„DEATH MUST BE A VIENNESE“ , A QUOTE FROM A FAMOUS VIENNESE SONG & THE VIENNESE FASCINATION WITH DEATH

LIVES OF THE NON-ÉLITE IN VIENNA FROM THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE TO THE NAZI REGIME AND POST-WAR AUSTRIA, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 “Schubertpark”, former cemetery of the Viennese district Währing”, opened 1769. Famous personalities, such as the musicians and composers Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven and the authors Franz Grillparzer and Johann Nestroy, were buried here before the transfer of their remains to the newly opened “Zentralfriedhof”. This graveyard was closed in 1873 and completely abandoned before it was turned into a park in 1924/25.

 

“Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof “ (Long Live the Central Cemetery)

Viennese song & lyrics by Wolfgang Ambros, published in 1975, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the opening of Vienna’s largest graveyard in sarcastic words:

Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof und alle seine Toten!
Der Eintritt ist für Lebende heut‘ ausnahmslos verboten.
Weil der Tod a Fest heut gibt, die ganze lange Nacht.
und von die Gäst‘ ka einziger a Eintrittskarten bra[u]cht.
Wann’s Nacht wird über Simmering, kummt Leben in die Toten,
und drüben beim Krematorium tan s‘ Knochenmark anbraten.
Dort hinten bei der Marmorgruft, dort stengan zwei Skelete,
die stessen mit zwei Urnen z’samm und saufen um die Wette.

Am Zentralfriedhof is Stimmung, wia seit Lebtag no net woa,
weil alle Toten feiern heut seine ersten hundert Jahr.

Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof und seine Jubilare.
Sie liegen und verfaul’n scho da seit über hundert Jahre.
Draußt is kalt und drunt is warm, nur manchmal a bissel feucht,
wenn ma so drunt liegt, freut ma sich, wann’s Grablaternderl leucht.

Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof, die Szene wird makaber;
die Pfarrer tanzen mit die Huren, und de J u d e n mit d‘ Araber.
Heut san alle wieder lustig, heut‘ lebt alles auf.
Im Mausoleum spielt a Band, die hat an Wahnsinnshammer drauf.

Am Zentralfriedhof ist Stimmung wia seit Lebtag no net woa,
weil alle Toten feiern heute seine ersten hundert Jahr.

Es lebe der Zentralfriedhof! Auf amoi macht’s a Schnalzer,
der Moser singt’s Fiakerlied und die Schrammeln spüln an Walzer.
Auf amoi is die Musi still, und alle Aug’n glänzen
weil dort drübn steht der Knochenmann und winkt mit seiner Sensen.

Am Zentralfriedhof ist Stimmung wia seit Lebtag no net woa,
weil alle Toten feiern heute seine ersten hundert Jahr.

Translation:

Long live the Central Cemetery and all its dead!

Admission is strictly forbidden to the living today.

Because Death is throwing a party tonight, all night long.

And none of the guests need tickets.

When night falls over Simmering, the dead come to life,

and over at the crematorium, they fry bone marrow.

Back there by the marble tomb, two skeletons are standing,

they’re toasting with two urns and drinking competitively.

At the Central Cemetery, the atmosphere is like never before,

because all the dead are celebrating their first hundred years today.

Long live the Central Cemetery and its jubilarians.

They have been lying there and rotting for over a hundred years.

It’s cold outside and warm down there, only sometimes a little damp,

when you’re lying down there, you’re happy when the grave lanterns light up.

Long live the Central Cemetery, the scene is becoming macabre;

the priests are dancing with the whores, and the Jews with the Arabs.

Today everyone is happy again, today everything is coming to life.

A band is playing in the mausoleum, and they’re really rocking it.

The atmosphere at the Central Cemetery is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,

because all the dead are celebrating their first hundred years today.

Long live the Central Cemetery! Suddenly there’s a snap,

Moser sings the Fiakerlied and the Schrammeln play a waltz.

Suddenly the music stops, and everyone’s eyes shine

because the Grim Reaper is standing there, waving his scythe.

The atmosphere at the Central Cemetery is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,

because all the dead are celebrating his first one hundred years.

 

Viennese “Leichenwirtshäuser” (in Viennese: “corpse inns” = funeral inns) and “Leichenschmaus” (in Viennese: “corpse meals” = funeral feast)

 

The newly opened “Schubertpark” with its cemetery in the 1920s, photographed by my grandfather, Toni Kainz, who was the son of the owner of the “Anton Kainz Gasthaus”, opposite the former graveyard, originally a typical Viennese “corpse inn”. These inns have always thrived on the celebrations after a burial, the “Leichenschmaus” (“corpse meal”). Therefore, such inns next to graveyards were called “Leichenwirtshäuser” in Viennese:

 

“Anton Kainz Gasthaus” opposite the “Schubertpark” in the late 1920s: left: my grandmother Lola Kainz in the entrance, right: my great-grandparents on the “terrace”, called “Schanigarten” in Vienna.

 

Left: my grandfather Toni Kainz on the “terrace”, in the middle: my great-grandfather, Ignaz Sobotka, serving, and right: my great-grandmother, Rudolfine Sobotka,  at the entrance to the terrace of the “Anton Kainz Gasthaus”

When in the second half of the 19th century the inner-city graveyards were closed and later turned into public parks, the so-called “corpse inns”, moved to the outskirts of the city, where the Viennese were now buried and the celebrations after the burials took place in the inns nearby. The “Leichenschmaus” (“corpse meal”) could last several days and no matter the social class or income, it was the aim of every Viennese to have a dignified burial with an appropriate festive gathering of the mourners after the ceremony in an inn with food, lots of drink, mostly alcoholic, and sometimes musicians, who performed the traditional Viennese songs (“Wienerlieder”), often mentioning death in a humorous , sarcastic or ironic way. Among these were the songs that the deceased loved during his lifetime and listened to at the “Heurigen”, the places where even today the young wine is drunk, simple food is served, and musicians perform the Viennese songs the customers want to hear. These traditions are still alive in Vienna.

 

Opposite the “Zentralfriedhof”, main gate 2, the traditional Viennese sausage stand “eh scho wuascht” offers respite for the visitors of the by far largest cemetery in Vienna in the 11th district, Simmering. Its name illustrates the sarcastic and humorous aspect of the Viennese’ fascination with death: the direct translation of the Viennese dialect phrase is: “it is already sausage”, meaning “it doesn’t matter any longer,” and the “sausage” is a favourite Viennese snack which you can eat there. Sausages are eaten standing, with your fingers or with tooth picks, and these sausages are traditionally named after places, such as Debrecen, Frankfurt, or Krain.

 

Next to the monumental entrance of the “Zentralfriedhof” there is a much-frequented prestigious coffee house and pastry shop (“Oberlaa”) for the mourners, where they can indulge in Viennese cakes and cheer the deceased.

 

Another excellent example of “Leichenwirtshaus” (“corpse inn”) is the “Concordia Schlössel”, opposite the “Zentralfriedhof”, which is a favourite spot for visitors of the cemetery, but also a location of “corpse meals” and many other festivities.

 

My parents, my grandparents, my great-aunt and great-uncle and my great-grandparents were all buried at the “Zentralfriedhof” and mostly the celebrations after their burials, the “Leichenschmaus”(“corps meals”) took place in this location.

 

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VIENNESE SUBURBAN COFFEE HOUSES UNTIL WORLD WAR II

LIVES OF THE NON-ÉLITE IN VIENNA FROM THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE TO THE NAZI REGIME AND POST-WAR AUSTRIA, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Café Hummel, Josefstädterstrasse (next to Hamerlingpark) in the suburb of Josefstadt. The house was built in 1805 and in 1856 an inn opened there which was later turned into a coffee house. In 1896 a vaudevillian singer, Carola Biedermann, wife of the Viennese folk singer Julius Biedermann took over the coffee house and named it “Café Carola”. This coffee house offered separate reading and gaming rooms, a smoking room and a ladies’ room, as well as a conservatory with palm trees. The couple had to flee from its creditors to New York and the new owner staged daily concerts and kept the coffee house open the whole night. Among the many owners that followed was Joseph Carlo Popper, who had worked as a lion tamer and circus employee in South Africa in his youth and had earned his living as a gold digger. In memory of his youth he called the coffee house “Café Pretoria”. The coffee house changed its name often until 1937, when the family Hummel finally bought it.

In the vicinity, just outside the “Linienwall” (today’s Gürtel) in the suburb Neulerchenfeld, a coffee house with a conservatory, palm trees and parrots continued this tradition until the 1960s, the “Café Wintergarten”, where I went with my grandmother, Lola, as a child. Today it’s a musical event location, the “Café Concerto”.

In 1934 my grandparents, Toni and Lola Kainz, took over the running of a coffee house on Hamerlingplatz in the suburb of Josefstadt. My grandmother loved the contact to the guests and my great-grandmother Ritschi (Rudolphine Sobotka) helped with the cooking. Her specialities were “Krautfleckerl” (small pasta with cabbage), a Jewish speciality that is much praised in Friedrich Torberg’s book “Die Tante Jolesch” (Aunt Jolesch), “Sulz” (brawn) and sweet dishes, such as “Buchteln”, chocolate cake and “Apfelstrudel”. The recipes of these coffee house classics have been passed on in the family.

Here are some simple and tasty recipes of Ritschi and Lola, which are typical Viennese coffee house specialities. There are not always precise indications of quantity as the recipes were communicated orally:

Simple chocolate cake

Ingredients: 40g butter, 100g sugar, 1 egg,  40g cocoa, some milk, 1/2 package of baking powder, 150g flour

Mix everything and beat for some time, then bake in the oven in a square baking dish until no longer liquid inside. Fill with the following cream:

100g butter, 3 soup spoons of cocoa, 2 soup spoons of black coffee, 3 soup spoons of sugar and whip everything until it is creamy

“Buchteln”

Mix 500g flour with active dry yeast, 250g butter, 3 eggs, 70g sugar and ¼ l of milk and beat for at least 10 minutes. Then put the dough in a warm place to rest for an hour. As soon as it has doubled its volume, cut it in small dumplings, fill them with a special plum jam (Zwetschkenröster) or sweetened cottage cheese, then dip the dumpling in melted butter and fill a square baking tray with the dumplings. Let the dish rest in a warm place for half an hour before baking in the oven until the dumplings are golden. Serve them still warm.

“Krautfleckerl”

Cook 250g small square noodle pasta “al dente”. Meanwhile slice half a white cabbage thinly. Heat a little lard, add a little sugar and cumin. Then fry the white cabbage until it is brown, add pepper and salt and in the end mix it with the small pasta noodles.

“Sulz”

Fill a pressure cooker with: 4 pig’s feet, and a pig’s tail, 400g tender pork meat, an onion, two garlic cloves, salt, pepper, 1/8 l of vinegar, a carrot, some celery, some parsley and fill the pot with water until everything is totally covered. Cook in the pressure cooker for an hour. Then pour the liquid into a porcelain bowl through a sieve and cut up the meat in small slices together with some of the jellied skin of the pig and stir it into the liquid. Put it into the fridge overnight. When solid, cut it up in slices and serve with thinly sliced onions and a little bit of vinegar and sunflower oil.


Menu card of the coffee house and restaurant in the suburb Leopoldstadt, Prater “Konstantinhügel” , 1927

In some Viennese coffee house coffee was formerly made in the traditional porcelain “Karlsbader” coffee makers – widespread in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Two of my grandmother’s “Karlsbaders” have survived. When preparing the coffee, she added a pinch of salt and a spoonful of cacao to the ground coffee beans in the porcelain sieve before slowly pouring the boiling water over it.


“Karlsbader” coffee makers
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