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Joseph Hopfinger

14 Apr 1905 – 23 Aug 1992

5 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

  • Born14 Apr 1905not verified1 source
  • Died23 Aug 1992not verified1 source

A life in time

  1. 14 Apr 1905

    Born

  2. 23 Aug 1992

    Dies, aged 87

Family

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Partner

During his lifetime

He lived through 10 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1900s · Joseph is born

What people wore

Peasant men's holiday shirt-sleeves

On feast days, peasant men in rural Austria-Hungary traditionally wore white shirt-sleeves as an essential and prideful part of their indoor holiday dress.

Daily life

Housing for the poor in Vienna

In 1909, around 66,000 people in Vienna were bed-renters who did not have their own home and paid to use a bed for only a few hours. Many tenement buildings lacked running water, toilets, and electricity, requiring residents to collect water from a corridor tap called a Bassena.

Work

Low wages and long hours

A worker in wool weaving could earn 34 Heller for finishing a shoulder collar, which took a significant amount of time, or roughly 51 Heller per day if highly skilled. Cigarette paper production workers could earn 10 to 12 Kronen for a long shift starting at 5 a.m. and ending at 8:30 p.m.

The Model T. Ford’s assembly line made a car ordinary families could buy: fifteen million were built.Around the world · 1908–1927

The Model T. Ford’s assembly line made a car ordinary families could buy: fifteen million were built.

ModelTMitch · public domain

Music

Dominant folk dances in rural Wechsel

In the Wechsel region, the Ländler/Steirer dance was the most common type until World War I, often performed at farmers' festivities or local inns. Music was played on diverse instruments ranging from violins and clarinets to military-style wind instruments.

At the table

Ideal middle-class meals and coffee house culture

Before the war, the ideal middle-class meal consisted of a three-course menu featuring soup, a main dish of meat with side dishes, and dessert. Intellectuals frequented coffee houses around 1900 to enjoy coffee drinks like the Melange.

News and letters

Vienna's fast pneumatic mail service

In Vienna, the pneumatic tube system delivered messages within the city in about 30 minutes, costing 15 kreuzer or 30 heller, which was equivalent to the price of two ordinary letters or a loaf of bread.