Book presentation: Final Report of the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution

The National Fund warmly invites you to attend the presentation of its publications, the "Final Report of the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution" and Volume 8 of the "Decisions of the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution".

Location: Top floor of the Juridicum, University of Vienna, Schottenbastei 10–16, 1010 Vienna

Datum: 18 June 2025, 5 p.m.

Content

The Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution was established in 2001 with the General Settlement Fund and could recommend, in accordance with the General Settlement Fund Law, the restitution of real estate, superstructures and movable property belonging to Jewish communal organizations, if the assets in question had been seized during the Nazi era and were under public ownership on 17 January 2001. In its 20 years of work, the Arbitration Panel issued 1,582 decisions and recommended the restitution of assets with a total value of around 48 million euros.

The Final Report of the Arbitration Panel is now available in German and English in book form. This publication documents the circumstances and events leading to the Panel’s establishment, describes the diverse challenges that arose during the historical and legal processing of the applications, and comprehensively evaluates the results of the most recent Austrian compensation program seeking to redress material losses from the Nazi era.

Volume 8 of the book series "Decisions of the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution" will also be presented at the event.

Programm

Welcome
Christian Koller
Vice Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Vienna

Introductory remarks
Hannah Lessing
Managing Director of the National Fund
former Secretary General of the General Settlement Fund

Introduction
Josef Aicher
former Chairman of the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution
Co-editor of the Final Report and the book series

Lectures
“From post-war law to the Arbitration Panel – comments on the restitution of property to victims of National Socialism”
Franz-Stefan Meissel
University Professor of Roman Law
Director of the Institute for Roman Law and Ancient Legal History

“In Rem Restitution in the Washington Agreement – insights from the negotiating team”
Ursula Kriebaum
University Professor of International Law at the Institute for International Law at the University of Vienna
Member of the Austrian negotiating team for the Washington Agreement

Moderator
Judith Pfeffer
Managing Director of the National Fund

Reception

Free admission, limited seating!

Please note:

By participating in the event, you consent to the taking and publication of photographs, audio and film recordings. Please refer to Data Protection for information on how the National Fund processes your personal data.