250 years of Bukovina - A celebration of peace

On Saturday, 3 May 2025, a great festival of peace will take place at the Kitzmantelfabrik in Vorchdorf - an all-day event as part of the ‘250 Years of Bukovina’ commemorations.

Experience an inspiring festival of encounters with personalities from politics, business and the arts as well as representatives of various ethnic groups who will be taking part with cultural performances and delegations. You can look forward to a varied programme of music, dance and literature as well as a visit to the special exhibition ‘250 Years of Bukovina’ in the Museum of the Vorchdorf Region.

The festival is all about peace, understanding and cultural exchange - a day full of tradition, art and shared experiences.
Admission is free throughout the day.

Join us and celebrate a festival of encounters - we look forward to seeing you!

250 years of Bukovina - a look back at the past and present
Historic Bukovina, once a multicultural region of the Habsburg monarchy, comprised parts of present-day Ukraine and Romania. For centuries, it was a place of peaceful coexistence, characterised by cultural diversity and the coexistence of different ethnicities and religions. Due to political upheavals and the outbreak of the Second World War, all ethnic Germans in Bukovina experienced resettlement/evacuation and ultimately flight, which for many ended 80 years ago in the Salzkammergut.

The event series ‘250 Years of Bukovina’ invites you to discover this fascinating history and also establish a current connection: Today, Ukraine is once again affected by war and displacement - and the Chernivtsi region (formerly the capital of Bukovina) is home to 80,000 internally displaced persons as a result of the war

The programme:
3 May - Vorchdorf / Kitzmantelfabrik From 10:00 a.m.
A celebration of peace

Help for the Ukraine - Preparing donations for Czernowitz
The charitable purpose of this project is not neglected either: the European Forum for Local History and Culture is organising several donation buses from Bad Aussee to Chernivtsi (Ukraine), where 80,000 refugees from the war zone are currently being accommodated. The main need there is for paper and writing materials for children and young people. However, the neighbouring villages of Molodija and Derelui/Valya Koz'myna - the former home of ex-Bukovinians buried in the Salzkammergut - will also be included in the distribution of donations.
More details will be announced soon!

Voices on the event series
Herbert Riess, born in 1955 as a refugee child in Vorchdorf: ‘250 years of Bukovina means for me - remembering! Remembering those Buchenland Germans who found a new home in the Salzkammergut 80 years ago after fleeing the Red Army for 41 days! Remembering an Austrian duchy in which two dozen different ethnic groups and different religious communities lived together peacefully for 165 years!'

Historian Dr Rudolf Wagner wrote about Bukovina:
‘In Bukovina - that was the unique thing! - We all lived with and against each other, fertilising each other, suffering with and against each other and celebrating festivals with and against each other. We all knew each other's ways and tolerated them. It offended the other if you wanted to be like him and didn't stay as you were. He wanted to see German theatre when there were Germans - Romanian theatre with Romanians, Ukrainian theatre with Ukrainians and Jewish theatre with Jews. We all enjoyed it and we were all happy about everything.’

Herbert Riess: ‘Yes, Bukovina - called the ‘Switzerland of the East’ by journalists at the time - was already thinking European 250 years ago!’

How to get to Vorchdorf in the Traunsee-Almtal region:

We recommend travelling by public transport!

By train: via Wels station to Lambach station, with the Vorchdorf railway (line 160) or from Gmunden with the Traunsee tram (line 161) of Stern & Hafferl Bahnen to Vorchdorf Eggenberg. Numerous connections from Wels railway station to the main trains on the Westbahn line (line 101) or via Gmunden to the Salzkammergutbahn in the direction of Bad Ischl, Hallstatt and Bad Aussee
The Kitzmantelfabrik is in the immediate vicinity of Vorchdorf-Eggenberg railway station.

with the Salzkammergut Shuttle Service Route 70 from Scharnstein railway station via Pettenbach to Vorchdorf railway station or from Almspitz on Route 80, call the taxi centre at least 1 hour in advance on 050-422 422 and order.

Travelling by bike: Coming from Wels or Linz on the R 4 Traunradweg or R6 Römerradweg, or from Gmunden R 4 Traunradweg or from Passau via Vöcklabruck and Schwanenstadt on the R 6 Römerradweg to Lambach, via the Traunkraftwerk Lambach and then via Bad Wimsbach-Neydharting to Vorchdorf. Also via the cycle connection from the R 11 Almtalradweg from Almsee via Pettenbach, briefly onto the R 13 Traunviertlerradweg to Einsiedlung and then to Vorchdorf. From Gmunden via Gschwandt to Kirchham, from Laakirchen on the R 13 Traunviertlerradweg to Kirchham, then along the Traunsee Tram in the direction of Vorchdorf. Access to the Kitzmantelfabrik is directly from Bahnhofstraße.

By car:
Motorway  A1: Vienna - Voralpenkreuz-A1 - Exit A1 Vorchdorf
Motorway A1: Munich - Salzburg - exit A1 Vorchdorf
Innkreis motorway A8 Passau - Wels - Voralpenkreuz A1 - exit A1 Vorchdorf to the centre of Vorchdorf

Parking is available in the town centre
Schwarzelmüller car park or directly at the Kitzmantelfabrik event area and at Vorchdorf railway station. (all in the immediate vicinity)

Please only use the designated car parks and show consideration for private property! Thank you for your fairness!