Lonely Grave in the Sierra:
The Rettenbachers

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One finds about 650 individual entries with the name Rettenbacher in an online Austrian phone book today. The vast majority of these people live in one of two Alpine provinces near the border with Bavaria: About 400 households are listed in Salzburg province, and about 90 in Tyrol. There is also a smaller and probably unrelated branch of the Rettenbachers in Styria (central Austria). Across the border, in Germany, there is a total of about 75 phone book entries with that last name, and seven Rettenbachers are listed in Switzerland's phone book.

Another similar last name, Rittenbacher, is found much less frequently. For example, there are only 4 entries in the German phone book with that name, and about 25 in the whole of Austria, mostly in low lying areas in the east of the country. Variations Rettenbacker and Rittenbacker do not show up in Austria, Germany, or Switzerland. This last piece of information will become important later.

I communicated with several Rettenbachers from Germany, and they all seem to remember that their family origins were in Salzburg or Tyrol. It could easily be that Conrad Rettenbacher was from one of said two provinces in Austria, or at least that his family was from there. If Anna was Conrad's sister or daughter, then of course, the same would be true of her. If they were a married couple, then without knowing her maiden name, we are quite lost about her origin.

Rettenbach family coat of arms. From the collection of Anton Rettenbacher.

Not only does the family name Rettenbacher seem to originate in Salzburg and Tyrol, but many geographical features in that area bear the same or similar names. Anton Rettenbacher, who currently works at the Austrian Embassy in Singapore, relates that he knows of a river, a valley, a castle, and a forest named after Rettenbachers, and the Rettenbach Glacier is a popular winter destination near Sölden, Tyrol.

Anton Rettenbacher also sent me the following information: A shorter variation of the name, Rettenbach, was reserved for a noble family with roots that go back to 1463. The von Rettenbach coat of arms is pictured here.

The same coat of arms can be seen in Gasthof Tetter, near Schladming, Styria, where a few Rettenbachers were first listed in the county land register in 1695. I don't know whether the Schladming branch of the Rettenbachers is related to the noble Rettenbachs, but the use of the same heraldic symbols seems to indicate a connection.

Unlike the nobles, the common people would always use the longer form of the name, namely "Rettenbacher". With respect to their religious affiliation, the noblemen (Rettenbach) would mainly be Protestants, and so would be the common members of the Rettenbacher families from the Schladming area. On the other hand, the common Rettenbachers in western Austria would be Catholics.

On November 19, 1919, an act of the newly formed Austrian Republic's parliament removed the distinction between noble and common people. The parliament passed a law to abolish the privileges of noble families associated with the Habsburg Monarchy, and entailed the change of the name "Rettenbach" to "Rettenbacher". Ever since, both the noble branch of the family, and commoners, use the same last name. Conrad Rettenbacher could have been a rich former nobleman, on a trip with his family around the world, or perhaps somebody born in a poor mountain village on the border between Austria and Germany.

In any case, it is likely that Conrad grew up near the high mountains, and acquired mountaineering skills at an early age. Even today, the passion for mountains runs deep in the veins of some Rettenbachers. For example, the current president of the association of Austrian Alpinistic Schools (Verband der Alpinschulen Österreich) is Sepp Rettenbacher.

Title page of a work by Simon Rettenbacher, printed in Salzburg, 1683.

Yet another Rettenbacher is a well known figure in Austrian history: Simon Rettenbacher (sometimes spelled as Simon Rettenpacher), a member of the Benedictine order, was a scholar and writer, born in 1634 in Eigen near Salzburg. I don't know how he is related to other Rettenbachers of today. The form Rettenpacher is no longer in use anywhere.

Arno Rettenbacher suggests that the names Rettenbach and Rettenbacher come from Old German, and mean "People living near a red colored brook". Different branches of the family might have of course originated from different "red" streams or creeks.

Another interesting detail was sent by Monika Rettenbacher, from a family that originates in Salzburg province. She said that at least in her family, the first name would be spelled Konrad, never Conrad.

Many of the Rettenbachers who kindly replied to my querry, checked further with other members of their (frequently large) families, but there were no traces of any unaccounted for Anna or Conrad. I am grateful to all who participated in this, as yet unsuccessful search.

Arno Rettenbacher, who has experience with genealogical research, will conduct further investigation when he gets back to Austria in summer of 2005.

NEXT: Die Naturfreunde

If you have any reliable knowledge about the accident or the Rettenbachers, please drop me a line at

indicates that more information is available in the footnotes section.