Decision no. 204/2006

In 1938, half of the real estate, which had the size of 35.438 m² and on which two villas were built, was owned by Maria R. She was the widow of the Jewish banker Hans R. who had died in 1935 and was considered “Aryan”. The second half belonged to her Jewish sister in law Emma S.-S. After her death in 1939 this share of land was transferred to Erwin R., the son of Maria R. and Hans R. According to Nazi legislation Erwin R. was considered “first degree half-Jewish”. In 1938, Maria R. and Erwin R., who were both Liechtenstein citizens, emigrated abroad. In the fall of 1938, parts of the real estate, which was used by the R. family only during the summer months, were assigned by the Reichsstatthalter to the Reich Labor Service. In 1941, Maria R. and Erwin R. sold the real estate for 240.000,- Reichsmark to the German Reich postal service. A special approval by the Nazi authorities was not necessary for this sale. Considerable parts of the purchase price were used by Maria R. and Erwin R. to cover various tax debts.

In June 1949, Maria R. and Erwin R. claimed the restitution of the real estate still legally owned by the German Reich. From October 1951 on, negotiations on the acquisition of the property and the settlement of the restitution procedure took place between Maria R., Erwin R. and the Austrian postal administration, which was very interested in the real estate. In February 1953, an agreement was settled: Maria R. and Erwin R. agreed to withdraw the claim for restitution and to leave the real estate to the postal administration in exchange for the payment of 300.000,- Schilling. In 1955, with the Austrian State Treaty the ownership of the real estate devolved upon the Republic of Austria.

Initially, the Arbitration Panel had to thoroughly examine the facts of the property confiscation as defined by the General Settlement Fund Law, since especially Maria R., who was considered “Aryan”, was as such not subject to racist persecution by the National Socialist regime. Moreover there was no direct influence by the National Socialist authorities on the sale transaction at that time. However, according to the Arbitration Panel the tax suit against Maria R. and Erwin R., which preceded the transaction and was marked by anti-Semitic attitudes of the financial authorities, became causal for the sale of the real estate. Hence, in view of the legal guidelines a property confiscation was to be affirmed.

The Arbitration Panel also had to examine the details of the restitution procedure, since in accordance with the General Settlement Fund Law, the reopening of cases which have been concluded with a settlement is only possible in exceptional cases. However, in this specific case no indications have been found which would give rise to a new assessment of the settlement. In the case of a restitution of the real estate the purchase price of 240.000.- Reichsmark (=Schilling) would have had to be repaid. Taking this into account and in view of the value of the real estate at that time of approximately 600.000.- Schilling, the settlement amount of 300.000.- Schilling, attained by Maria R. and Erwin R., seemed reasonable. In addition to this, Maria R. and Erwin R. were not interested in an actual restitution of the real estate. Hence, the concluded settlement was not to be assessed as extremely unjust and the Arbitration Panel rejected the restitution of the real estate applied for.