Above: Josef Bratfisch's grave in Hernals Cemetery, Vienna. Photo credit: HeinzLW, January 14, 2011.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
21. Aftermath: Josef (continued)
"In addition to the deceased's family, several other relatives, as well as most of the Viennese cab drivers and their wives, numerous actors, almost all members of the well-known musical quartets, the Schrammel, Grinzinger, Butschetti, Dänzer, etc., as well as the entire army of folk and natural singers, and all of Vienna's artistic whistlers, participated in the funeral ceremony.
"The floral tributes placed on the coffin were so numerous that the flower cart driving in front of the coffin could not hold them" After Josef's death, other singers adopted Bratfisch as a stage name (Kornberger). In 1950 the City of Vienna unveiled a plaque honoring Josef and two other members of the singing cab driver fraternity, Karl "Hungerl" Mayerhofer and Franz "Schuster-Franz" Reil. The plaque is located at Lacknergasse 60, not far from Josef's old address at Lacknergasse 8.
Nowadays it is the Mayerling connection that keeps Josef's memory green and his tombstone immaculate. The tombstone is in Vienna's Hernals Cemetery on the family plot, and over the years three other names have been added: Johanna in 1916, their son-in-law Alfred Konhauser in 1927 and their daughter Antonia in 1960.
The bill for the tombstone was found during the audit of Josef's assets and liabilities, so he presumably commissioned it himself before his death.
The tall shaft of black granite with its gold lettering proclaims the three things that Josef was most proud of: his status as a homeowner (hauseigenthumer), his status as a leibfiaker (not merely a fiaker or kutscher) and his association with Crown Prince Rudolf.
In that order.