Allentsteig

Allentsteig is a small town of around 1,800 inhabitants in the Waldviertel region of Lower Austria. Its widest-known feature is the Allentsteig military training area, one of Austria's largest restricted military zones. The base was established under National Socialist rule from 1938 onward, when approximately 7,000 people were forcibly displaced from some 40 surrounding villages — a chapter that continues to shape local memory. The training ground remains active today and is largely closed to the public, giving this quiet Waldviertel town an unusual character defined as much by what surrounds and excludes it as by the town itself.