The conduit is supposed to be leaded steel but I don't have the slightest idea whether this is true. It does occasionally rust, so aluminum is out.

This is the kind of bender used to bend Bergmann conduit:
[Linked Image from electrical-photos.com]
The top "jaw" makes the ripples and the round bottom shapes the exterior radius. Takes quite a lot of skill to make nice bend with that tool, I tried it on some removed scraps. I bought the bender unused (likely it's about 50 years old) when a nearby paint and tool store closed down. Browsing through rows of screw drivers and paint brushes I suddenly stumbled across this beauty.

In the last pic, the remaining plaster is keeping the socket up. I did the same with all other electrical boxes in the room except the pull box seen above, where the plaster just crumbled away as soon as I touched it. I decided to leave the old wiring intact until we really start the rewiring (after the plumbing is done).

And yes, the house was definitely worth the price, it was close to free for taking. It doesn't need any structural work, but perhaps a damp course installed (in spots there are severe problems with damp rising up through the brick foundations and walls), a new bathroom, central heat (the previous owner had coal stoves and when she got too old to use them had electric heat installed, the most expensive way to get the place warm, besides we never got the house beyond 13°C using the electric heat), substantial electrical work, some new floors, doors and perhaps windows. Still, in the end it'll likely be considerably cheaper than building new.

Here's an exterior shot:
[Linked Image from electrical-photos.com]
The house is actually L shaped and extends quite far to the back on the left (about 15m I think). Still, it's a tiny house. Originally two larger rooms, one small room, kitchen and hallway. One of the larger rooms has been split up into a second hall and bathroom in 1976. Until then, the house did not have any interior plumbing, just a pump in the front yard and an outhouse in the back.

Houses are mostly small there, most people were day laborers for the princes of Liechtenstein. Today the area suffers serious economic depressions after the sugar factory, the only large employer closed down 3 years ago, most young people escaped to Vienna and a large percentage of the houses are weekend or holiday homes. In our village for example, there are 470 registered inhabitants in 300 houses, including all part time residents (who in some cases only spend maybe 2 weeks a year there).

With the construction of an international motorway 15km away and the general opening towards the Czech Republic the area is supposed to rebound within the next decade though.