Leopold Hawelka

Who was Leopold Hawelka?

Leopold Hawelka was an Austrian coffee house owner, founder of Café Hawelka.

Hawelka was born in Mistelbach. His parents were of Bohemian ancestry. His father was a shoemaker. At age 14, the family settled in Vienna, and he began to work in the Deierl restaurant, where he met Josefine Danzberger. They married in 1936 and opened their first café, Kaffee Alt Wien, on the Bäckerstrasse. They later opened a new café, Café Hawelka, on Dorotheergasse. During World War II, the Hawelkas were not able to operate their business. After the war, in September 1945, the Hawelkas reopened their café, the building of which survived the war largely intact.

Josefine Hawelka died in March 2005. Their son, Günther Hawelka, continued baking the café's speciality, Buchteln pastries, using his mother's recipe. Leopold turned 100 on April 11, 2011.