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G.I. Bill

The G.I. Bill, formally known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, but the term "G.I. Bill" is still used to refer to programs created to assist American military veterans.

It was largely designed and passed through Congress in 1944 in a bipartisan effort led by the American Legion, which wanted to reward practically all wartime veterans. John H. Stelle, a former Democratic Governor of Illinois, served as the Chairman of the Legion's Executive Committee, which drafted and mobilized public opinion to get the G.I. Bill to President Roosevelt's desk on June 22, 1944. Stelle was rewarded for his efforts by the Legion which unanimously elected him its National Commander in 1945. He is commonly referred to as the "Father of the G.I. Bill." Since the First World War the Legion had been in the forefront of lobbying Congress for generous benefits for war veterans. President Roosevelt initially proposed a much smaller program. As historians Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart Blumin point out, FDR did not play a significant role in the contours of the bill. At first, Roosevelt shared with nearly everyone the idea that "satisfactory employment," not educational opportunity, was the key feature of the bill. This changed in the fall of 1944, when Roosevelt's special representative to the European Theatre, Anna M. Rosenberg, returned with her report on the G.I.'s postwar expectations. From her hundreds of interviews with servicemen then fighting in France, it was clear they wanted educational opportunities previously unavailable to them. FDR "lit up," Rosenberg recalled, and subsequent additions to the bill included provisions for higher education.

The final bill provided immediate financial rewards for practically all World War II veterans, thereby avoiding the highly disputed postponed life insurance policy payout for World War I veterans that had caused political turmoil in the 1920s and 1930s. Benefits included low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business or farm, one year of unemployment compensation, and dedicated payments of tuition and living expenses to attend high school, college, or vocational school. These benefits were available to all veterans who had been on active duty during the war years for at least 90 days and had not been dishonorably discharged.

By 1956, 7.8 million veterans had used the G.I. Bill education benefits, some 2.2 million to attend colleges or universities and an additional 5.6 million for some kind of training program. Historians and economists judge the G.I. Bill a major political and economic success—especially in contrast to the treatments of World War I veterans—and a major contribution to U.S. stock of human capital that encouraged long-term economic growth. It has been criticized for various reasons including increasing racial wealth disparities during the era of Jim Crow.

The original G.I. Bill ended in 1956. The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 provided veterans with funding for the full cost of any public college in their state. The G.I. Bill was also modified through the passage of the Forever GI Bill in 2017.

History
On June 22, 1944, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill of Rights, was signed into law. Professor Edwin Amenta states:
 * Veterans benefits were a bargain for conservatives who feared increasingly high taxation and the extension of New Deal national government agencies. Veterans benefits would go to a small group without long-term implications for others, and programs would be administered by the VA, diverting power from New Deal bureaucracies.  Such benefits were likely to hamper New Dealers in their attempts to win a postwar battle over a permanent system of social policy for everyone.

During the war, politicians wanted to avoid the postwar confusion about veterans' benefits that became a political football in the 1920s and 1930s. Veterans' organizations that had formed after the First World War had millions of members; they mobilized support in Congress for a bill that provided benefits only to veterans of military service, including men and women. Ortiz says their efforts "entrenched the VFW and the Legion as the twin pillars of the American veterans' lobby for decades."

Harry W. Colmery, Republican National Committee chairman and a former National Commander of the American Legion, is credited with writing the first draft of the G.I. Bill. He reportedly jotted down his ideas on stationery and a napkin at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.  A group of 8 from the Salem, Illinois American Legion have also been credited with recording their ideas for veteran benefits on napkins and paper. The group included Omar J. McMackin, Earl W. Merrit, Dr. Leonard W. Esper, George H. Bauer, William R. McCauley, James P. Ringley, A.L. Starshak and Illinois Governor, John Stelle who attended the signing ceremony with President Roosevelt.

U.S. Senator Ernest McFarland, (D) AZ, and National Commander of the American Legion Warren Atherton, (R) CA were actively involved in the bill's passage. Edith Nourse Rogers, (R) MA, who helped write and who co-sponsored the legislation, might be termed as the "mother of the G.I. Bill". As with Colmery, her contribution to writing and passing this legislation has been obscured by time. The bill that President Roosevelt initially proposed had a means test—only poor veterans would get one year of funding; only top-scorers on a written exam would get four years of paid college. The American Legion proposal provided full benefits for all veterans, including women and minorities, regardless of their wealth.

An important provision of the G.I. Bill was low interest, zero down payment home loans for servicemen, with more favorable terms for new construction compared to existing housing. This encouraged millions of American families to move out of urban apartments and into suburban homes.

Another provision was known as the 52–20 clause for unemployment. Unemployed war veterans would receive $20 once a week for 52 weeks for up to one year while they were looking for work. Less than 20 percent of the money set aside for the 52–20 Club was distributed. Rather, most returning servicemen quickly found jobs or pursued higher education.

The recipients did not pay any income tax on the GI benefits, since they were not considered earned income.

The G.I. Bill received criticism for directing some funds to for-profit educational institutions. The G.I. Bill was racially discriminatory, as it was intended to accommodate Jim Crow laws. Due to the discrimination by local and state governments, as well as by private actors in housing and education, the G.I. Bill failed to benefit African Americans as it did with white Americans. Columbia University historian Ira Katznelson described the G.I. Bill as affirmative action for whites. The G.I. Bill has been criticized for increasing racial wealth disparities.

The original G.I. Bill ended in 1956. A variety of benefits have been available to military veterans since the original bill, and these benefits packages are commonly referred to as updates to the G.I. Bill.

After World War II
A greater percentage of Vietnam veterans used G.I. Bill education benefits (72 percent) than World War II veterans (49 percent) or Korean War veterans (43 percent).

Canada
Canada operated a similar program for its World War II veterans, with a similarly beneficial economic impact.

Racial discrimination
The G.I. Bill aimed to help American World War II veterans adjust to civilian life by providing them with benefits including low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans and financial support. The chairman of the American Veterans Committee at the time, Charles G. Bolte, wrote that federal agencies were consistently discriminating "as though the legislation were earmarked 'For White Veterans Only'". According to historian Ira Katznelson, "the law was deliberately designed to accommodate Jim Crow". In the New York and northern New Jersey suburbs 67,000 mortgages were insured by the G.I. Bill, but fewer than 100 were taken out by non-whites.

Additionally, some banks and mortgage agencies refused loans to black people. After the war, many people, black people included, returned to their former lives of poverty, making it difficult for them to pursue the higher education opportunities afforded by the G.I. Bill.

In the South, which was still segregated at that time, some universities refused to admit black people until the Civil Rights movement. Colleges accepting black people in the South initially numbered 100. Some of those institutions were of lower quality, with 28 of them classified as sub-baccalaureate. Only seven states offered post-baccalaureate training, while no accredited engineering or doctoral programs were available for blacks. These institutions were all smaller than white or non-segregated universities, often facing a lack of resources.

By 1946, only one fifth of the 100,000 black people who had applied for educational benefits had been registered in college. Furthermore, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) came under increased pressure as rising enrollments and strained resources forced them to turn away an estimated 20,000 veterans. HBCUs were already the poorest colleges. HBCU resources were stretched even thinner when veterans' demands necessitated an expansion in the curriculum beyond the traditional "preach and teach" course of study.

Though black people encountered many obstacles in their pursuit of G.I. benefits, the bill greatly expanded the population of African Americans attending college and graduate school. In 1940, enrollment at Black colleges was 1.08% of total U.S. college enrollment. By 1950 it had increased to 3.6%. However, these gains were limited almost exclusively to Northern states, and the educational and economic gap between white and black nationally widened under the effects of the G.I. Bill. With 79 percent of the black population living in southern states, educational gains were limited to a small portion of black Americans.

Merchant marine
Congress did not include the merchant marine veterans in the original G.I. Bill, even though they were considered military personnel in times of war in accordance with the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. As President Roosevelt (Democrat) signed the G.I. Bill in June 1944 he said, "I trust Congress will soon provide similar opportunities to members of the merchant marine who have risked their lives time and time again during war for the welfare of their country." Now that the youngest World War II veterans are in their 90s, efforts have been made to recognize the merchant mariners' contributions by giving some benefits to the remaining survivors. In 2007, three different bills to address this issue were introduced in Congress, of which one only passed in the House of Representatives. The Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act of 2007 establishes Merchant Mariner equality compensation payments by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of a monthly benefit of $1,000 to each individual who, between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946, was a documented member of the U.S. Merchant Marine (including Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service). This bill was introduced to the House by Rep. Bob Filner (D-California) in 2007 and passed the House but not the Senate so did not become law. Another attempt to notice Merchant Marines in the G.I. Bill was the 21st Century GI Bill of Rights Act of 2007, introduced by Sen. Hillary Clinton, Entitles basic educational assistance to Armed Forces or reserves who, after September 11, 2001: (1) are deployed overseas; or (2) serve for an aggregate of at least two years or, before such period, are discharged due to a service-connected disability, hardship, or certain medical conditions. Entitles such individuals to 36 months of educational assistance. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Florida) got the house to pass easier access to the GI Bill by "verifying honorable service as a coast-wise merchant seaman between December 7, 1941, and December 31, 1946, for purposes of eligibility for veterans' benefits under the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977." It passed the House and went no further.

Colleges that target veterans
After the GI Bill was instituted in the 1940s, a number of "fly-by-night" vocational schools were created. Some of these for-profit colleges still target veterans, who are excluded from the 90-10 rule for federal funding. This loophole encourages for-profit colleges to target and aggressively recruit veterans and their families. Legislative efforts to close the 90-10 loophole have failed.

According to the GI Bill Comparison Tool, the largest recipients of GI Bill Funds are
 * University of Phoenix $190,941,289
 * University of Maryland Global Campus $67,806,473
 * American Public University System $58,773,186
 * Full Sail University $48,678,834
 * Colorado Technical University $48,024,079
 * Arizona State University $42,759,321
 * Liberty University $33,938,851
 * National University $32,080,876
 * Southern New Hampshire University $30,986,463

Lead generators like QuinStreet have also acted as third parties to recruit veterans for subprime colleges.

Inadequate disability coverage
The bill specified that any veteran requiring a prosthetic limb would be entitled to one and the training required to utilize it, as well as limited funding for custom automobiles and home renovations. Author Bess Williamson highlighted that there were extensive obstacles to veterans receiving prosthetic limbs following the first and second World Wars. These included inadequate types of prosthetics, poor quality of prosthetics, and a high emphasis on societal reintegration that emphasized aesthetics over function. However, the sympathetic perception of veterans, influenced by films like Meet McGonegal (1944), helped to drive innovation of prosthetic devices. Williamson also argued that these veteran's benefits, despite their flaws, set the stage for later government support and legislation, like the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Content
All veteran education programs are found in law in Title 38 of the United States Code. Each specific program is found in its own Chapter in Title 38.

Unlike scholarship programs, the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) requires a financial commitment from the service member. However, if the benefit is not used, the service member cannot recoup whatever money was paid into the system.

In some states, the National Guard does offer true scholarship benefits, regardless of past or current MGIB participation.

Chapter 30 (Montgomery GI Bill)
In 1984, former Mississippi Democratic Congressman Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery revamped the G.I. Bill. From 1984 until 2008, this version of the law was called "The Montgomery G.I. Bill". The Montgomery GI Bill — Active Duty (MGIB) stated that active duty members had to forfeit $100 per month for 12 months; if they used the benefits, they received $1564 monthly as a full-time student (tiered at lower rates for less-than-full-time) for a maximum of 36 months of education benefits. This benefit could be used for both degree and certificate programs, flight training, apprenticeship/on-the-job training, and correspondence courses if the veteran was enrolled full-time. Part-time veteran students received less, but for a proportionately longer period. This meant that for every month the veteran received benefits at the half-time, the veteran's benefits were only charged for 1/2 of a month. Veterans from the reserve had different eligibility requirements and different rules on receiving benefits (see Ch. 1606, Ch. 1607 and Ch. 33). MGIB could also be used while active, which only reimbursed the cost of tuition and fees. Each service has additional educational benefit programs for active duty members. Most delay using MGIB benefits until after separation, discharge or retirement.

"Buy-Up" option
The "Buy-Up" option, allows active duty members to forfeit up to $600 more toward their MGIB. For every dollar the service member contributes, the federal government contributes $8. Those who forfeit the maximum ($600) will receive, upon approval, an additional $150 per month for 36 months, or a total of $5400. This allows the veteran to receive $4,800 in additional funds ($5400 total minus the $600 contribution to receive it), but not until after leaving active duty (unless the tuition of a term is higher than the monthly MGIB rate would pay). The additional contribution must be made while still on active duty. It is available for G.I. Bill recipients using either Ch. 30 or Ch. 1607, but cannot be extended beyond 36 months if a combination of G.I. Bill programs are used. It will pay past 36 months of eligibility, by being paid to the end of the term where entitlement is exhausted.

The "buy-up" option is not to be confused with a "kicker". A kicker is an additional payment as well, however it is a contractual incentive for specific jobs, and not an optional offering soldiers can pay into.

Time limit/eligibility
MGIB benefits may be used up to 10 years from the date of last discharge or release from active duty. The 10-year period can be extended by the amount of time a service member was prevented from training during that period because of a disability or because he/she was held by a foreign government or power.

The 10-year period can also be extended if one reenters active duty for 90 days or more after becoming eligible. The extension ends 10 years from the date of separation from the later period. Periods of active duty of fewer than 90 days qualify for extensions only if one was separated for one of the following:
 * A service-connected disability
 * A medical condition existing before active duty
 * Hardship

For those eligible based on two years of active duty and four years in the Selected Reserve (also known as "call to service"), they have 10 years from their release from active duty, or 10 years from the completion of the four-year Selected Reserve obligation to use MGIB benefits.

At this time, service members cannot recoup any monies paid into the MGIB program should it not be utilized.

Top-up option
Service members may use GI bill in conjunction with Military Tuition Assistance (MilTA) to help with payments above the MilTA CAP. This will reduce the total benefit available once the member leaves service. Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–377, January 4, 2011), Section 111, amended Title 38, U.S. Code, by adding section 3322(h), "Bar to Duplication of Eligibility Based on a Single Event or Period of Service," which does not allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish eligibility for a Service Member under more than one education benefit. If a service member applies for Montgomery GI Bill benefits (such as the Top-up option to augment Tuition Assistance) and entered service on/after August 1, 2011, then they must incur a subsequent period of service to convert to the Post 9/11 GI Bill. If the service member cannot incur another period of service, they are not eligible to convert. The VA considers a service member has elected a GI Bill upon submission of VA Form 22–1990.and VA approval and issues a Certificate of Eligibility.

Educational

 * College, business
 * Technical or vocational courses
 * Correspondence courses
 * Apprenticeship/job training
 * Flight training (usually limited to 60% for Ch. 30, see Ch. 33 for more flight information)

Under this bill, benefits may be used to pursue an undergraduate or graduate degree at a college or university, a cooperative training program, or an accredited independent study program leading to a degree.

Chapter 31 (Vocational Rehabilitation Program)
"Chapter 31" is a vocational rehabilitation program that serves eligible active duty servicemembers and veterans with service-connected disabilities. This program promotes the development of suitable, gainful employment by providing vocational and personal adjustment counseling, training assistance, a monthly subsistence allowance during active training, and employment assistance after training. Independent living services may also be provided to advance vocational potential for eventual job seekers, or to enhance the independence of eligible participants who are presently unable to work.

In order to receive an evaluation for Chapter 31 vocational rehabilitation and/or independent living services, those qualifying as a "servicemember" must have a memorandum service-connected disability rating of 20% or greater and apply for vocational rehabilitation services. Those qualifying as "veterans" must have received, or eventually receive, an honorable or other-than-dishonorable discharge, have a VA service-connected disability rating of 10% or more, and apply for services. Law provides for a 12-year basic period of eligibility in which services may be used, which begins on latter of separation from active military duty or the date the veteran was first notified of a service-connected disability rating. In general, participants have 48 months of program entitlement to complete an individual vocational rehabilitation plan. Participants deemed to have a "serious employment handicap" will generally be granted exemption from the 12-year eligibility period and may receive additional months of entitlement as necessary to complete approved plans.

Chapter 32 (Veterans Educational Assistance Program)
The Veterans Educational Assistance Program (VEAP) is available for those who first entered active duty between January 1, 1977, and June 30, 1985, and elected to make contributions from their military pay to participate in this education benefit program. Participants' contributions are matched on a $2 for $1 basis by the Government with a maximum allowable participant contribution of $2,700. (Maximum possible government contribution: $5,400. Maximum possible benefit: $8,100.) This benefit may be used for degree and certificate programs, flight training, apprenticeship/on-the-job training and correspondence courses.

Chapter 33 (Post-9/11)
Congress, in the summer of 2008, approved an expansion of benefits beyond the current G.I. Bill program for military veterans serving since the September 11 attacks originally proposed by Democratic Senator Jim Webb. Beginning in August 2009, recipients became eligible for greatly expanded benefits, or the full cost of any public college in their state. The new bill also provides a housing allowance and $1,000 a year stipend for books, among other benefits.

The VA announced in September 2008 that it would manage the new benefit itself instead of hiring an outside contractor after protests by veteran's organizations and the American Federation of Government Employees. Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake stated that although it was "unfortunate that we will not have the technical expertise from the private sector," the VA "can and will deliver the benefits program on time."

President Obama Launches Post-9/11 GI Bill August 3, 2009 | 12:01

President Obama marks the launch of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which will provide comprehensive education benefits to our veterans. The bill will provide our veterans the skills and trainings they need to be successful in the future, and is part of the Presidents plan to build a new foundation for the 21st century. August 3, 2009.

In December 2010 Congress passed the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2010. The new law, often referred to as G.I. Bill 2.0, expands eligibility for members of the National Guard to include time served on Title 32 or in the full-time Active Guard and Reserve (AGR). It does not, however, cover members of the Coast Guard Reserve who have served under Title 14 orders performing duties comparable to those performed by National Guard personnel under Title 32 orders.

The new law also includes:

enrollment periods. In this case if the veteran is full-time, and his or her maximum BAH rate is $1500 per month, then he or she will receive (13/30)x$1500 = $650 for the end of the first period of enrollment, then the veteran will receive (10/30)x$1500 = $500 for the beginning of the second period of enrollment. Effectively, the change in break-pay means the veteran will receive $1150 per month for August instead of $1500 per month. This has a significant impact in December - January BAH payments since most Colleges have 2-4 week breaks.

Another change enables active-duty servicemembers and their G.I. Bill-eligible spouses to receive the annual $1,000 book stipend (pro-rated for their rate of pursuit), adds several vocational, certification and OJT options, and removes the state-by-state tuition caps for veterans enrolled at publicly funded colleges and universities.

Changes to Ch. 33 also includes a new $17,500 annual cap on tuition and fees coverage for veterans attending private colleges and foreign colleges and universities.

Chapter 34 (Vietnam Era G.I. Bill)
The Vietnam Era G.I. Bill provided educational assistance for service members serving on Active Duty for more than 180 days with any portion of that time falling between January 31, 1955, and January 1, 1977. To be eligible, service members must have been discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. There was no service member contribution for this program like Chapter 30 or 32. This program was sunset on December 31, 1989.

Chapter 35 (Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance Program)
The Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) Program delivers education and training advantages to dependents from eligible resources to veterans who have either have a terminal illness due to a service-related condition, or who were called to active duty or had a disability related to serving in the American forces in the United States. That program gives around 50 months of education benefits. However, there are still more opportunities. The benefits may be used for degree and certificate programs, apprenticeship, and on the job training. Spouses of veterans and former spouses are offered free courses occasionally.

Chapter 1606 (Montgomery GI Bill- Selective Reserve)
The Montgomery G.I. Bill — Selected Reserve (MGIB-SR) program may be available to members of the Selected Reserve, including all military branch reserve components as well as the Army National Guard and Air National Guard. This benefit may be used for degree and certificate programs, flight training, apprenticeship/on-the-job training and correspondence courses.

Chapter 1607 (Reserve Educational Assistance Program)
The Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP) was available to all reservists who, after September 11, 2001, complete 90 days or more of active duty service "in support of contingency operations." This benefit provided reservists return from active duty with up to 80% of the active duty (Chapter 30) G.I. Bill benefits as long as they remained active participants in the reserves. Chapter 1607 was sunset on November 25, 2019, to make way for the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill.

Other legal safeguards
The State of California has an 85-15 rule that aims to prevent predatory for-profit colleges and "fly-by-night schools" from targeting veterans.

In 2012, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13607 to ensure that military service members, veterans, and their families would not be aggressively targeted by sub-prime colleges.

GI Bill Comparison Tool and college choice
The Department of Veterans Affairs maintains a website for veterans to compare colleges that use the GI Bill, in order to use their educational benefits wisely.

VA also has a GI Bill Feedback System for veterans to lodge their complaints about schools they are attending.

title: G.I. Bill


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Gus Hall

Gus Hall (born Arvo Kustaa Halberg; October 8, 1910 – October 13, 2000) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a perennial candidate for president of the United States. He was the Communist Party nominee in the 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984 presidential elections. As a labor leader, Hall was closely associated with the so-called "Little Steel" Strike of 1937, an effort to unionize the nation's smaller, regional steel manufacturers. During the Second Red Scare, Hall was indicted under the Smith Act and was sentenced to eight years in prison. After his release, Hall led the CPUSA for over 40 years, often taking an orthodox Marxist–Leninist stance.

Background and early political activism
Hall was born Arvo Kustaa Halberg in 1910 in Cherry Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota, a rural community on northern Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range. He was Finnish-American, the son of Matt (Matti) and Susan (Susanna) Halberg. Hall's parents were Finnish immigrants from the Finland, Lapua region, and were politically radical: they were involved in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and were early members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in 1919. The Mesabi Range was one of the most important immigration settlements for Finns, who were often active in labor militancy and political activism. Hall's home language was Finnish, and he conversed with his nine siblings in that language for the rest of his life. He did not know political terminology in Finnish and used mostly English when meeting with visiting Finnish Communists.

Hall grew up in a Communist home and was involved early on in politics. According to Hall, after his father was banned from working in the mines for joining an IWW strike, the family grew up in near-starvation in a log cabin built by Halberg.

At 15, to support the impoverished ten-child family, Hall left school and went to work in the North Woods lumber camps, mines and railroads. Two years later in 1927, he was recruited to the CPUSA by his father. Hall became an organizer for the Young Communist League (YCL) in the upper Midwest. In 1931, an apprenticeship in the YCL qualified Hall to travel to the Soviet Union to study for two years at the International Lenin School in Moscow.

Move to Minneapolis
After his studies, Hall moved to Minneapolis to further the YCL activities there. He was involved in hunger marches, demonstrations on behalf of farmers, and various strikes during the Great Depression. In 1934, Hall was jailed for six months for taking part in the Minneapolis Teamster's Strike, led by Trotskyist Farrell Dobbs. After serving his sentence, Hall was blacklisted and was unable to find work under his original name. He changed his name to Gus Hall, derived from Kustaa (Gustav) Halberg. The change was confirmed in court in 1935.

Ohio activism
In late 1934, Hall went to Ohio's Mahoning Valley. Following the call for organizing in the steel industry, Hall was among a handful hired at a steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio. During 1935–1936, he was involved in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and was a founding organizer of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), which was set up by the CIO. Hall stated that he and others persuaded John L. Lewis, who was one of the founders of the CIO, that steel could be organized.

Marriage and family
In Youngstown, Hall met Elizabeth Mary Turner (1909–2003), a woman of Hungarian background. They were married in 1935. Elizabeth was a leader in her own right, among the first women steelworkers and a secretary of SWOC. They had two children, Barbara (Conway) (born 1938) and Arvo (born 1947).

"Little Steel" strike and war service
Hall was a leader of the 1937 "Little Steel" strike, so called because it was directed against Republic Steel, Bethlehem Steel and the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, as opposed to the industry giant U.S. Steel. It had previously entered into a contract with SWOC without a strike. The strike was ultimately unsuccessful, and marred by the deaths of workers at Republic plants in Chicago and Youngstown. Hall was arrested for allegedly transporting bomb-making materials intended for Republic's plant in Warren, Ohio. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was fined $500. SWOC became the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in 1942. Philip Murray, USWA founding president, once commented that Hall's leadership of the strike in Warren and Youngstown was a model of effective grassroots organizing.

After the 1937 strike, Hall focused on party activities instead of union work, and became the leader of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) in Youngstown in 1937. His responsibilities in the party grew rapidly, and in 1939 he became the CPUSA leader for the city of Cleveland. Hall ran on the CPUSA ticket for Youngstown councilman and also for governor of Ohio, but received few votes. In 1940 Hall was convicted of fraud and forgery in an election scandal and spent 90 days in jail.

Hall volunteered for the United States Navy when World War II broke out, serving as a machinist in Guam. During the first years of the war in Europe, the CPUSA held an isolationist stance, as the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were cooperating based on the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. When Hitler broke the treaty by invading the USSR in June 1941, the CPUSA began to officially support the war effort. During his naval service, Hall was elected in absence to the National Committee of the CPUSA. He was honorably discharged from the Navy on March 6, 1946.

Seen as a Moscow loyalist, Hall's reputation in the party rose after the war. In 1946 he was elected to the national executive board of the party under the new general secretary, Eugene Dennis, a pro-Soviet Marxist–Leninist, who had replaced Earl Browder after the latter's expulsion from the party.

Indictment during the Red Scare and rise to the head of the CPUSA
Now a major American communist leader in the post-war era, Hall caught the attention of United States officials. On July 22, 1948, Hall and 11 other Communist Party leaders were indicted under the Alien Registration Act, popularly called the Smith Act, on charges of "conspiracy to teach and advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government by force and violence", although his conviction was based entirely on Hall's advocacy of Marxist thought. Hall's initial prison sentence lasted for five years.

Released on bail, Hall rose to the secretariat of the CPUSA. When the Supreme Court upheld the Smith Act (June 4, 1951), Hall and three other men skipped bail and went underground. Hall's attempt to flee to Moscow failed when he was picked up in Mexico City on October 8, 1951. He was sentenced to three more years and eventually served over five and a half years in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. In prison he distributed party leaflets and lifted weights. He was located in a cell adjacent to that of George Kelly, a notorious gangster of the prohibition era. The Supreme Court of the United States later reversed some convictions under the Smith Act as unconstitutional.

In the early 1960s, Hall was in danger of facing yet another indictment, this time under the Internal Security Act of 1950, known as the McCarran Act, but the Supreme Court found the Act partly unconstitutional, and the government abandoned its charges. The act required "Communist action" organizations to register with the government, it excluded party members from applying for United States passports or holding government jobs. Because of the Act, Hall's driver's license was revoked by the State of New York.

After his release, Hall continued his activities. He began to travel around the United States, ostensibly on vacation but gathering support to replace Dennis as the general secretary. He accused Dennis of cowardice for not going underground as ordered in 1951 and also claimed Dennis had used funds reserved for the underground for his own purposes. Hall's rise to the position of general secretary was generally unexpected by the American Communist circles (the post was expected to go to either Henry Winston or Gil Green, both important figures in the YCL ), although Hall had held the office of acting general secretary briefly in the early 1950s after Dennis's arrest. In 1959, Hall was elected CPUSA general secretary and afterward received the Order of Lenin.

General Secretary of the CPUSA
The McCarthy era had taken a heavy toll on the Communist Party USA, as many American members were called to testify to congressional committees. In addition, due to the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, many members became disenchanted and left the party. They were also moved by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's dismissal of Stalinism. In the United States, the rise of the New Left and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 created hostility between leftists and the CPUSA, marginalizing it.

Hall, along with other party leaders who remained, sought to rebuild the party. He led the struggle to reclaim the legality of the Communist Party and addressed tens of thousands in Oregon, Washington, and California. Envisioning a democratization of the American Communist movement, Hall spoke of a "broad people's political movement" and tried to ally his party with radical campus groups, the anti-Vietnam War movement, organizations active in the civil rights movement, and the new rank-and-file trade union movements in an effort to build the CPUSA among the young "baby boomer" generation of activists. Ultimately, Hall failed to forge a lasting alliance with the New Left.

Hall had a reputation of being one of the most convinced supporters of the actions and interests of the Soviet Union outside the USSR's political sphere of influence. From 1959 onward, Hall spent some time in Moscow each year and was one of the most widely known American politicians in the USSR, where he was received by high-level Soviet politicians such as Leonid Brezhnev.

Hall spoke regularly on campuses and talk shows as an advocate for socialism in the United States. He argued for socialism in the United States to be built on the traditions of U.S.-style democracy rooted in the United States Bill of Rights. He would often say Americans didn't accept the Constitution without a Bill of Rights and wouldn't accept socialism without a Bill of Rights. He professed deep confidence in the democratic traditions of the American people. He remained a prolific writer on current events, producing a great number of articles and pamphlets, of which many were published in the magazine Political Affairs.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Hall also made frequent appearances on Soviet television, always supporting the position of the Soviet regime. Hall guided the CPUSA in accordance with the party line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), rejecting any liberalization efforts such as Eurocommunism. He also dismissed the radical new revolutionary movements that criticized the official Soviet party line of "Peaceful coexistence" and called for a world revolution. After the Sino-Soviet split, Maoism likewise was condemned, and all Maoist sympathizers were expelled from the CPUSA in the early 1960s.

Hall defended the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan, and supported the Stalinist principle of "Socialism in One Country". In the early 1980s, Hall and the CPUSA criticized the Solidarity movement in Poland. In 1992, the Moscow daily Izvestia claimed that the CPUSA had received over $40 million in payments from the Soviet Union, contradicting Hall's long-standing claims of financial independence. The former KGB General Oleg Kalugin declared in his memoir that the KGB had Hall and the American Communist Party "under total control" and that he was known to be siphoning off "Moscow money" to set up his own horse-breeding farm. The writer and J. Edgar Hoover biographer Curt Gentry has noted that a similar story about Hall was planted in the media through the FBI's secret COINTELPRO campaign of disruption and disinformation against radical opposition groups.

Presidential candidate and later years
In the 1964 United States presidential election, Hall's party supported Lyndon B. Johnson, saying it was necessary to prevent the victory of the conservative Barry Goldwater. During the 1972 presidential election, the CPUSA withdrew its support from the Democratic Party and nominated Hall as its candidate. Hall ran for president four times — in 1972, 1976, 1980, and 1984 — the last two times with Angela Davis. Of the four elections, Hall received the largest number of votes in 1976, largely because of the Watergate scandal bringing protest votes for minor parties. Hall ranked only in eighth place among the presidential candidates. Owing to the great expense of running, the difficulty in meeting the strenuous and different election law provisions in each state, and the difficulty in getting media coverage, the CPUSA decided to suspend running national campaigns while continuing to run candidates at the local level. While ceasing presidential campaigns, the CPUSA did not renew support for the Democratic party.

The 1980s were a politically difficult decade for Hall and the CPUSA, as one of Hall's trusted confidants and the deputy head of the CPUSA, Morris Childs, was revealed in 1980 to be a longtime Federal Bureau of Investigation informant. Although Childs was taken into the United States Federal Witness Protection Program and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1987, Hall continued to deny that Childs had been a spy. Also, Henry Winston, Hall's African-American deputy, died in 1986. The black party base questioned the fact that the leadership was exclusively white.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the party faced another crisis. In a press conference that year, Hall warned of witch hunts and McCarthyism in Russia, comparing that country unfavorably with North Korea. Hall led a faction of the party that stood against Glasnost and Perestroika and, for the hardliners of the CPSU, accused Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin of "demolishing" socialism. Hall supported Vietnam and Cuba but criticized the People's Republic of China for failing to oppose the West. In late 1991, members wanting reform founded the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, a group critical of the direction in which Hall was taking the party. When they were unable to influence the leadership, they left the party and Hall purged them from the membership, including such leaders as Angela Davis and Charlene Mitchell.

During the last years of his life, Hall lived in Yonkers, New York, with his wife, Elizabeth. Along with following political events, Hall engaged in hobbies that included art collecting, organic gardening, and painting. In 2000, shortly before his death, Hall resigned the post of party chairman in favor of Sam Webb and was appointed honorary chairman. In 1994, Michael Myerson, who had left the CPUSA along with Herbert Aptheker, Angela Davis, Gil Green, and Charlene Mitchell, accused Hall of living a "good bourgeois life" including "an estate in fashionable Hampton Bays."

Gus Hall died on October 13, 2000, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan from diabetes mellitus complications. He was buried in the Forest Home Cemetery near Chicago.

Criticism
When the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and its leaders in the Midwest Teamsters were prosecuted under the Smith Act in Minnesota in 1941, some Communist Party members supported the government actions. Later, Hall admitted it was a mistake for the party to not openly fight against imprisonment of SWP members under the Smith Act. The Trotskyist movement held strong negative opinions against Hall; upon his death, the Trotskyist World Socialist Web Site denounced him for what they perceived as his incompetence, loyalty to the Soviet Union and accused abandonment of the working class.

At times, some Soviet officials criticized Hall by accusing him of poor leadership of the CPUSA. Young American communists were advised to distance themselves from CPUSA, as the party was under intense FBI surveillance, and these officials believed that under such conditions the party could not be successful.

Many conservatives saw Hall as a threat to the United States, with J. Edgar Hoover describing him as "a powerful, deceitful, dangerous foe of Americanism." An inflammatory anti-Christian statement was falsely ascribed to Hall, earning him the hostility of some Christian groups, including Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority. In a 1977 speech, future U.S. president Ronald Reagan planned to quote this alleged 1961 statement as proof of the evils of communism: "I dream of the hour when the last congressman is strangled to death on the guts of the last preacher — and since the Christians seem to love to sing about the blood, why not give them a little of it? Slit the throats of their children [and] draw them over the mourner's bench and the pulpit and allow them to drown in their own blood, and then see whether they enjoy singing those hymns." The statement, which Reagan ultimately excised from his speech because he claimed he did not have the "nerve" to say it, was falsely claimed to have been said by Hall at the funeral oration of former CPUSA party chairman William Z. Foster. Hall would later make positive comments about Christianity; in 1963, he called the papal encyclical Pacem in terris "the work of a great Pope". According to Francis Nigel Lee, Hall held Pope John XXIII in high regard and hoped for dialogue between Catholics and Communists, writing in Political Affairs that "Marxists have shown their remarkable willingness to go along with Pope John's giant step forward." Gus Hall is also reported to have said: “Our quarrel is with capitalism, not God.”

Hall was also accused of homophobia, as the CPUSA followed a Stalinist doctrine of declaring homosexuality a "fascist tendency". As a result, openly gay party members such as Harry Hay were expelled from the party in the 1950s. The Communist Party was critical of newly emerging social movements in the 1960s and 1970s, keeping its distance from the New Left. Nevertheless, some CPUSA members attempted to appeal to the youth, with Gil Green arguing that “the correct line should have been to try to turn this upheaval amongst young people into a permanent kind of movement while letting its dynamics work itself out with our participation.” Despite the fact that the Communist party of Mexico and some Afro-American communists such as Jarvis Tyner and Kendra Alexander opposed homophobia, CPUSA was opposed to gay rights, with the official party programme from early 1970s condemning any behaviour “which encourages or promotes homosexual relationships as an alternative to sound, healthy, male–female relationships or distracts from the family as the basic unity of society and the fundamental component of the future we see to bring into being” and repudiating “as false any attempt to depict the so-called gay lifestyle as part of advanced and even revolutionary movements, or to promote it in the guise of a progressive ideology". However, Hall himself was not homophobic. According to Erwin Marquit, Hall sought to moderate the party's hostile stance towards gay groups, and when questioned by the student council of the University of Minnesota, he stated his opposition to expelling homosexual members from the party. Hall had also intervened on behalf of Bernard Koten, a party member who was arrested in Kiev in August 1963 and charged with homosexuality. Hall reacted strongly to the news of Koten's arrest and called for the charges to be dropped "unless a more serious crime is involved". After protests from Hall and a number of progressive activists, Koten was released without trial.

Works

 * Peace can be won!, report to the 15th Convention, Communist Party, U.S.A., New York: New Century Publishers, 1951.
 * Our sights to the future: keynote report and concluding remarks at the 17th National Convention of the Communist Party, U.S.A., New York: New Century Publishers, 1960.
 * Main Street to Wall Street: End the Cold War!, New York: New Century Publishers, 1962.
 * Which way U.S.A. 1964? The communist view., New York: New Century Publishers, 1964.
 * On course: the revolutionary process; report to the 19th National Convention of the Communist Party, U.S.A. by its general secretary, New York: New Outlook Publishers and Distributors, 1969.
 * Ecology: Can We Survive Under Capitalism?, International Publishers, New York 1972.
 * Imperialism today; an evaluation of major issues and events of our time, New York, International Publishers, 1972 ISBN 0-7178-0303-1
 * The energy rip-off: cause & cure, International Publishers, New York 1974, ISBN 0-7178-0421-6.
 * The crisis of U.S. capitalism and the fight-back: report to the 21st convention of the Communist Party, U.S.A., New York: International Publishers, 1975.
 * Labor up-front in the people's fight against the crisis: report to the 22nd convention of the Communist Party, USA, New York: International Publishers, 1979.
 * Basics: For Peace, Democracy, and Social Progress, International Publishers, New York. 1980.
 * For peace, jobs, equality: prevent "The Day after", defeat Reaganism: report to the 23rd Convention of the Communist Party, U.S.A., New York: New Outlook Publishers and Distributors, 1983. ISBN 0-87898-156-X
 * Karl Marx: beacon for our times, International Publishers, New York 1983, ISBN 0-7178-0607-3.
 * Fighting racism: selected writings, International Publishers, New York 1985, ISBN 0-7178-0634-0.
 * Working class USA: the power and the movement, International Publishers, New York 1987, ISBN 0-7178-0660-X.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Gus Hall


text:
Linz

Linz (, ; Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, 30 km south of the border with the Czech Republic. As of 1. January 2024, the city has a population of 212.538. It is the 7th largest of all cities on the Danube river.

Statistical Districts
Since January 2014 the city has been divided into 16 statistical districts:

Before 2014 Linz was divided into nine districts and 36 statistical quarters. They were:

 * 1) Ebelsberg
 * 2) Innenstadt: Altstadtviertel, Rathausviertel, Kaplanhofviertel, Neustadtviertel, Volksgartenviertel, Römerberg-Margarethen
 * 3) Kleinmünchen: Kleinmünchen, Neue Welt, Scharlinz, Bergern, Neue Heimat, Wegscheid, Schörgenhub
 * 4) Lustenau: Makartviertel, Franckviertel, Hafenviertel
 * 5) Pöstlingberg: Pöstlingberg, Bachl-Gründberg
 * 6) St. Magdalena: St. Magdalena, Katzbach, Elmberg
 * 7) St. Peter
 * 8) Urfahr: Alt-Urfahr, Heilham, Hartmayrsiedlung, Harbachsiedlung, Karlhofsiedlung, Auberg
 * 9) Waldegg: Freinberg, Froschberg, Keferfeld, Bindermichl, Spallerhof, Wankmüllerhofviertel, Andreas-Hofer-Platz-Viertel

History

Linz originated as a Roman fort named Lentia, established in the first century. The name reflects its location at a bend in the Danube (Celtic root lentos = "bendable"). This strategic position on the river made it the first Roman fort in the Noricum region, protecting a vital transportation route.

The name "Linz" in its present form was first documented in 799.

Linz was mentioned as a fortified city in 1236 and was granted city rights in 1324.

Johannes Kepler spent several years of his life in the city teaching mathematics. On 15 May 1618 he discovered Kepler's laws of planetary motion. The local public university Johannes Kepler University Linz is named for him.

The Oeconomische Encyclopädie (also simply known as the Krünitz), with the entry about Linz being written around 1800, describes the city as well built and fortified and its economy as growing, partially because of its location on the Danube and the connection to routes to Hungary and Vienna. When written, the city had a population of 16-17 thousand. Major industries were the productions of gunpowder, iron, steel, salt, firewood and predominantly, the wool industry:

A wool manufactuary, established in 1672, was the biggest in then-Austria, or rather, the Austrian states. It was nationalized in 1754. Plans, made in 1770, of selling it to a tradesman were canceled. Although it kept production going, its golden era was over.

When the Krünitz entry was written, the manufactuary had a yearly revenue of 1.5 million Gulden and was generating a hundred thousand in profit and was employing around 30 thousand people.

Anton Bruckner spent the years between 1855 and 1868 working as a local composer and organist in the Old Cathedral, Linz. The Brucknerhaus is named for him.

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn (an Austrian town near the German border) and moved to Linz during his childhood. The notorious Holocaust bureaucrat Adolf Eichmann also spent his youth in Linz. Until the end of his life, Hitler considered Linz to be his hometown. Hitler effected the founding of the Bruckner Symphony Orchestra, which began presenting concerts in autumn 1943. His plan for one of the bell towers in Linz to play a theme from Bruckner's Fourth Symphony never came to pass.

During World War II Linz was a giant industrial complex in support of the Nazi war effort. Hermann Göring supervised the construction of the Voest complex, ultimately a gigantic construction site built by slave labour. The Mauthausen concentration camp was established to the east of Linz, but three Mauthausen sub-camps were within the Voest complex.

In addition to an ordnance depot Linz had a benzol plant which was bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II. The city's confrontation with its Nazi past resulted in the renaming of many streets. In 1945, immediately after the end of the Nazi dictatorship, 39 streets in Linz were renamed, but from 1946 to 1987, only two streets were renamed. However, since 1988, 17 new traffic areas were named after victims of National Socialism or resistance fighters.

Economy
Linz is one of the main economic centres of Austria. Voestalpine is a large technology and capital goods group, founded as the "Reichswerke Hermann Göring" during World War II. It is now known for basic oxygen steelmaking technique. The former "Chemie Linz" chemical group has been split up into several companies.

The Meeting Industry Report Austria (mira) ranks Linz as the third most important destination for congresses in Austria, with a share of 7.4 percent in the total number of congresses, conferences and seminars held in Austria. Linz has more than 60 congress and event venues. With the Blue Meeting concept, the local tourism association has developed a conference format which focuses on individual needs of participants and adapts to the idea of green meetings, therefore supporting waste minimisation, energy efficiency, climate-neutral travel, as well as regional added value.

Donau-Harbor
Furthermore, due to the fact that one of the four Donau-Harbors (Donauhäfen) in Austria is located in Linz, it constitutes an attractive location in regards to logistic and trading enterprises. Manufacturing plants can be found along the waterfront. The economic importance of Linz was founded over centuries in trade. Large industrial enterprises are still located in Linz nowadays. Important examples are the Voestalpine AG.

Shopping
Thirteen shopping malls can be found in Linz, three of which are situated in the city centre. Shopping centres include: Arkade, Atrium City Center, Shopping Mall Auwiesen, Shopping Mall Biesenfeld, Shopping Mall Industriezeile, Shopping Mall Kleinmünchen, Shopping Mall Muldenstraße, EuroCenter Oed, Shopping Mall Wegscheid, Infra Center, Lentia City, Passage, and PRO-Kaufland.

According to a study by Infrapool in Oktober 2010, the Linzer Landstraße is the busiest shopping street outside of Vienna. The weekly frequency is noted between 240,500 (Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.) and 228,400 (8 a.m. until 6 p.m.) passers-by, which is the second highest value – only in 2005 more passers-by were detected.

Markets
There are eleven farmer's markets as well as one weekly flea market, and two Christmas markets in Linz. One of these markets, the "Urfahraner Markt", takes place in spring and fall every year. Furthermore, there are annually Christmas and New Year's Markets. The aim of the market administration is to provide the population with a wide range of products, as well as operating the markets in an economical, suitable and customer oriented manner. Additionally, the annual market called "Linzer Marktfrühling" sets further accents and lures new customers with attractive offers.

Transport
Linz Airport lies about 14 km southwest of the town centre, in the municipality of Hörsching. The airport can be reached easily via federal highways B139 and B1. The bus line 601 connects the airport within 20 minutes with the centre of Linz. There is also a free shuttle service from Hörsching railway station. Direct flights include Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Vienna with additional seasonal routes added during the summer and winter months, like for example Mallorca, Ibiza, Tenerife, several Greek islands (like Kos, Rhodes, Crete or Corfu) or Hurghada. Ryanair also flies to London Stansted Airport.

The city also has a central railway station (Hauptbahnhof) on Austria's main rail axis, the West railway, linking Vienna with western Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The Linz central station has been awarded eight times (from 2005 to 2011 and 2014) by Austrian Traffic Club as the most beautiful train station in Austria.

Local public transport comprises the city tram network, the city trolleybus network and the city bus network, all operated by the Linz Linien division of Linz AG. The city tram network includes the Pöstlingbergbahn, a steeply graded tramway which climbs a small mountain at the northwest edge of the town.

Population
The urban area includes (parts of) 13 other municipalities with together 271,000 inhabitants. Linz is also part of the Linz-Wels-Steyr metropolitan area of Upper Austria, home to around one third of the state's population (460,000 people) and second-largest urban area in Austria.

Climate
Linz has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb), with warm summers and quite cold winters.

Tourism
In 2018, Germans were the most frequent guests from other countries, followed by tourists from China (including Hong Kong and Macao), making Italians 3rd in comparison with the years before – the ranking is nearly equal to the overnight stays ranking which is listed in the following. Some restaurants and cafés are closed on Sundays.

Destinations of interest
The main street "Landstraße" leads from the "Blumauerplatz" to "Taubenmarkt" (Pigeonmarket) near the main square. The main square (built in 1230), with an area of 13,200 m2, is one of the largest converted squares in Europe. In the middle of the main square the high "Pestsäule" ("plague column", also known as "Dreifaltigkeitssäule" (Dreifaltigkeit means Holy Trinity)) was built to remember the people who died in the plague epidemics. It was designed by Antonio Beduzzi in 1713, and was finished in 1723.

Around the main square are many historically relevant and architecturally interesting houses, such as the Old Town Hall, the Feichtinger House with its carillon, which changes the melody depending on the season, the Kirchmayr House, the Schmidtberger House or the bridgehead buildings, which house a part of the Linz Art University.

West of the main square there is the old quarter with many other historic buildings, such as Renaissance houses or older houses with a baroque face.

Near the Schloss/castle, being the former residence of emperor Friedrich the III—the oldest Austrian church is located: Sankt/Saint Martins church. It was built during early medieval Carolingian times.

 * St. Mary's Cathedral (Mariä-Empfängnis-Dom), Roman Catholic, in Gothic-Revival style. With a total height of 134.8 m, the cathedral is the tallest church in Austria. Constructed in the years of 1862 and 1924, it is fully built of sandstone with unfinished front details.
 * Mozarthaus is the house, dating to the end of the 16th century, where the famous Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed the "Linz" Symphony and "Linz" Sonata during a three-day stay there in November 1783. Today, the exterior and inner courtyard of the house can be visited, but not the interior.
 * Pöstlingberg-Kirche: pilgrimage church on the Pöstlingberg hill. The basilica is the city's landmark and was built from 1738 until 1774, located on 537m sea level.
 * Pöstlingbergbahn is the steepest mountain rail in the world which was built in 1898 and operates gear-wheel free (functional grip between wheel and rail: gradient of 10.5%)
 * Linzer Grottenbahn: A grotto railway is based up on the hill of Pöstling
 * Brucknerhaus: the concert and congress house located on the Donaulände was first opened in 1973 and is venue of the Brucknerfest since 1974. It is named after the composer Anton Bruckner, who was born in Ansfelden, a small town next to Linz. The modern Concert Hall owes its unique acoustics to its wood paneling. The Great Hall of the Bruckner House, also called Brucknersaal, is the architectural jewel hosting an organ consisting of more than 4,200 pipes and 51 registers. The spacious stage in particular was designed for 220 performers. In 2017 the life and works of Anton Bruckner were the focus of the Bruckner Festival held under the motto "Bruckner elementar". Bruckner's works were the focus of the festival presented by national and international artists.
 * Gugl Stadium, is home to the LASK (Linzer Athletik Sport Klub), which is claimed to be the third oldest football club in Austria.
 * Linzer Landestheater
 * Kremsmünsterer Haus: is to find at the "Alter Markt", located in the inner city of Linz where, as legends say, emperor Friedrich III. had died.
 * Landhaus: The country house was built in the 16th century and is the headquarters of the governor, the upper Austrian parliament and the government of upper Austria. Johannes Kepler used to teach here for more than 14 years.

Architecture
As many central European cities, the cityscape of Linz is characterised by small and several sacred buildings. The Mariä Empfängnis Dom or New Cathedral is the biggest church in Austria, not by height (it is roughly 2 metres shorter than the St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom) in Vienna), but by capacity.

The historic centre is characterised by its medieval architectural style, whereas in those parts of the city that border with the historic centre the architecture is of neoclassical, neo-baroque and neo-renaissance styles. Even further from the historic centre there are living areas, such as Franckviertel, Froschberg, Bindermichl and Kleinmünchen southern of the Danube and Alt-Urfahr northern of the Danube. These areas are where residential buildings can be found that are still referred to as "Hitlerbauten" or "Hitler buildings", because they were built during the interwar period and the time of Nazi dictatorship. The residential area called Gugl became a well liked living area among the wealthy at around 1900, which is why there are numerous villas still there today.

Amongst the newer buildings is the Linz Hauptbahnhof station, which was designed by Wilhelm Holzbauer and added the Terminal Tower skyscraper as part of a mixed-use complex. Between 2005 und 2011 it was voted Austria's most beautiful railway station seven times in a row by the Verkehrsclub Österreich. The Wissensturm ("Tower of knowledge") with a height of about 63 metres, houses the public library and the Volkshochschule, an adult education centre. It was designed by Franz Kneidinger and Heinz Stögmüller and opened in 2007. Lentos Art Museum, which opened in 2003, was designed by Zürich-based architects Weber & Hofer and the Musiktheater (music theatre), which opened in 2013, was designed by Terry Pawson.

Culture
The city is now home to a vibrant music and arts scene that is well-funded by the city and the state of Upper Austria. Between Lentos Art Museum and the "Brucknerhaus", is the "Donaulände", which is also referred to as "Kulturmeile" ("culture mile"). This is a park alongside the river, which is used mainly by young people to relax and meet in summer. It is also used for the Ars Electronica Festival in early September and the "Stream Festival", which takes place annually. In June, July and August the "Musikpavillon" is placed in the park where musical groups of different styles perform on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays free of charge.

Linz has other culture institutions, such as the Posthof, which is near the harbour, and the Stadtwerkstatt, which is by the river Danube. The Pflasterspektakel, an international street art festival, takes place each year in July in and around the Landstraße and the main square. Linz was the European Capital of Culture in 2009, along with Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

The aim is to maintain and represent the cultural diversity.

The Ars Electronica Center can be considered as the centre of media art and attracts every year during its festival national and international guests to Linz.

The latest project developed by Linz in the context of the City of Media Arts project is the Valie Export Center, which is located in the Tabakfabrik (tobacco factory) and carried out in cooperation with the University of Art and Design Linz. It serves as an international research hub for media and performance art. Beyond that, it comprises the legacy as well as the archives of the most renowned media artist coming from Linz, Valie Export, who has received numerous national as well as international prizes. Along with the Ars Electronica archives, Linz hosts two internationally renowned archives for media art.

Since 2009, the Open Commons Linz initiative has made available a wide variety of "free" data: geo-data and statistical information having to do with city life, local government, recreation and tourism. An associated effort is the Hotspot initiative that has installed 202 hotspots providing free WLAN, as well as Public Server, the municipal cloud available to all citizens registered in Linz. Linz is thus at the forefront in Europe when it comes to universal access to open data.

Linz houses 43 galleries and exhibit rooms, 13 cultural centres, one club centre, as well as four educational institutes.

Museums

 * The Lentos (built 2003) is a modern art gallery, presenting art from the 20th and 21st centuries. It is situated on the south banks of the river Danube. The building can be illuminated at night from the inside with blue, pink, red and violet, due to its plastic casing.
 * Ars Electronica Center (AEC) (also called museum of the future) is a museum and research facility on the north bank of the Danube (in the Urfahr district), across the river from the Hauptplatz (main square). The AEC is a significant world centre for new media arts, attracting a large gathering of technologically oriented artists every year for the Ars Electronica Festival. The AEC museum is home to the Deep Space 8K, which offers a unique Linz Ars electronica center rotblau DL.jpg]]virtual world with wall and floor projections (each 16 by 9 m), laser tracking and 3-D animations.
 * City Museum Nordico houses an art collection as well as a historical and an archeological collection, all of which relate to the city of Linz. About 16,000 people visited the museum in 2013.
 * Upper Austrian Regional Museum (Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum) has three main locations that focus on different aspects of the regional history: The Landesgalerie (regional gallery) exhibits modern and contemporary art, the Schlossmuseum houses archeological findings all of which retrace Upper Austria's cultural history whereas the aim of the Biologiezentrum Linz-Dornach (centre of biology) is to retrace the region's natural history with an exhibition of about 16 million objects (which makes it the second biggest museum for natural history in Austria).
 * At the headquarters of the Upper Austrian art association (Oberösterreichischer Kunstverein) in the Ursulinenhof in Linz there are regular exhibitions of contemporary art.
 * Upper Austrian museum of literature (Oberösterrreischisches Literaturmuseum), the Adalbert Stifter Institute for literature and linguistics and the Upper Austrian house of literature (Oberösterreichisches Literaturhaus) all are situated in the StifterHaus, where Austrian writer, painter and educationalist Adalbert Stifter lived from 1848 to his death in 1868.
 * Upper Austrian forum for architecture (Architekturforum Oberösterreich) in the house of architecture (Haus der Architektur) attracts about 6,000 visitors annually. The forum organises lectures, exhibitions, conferences and competitions.

Music
The Brucknerhaus, a famous concert hall in Linz is named after Anton Bruckner. It is situated just some 200 metres away from the "Lentos". It is home to the "Bruckner Orchestra", and is frequently used for concerts, as well as balls and other events. It is also the venue of the "Linz Fest" which takes place annually in May as well as one of the venues during the Ars Electronica Festival in early September. In June, July and August the "Musikpavillon" is placed in the park where musical groups of different styles perform on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays free of charge.

The Musiktheater (music theatre) was opened in April 2013 and is considered to be one of the most modern opera houses in Europe. It offers five stages of varying sizes; the big hall ("Großer Saal") with 1,200 seats, the BlackBox with up to 270 seats, the BlackBoxLounge with up to 150 seats, the orchestra hall ("Orchestersaal") with up to 200 seats and another stage in the foyer ("FoyerBühne"). Performances at the Musiktheater include operas and typically Austrian operettas, ballets and musicals.

The ensemble of the Landestheater (regional theatre) Linz used to perform musical productions as well as theatre productions at a venue located on the "Promenade" in the inner city of Linz (this venue is still referred to simply as "Landestheater"). Since the opening of the new Musiktheater, only theatre performances take place at the "Promenade" venue, whereas musical productions are shown in the Musiktheater. The Landestheater Linz is especially renowned for its theatre for young audiences called u\hof:.

The Posthof is one of the biggest event centres in Linz with three rooms offering up to 630 seats or standing room for about 1,200 people respectively in the big hall. The programme focuses on contemporary art and covers concerts, theatre, cabaret, dance and literature. Artists from Linz are regularly invited to improve the local cultural scene; e.g. bands from Linz get the opportunity to play as pre-bands alongside nationally and internationally known artists. Altogether a total of about 250 events take place at the Posthof each year with a total number of visitors of about 80.000.

The Stadtwerkstatt is an independent association for culture and was founded in 1979. Its headquarters is located in the Urfahr district on the north bank of the Danube close to the Ars Electronica Centre and serves as venue for music events and other artistic and cultural activities. Situated at the same address is the Stadtwerkstatt's own Café Strom café/bar.

Cinema
The history of cinema and film begins in Linz in September 1896, when, as part of a variety programme, a film programme was shown in "Roithner's vaudeville" for the first time in Upper Austria. Until the next screening of a film it took until 20 March 1897, when Johann Bläser's travelling cinema guested in the "Hotel of the Golden Ship".

Until the opening of the first cinemas with regular programme, it took till the end of the year 1908. At that time, Karl Lifka opened his "Lifka's Grand Théâtre électrique" in that building, where already the very first film showing took place. Subsequently, the second cinema of Linz was opened a few months later.

As the owner of travelling cinemas, Johann Bläser, got settled in Linz, he bought the "Hotel of the Golden Ship", and installed a cinema in it, the "Bio-Kinematograph". The third stationary cinema, called "Kino Kolloseum", in town was founded around 1910 by the vaudeville operator Karl Roithner. Its first location was the former festival hall at Hessenplatz.

The Linz International Short Film Festival is the first film festival in Upper Austria to focus on international short films. It launched in October 2018 at the Moviemento in Linz, showing 114 films over four days. The concept goes back to the festival director Parisa Ghasemi.

Culinary specialties
In Linz there are both traditional restaurants and old wine taverns, as well as modern and exotic cuisine. The influence of 140 nations can be felt in Linz's culinary offerings. A coalition of over 40 restaurants, cafes and among other locations bars are called "hotspots". Moreover, Linz has several à la carte restaurants and Gault Millau gourmet restaurants.

Typical dishes in Linz include not only the famous Linzer torte but also knödel and strudel in many different kinds of variations. Another specialty is the erdäpfelkäs, a spread made from mashed potatoes and cream. Some well-known chefs from Linz are Lukas Erich, who cooks in the Verdi and Georg Essig from the Der neue Vogelkäfig.

Regular events

 * Ars Electronica Festival: the Ars Electronica Festival is a festival for media art which has been taking place annually in Linz since 1986 and includes exhibitions, concerts, performances, symposia and interventions on changing themes that take place in public settings such as churches and industrial halls. The events focus on art, technology and society and the nexus among them. In 2015 about 92,000 visitors attended the Ars Electronica Festival. The topic in 2016 was "RADICAL ATOMS and the alchemists of our time". In 2017 the festival took place under the theme "Artificial Intelligence—The Alter Ego". The festival takes place in different public spaces and is considered to be a confrontation with and in the public sphere.
 * Black Humour Festival: Every two years in May, the Festival of Black Humour with guests from all over Europe takes place in the Posthof in Linz.
 * Bubble Days: the Bubble Days have been taking place annually in June since 2011 and are hosted by local creative collective LI.K.I.DO. During the event a number of extreme sports shows, such as aviation performances and a wake boarding contest, the Red Bull WAKE OF STEEL, take place in the harbour of Linz. Additionally there are a number of art exhibitions and live music acts and visitors can explore the harbour on boat tours, in paddle boats or kayaks. In 2013 the Bubble Days reached a total number of 12,000 visitors.
 * Christkindlmärkte: Christmas markets at Hauptplatz and Volksgarten.
 * Crossing Europe Film Festival: Since 2004 this festival takes place annually in Linz. Starting at a total number of 9,000 visitors in the first year, the tenth edition of the Crossing Europe Film Festival in 2014 attracted over 20,000 people; 184 feature films, documentaries and short films from 37 countries were shown. The film screenings are accompanied by exhibitions, talks and live music acts ("Nightline"). There are currently eight different awards to be won at the Crossing Europe Film Festival in categories such as "CROSSING EUROPE Audience Award", the "FEDEORA AWARD for European Documentaries" and the "CROSSING EUROPE AWARD Local Artist".
 * Donau in Flammen (Danube in Flames): Annual music fireworks from June to August in Upper Austria on the banks of the Danube, accompanied by a broad supporting program.
 * Festival der Regionen (Festival of the regions): The festival of the regions focuses on contemporary local art and culture and takes place every second year in varying locations across Upper Austria. It took place for the first time in 1993 and has been dedicated to different themes such as "the other", "marginal zones" or "normality".
 * Höhenrausch: Höhenrausch is an annual art project that was developed in 2009. As part of the DonauArt, an inter-institutional cultural project, Höhenrausch 2018 is under the motto "The other shore". The element of water is worked on by international artists, with the definition of the shore being the focus of artistic exploration. Diverse spaces and places underline the presentation of this project.
 * International Brucknerfest: Following the opening of the "Brucknerhaus" concert hall in Linz three years earlier, the international Brucknerfest took place for the first time in 1977. Whereas the first two editions were only dedicated to classical music in general and Anton Bruckner's pieces in particular, this changed in 1979 when the international Brucknerfest, the Ars Electronica festival and the "Klangwolke" (sound cloud), which now marks the beginning of the Brucknerfest, were merged to create a festival worthy of competing with those in Vienna and Salzburg. Taking place annually for three weeks in September/October it closes the Austrian festival season.
 * Kinderfilmfestival (Kid's Film Festival): The international children's film festival is organized by the Kinderfreunde Oberösterreich. Films are shown in the original version while being live synchronised by an actor. The 29th festival will supposedly take place in November 2017.
 * Kinderkulturwoche (Children's Week of Culture): The children's culture week has been taking place regularly since 2013 with plays, workshops, intro courses for children and teenagers.
 * Klangwolke (Cloud of sound): Created as a link between the Ars Electronica Festival and the international Brucknerfest, this open-air multimedia musical event takes place annually at the beginning of September at the riverside Donaupark in Linz. It is free of charge and attracted about 110,000 people in 2013. Today there are three different "Clouds of sound", the visualised Klangwolke, in which modern music (mostly commissioned works) is staged with lasers, video projections, fireworks, ships, cranes, balloons, etc., the Klangwolke for children (since 1998) and the classical Klangwolke.
 * Linzfest: This open air festival has taken place in Linz since 1990. It is financed by the city of Linz and several sponsors and organised for the broad public of all ages in cooperation with partners such as local cultural institutions. The festival is dedicated to a different theme every year (the last one in 2014 was "Old is the new new") and includes concerts, theatre, dance, comedy, art in the public space, culinary art, literature and parties, all of which are in line with the general theme of the event. It is held in the "Donaupark", a wide park area next to the Danube, also referred to as "Donaulände" or "Kulturmeile".
 * Lido Sounds: a three-days-festival with various music styles at the Danube riverside.
 * Pflasterspektakel: The festival takes place annually since 1986 in the city centre of Linz and includes musical acts, juggling, acrobatics, pantomime, improvisational theatre, clownery, fire dancing, painting, samba parades, as well as a programme for children. With about 250,000 visitors (2014) the festival is one of the biggest street art festivals in Europe; its 28th edition featured 300 artists from 36 different nations.
 * The Stadtfest (City festival) is held annually in August in the inner city of Linz. The three-day festival features live music acts of different styles, with each music style being represented on a different stage. The concerts are held by national and international artists. Every year about 100,000 people take part in this event.

Archives

 * Archive of the city of Linz: collection of important documents of the city of Linz, presenting Linz' town history
 * Atelierhaus Salzamt: living and working space for artists, featuring continuous exhibitions.
 * Botanic garden: about 100,000 visitors every year; featuring a summer programme of music acts, readings and dance performances in the garden pavilion
 * Donaupark Linz: contains sculptures by national and international artists such as Herbert Bayer, Max Bill and David Rabinowitch. The original idea of this project, called 'forum metall', by Helmuth Gsöllpointner and Peter Baum, was to set an example of Linz as an art metropolis with sculptures symbolizing a fusion of art and economy.

Commemorative year 2018
The project "Linz 1938/1918", which started on 29 June 2018, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic (1918) and 80 years of "political union" (1938). With this installation in the public space, presented in the city center, Linz fulfills its responsibility and commitment to maintaining peace with its declaration, making a contribution to dealing with the past. The idea is to reach people who have little relation to the years of 1918 or 1938.

Colleges and universities

 * The Johannes Kepler University Linz is situated in the north-east of Linz, and hosts law, business, social sciences, medicine, engineering and science faculties; about 24,000 students (2023/2024) are enrolled. A spin-off of the university, as well as a Fachhochschule for various computer-related studies, (polytechnic) is located 20 mi north of Linz in the small town of Hagenberg im Mühlkreis.
 * University of Art and Design Linz, public, for arts and industrial design; 1,328 students (2016/2017)
 * Fachhochschule Oberösterreich, Campus Linz; 879 students (2017/2018)
 * Anton Bruckner Private University for music, acting and dance; 871 students (2017/2018)
 * Educational college Oberösterreich; approx. 3,000 students
 * Educational college Diocese of Linz
 * Catholic Private University Linz; 341 students (2017/2018), which has been a Papal faculty since 1978
 * LIMAK Austrian Business School
 * KMU Akademie AG (Middlesex University London)

Parks and gardens

 * Lakes and public swimming pools: Pichlinger See, Pleschinger See, Weikerlsee, Biesenfeldbad, Hummelhofbad, Parkbad, Schörgenhubbad. One of the first public swimming pools was the former "Fabriksarm", a Danube branch stream (from Parkbad to Winterhafen) that was filled up in 1890. Afterwards a makeshift at the "Obere Donaulände" was built, which existed until a flood in 1954. In 1901 the "Städtische Schwimmschule" (city swimming school) was built at the place of the former Parkbad.
 * Botanischer Garten: About 100,000 visitors are attracted by Botanischer Garten, which makes it one of the most visited sights of the city since 1952. Situated at Bauernberg, and comprising 4.2 hectares, the arrangement distinguishes by its harmonious design, its abundance of plant species (about 8,000 different types in culture) and the multifaceted cultural and event programme.
 * Donaulände or "Lände": public park on the Danube between Lentos and the Brucknerhaus. In summer, the Donaulände is a common meeting point among young people living in Linz. It also hosts the Linzer Klangwolke.
 * Freinberg: a public park frequented by families and joggers.
 * Pfenningberg: Pfenningberg is a part of the northeastern green belt directioning to Steyregg. It overlooks the port facilities and the grounds of the VÖEST.
 * Wasserwald: Big Park (approximately 1 km2) in the south of Linz. The park is located in the district of Kleinmünchen, where large waterworks are situated. The most frequent visitors are walkers, joggers, Nordic walkers and dog owners, who enjoy the idyllic atmosphere of the park. The park is equipped with well-maintained sidewalks, playgrounds, two toboggan hills, a fitness trail, a running track and a senior park with chess. Furthermore, two public toilets are available.
 * Stadtpark: On 22 August 2003, the new Linz City Park between Huemer-, Museum-, Noßberger- and Körnerstraße was officially opened. With 10,807 square metres of green area, it is the second largest inner-city park. The city of Linz has acquired this area due to a barter with the Austrian postal service. Since Schiller Park in 1909, there has been no newly opened park of this magnitude in the centre of Linz.
 * Landschaftspark Bindermichl-Spallerhof: In the first phase of the establishment of the 8.3 -hectare sized area, which reconnects the boroughs Bindermichl and Spallerhof, the province of Upper Austria was responsible for the expansion of the park. The park replaces the urban motorway, which runs subterranean in this area since 2006. Old paths were re-established and until mid 2007 the city's gardeners designed prethe new parkland with 550 trees and various shrubs, perennials and flower beds.
 * Linzer Zoo: Linz Zoo is located at Pöstlingsberg and is home to around 600 animals from 110 different species on 4 acres. In recent years, the zoo was able to increase its visitor numbers continuously. In 2014, about 132,000 visitors visited Linz Zoo.
 * Kirchschlag bei Linz ski resort is located 15 km north of Linz and has three ski lifts: The Hauslift, the Waldlift or the Babylift. The special features of the ski area include the "How fast am I – route" which automatically measures the time or the night skiing. The ski area also has a 2 km long cross-country ski run, a curling ground and a nature ice rink.

Donausteig
The Donausteig is a non-Alpine Austrian-Bavarian long-distance hiking trail, which is 450 km long and is divided into 23 stages. Since the summer of 2010 it mainly leads alongside both banks of the Danube, from Passau through Linz and St. Nikola to Grein. The trail mainly runs through nature and leads to a number of viewpoints.

Harbour tour
From the end of April until the beginning of October, the Design-Ship MS Linzerin offers a harbour tour of 100 minutes, three times a day (Tuesday until Sunday). The starting point of the tour is the Linzer Donaupark, and the tour goes along the Linzer Kulturmeile, passes the Brucknerhaus and ends at the waterfront mouth of ÖSWAG Schiffswerft Linz. There is also a mural harbour tour, which combines a boat tour with graffiti art.

Linzer Stadt-Wald
Linz is in the urban forest area ranking in front of Graz, even if only 500 hectares are owned by the city itself. These are sustainably managed and maintained, with 87 hectares of usable, 46 hectares of protection, 30 hectares of recreational and 353 hectares of welfare function. The latter represents the main function of the Linzer Wald. 18 percent of the city, which covers a total of 96 km2, is forested and occupies up to 1,724 ha of forest, 74 ha more than in 2004. This is the reason why it is called Stadt-Wald, city-forest.

Public service and thinking

 * Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria (1529–1595), second son of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
 * Johann Grueber (1623–1680), an Austrian Jesuit missionary and astronomer in China, and noted explorer.
 * Xavier Ehrenbert Fridelli (1673–1743), an Austrian Jesuit missionary and cartographer in China.
 * Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (1680–1741), the governor of the Austrian Netherlands, 1725 to 1741.
 * Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller (1683–1744), a prominent Austrian Field marshal.
 * Maria Anna of Austria (1683–1754), Queen consort of Portugal
 * Johann Amadeus von Thugut (1736–1818), an Austrian diplomat.
 * Ute Bock (1942–2018), an Austrian educator, she ran projects helping asylum seekers.
 * Herwig van Staa (born 1942), politician (ÖVP), former governor of Tyrol
 * Shlomo Sand (born 1946), professor of history at Tel Aviv University and author of the controversial book The Invention of the Jewish People
 * Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger (born 1956), former Benedictine nun who was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church
 * Volker Türk (born 1965), lawyer and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights since 2022.
 * Verena Madner (born 1965), legal scholar, professor and constitutional judge

The Arts

 * Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer (1696–1770), a Rococo stuccoist and sculptor
 * Marianne von Willemer (1784-1860), actress and dancer, knew Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, appears in his poetry.
 * Anton Bruckner (1824–1896), an Austrian composer and organist of symphonies and sacred music.
 * Ida Pellet (1838–1863), a German classical actress
 * Alois Riegl (1858–1905), an Austrian art historian, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History.
 * Hermann Bahr (1863–1934), writer, playwright, director and critic.
 * Frederic "Fritz" Austerlitz (1868–1923), Fred Astaire's father
 * Richard Tauber (1891–1948), an Austrian lyric tenor and film actor.
 * Fritz Eckhardt (1907–1995), actor, director and writer
 * Alexandr Hackenschmied (1907–2004), a photographer, film director, cinematographer and film editor.
 * Othmar Wessely (1922–1998), musicologist
 * Igo Hofstetter (1926–2002), an Austrian operetta composer.
 * Alfred Peschek (1929–2015), composer and musician
 * Waltraut Cooper (born 1937), artist, pioneer of digital art
 * Valie Export (born 1940), an avant-garde Austrian artist.
 * Frank Elstner (born 1942), presenter on German television
 * Fritz von Thurn und Taxis (born 1950), Austrian sportscaster
 * Anton Koschany (born 1953), Canadian news producer, W5
 * Kurt Hentschlager (born 1960), visual artist
 * Franz Welser-Möst (born 1960), music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera
 * Paul Haslinger (born 1962), musician and composer
 * Fritz Schmid (born 1972), theater performed stage operatic singer
 * Birgit Minichmayr (born 1977), actress
 * Teresa Präauer (born 1979), an Austrian writer and visual artist.
 * Marco Krainer (born 1981), Austrian specialty and TV chef with connections to the United States
 * Marcus Füreder (born 1974), producer, DJ
 * Irene Kepl (born 1982), Austrian violinist and composer
 * Christina Stürmer (born 1982), Austrian pop/rock singer

Science & business

 * Julius von Hann (1839–1921), an Austrian meteorologist; seen as a father of modern meteorology.
 * Andreas Reischek (1845–1902), an Austrian taxidermist, naturalist, ornithologist and grave robber
 * Hans Kronberger (1920–1970), British nuclear physicist
 * Paul Achleitner (born 1956), banker and businessman
 * Reinhard Rieger (1943-2006), Austrian zoologist

Sport

 * Viktor Kalisch (1902–1976), sprint canoeist and silver medallist at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
 * Adolf Kainz (1903–1948), sprint canoeist and gold medallist at the 1936 Summer Olympics
 * Karl Steinhuber (1906–2002), sprint canoeist, silver medallist at the 1936 Summer Olympics
 * Erika Mahringer (1924–2018), an Austrian alpine skier, two time bronze medallist at the 1948 Winter Olympics
 * Walter Oswald (born 1955), a former footballer who played over 510 games
 * Elisabeth Theurer (born 1956), equestrienne, gold medallist in the 1980 Summer Olympics – Individual dressage
 * Klaus Lindenberger (born 1957), former football player and coach, he played 430 games and 43 for Austria.
 * Franz Schumann (born 1960), professional wrestler
 * Herwig Drechsel (born 1973) a retired football player who played over 460 games
 * Vera Lischka (born 1977), breaststroke swimmer and politician, (SPÖ)
 * Sybille Bammer (born 1980), tennis player
 * Andreas Ulmer (born 1985), footballer who has played 394 games and 32 for Austria.
 * Florian Klein (born 1986), footballer who has played over 440 games
 * Niklas Hoheneder (born 1986), football coach and a former defender who played over 390 games
 * Heinz Lindner (born 1990), football goalkeeper who has played over 390 games and 36 for Austria.
 * Gernot Trauner (born 1992), footballer who has played over 290 games and 10 for Austria.
 * Mateo Kovačić (born 1994), Croatian footballer, played 370 games and 97 for Croatia
 * Xaver Schlager (born 1997), footballer who has played over 220 games and 42 for Austria.
 * Thomas Preining (born 1998), racing driver

Living/Lived in Linz

 * János Batsányi (1763 in Tapolca – 1845 in Linz), a Hungarian poet.
 * Adalbert Stifter (1805, Oberplan – 1868, Linz), a Bohemian-Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue.
 * Adolf Hitler, (1889, Braunau am Inn – 1945, Berlin) Führer of Germany
 * Doug Hammond (born in Tampa, Florida, 1942), an American free funk/avant-garde jazz drummer, composer, poet and producer.
 * Andrew Edge (born in Leeds, England, 1956), musician, moved to Linz in the late 1980s

Twin towns – sister cities
Linz is twinned with:

A previous town-twinning established in 1977 with Gabès, Tunisia was ended in 2016 due to lack of contact.
 * Albufeira, Portugal (2008)
 * 🇷🇴 Brașov, Romania (2012)
 * 🇨🇿 České Budějovice, Czech Republic (1987)
 * 🇩🇪 Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (Berlin), Germany (1995)
 * 🇨🇳 Chengdu, China (1983)
 * 🇹🇿 Dodoma, Tanzania (2019)
 * 🇹🇷 Eskişehir, Turkey (2012)
 * 🇰🇷 Gwangyang, South Korea (1991)
 * 🇩🇪 Halle, Germany (1975)
 * 🇺🇸 Kansas City, United States (1988)
 * 🇸🇪 Linköping, Sweden (1995)
 * 🇩🇪 Linz am Rhein, Germany (1987)
 * 🇮🇹 Modena, Italy (1992)
 * 🇯🇵 Nasushiobara, Japan (2009)
 * 🇷🇺 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia (1993)
 * 🇸🇪 Norrköping, Sweden (1995)
 * 🇳🇮 San Carlos, Nicaragua (1988)
 * 🇫🇮 Tampere, Finland (1995)
 * 🇧🇦 Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014)
 * 🇺🇦 Zaporizhia, Ukraine (1983)
 * 🇦🇿 Sumgait, Azerbaijan (2009)

title: Linz