Wörgl
Wörgl
Location within Kufstein district
Country	Austria
State	Tyrol
District	Kufstein
Mayor	Hedi Wechner (SPÖ)
Area	19.68 km2 (8 sq mi)
Elevation	511 m  (1677 ft)
Population	12,043  (1 January 2008)
- Density	612 /km² (1,585 /sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	KU
Postal codes	6300-6302
Area codes	043-5332
Website	www.woergl.at Coordinates: 47°29′0″N 12°04′0″E / 47.483333°N 12.066667°E / 47.483333; 12.066667

Wörgl is a town in Tyrol, Austria, in the Kufstein district. It is 20 km from the state border with Bavaria.

Transport

Wörgl is an important railway junction between the line from Innsbruck to Munich, and the inner-Austrian line to Salzburg. Its railway station has been designated as a Hauptbahnhof (German: main station) since 10 December 2006.

European route E641 connects Wörgl with Salzburg, the routes E45 and E60 (Austrian autobahn A12) pass through Wörgl.

Twin cities

• Albrechtice nad Orlicí, a small village of just over 1,000 inhabitants in the Czech Republic.
• Suwa, Nagano, Japan

The Wörgl Experiment

One Schilling note with demurrage stamps from Wörgl

Wörgl was the site of the "Miracle of Wörgl" during the Great Depression. It was started on the 31st of July 1932 with the issuing of "Certified Compensation Bills", a form of currency commonly known as Stamp Scrip, or Freigeld. This was an application of the monetary theories of the economist Silvio Gesell by the town's then mayor, Michael Unterguggenberger.

The experiment resulted in a growth in employment and meant that local government projects such as new houses, a reservoir , a ski jump and a bridge could all be completed, seeming to defy the depression in the rest of the country. Inflation and deflation are also reputed to have been non-existent for the duration of the experiment.

Despite attracting great interest at the time, including from French Premier Edouard Daladier and the economist Irving Fisher, the "experiment" was terminated by the Austrian National Bank on the 1st September 1933 on the basis of the "Certified Compensation Bills" being a threat to the Bank's monopoly on printing money.

In 2006 milestones were placed, beginning from the railroad station through the downtown, to show this history, on top of questioning the authenticity of never-ending exponential growth triggered by the compound interest.

Notable citizens

• Reinhard Furrer, a German scientist and astronaut, was born in Wörgl.
• Gerhard Berger, a former Formula One driver and former co-owner of Scuderia Toro Rosso, was born in Wörgl.
• Stefan Horngacher, an Olympic ski jumper, was born in Wörgl.
• Hans Hömberg, a German film-director, dramatist and author, lived in Wörgl in his later years.
• Heinz Zak, an extreme climber and photographer, was born in Wörgl.
• Hans Peter Haselsteiner, a building tycoon and former deputy chair of the Liberal Forum, was born in Wörgl.

Panorama

See also

• Local currency
• Ithaca Hours
• Silvio Gesell
• Freigeld