Decision no. 658/2010

With one exception, in 1938 all requested properties were owned by the British national with origins in Vienna, Marie W. She resided in Paris and pursuant to the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 she was considered Jewish.

In 1939, the lawyer Dr. Franz E. was appointed as trustee by the National Socialist authorities for the utilization of Marie W.'s assets in the German Reich. Upon the England's entry into the war, the assets of Marie W. became subject to the Feindvermögensverordnung ("Ordinance on Enemy Assets") of 15 January 1940. In June 1940, Dr. Franz E. was appointed by the Reich Commissioner as an enemy assets administrator to deal with enemy assets, thus putting an end to his function as trustee. As an administrator, Dr. E. not only had to secure the assets of Marie W., but to maintain them.

In order to be able to pay a great number of financial obligations which Marie W. had assumed from her father Gustav S., who had died in 1920, in 1940 Dr. E sold a property in Vienna, Alsergrund with the consent of Marie W. On the other hand, the remainder of Marie W.'s properties had not been sold by 1945. At the end of the National Socialist regime, Dr. E.'s role as administrator also ceased. With the exception of the property sold in 1940, Marie W. was again able to dispose over her properties, which she sold during subsequent decades. In 1950, Marie W. filed a claim for restitution of the property in Vienna, Alsergrund, which she however withdrew in the same year.

In the proceedings before the Arbitration Panel, the present applicants asserted that all requested properties had been seized by the trustee and none had been the subject of restitution measures after 1945.

In its juridical appraisal, the Arbitration Panel initially examined the eligibility of the applicants to file applications and whether the properties were publicly-owned. As the applicants did not submit proof of their right to inherit from Marie W., despite being requested to do so, the applications had to be rejected. Moreover, only one of the requested properties was publicly-owned. Marie W. had sold this property area to the City of Vienna herself in the 1970s.