A member of the Rothschild family sues the Austrian capital Vienna. The man accuses the city of pillaging the founding of the Jewish family and "perpetuating" Nazi laws, press reports said on Saturday.
The dispute concerns a charitable fund which had been created to provide psychiatric aid to the needy. The complaint represents one of the largest claims for compensation ever made by the descendants of victims of the Nazi regime, reports the Financial Times .
A “confiscated” foundation
A hearing before the Vienna District Court has been set for February 20. According to documents filed with the courts, Vienna "acted as if the Nazi confiscation orders were still in force". Geoffrey Hoguet, descendant of the younger brother of Nathaniel Freiherr von Rothschild, accuses the city of appropriating the foundation in violation of the will of its founder.
When he died in 1905, this member of the Austrian branch of the wealthy family had left almost 100 million euros for his psychiatric aid foundation. The organization created thanks to this legacy, had ended up opening two sanatoriums. The first, opened in 1912, is today a neurological center.
The foundation sold at an "undervalued" price
In 1938, the Nazis annexed Austria, expelled the Rothschilds and dissolved the foundation in 1939. In 1956, it was reinstated and its management entrusted directly to the city of Vienna. Geoffrey Hoguet now wants an independent management committee to be established. The 69-year-old businessman intends to cancel the sale of one of the sanatoriums, which was one of the first mental health treatment centers in the world.
He argues that the establishment was sold to the city at a "significantly undervalued" price, according to the Financial Times . His complaint also aims to cancel a clause dating from 2017 which stipulates that in the event of dissolution of the foundation, Vienna would inherit all the fortune. In a press release, the city's lawyer believes that the agreements relating to the foundation had been concluded with "the greatest respect and in perfect accordance with its objective".
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