page_title: Voestalpine
section_title: Construction of Reichswerke in Linz (1943)
hierarchical_section_title: Voestalpine / History / Construction of Reichswerke in Linz (1943)
caption_attribution_description: English: Steel mill "voestalpine" in Linz, Austria Deutsch: Gelände des Stahlwerks "voestalpine" in Linz, Österreich. Rechts Gasometer, Bildmitte das Stahlwerk LD-3 und kleinere Hochöfen (Nr 4, 5 und 6), weiter links großer Hochofen A, abschließend das Kraftwerk der voestalpine. Rechts im Vordergrund der Chemie-Hafen und Teile der ehemaligen "Chemie Linz".
context_page_description: Voestalpine AG – stylized as voestalpine – is an international steel-based technology and capital goods group based in Linz, Austria. The company is active in steel, automotive, railway systems, profilform and tool steel industries. As of 2017, it is one of the few profitable steel companies in Europe.
  Forty-seven percent of its workforce is based in Austria. The Linz hot strip mill is a "fully integrated steel works" operated by voestalpine Stahl GmbH, a part of the steel division of voestalpine AG. In addition to Linz the most important plants are in Leoben in Styria and in Krems in Lower Austria. It had a large plant at Liezen in Styria which closed in the 1990s.
  The name of the company amalgamates its two principal components, the VÖEST in Upper Austria, established through nationalization in July 1946, and the ÖAMG in Styria, established in 1881.
context_section_description: The Reichswerke announced its plans for a new steel mill in Linz before the takeover of Alpine, as an incentive for VS to extract more ore at Erzberg. Linz had a special place in Nazi system, and the steel project received full financial commitment of the state. Guido Schmidt was appointed chief of the Reichswerke in Linz for his services to the Nazis during the Anschluss. The synergy of steel works in Linz and ore reserves at Erzberg, vertically integrated into the Reichswerke, made it virtually independent of the steel elite of the Ruhr. The works in Linz were viewed as a hub of a future steel conglomerate spanning over the whole Central Europe.
  The integration was completed with the takeover of Danube shipping companies and local construction businesses. The steel mill was completed during the war and was generously subsidized by the state. In 1943–44, when the Ruhr was heavily bombed (see Battle of the Ruhr), Hitler demanded a sharp increase in steel production in Austria. Göring launched a huge and unmanageable expansion campaign and spared no expense, all in vain: the Allied bombers levelled most of Linz, too.
caption: Panorama of the Linz steelworks, 2009
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