Decision no. 88b/2007

In the decisions 88/2006 of 20 March 2006 and 88a/2006 of 12 July 2006, the application for restitution of a real estate in Vienna, under the ownership of the Republic of Austria, had already been positively decided concerning three quarter-shares.

The prior owner of the real estate had been the Jewish business tycoon Ferdinand B.-B. who had to sell his entire property in March 1938 due to the National Socialist takeover. The real estate was sold to the German Reich.

A restitution procedure which had been initiated in 1947 by the heirs to Ferdinand B.-B. was concluded by a settlement with the Republic of Austria, the successor in ownership. Having examined the prior settlement, the Arbitration Panel came to the conclusion that an "extreme injustice" within the meaning of the General Settlement Fund Law is present. Among other things, it was also established that during the course of the settlement negotiations the Republic of Austria took advantage of its superior position and pressured the claimants.

After the decisions 88/2006 and 88a/2006 of the Arbitration Panel, a further application for a quarter of the same real estate was filed within the deadline set up for the end of 2006. Since the application was based on the same historical facts which had been decisive for the foregoing decisions, the Arbitration Panel had to examine whether the current applicant could be considered heir to the prior real estate owner Ferdinand B.-B. and thus would be entitled to apply. The Arbitration Panel affirmed this and recommended a restitution also in case of this share of the real estate.