Anton Eipeldauer

Anton Eipeldauer (born February 25, 1893 in Maires , Moravia , † October 17, 1977 in Vienna ) was a popular Austrian gardener , editor-in-chief , popular educator and author .

Life

Anton Eipeldauer was born on February 25, 1893 in Maires as the illegitimate son of general goods dealer Anton Ott (* 1868 in Hardegg / Lower Austria , † 1912 in Vienna ) and Maria Eipeldauer (* 1867 in Vienna, † 1912 ibid). He grew up with his grandparents in Maires and attended both the elementary and the three-class citizen school in Zlabings . His mother, who later married a Stumfohl, worked in Schönbrunn Palace and looked after the apartments of the noble guests there. After the end of his compulsory schooling, he began an apprenticeship as a gardener in an unspecified manorial gardener. His apprenticeship lasted from September 16, 1907 to the beginning of September 1910. On September 8, 1910, he took up a position as a gardener's assistant in the municipal estate garden in Rannersdorf near Vienna. His supervisor, head gardener Albert Tuschek, described him as loyal, hardworking and orderly. His flawless job reference shows that he left the company on January 1, 1912 at his own request. What happened in the months that followed is unclear. Eipeldauer lived with his mother at Rauchfangkehrergasse 20 in the 15th district of Vienna. On July 4, 1912, he finished a two-month typewriting course at the “Private School for Stenography and Typing” in Vienna, a skill that was very useful in his further professional life and his writing activities. Gaining extensive horticultural knowledge was very important to him, and that is why he attended courses such as the 1911 horticultural course of the advanced training association for gardeners in Vienna. At the end of September 1912 he began a two-year course at the horticultural school of the Austrian Horticultural Society . The school, which was founded on October 15, 1868, was a theoretical and practical training facility where gardeners were taught botany, theory and practice of horticulture, the basics of descriptive geometry, as well as architecture and commercial fundamentals. In the two-day leaving examination on March 12 and 13, 1914, Anton Eipeldauer completed all of the examination subjects with "Very Good".

On October 28, 1912, Eipeldauer started his new job as a gardener's assistant in Fritz Mendl's feudal private house on Hohe Warte , which included glass and greenhouses, parks and orchards, and moved to the address Vienna 19th, Wallmodengasse 11. which turned his life around in many ways.

Fritz Mendl (1864–1929) founded the anchor bread factory in Vienna-Favoriten in 1891 together with his brother Heinrich . The company grew rapidly from 20 employees at the beginning and quickly developed into Austria's largest bakery. Due to the excellent quality, the company was given the privilege of holding the title of " kuk Hof Lieferant ". At the beginning, in 1894, there had been labor disputes - the bakery workers had resisted the lockout of some employees who had pointed out the inhumane conditions in the bread factory - but Fritz Mendl was fundamentally extremely socially minded. First the eight-hour shift was introduced and the assistant organization recognized as a collective bargaining partner. Then the Mendl brothers gradually began to improve the social situation of their employees. Baths, dining rooms and even a medical room were created for the employees, and a rest home was adapted for the children of the workers and employees. In order to improve the oppressive living situation of many employees, the management also bought buildings near the factory and converted them into residential buildings. In the inter-war period, the workforce was able to purchase the allotment gardens on the factory premises.

From October 1912 until the outbreak of the First World War , he worked in Fritz Mendl's private nursery. He described him as an extraordinarily hard-working and thirsty for knowledge man. Eipeldauer has proven himself very well during his service and cultivated the potted plants with great success. He went on to write: “His intelligence, his thirst for knowledge and his talent for drawing as well as his intense interest in horticulture should be particularly emphasized. As he now has to give up his position as a result of the advice, my best wishes accompany him ”.

With the beginning of the First World War he was called up for military service and served in the Austro-Hungarian Moravian Infantry Regiment "Freiherr von Waldstätten" No. 81, or Infantry Regiment No. 81 for short, during the Mountain War on the Dolomite Front, to be awarded the Bronze Medal for Bravery at the end of the war , as Sergeant disarming.

Anton Eipeldauer met his future wife Eleonore Hansmann (* 1897, † 1990) in the Mendl family, who worked there as a nanny. The two married during the war. Anton Eipeldauer took a few days' leave from the front at the end of May 1918, and the war wedding took place on June 2. After the end of the war, Fritz Mendl made the gardener's house belonging to the villa available to the couple. The Eipeldauers had two children, their daughter Marianne in 1921 and their son Herbert in 1928.

In autumn 1918 Eipeldauer began to work again for Fritz Mendl, until May 1921 as a gardener's assistant, after which he took over the management of the private gardening until December 1924. From January 1, 1925, he worked as the head of Mendl's commercial gardening department. Eipeldauer gained valuable experience over the years at Mendl and came into contact with allotment gardeners - who later became the main target group for his consulting and writing activities. He himself reports on his job and his activities: “For years I have been managing the nursery of the owner of the anchor bread factory, Mr. Fritz Mendl, who has adjusted his gardening operations entirely to the needs of the around 400 allotment gardeners in his factory and a large number of foreigners. Whole truckloads of vegetable seedlings are produced every year, of which celery, onions and tomato plants are particularly valued as specialties. It is, however, a lot of work - for example, most of the plants are pricked once and the paradeis plants even three times - but one is always happy when the results in the allotment are favorable and when the people are satisfied. Furthermore, stocks of young apple, pear, apricot, cherry, ring lottery and plum trees are waiting to be sold and large parts are still to be trained. What has already gone out in terms of strawberry plants and berry bushes also goes into the thousands. "

Based on his experience in the Mendl business, he wrote his first book Schreber- und Hausgartenkultur in 1924 , which became a real bestseller .

Anton Eipeldauer - himself grew up under modest circumstances and as a staunch socialist member of the Social Democratic Party since 1919 - was actively involved in the February unrest of 1934 on the part of the Schutzbund and was subsequently imprisoned by the corporate state for political reasons. As a result, he also had to resign as director of the specialist advanced training school, was banned from teaching and also lost his official residence. During the Second World War he was drafted into the Volkssturm in the winter of 1944/45 and was taken prisoner by the Soviets in Moravia, from which he was released in autumn 1945.

Eipeldauer was the publisher of various specialist magazines and “main editor” of the illustrated weekly newspaper for gardens, settlements and keeping small animals After work . From 1945 to 1964 he was Secretary General of the Austrian Horticultural Society and became known as a "flower doctor" through appearances on radio and television. Always on the cutting edge of media, Anton Eipeldauer managed to get his own television program in the 1950s with the title At the Flower Doctor . On May 6, 1956, it was first seen on the screen, back then of course in black and white. These broadcasts, from 1969 also in color, made him well known throughout Austria and beyond. The last time Professor Eipeldauer, as he was now called, appeared in front of the camera on November 17, 1971. Between 1956 and 1971 he worked 116 times as a flower doctor.

Anton Eipeldauer received numerous awards due to his lively activity and his services to horticulture: in 1959 he was awarded the title of Professor, in 1964 the Gold Medal for Services to the Republic of Austria and in 1965 a variety of fuchsia was named after him.

He was involved in the establishment of the advanced training school for gardening apprentices in Vienna ( Kagran ).

Anton Eipeldauer fell ill with esophageal cancer in 1976 and was discharged into home care after an operation. He died on October 17, 1977 and was buried on October 27, 1977 at the Ober St. Veit cemetery.

Writings and books

• Allotment and home garden culture. Tagblatt library, 1924.
• Indoor plants and their care. Tagblatt library, 1926.
• Fruit growing in the settlers' and allotment gardens. Scholle-Verlag, 1933.
• Garden land as a support for nutrition. Scholle-Verlag, 1940.
• 1000 garden questions answered by Anton Eipeldauer. Publishing house for youth and people, 1941.
• Allotment and home garden culture - establishment and maintenance of a vegetable, fruit and flower garden. Ostmärkischer Zeitungsverlag / Tagblatt-Bibliothek, Leipzig / Vienna, 1943.
• Vegetable growing in the self-sufficient garden. Scholle-Verlag 1948.
• Eipeldauer's perpetual work calendar. Self-published, 1949.
• Fruit tree pruning in words and pictures. 2 volumes (text and picture book), Verlag für Jugend & Volk, 1961.
• Pure joy in indoor plants. Ullstein Fachverlag, 1961.
• You and your garden. Ullstein Fachverlag, 1966.
• Eipeldauer's guide for flower lovers. Ullstein Fachverlag, 1970.
• Eipeldauer's 1000 garden questions. License Donauland, 1972.
• Flowers and plants in the house - an ABC of house plants. Leopold Stocker Verlag, 1973.
• Flowers in our home - children and parents as flower gardeners - a family hobby. Leopold Stocker Verlag 1973.
• fiori e piante in casa. Sperling u. Copper edition, 1975.
• Eipeldauer's guide for flower lovers. Paperback, Ullstein Fachverlag, 1980.

New editions, edited by Ök-Rat Ing. Herbert Eipeldauer

• Eipeldauer's fruit tree pruning. Austrian Agricultural Publishing House, 1988.
• 1000 garden questions. by Herta and Herbert Eipeldauer, Österr. Agricultural Publishing House, 1997.
• Fruit tree pruning - tried and tested and new. von Eipeldauer and Schreiber, Österr. Agricultural Publishing House, 2003.
• 1000 garden questions. A & M, German edition, 2003.

All of Anton Eipeldauer's books have been published in several editions.

Periodical writings

• After work. 1937-44.
• The flounder. 1945-62.
• Eipeldauer's garden magazine. 1948-88.
• Eipeldauer's houseplant magazine. Self-published, 1956–62.

literature

• DI Erika Karner: Dedicated to the joy of gardening: Anton Eipeldauer - popular educator and visionary , published in historical gardens , 19th year, issue 2/2013

Individual evidence

1. ^ Private archive Eipeldauer: Letter of recommendation from Fritz Mendl
2. ^ Anton Eipeldauer: Allotment and home garden culture. 1st edition, Steyrermühl Verlag, Vienna 1924.
3. ↑ ^{a b} February 24, 1953: Director Eipeldauer - a sixties - the "man with a garden heart" looking back on Vienna - February 1953, accessed on April 25, 2010.
4. ↑ Allotment and home garden culture - establishment and maintenance of a vegetable, fruit and flower garden. Text on the back to the author.

Web links

• Literature by and about Anton Eipeldauer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on Anton Eipeldauer in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )