Decision no. 735a/2011

Application

 

Applicant, Status

Judith B., Recommendation
Edna H., Recommendation
Lea K., Recommendation
Roni N., Recommendation
Irith S., Recommendation
Tamar T., Recommendation
Anat V., Recommendation

Public owner

Land Niederösterreich
Republik Österreich

Type of property

immovable

Real estate in

KG Markgrafneusiedl (06213), Markgrafneusiedl, Niederösterreich | show on map

Decision

 

Number

735a/2011

Date

13 Dec 2011

Reason

Award of a comparable asset pursuant to Sec. 34 of the GSF Law

Type

substantive

Decision in anonymous form

Related decision

Press release

Press Release Decision No. 735a/2011

Markgrafneusiedl, Lower Austria
On 13 December 2011, in supplementation of its decision no. 735/2011, the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution recommended that the applicants be awarded a comparable asset of 507,110 Euro. In decision no 735/2011, the application for restitution of land which had been publicly-owned on 17 January 2001 was granted. As the majority of this land is no longer under sole public ownership, the Arbitration Panel considered an in rem restitution to be unfeasible. In such cases the Entschädigungsfondsgesetz (“General Settlement Fund Law” – GSF Law) provides for the award of a comparable asset.

In 1938, Samuel D. owned a 30 hectare farm in Markgrafneusiedl. After the Anschluss, the German Reich Air Force began to build a secret military airfield on the municipal territory of Markgrafneusiedl. Samuel D. had to contribute around 6.6 hectares to the airfield. While other landowners received replacement land, Samuel D., who was Jewish, had to sell his entire property – including the farmhouse which was situated around three kilometres from the airfield – to the German Air Force. In summer 1938, Samuel D. and his wife Marie were expelled from Markgrafneusiedl. Both died in Vienna in 1941.

After the end of the war, the Soviet occupying power laid claim to the airfield as Deutsches Eigentum (“German Property”). In June 1951, the heirs of Samuel D. filed for the restitution of the seized property. The proceedings were, however, suspended and not resumed until the withdrawal of the allied troops in 1955. In the same year, pursuant to the State Treaty of Vienna, ownership of the requested property passed to the Republic of Austria. The Republic disputed that the property had been seized. Both the Financial Directorate for Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland and the Federal Minister of Finance shared this view and rejected the claim for restitution in 1959 and 1960.

In the juridical appraisal of the case, the Arbitration Panel reached the conclusion that the sale of Samuel D.’s property in 1938 had constituted a seizure pursuant to the GSF Law and that, as such, an open question of compensation existed in accordance with the Law. The Arbitration Panel therefore recommended the restitution of 66,360 m² to the seven applicants. As 39 m² of the seized property today forms part of a provincial road and 66,421 m² is no longer publicly-owned, an actual restitution of these properties is not possible. The Arbitration Panel therefore commissioned an independent expert to establish their current market value and recommended the Federal Minister of Economy, Family and Youth and the Province of Lower Austria, to award the sum of 507,110 Euro to the applicants.

For use by media; not legally binding upon the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution.
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