Region Seefeld – Tirol's High Plateau
The History of Leutasch
Leutasch, at the foot of the Wettersteingebirge, with two parish churches, a lake where Emperor Maximilian loved to fish, and its hilly Gaistal, which the writer and gamekeeper Ludwig Ganghofer discovered for himself as early as 1896, is a place that invites you to linger and marvel at the diversity and beauty of its landscape.
Leutasch was first mentioned in a document in 1166. At that time, there was talk of holdings by the stream "Liutaske," from which the present name is derived. However, permanent settlements must have existed much earlier, as the first church (St. Magdalena in Oberleutasch) was consecrated in 1190.
The possessions belonged to the monasteries of Stams and Wilten, the Augustinian canons' monastery of Polling near Weilheim, and the Pfaffenhofen church. However, there were also some "free farmers". The forests were "sovereign" and at the end of the 12th century, intense but careful and nature-respectful deforestation began. Hunting huts, which initially only provided shelter in the summer, later became year-round residences for the inhabitants – thus the first ur-farms were created.
For centuries, the people of Leutasch lived from agriculture, forestry, and hunting. Leutasch was long called the "wood chamber" of Innsbruck and Hall. Between 1690 and 1738, the "Hirnrinne" named after the Hirn brothers was built – a gigantic construction for its time, used for wood transport (drifting). The channel ran from Gaistal over Buchen to the Inn near Telfs. At the beginning of the 19th century, every summer, 200 – 300 woodworkers were employed in the Leutascher Gaistal, logging around 80,000 logs (= 160,000 m3) of wood. On June 30, 1815, the "Hirnrinne" was destroyed and washed away in a terrible storm. All of Leutasch was flooded.
Major wars, such as the Thirty Years' War, the invasion of the Bavarians in 1703 ("Bavarian Rummel"), the Tyrolean freedom fights during Napoleon's war against Austria in 1805 and 1809, as well as the two world wars from 1914 - 1918 and 1939 – 1945, did not leave the Leutaschtal unscathed. Despair and poverty spread, and it was the oldest, the women, and children who barely kept the land alive and escaped starvation through agricultural self-sufficiency.
Due to its great forest wealth, Leutasch has been and still is an important hunting area. Among the many notable and famous hunters was the writer Ludwig Ganghofer in the late 19th century, who made Leutasch known well beyond the country’s borders. His filmed books like "The Silence in the Woods" or "The Edelweiss King" are based on Ganghofer's experiences and impressions in Leutasch. Today, one can learn everything about him, his work, hunting, and the village's history at the Ganghofer Museum in the cultural house.
A good mix of farming, tourism, and economy, tradition and modern zeitgeist strengthens the intergenerational sense of homeland and makes Leutasch an extremely vibrant community with positive visions for the future.