to tradition, the last contingent of withdrawing troops were meant to have left the city limits around 11 o'clock. As a memorial to this historic heroism, the church clocks in the town have read 11 o'clock since 1777. After the Turkish wars, in 1695 the garrison and surrounding areas of Kőszeg fell into the hands of the Esterházy dukes, where it remained until 1931. The town lost its strategic importance after the Rákóczi-Liberation Wars of 1703–1711. Along with Szombathely, Kőszeg was the most important fortress for the kuruc military leadership from 1705–1708, to liberate and hold onto the areas west of the Rába. The free royal town enjoyed the longest period of peace in its history during the eighteenth century. For the first time in the history of the town, there was an attempt, in 1712, to replace the population loss in the town by trying to attract colonists, and by founding Schwabendorf (Kőszegfalva). Kőszeg had already lost its leading role in the garrison county of Vas by the mid nineteenth century. Only a few workshops survived the production crisis within the guild system during the Hungarian reformation of the early nineteenth century. The founding of public companies, societies, and the first financial institution in the county were the first signs of civic development in the town. Alongside the by then typical society made up of small businesses and small traders, Kőszeg developed during this time into a town of schools, sanatoria, and garrisons. World War II and the Holocaust During World War II, the Jews of Kőszeg were among the last to be deported to Auschwitz in the summer of 1944. Later that year Nazis established a slave labor camp at Kőszeg where 4,500 died of typhus. With the impending arrival of the Red Army in 1945, the camp was liquidated. The camp's 2,000 survivors endured a "death march" of about for several weeks over the Alps to Ebensee. When the Red Army approached Kőszeg in March, 1945, the Hungarian commander, Béla Király, surrendered the city to spare it further destruction. Communist Period After Communism Since 1992 Kőszeg is again living under a normal administrative system and a market economy. The financially feeble town is looking at options for renewal through an injection of capital from outside investors and is seeking support from government agencies and the European Union. Kőszeg has managed to retain its natural charm and the