Decision no. 809/2011

In September 1939, the requested properties – around 1.4 hectares of development land and a few non-development property parcels in the cadastral district of Hadersdorf – were inherited by Siegfried de M. and Karl V. in equal shares. Whereas Karl V. was considered an “aryan” pursuant to the National Socialist race laws, Siegfried de M. was considered Jewish. In 1939 and 1941, they both sold the majority of the development parcels to the Reich Postal Service. Siegfried de M. had had to sell his share in the three remaining development parcels and four smaller property parcels to Karl V. in April 1943.

In November 1943, Siegfried de M. was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp where he died in December 1943. His wife Johanna and son Karl were also murdered in late 1943 in Ravensbrück and Buchenwald respectively. His daughter Anna Maria was deported to Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in March 1943. She was declared by the Provincial Court for Civil Matters Vienna in 1949. The court ruled that she had not survived 8 May 1945. In the probate proceedings held after 1945, Siegfried de M.’s estate was first devolved to his two children, who at this point were deemed missing. The inheritance of Karl de M., who had been declared dead by the court as of 31 December 1943 went to Anna Maria de M. Finally, Theodor Ma., Johanna de M.’s brother, was appointed as her heir.

After the State Treaty of Vienna was signed in 1955, the property parcels acquired by the Reich Postal Service passed into the ownership of the Republic of Austria, Postal and Telegraph Administration. In 1959, it sold the properties to two private parties. Karl V. sold two property parcels to a construction company; he gave the remaining property parcels to his son Max. Max V. sold the four non-development property parcels to the City of Vienna in 1959. One development property parcel remained in his ownership.

As no claim for restitution had been filed for the shares of Siegfried de M. by the time the deadline had expired in 1956, in 1957 this claim fell to the Collection Agencies established by the Republic of Austria.. They were to assert unclaimed seized property and use the proceeds for the benefit of the victims of National Socialism. From 1960, the Collection Agencies conducted restitution proceedings against the City of Vienna, Max V. and two private owners, each of which were concluded with a settlement.

The applicant derived her entitlement to inherit from her great-grandfather as he had been a brother of Siegfried de M. However, despite requests, she did not submit documentation providing evidence of her claim. The research carried out by the Arbitration Panel also failed to yield any indications that there had been any surviving relatives of Siegfried de M. who would have been heirs of his daughter Anna Maria de M. The application was therefore to be rejected. Furthermore, the available documents did not reveal any indications that the settlement concluded between the Collection Agencies and the City of Vienna in June 1961 constituted an extreme injustice. The property parcels not included in the settlement were not publicly-owned.