[The difficult path of tuberculosis care around 1900: The failure of the sanatorium movement in the Austrian Semmering region].

Famous tourist resorts have usually been also health resorts. At the same time, the development of high-altitude spas was closely linked to the treatment of tuberculosis. One of the reasons for locating sanatoriums away from large cities was to minimise the risk of infection. Tuberculosis sanatoria had the image of being dangerous places that should be avoided by the local population. Their construction was often accompanied by debates that delayed or prevented them from being built. In one of the most famous health resorts of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Semmering region, there were massive conflicts with representatives of tourism interests. Although the most important medical experts in the Habsburg Monarchy spoke out in favour of the construction and its safety, the authorities could not be convinced. A contemporary newspaper carried the headline: "The battle for Semmering". The conflicts surrounding the establishment of tuberculosis sanatoriums are shown, and the struggle for the first sanatoriums in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is made visible. The establishment of the first tuberculosis sanatoriums was accompanied by irrational fears, which could not be dispelled by expert opinions and statistical data. In the Semmering region, local representatives felt that tourism interests were under threat. This study examined the work of Leopold Schrötter von Kristelli, a laryngologist and social physician, within the context of the sanatorium movement. Schrötter von Kristelli made great efforts to establish a tuberculosis sanatorium and encountered significant opposition in his endeavours. The essay also highlights the important work of the Austrian Central Committee for Tuberculosis under the leadership of the social physician Ludwig Teleky. Teleky encouraged several important medical associations to investigate "danger of spreading tuberculosis through sanatoriums in their vicinity" in order to dispel these fears and prove the safety of such institutions. The College of Physicians in Vienna drew up a memorandum addressed to the relevant authorities demanding approval for the institution, but to no avail.