Gmünd, Lower Austria

Gmünd is a town in the northwestern Waldviertel region of Lower Austria and the capital of the Gmünd district. The municipality consists of the Katastralgemeinden Böhmzeil, Breitensee, Eibenstein, Gmünd and Grillenstein. Situated on the Lainsitz (Lužnice) river where it forms the border with České Velenice in the Czech Republic, it is an important road and railway crossing point, next to the Blockheide protected area.

The development of the town, first mentioned in a 1208 deed, was decisively pushed by the inauguration of the Emperor Franz Joseph Railway from Vienna to Prague in 1869. By the 1919 Treaty of Saint-Germain its northern part Dolní Velenice, German: Unterwielands, with the main station was awarded to Czechoslovakia, forming the new town of České Velenice.

Politics
Seats in the municipal assembly (Gemeinderat) as of 2005 elections:
 * Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ): 16
 * Austrian People's Party (ÖVP): 11
 * Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ): 1
 * Green party: 1

Seats in the municipal assembly (Gemeinderat) as of 2010 elections:
 * Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ): 15
 * Austrian People's Party (ÖVP): 12
 * Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ): 2

Notable people

 * Arthur Lanc (1907–1995) & Maria Lanc (1911–1995), he was a local medical officer and responsible for the medical care of Jewish forced laborers; she was a humanitarian. Both died locally and were honoured as Righteous Among the Nations at a ceremony in Vienna in December 1986.
 * Walter Nowotny (1920–1944), Austrian fighter ace of World War II
 * Alfred Worm (1945–2007), an Austrian investigative journalist, author and university professor.
 * Thomas Sautner (born 1970), an Austrian painter and writer.

Twin town

 * 🇫🇷 Sarreguemines, Moselle, Grand Est, France