Remembering Hans Tauber: Local Historian, Numismatist, Painter and Regional Judge with Descendants Visiting Stainz

As a Stainzer resident and judicial assistant at the Stainz District Court, Hans Tauber also devoted himself meticulously to local research. As an artist, he also created a large number of views of important buildings and landscapes.

STAINZ – Making a Stainzer by choice a little better known in his homeland on the 110th anniversary of his death was the approach of Karl Dudek, chairman of the Viana Styria historical association, for his lecture on the local historian, numismatist, painter and regional judge Hans Tauber. Much to his delight, the speaker was able to welcome descendants of the Tauber family to Stainz with great-granddaughter Regina Fischleder, great-grandson Ferdinand Fischleder, great-great-granddaughter Felicita Fischleder and great-granddaughters Hannah and Melanie. “I have been dealing with Hans Tauber for 43 years,” said Karl Dudek, thanking the family for their friendly support. “If you want to know something about the past in Stainz, you’ve come to the right place,” said “StainZeit” frontman Peter Nöhrer, confirming the speaker’s expertise.

Adopted hometown of Stainz

Researching family connections can certainly be described as demanding. Rummaging through registers, browsing through documents and leafing through old newspapers requires a lot of patience and commitment. Samuel Tauber, Hans Tauber’s father, was well known in aristocratic circles as a writer and stock exchange clerk. The mother was Louise Edle von Hönigsberg from the wealthy Hönigsberg family. Together they had the children Hans, Nina-Anna, Henriette, Melanie and Felix. Hans Tauber was the firstborn of the family, who wanted to become an artist in his youth. However, at his father’s urging, he decided to study law, which he began in Vienna and completed in 1877 in his new hometown of Graz. It was the general practitioner Johann Machan who brought Hans Tauber to Stainz. In 1884, Hans Tauber married the much younger Anna Leopold, an innkeeper and butcher’s daughter from Stainz. The marriage resulted in daughters Marianna and Margarethe. Not far from the Johannesquelle in Bad Sauerbrunn, they built the Villa Tauber, which was used as a guesthouse and where guests could stay.

Exact sketches

His work as a judicial assistant at the Stainz District Court fueled his passion for local research. In particular, it was a coin discovery in Stainz that sparked his passion and inspired him to explore burial mounds around Stainz. What set him apart was that he meticulously outlined what he saw in his notes. Grave finds in Pichling, Ettendorf, Teipl and Wetzelsdorf are precisely documented and recreated. The locations can most likely be traced back to the hikes from Lannach train station to Stainz. During this time he worked very closely with the Joanneum in Graz, to which he also sent historical objects such as glasses, vases and vessels, as well as a second gold coin find.

Lifelike views

He was never able to completely suppress painting, even in his work as a court adjunct, examining judge and later state judge. He studied under Mauak near Keller-Reutlingen in the Munich area and was a member of the Association of Visual Artists in Styria under the pseudonym Schrotthof. There is evidence of collaboration with art historian Robert Graf, writer Alexander Roda Roda and other well-known artists. He signed his first works with his name and date, and subsequently made his drawings and pictures with the intertwined initials H and T. Views from the Stainz area, but also the Graz area, can be found in many of his lifelike works. But he also traveled to countries such as Italy, Norway and Germany. In the Munich area, his work on the newspaper “Jugend” (issue 37, 1901) can be seen from the Keller-Reutlingen landscape painting school. “He was more of an artist than a state judge,” said Paul Dudek, asking to be contacted if there were pictures from the last century that could not be clearly assigned.

St. Peter-Friedhof Graz

Hans Tauber died on December 16, 1913 in Graz. He was by no means buried in a pauper’s grave, as falsely reported. As proof of this, the speaker presented the funeral bill for an impressive 1,385.38 guilders. The grave is located in the Protestant part of the St. Peter Cemetery in Graz. “All of today’s voluntary donations,” Karl Dudek concluded, “will benefit the Breitpfeiler project in Osterwitz.”

2023-12-16 20:50:02
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