Decision no. 1034a/2015

The requested property parcel, a field in the cadastral district (“KG”) Judendorf formed part of a property in the cadastral district Leoben-Stadt. In March 1938 this property was jointly owned by the spouses Simon and Anna W., who were considered Jewish pursuant to the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 following the Anschluss of Austria to the German Reich. On 30 January 1939 Simon and Anna W. sold the property for 33,600 Reichsmark. The National Socialist Property Transaction Office in Graz reduced the purchase price to 31,600 Reichsmark. The proceeds from the sale had to be paid into a frozen account designated “de-jewification proceeds”. The new owner was recorded in the land register on 23 June 1939. Simon W. died on 7 February 1940 in Vienna. His wife and their children were able to flee abroad. In 1942 the property parcel in Judendorf subject of the application was partitioned off the property parcel in KG Leoben-Stadt and sold to the Deutsche Reichsbahn (“German Reich Railway”). After the end of the Nazi regime, Anna W. and the heirs of Simon W. claimed restitution of the property in Leoben-Stadt. The proceedings led to the restitution of the property in 1952. However, the property parcel subject of the present application was not dealt with in these proceedings. On 17 January 2001, a 382 m² partial area of the requested property parcel was owned by the Österreichische Bundesbahenen (“Austrian Federal Railways”). Two partial areas totalling 51 m² were owned by the Municipality of Leoben. The Arbitration Panel viewed the seizure of the property parcel in question as proven. As a partial area of 328 m² was publicly-owned on 17 January 2001 and there had been no prior measure for these this area pursuant to Sec. 32 of the Entschädigungsfondsgesetz (“General Settlement Fund Law”, GSF Law), the applications of Simon and Anna W.’s granddaughter and daughter-in-law were granted on their merits. Due to leasehold agreements, in rem restitution of the land was not possible. For this reason, following consultations with the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology the Arbitration Panel obtained a report by an independent expert on the market value of the land. This expert assessed the value of the property in question at 11,300 Euro. Therefore, the Republic of Austria is recommended to pay the applicants a total of 11,300 Euro.