Decision no. 413/2008

In 1938, the undeveloped arable land was mostly owned by the Zita W., a Jew. While her husband was able to flee to the United States in 1940, Zita W. and their children, Kurt and Paul, were deported to the concentration camp in Theresienstadt. In February 1943, all three were deported to the extermination camp Auschwitz and murdered. In the years 1943/44 the German Reich took possession of Zita W.'s real estate and on account of discriminatory National Socialist regulations it was able to also assure the ownership.

After the end of the National Socialist regime, first the Republic of Austria took over the administration of the dispossessed real estate. Until 1956, the expiry of the deadline for restitution, legal successors to Zita W. had not claimed the real estate. The asset hence went to the collection agencies which had been established in 1957 by the Republic of Austria for the assertion of unfilled restitution claims. The generated profits were used for the benefit of victims of National Socialism. In this case the property transfer took place pursuant to the amendment of the Receiving Organizations Act of 1958. The transfer was acknowledged through a decision of the Financial Directorate for Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. In 1961, the Collection Agencies sold the real estate to the City of Vienna.

The current applicant is the daughter of Moritz W.'s second wife. She applied for the restitution of the real estate as his heiress.

At first, in its juridical appraisal the Arbitration Panel affirmed the existence of a "prior procedure" as defined in the General Settlement Fund Law since the Collection Agencies are considered to be the singular legal successors, limited to the restitution claims, to the owners who were injured during National Socialism. The claim to restitution has been completely fulfilled since the objective real estate had been factually transferred to the Collection Agencies in 1959. As the Arbitration Panel has pronounced repeated times before, it is denied from issuing another decision on restitution.