Schnitzel Sonntag (Sunday)

"Schnitzel Sundays" in Vienna

Viktor worked in the trucking business in Vienna, Austria.  In his younger days he probably worked as a mechanic, but when I knew him he had already retired.  He wasn't rough at all - he was elegant and refined as in the photos below. Had a thin pocket watch on a gold chain.   Grandfather Kordesch smoked unfiltered cigarettes from a silver cigarette case and drank espresso two cups at a time.  He had a favorite cigarette lighter (the old kind with flint and a wick and smells of lighter fluid) and a souvenir pocket knife from World War I.  His hands shook from the caffein.

In 1963 his wife Katharina pounded and fried Wiener schnitzel with gurkensalat every Sunday Just for me!   It was the main meal "Mittagessen"  -- that's lunch in Austria.  I was a freshman (4. Klasse) in high school at Realgymnasium Stubenbastei.  Sunday mornings I would ride the old Stadtbahn (now the U-Bahn) along the Donaukanal to Alser Straße, then by streetcar along Hernalser Hauptstraße to their tiny studio apartment on the 3rd floor.  It had no bathroom and no water.  After the schnitzel and salad, Viktor had his espresso and lit up a cigarette.  That's how I remember him.  He passed away in 1964.

Viktor Kordesch

Viktor Kordesch

I attended 9th grade (4. Klasse) at Realgymnasium Stubenbastei. [Google Maps]
Oleg and Milla attend this school now.

Alser Straße U-Bahn Station today [Google Street View]

My grandmother Katharina and my sister Joanna in Vienna, 1962

Katharina, Viktor, Karl in the wagon, and Katharina's sister Maria Mayr and husband Hans Earp.  Vienna, 1924

Katharina Mayr and Viktor Koloman Kordesch Wedding Photo.
January 29 1919, Pfarre St Anton, Vienna 1010, Austria.

Viktor K. Kordesch Timeline [MyHeritage.com]