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Erwin Stein

1885–1958

Born
7 Nov 1885, Vienna
Country of birth
Austria–Hungary, today Austria
Died
19 Jul 1958, London
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth7 Nov 1885, ViennaProbable1 source
  • Death19 Jul 1958, LondonProbableDisputed1 competing claim1 source
  • UnionSophie BachmannConfirmed1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Vienna

    Birth, Vienna

  2. Child born: Marion Stein

    Birth, Vienna

  3. Died · London

    Death, London

What was it like?

The world around Vienna, 1885: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Erwin was born the same year as Alban Berg, Erich von Stroheim, and Ezra Pound.

Born the same year

  • Alban Berg

    Austrian composer (1885–1935)

  • Erich von Stroheim

    Austrian actor and director (1885–1957)

  • Ezra Pound

    American poet and critic (1885–1972)

  • Sacha Guitry

    French playwright and filmmaker (1885-1957)

  • Niels Bohr

    Danish physicist (1885–1962)

  • Sinclair Lewis

    American writer and playwright (1885–1951)

Fashion

Peasant men's holiday shirt-sleeves

On feast days, peasant men often ate in their white shirt-sleeves, as these were considered an essential part of their holiday attire indoors.

Prankish feast day dessert centerpieces

At peasant feast day dinners, a dessert centerpiece was garnished with bows of bright ribbons, flowers, and deliberately hidden thorns and stinging nettles.

Music

Landler dance in the Wechsel region

The Landler was the dominant dance in the Wechsel region, often accompanied by instruments ranging from violins and clarinets to wind instruments and the Styrian diatonic harmonika. Thousands of Landler melodies were played at celebrations like harvest festivals or in local inns.

Rural music instruments in Voralpen

In rural areas near the Semmering and Wechsel regions, music was often performed using the zither and the hammered dulcimer (Hackbrett). This contrasted with urban areas where violin and harp combinations were more common in taverns.

Getting around

Faster rail connections to Budapest

By 1900, the travel time for a direct train between Vienna and Budapest had been reduced to four and a half hours, down from the approximately six hours required when the line first opened.

Strict police control of early train travel

Initially, passengers traveling by train in Austria had to obtain a police permit the day before their journey, have it stamped at their destination, and return it upon arrival.

Daily life

Shared water taps in Vienna apartment buildings

In urban Vienna, many apartments lacked private water or toilets, requiring residents to fetch water from a shared tap in the corridor called a bassena.

Strict regulations for Austrian schools

Austrian school laws were highly detailed, regulating everything from the size of school desks and classrooms to the pupils' specific attire on examination days.

Food

Affordable ice cream for the masses

In the 1860s, street confectioners began offering portions of ice cream on the Vienna Glacis for an "old Zehnerl," served with an edible cup and spoon made of hard dough.

Beer as food and drink

In Vienna, beer was considered both a food and a drink, and it was so essential that it even appeared on the imperial dinner table.

Prices and wages
Around 1888–1888

Living conditions of brick workers

Brick workers in Vienna often lived in overcrowded huts with up to 70 people to a room, sleeping on straw-covered wooden bunks.

Around 1870–1879

Weekly wages in a 1870s factory

In the 1870s, unskilled laborers in a Viennese factory typically earned 5 to 6 florins (fl) per week. Skilled workers, such as toolmakers, could earn significantly more, with some skilled roles paying up to 18 florins weekly.

Work

Common jobs and domestic service life

Common jobs included factory work, small-scale trade, and domestic service, with over 91,000 domestic servants in Vienna by 1890 alone. Female domestic servants often started as young as eight to fourteen years old and were frequently required to be on call 24 hours a day.

Harsh working conditions and daily schedules

Working days of 12 to 16 hours were standard, and many workers in brick factories were paid in tokens instead of cash, forcing them to buy supplies at overpriced company canteens. Workers often lived in miserable conditions, sometimes sleeping 50 people to a room on straw mattresses while paying rent for the privilege.

News and letters

Pneumatic Mail and City Delivery Delays

In Vienna, a pneumatic mail system allowed letters to be delivered quickly, with some reaching their destination in just ninety minutes. Conversely, standard city mail faced delays, often taking hours to reach suburban locations.

The Correspondenz-Karte: A Quick Communication Tool

Introduced in 1869, the Correspondenz-Karte allowed people to send short messages across the empire for only 2 Kreuzer. Despite its convenience, city delivery was sometimes slow, with cards mailed in the morning occasionally taking until the next day to reach recipients just a half-hour away.

During their lifetime

  1. 1892

    Gold crown currency introduced in 1892

    In 1892, the gold crown currency was introduced, replacing the old florin system.

  2. 1897

    1897 Marconi receives patent for radio communications

    Guglielmo Marconi received the first patent for radio communications in 1897.

  3. 1908

    Old Age Pensions Introduced in 1908

    In 1908, Parliament approved means-tested old age pensions of up to five shillings a week for people over 70.

  4. 1914

    Wartime inflation begins, 1914

    Just after war broke out in 1914, the government began using the printing press to fund military costs, causing the money supply to expand by 977 percent by 1918.

  5. 1915

    Ersatz bread introduced, 1915

    In early 1915, the government forced citizens to eat bread made with ersatz ingredients like sawdust because food supplies were severely depleted.

  6. 1918

    Women Won the Right to Vote

    In 1918, a limited number of women were allowed to vote, and by 1927 all women over 21 were granted the right to vote.

Family

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.