position of the city is in the valley of the Drava River, the westernmost part of the Pannonian Plain, at the point where this valley is the widest. The beginning, today the historical core of Ptuj is on the bank above the river, from which the surrounding plain was easy to control. The altitude of Ptuj is 232 m.

The area of ​​Ptuj was settled even in the younger Stone Age. The Celts settled Ptuj in the late Iron Age. In the 1st century BC Christ's settlement was under the control of ancient Rome. The first written description of Ptuj, under the original name Poetovio, dates from the year 69 AD, when the Roman Emperor Vespasian was elected. Already in the era of Rome, Ptuj has developed into an extremely important commercial, customs and administrative center. In the 103rd year of Emperor Trajan, Ptuj was given the status of a civil center and the name Kolonia Ulpia Traiana Poetovia. The city had 40,000 inhabitants until it attacked Hun.

570 AD, the city was occupied by Avar and the old Slavs. Between 840 and 874 belonged to the Balaton principality of Slovene Pribina and Kocelje. Between 874 and 890 Ptuj gradually fell under the influence of the Diocese of Salzburg. As German Petau, he was involved in the Duchy of Styria in 1555.

In 1376 Ptuj got its city statute. In the 17th century, when the Turks occupied much of Hungary, Ptuj was completely destroyed. In the 19th century, the city was located further away from important traffic routes.

According to the latest Austrian population census of 1910, 86% of the population of Ptuj were Germans. The surroundings of Ptuj were predominantly populated by the Slovene population. During the German occupation, from 1941-45. The Slovenian population was abducted from Ptuj forcibly. Their houses were taken over mostly by the Germans from Bolzano. Later, after German capitulation, all Germans were forcibly evicted to Austria.