Bauernkriegsdenkmal

The Counter-Reformation banned Protestantism, many peasants were dispossessed, their farms burnt, their children impaled and their women violated. Because they resisted, they were rebels in the eyes of the emperor. In 1618, he entrusted Maximilian of Bavaria with the subjugation of Upper Austria. General Pappenheim, imperial troops and mercenaries, together 8000 men, met 8500 peasants in the "Emlinger Holz" on 9 November 1626; 3000 peasants and 3000 soldiers were killed; the morning star and halberd in our coat of arms commemorate this battle.