Decision no. 27c/2008

In its decision 27/2005 of 15 November 2005, the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution granted the application for restitution of a property belonging to the Republic of Austria situated in Vienna, Josefstadt. Until 1938, the owner of the property, Lothar F. had managed a sanatorium in the buildings located on the property. After the National Socialist assumption of power, the sanatorium owner, considered a Jew, was subjected to massive discrimination and in April 1938, he committed suicide with his wife. In the absence of "aryan" heirs, the trustee of the estate sold the property in 1939 to the German Armed Forces. After the war, the building was confiscated by the American occupying authorities. With the State Treaty of 1955, its ownership passed over to the Republic of Austria. In 1960, the collection agencies, which were founded in 1957 through the implementation of the State Treaty as a receiving organisation for heirless properties, filed a claim for restitution of the property. According to a contemporary expert valuation, it was worth over 6 million Schilling. After long proceedings, the Republic of Austria and the collection agencies agreed on compensation for the property amounting to 700,000,- Schilling. This settlement took place within the framework of a general settlement of 22,700,000 Schilling regarding the collection agencies' claims against the Federation for restitution of assets, which had remained heirless and had belonged to people persecuted by National Socialism.

In its decision 27/2005, the Arbitration Panel deemed the settlement "extremely unjust", as a striking difference existed between a correct hypothetical restitution decision and the settlement reached. The Arbitration Panel saw the reason for this difference as being that as a result of the general validation of the collection agencies' claims against the Republic of Austria, considerations came into play, which had no connection with the restitution claim and would not have had any effect in the case of a claimant intent on his own interests.

For this reason, the Arbitration Panel had already positively decided on the restitution claims of the ten previous applicants in its decisions 27/2005 and 27a/2006. Now applications of a further 29 persons who asserted themselves as successors to the grandparents of the original owner Lothar F. were submitted to the Arbitration Panel. With decision 27c/2008 on 23 June 2008, the Arbitration Panel confirmed the eligibility of these applicants. The previous decisions were supplemented and the recommendation for restitution pronounced in them was also extended to the "new" heirs.