For Peter Simonischek, the last curtain fell on the earthly stage. So many accompanied the actor of the century, who never forgot his roots, on Sunday in Markt Hartmannsdorf on his last journey.
The widow, the great Brigitte Karner, seemed composed. “But as soon as the first one hugs me, all the dams will probably break.” Touchingly she described the “Krone” parting with her beloved Peter, with whom she spent 40 years.
The most important thing, she says, would have been that he could die at home. “With his family. We were with him for three days, we talked, sang, prayed, hugged him all the time. At some point we realized that the soul was no longer there, only the body.”
She finds beautiful words: “It was Pentecost Monday, the Holy Spirit was in our midst. It was all so easy, so flooded with light. We could walk the last way with my husband – you have to stop at the gate. Then he had to only through it.”
“The terrible thing is that he will never come back”
Hitting sentences. Even the one she says at the end, “His leaving wasn’t a big deal at all. That he never comes again – that’s the terrible thing. And I’m slowly becoming more and more aware of that, as we were so closely welded together. that he will never come again”
Family, friends, colleagues, local residents – they all stood behind her on Sunday at the funeral. Actors such as Johannes Silberschneider, celebrities such as the Hungarian consul Rudi Roth, and three provincial governors of Styria with Waltraud Klasnic, Hermann Schützenhöfer and Christopher Drexler.
Clearing snow with the world star
And many, many companions who shared their stories. His “house and court musician”, as he always called Gerhard Trücker, who also often chauffeured him. “Once I got stuck in his house on the Teichalm at night when there was a lot of snow. So he came out and we scooped out the car from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m., Brigitte made us mulled wine. What world star does something like that? That’s exactly how Peter was,” he says.
“I was his oldest friend in Markt Hartmannsdorf,” says Karl Löffler, who took the younger man under his wing as an altar boy. As he recalls with a smile, “we were all a bit of a crook back then.” Once they were messing around with a “stubble gun” and accidentally hit little Peter. “He immediately started crying like crazy. His father, the dentist, who was drilling, shouted: ‘They shot Peter’s eye out!’ Fearing the consequences, we hid in the church, but were found and shot.”
“A Great Joker”
And: “Peter was a great prankster. We never started our phone conversations with “Servus.” But always with ‘Meet two’. Peter also liked Löffler’s wife Hedwig’s tasty roast pork: “He used to call it ‘idiot food’ – because you can’t stop eating like an idiot.”
Karl Löffler laughs at the memory. “But when I heard the news of the death, I went into the woods to cry.”
A worthy farewell
The farewell took place yesterday in style, in the middle of the village square, at the literature fountain. Who gives poetry instead of water, readings by Peter Simonischek. “He was always there for us, always and everywhere upheld our market in Hartmannsdorf,” says mayor Otmar Hiebaum. “He was a very special person.”
A special person. You hear that all the time here on Sundays, everywhere. He was special, down to earth, completely normal, treated everyone as equals. “To some he was Peter, Petzi, Simse,” his son said at the funeral. “But he touched even those who did not know him.”
Peter Simonischek may have gone his last way, left the earthly scene. But he remains in everyone’s heart.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
