Jesper,
Here is some information to your question from Austrian Encyclopedias and from what we learn at school here .
<<Does anyone know the history of Jungholz and Mittelberg in Germany/Austria?<<
Both Jungholz and Mittelberg are on Austrian teritorry, but are financially (custom and currency) attached to Germany.
In German this is called a 'Zollauschlussgebiet'.
Mittelberg the larger community (over 5000 pop.) is
historically with Austria since 1453. It was populated in the
14th century by a tribe called 'Walser', therefore 'Walsertal'.
It became a 'Zollausschlussgebiet' in 1891.
Today it attracts more than 1 Mill. tourists a year.
Altitude 1086 m. It belongs to the province of Vorarlberg.
Jungholz is part of the Austrian Tyrol. The community is much smaller (350 pop.). The custom and currency union with Bavaria (Germany) exists since 1868. It is also a tourist spot.
Altitude 1054.
The reason for the negotiated 'Zollausschlussgebiet'
is that both teritorries are due to topography (mountains) very difficult to reach from the Austrian side.
This is theoretically an interesting case, because it shows not only
the role of topography but also of the 'age of border' for the character of cross-border relations. Cross-border relations in Central Europe very often vary with the age of the border.
For theoretical aspects of border I want to point
your attention to the new book 'Curtains of Iron and Gold``
edited by Eskelinen/Liikanen and Oksa, Ashgate
1999.
May I ask you why you are interested in these two exclaves, because you did not mention anything about this in your
request.
Regards,
Josef Langer
Regards
Jesper Nielsen
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