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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Archduke Albrecht wants his father's art collection






January 28, 1935

Archduke Albrecht, the former Hungarian pretender, is now in Vienna, reports the New York Times.  He is planning to negotiate with the Austrian government for the "restitution" of his father, Field Marshal Archduke Friedrich's property, confiscated after Austria's collapse and defeat in the world war. 

The negotiations are making "slow progress, as the Austrian Minister of Finance is refusing to pay "any indemnity for picture galleries and other objects of art which form the greater part of such property."

Archduke Albrecht is trying to reach an agreement concerning the "Albertina collection, one of the world's most famous groups of etchings and drawings.  This collection was his father's personal property.

Albrecht would like to transfer the collection of his home in Hungary, but the Austrian government has refused to allow this transfer.  The government has also "declined any indemnity."

The archduke is now seeking a "lump sum," and if he is not successful, he is threatning to take his case to the World Court at the Hague.

3 comments:

  1. Do you know the outcome ? Interesting in many similiar cases up to the present.

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  2. Considering the time frame, and the changing political climate in Austria, I would say highly unlikely

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  3. Considering that his father had already won compensation from Czechoslovakia in 1929 it is highly unlikely that he received any additional compensation.

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