Demel, Anna (1872–1956)

Austrian proprietor of Vienna's world-famous "Demel's" pastry shop. Born in Vienna, Austria, on March 4, 1872; died in Vienna on November 7, 1956; married Karl Demel.

For more than half a century, Anna Demel reigned over one of traditional Vienna's most beloved sites of intellectual exchange, the famous "Ch. Demel's Söhne, k.k. Hofzuckerbäcker und Hoflieferant," a pastry shop whose exquisite creations were enjoyed not only by ordinary mortals but also by the exalted nobility who resided a stone's throw down the street in the vast Hofburg complex, the Imperial Palaces of the Habsburg dynasty. Even the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918 did not dim the luster of Demel's. Pastries, coffee and sandwiches were served there in good times and bad in a leisurely spirit that seemingly refused to accept most of the changes ushered in by a 20th century that often treated Vienna and traditional Austria in a brutal fashion. Owned by her husband Karl Demel's family since 1857 "der Demel," as the shop is known affectionately to native Viennese, has been situated for generations in the Kohlmarkt, one of Vienna's most fashionable streets.

A Viennese institution by the closing decades of the 19th century, the unequaled quality of Demel's pastries earned it a commanding position in the highly competitive world of Vienna's pastry-cooks by achieving the signal distinction of being chosen as Court Pastry Baker, Hoflieferant, "by appointment to his Imperial and Royal Majesty Emperor Franz Josef I." For more than a century, Vienna's "best society" has met there to chatter, exchange the latest gossip while consuming immense quantities of delectable pastries washed down with various types of coffee. In a hectic and unstable world, Demel's has come to signify an unchanging world of tradition, perhaps best described by the late great Viennese cabaret artist Helmut Qualtinger in his song "Die Demelinerinnen" ("Demel's Waitresses"):

Solang wir da sind, ist ka Not. (As long as we're here, there will be no troubles.)
Ist fast all's im rechten Lot. (Almost everything will work out well.)
Wenn wir mal nimmer da sind, (When one day we are gone,)
ist die alte Zeit erst tot. (Only then will the good old days have died.)

sources:

Ackerl, Isabella, and Friedrich Weissensteiner. Österreichisches Personenlexikon. Vienna: Verlag Carl Ueberreuter, 1992.

"Anna Demel 80 Jahre alt," in Neues Österreich. March 2, 1952.

Berzeviczy-Pallavicini, Federico von. Die k.k. Hofzuckerbäckerei Demel: Ein Wiener Märchen. Edited by Christian Brandstätter. Vienna: Molden Edition Graphische Kunst, 1976.

Eidlitz, Johannes. "Der Demel—altbacken?," in profil: Das unabhängige Magazin Österreichs. Vol. 10, no. 4. January 23, 1979, p.48.

John Haag , Athens, Georgia