Engineer, senior official in the Austrian Railways, brother of the bass vocalist, Eduard Gärtner, and uncle of Hans Gärtner. His official title in 1906 was "Building High Commissioner in the Ministry of Railways" (Bau-Oberkommissär im Eisenbahn-Minsterium), and by 1919 he was "Chief Building Counselor (Oberbaurat) in the Ministry of Railways.

Emil Gaertner and Schenker

There are many appearances of the name "Gärtner" in Schenker's diaries between 1906 and 1911. While most of them relate to musical matters, so are likely to refer to Eduard, there is a group of references in late 1906 and 1907 that seem to refer to Emil. Schenker's diary for October 8, 1906 records "Payment of Gärtner's debt demanded." The diary for November 6 records "100 florins returned to Gärtner," presumably reflecting part-repayment of the debt. The December 24, 1907 entry conclusively records "Emil Gärtner has the effrontery to insult me by not replying ‒ true, it concerned a small favor over money, so it was a matter on which fate has clearly made a point of constantly only shaming and humiliating me." "Gärtner" also appears, together with "[Josef] Redlich," in relation to Schenker's withdrawal in November 1906 from the masonic lodge that he had recently joined, and Emil seems the more likely referent than Eduard.

On July 2, 1918, in the printed announcement of his brother Eduard's funeral (OJ 11/17, [3]), Gaertner signed himself with the honorific title Oberstaatsbahnrat (Chief State Railway Counselor). He figures in Schenker's diaries again from June 1919 after the awarding of the South Tyrol to Italy under the Treaty of St Germain. The Schenkers approached him for help in obtaining visas to access their favorite vacation area, but after promises had been made the approach proved abortive (the Schenkers went to Styria, as they had done in 1918).

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