Background reduction in the ECHo experiment

The ECHo experiment is designed to determine the effective ${\nu }_e$-mass by analyzing the endpoint region of the calorimetrically measured ${}^{163}$Ho electron capture spectrum. To reach sub-eV sensitivity on the effective electron neutrino mass the identification and reduction of background is extremely important. We consider three main contributions to the background in the ${}^{163}$Ho spectrum: Intrinsic background due to unresolved pile-up events, events due to radioactive contamination in the detector and detector set-up and events induced by cosmic radiation. In this contribution we present the strategies developed by the ECHo collaboration in order to reduce the background in the experiment. In particular we discuss the use of an active muon veto which is installed around the ECHo cryostat to discriminate muon induced events. In conclusion, we will report on the contribution of muon induced and natural radioactivity background.