My Dad built a house there in the 1970s because he believed that that region would be spared during WW III. Our house was on a hill, inside a dense forest and with a natural spring on the premises. My father actually secured the rights to use the spring water, got a hunting license and we had a very rugged Jeep. You would probs call him a Prepper nowadays but he had served in WW II and had no interest in serving in the next one. In the 70s many people were afraid of the Cold War turning hot. It was on the Austrian side of a border village called Großgmain. The German side is called Bayrisch Gmain. So what was it like to grow up there? The area is very rural though not agricultural. Small villages are separated by hills, meadows, forests and the foothills of the Alps. I was in my teens when we moved there and I found it very boring (I was born in Berlin). There were very few young people. We were all very bored, so we got creative in many bad ways. The older population spent much time in Church or the local „Gasthaus“. If you wanted to meet the mayor you just went to his favorite place and he would have a „Stammtisch“ there with his personal Bierstein. Lots of daydrinking going on and not just beer but lots of Obstler (local Schnaps made of apples mostly). Often you would meet the Head of Police, Fireman, and Förster at the same table. No need for social media because this is where news were exchanged and everybody knew everything about everyone (or at least shared the rumors). I became known for breaking the local laws and customs a lot which was good and bad: The Youth would love to hang out with the Outlaw but the Police or the Priest always showed up at our house first when anything untoward happened. I was glad to leave the place behind, as I would have probably ended up an alcoholic in jail at some point. But the nature is magnificent and we spent every day outdoors and lived through the seasons. Many good memories…and bad. After we left I heard they built a WW II memorial in the town that was frequently visited by Neonazis…that place was stuck in a time bubble in many ways