Decision no. 724/2010

On 12 March 1938, the requested areas, 656 m² of a road in Vienna, Hietzing, formed part of a property which belonged to the Jewish banker and businessman Sigmund B. A stately villa, built in 1871, was situated on the property, which had had a total area of around 13,000 m². Since the mid-1930s, this and three other properties in Vienna, Innere Stadt owned by Sigmund B. on 12 March 1938 had been encumbered with mortgages for, among other things, claims of two foreign business partners, Albert J. and Salomon T., and for tax claims of the Federation and the City of Vienna, which amounted to significantly more than the value of the properties. Furthermore, B. had debts of 8.6 million Schilling resulting from an earlier business connection with the Austrian Postsparkasse and owed further creditors, whose claims had not been secured by mortgage, amounts of several hundred thousands of Schilling.

In late 1936, Sigmund B. had reached an agreement with the Postsparkasse and the Austrian Federal Treasury regarding the repayment of his debts. In the agreement, he had undertaken to transfer eleven unencumbered properties to the Postsparkasse and to pay the tax authorities 130,000 Schilling. The property in Vienna, Hietzing, was explicitly excepted from the agreement. By summer 1937, Sigmund B. had transferred eight properties and for a further property he had paid the Postsparkasse its estimated value. From this time on, he carried out negotiations with the Postsparkasse regarding a settlement payment for the two remaining properties. In early March 1938, a sum of 200,000 Schilling was deposited with a trustee for Sigmund B. for this purpose. Sigmund B. had also been negotiating with Albert J. since fall 1937 for a reduction of his debt. However, neither of the negotiations had been concluded by the time of the Anschluss.

In 1937, Salomon T. had initiated the auction of the furnishings of the villa in Vienna, Hietzing. Several further creditors, who had no securities for their claims had urged B. to give an “oath of disclosure”.

As early as 12 March 1938, Sigmund B. was arrested while attempting to flee Austria. In February 1942, he was murdered during a deportation transport to Riga.

After the contents of the villa in Vienna, Hietzing had been sold in a forced auctioning procedure in July 1938, in August of the same year Salomon T. filed for the forced auction of the property. This finally took place in September 1940. The winning bid of 94,050 Reichsmark, half of the estimated value, was placed by Adolf K. Additionally, K. paid 56,430 Reichsmark to the National Socialist Property Transaction Office as a “dejewification fee”.

The three properties in Vienna, Innere Stadt were also subjected to forced auctioning procedures which were, however, halted. The agreed sale of two properties did not take place as Sigmund B.’s assets were forfeited to the German Reich.

In 1948, Sigmund B.’s heirs filed applications for the restitution of the property in Vienna Hietzing, which the Restitution Commission Vienna rejected in February 1950. The exact circumstances of the proceedings are unknown. The Restitution Commission’s reasons are also not known as only a partial copy of the decision still exists.

A total of 641 m² of the property was transferred free of charge into public property for a road which was constructed in 1955. The Municipality of Vienna acquired an area of 15 m² in 1969. The remaining area of the property was privately owned on 17 January 2001, the cut off day pursuant to the Entschädigungsfondsgesetz (“General Settlement Fund Law”).

In its decision, the Arbitration Panel had to determine whether a causal connection existed between the forced auctioning of the property and persecution of Sigmund B. as a Jew. It reached the conclusion that although there was a real possibility of Sigmund B. reaching an agreement with the Postsparkasse and Albert J. in early 1938, there was a definite danger that other creditors would have caused these agreements to fail by means of a petition for bankruptcy or contestation. Even were it to be supposed that Sigmund B. had managed to clear all of his debts, it was not clear how this would have been possible without the other creditors gaining hold of his property in Vienna, Hietzing.

As the uncontested persecution of Sigmund B. was, accordingly, not decisive for the sale of the property in Vienna, Hietzing, the Arbitration Panel rejected the application for in rem restitution.

In 1961, a partial area of 36 m² had also been transferred into public property from one of the three properties formerly belonging to Sigmund B. in Vienna, Innere Stadt. As the property concerned had been seized on the basis of a discriminating legal provision – the Elfte Verordnung zum Reichsbürgergesetz (“Eleventh Decree to the Reich Citizenship Law”) – this was without doubt a seizure. However, the properties were restituted to the heirs of Sigmund B. in April 1950 by the Financial Directorate for Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. The Arbitration Panel was therefore unable to recommend a renewed restitution.