Habsburg Law
Encyclopedia
The Habsburg Law was a law originally passed by the Constituting National Assembly (Konstituierende Nationalversammlung) of German Austria
, one of the successor states of dismantled Austria-Hungary
, on April 3, 1919, which legally dethroned the House of Habsburg-Lorraine as rulers of the country which had declared itself a republic on November 12, 1918, and confiscated their property. The Habsburg Law was repealed in 1935 and the Habsburg family was given back its property. However, in 1938, following the Anschluss
, the Nazis reintroduced the Habsburg Law and again confiscated the Habsburg family's property and banned the family from the country.
The law has been found to violate the human rights, and for this reason, Austria was forced to repeal large parts of it, notably the ban on members of the Habsburg family entering Austria, before being admitted into the European Union
in the 1990s. After a report by the OSCE criticized Austria of denying members of the Habsburg family running for President of the country, this provision was also withdrawn in June 2011 by the Austrian parliament. Although the law still remains in force, it is considered largely obsolete, with the notable exception of the confiscation of the family's property in force since 1938.
Charles I, counseled by ministers of his last Imperial Royal government as well as by ministers of German Austria
, issued a proclamation relinquishing his right to take part in Austrian affairs of state. On the following day, the Provisional National Assembly (Provisorische Nationalversammlung) of German Austria, which claimed authority over the German-speaking portions of the western half of the Habsburg realm
(mostly the Danubian and Alpine provinces) proclaimed Deutschösterreich a republic (and a part of the new German republic).
In the night after his Verzichtserklärung Charles I and his family left stately Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna
and moved to Eckartsau Castle east of the city, then belonging to the Habsburg Family Funds. There he was visited by a Hungarian delegation and on November 13 signed a similar proclamation for the Kingdom of Hungary. However, Charles did not formally abdicate, intending to retain his freedom of action in case the Austrian people recalled him. The new republican government, uncomfortable with this situation, gave Charles three options: (1) abdicate formally and remain in Austria as a private citizen, (2) leave the country or (3) be interned.
With the help of Lieutenant Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt, a British officer sent by George V of the United Kingdom
, who was shocked by the fate of his Russian relatives, Charles and his family on 23 March departed from Eckartsau for Switzerland
in the former Imperial train, Charles wearing an I & R field marshal's uniform. Before crossing the border on the morning of 24 March, 1919, and changing into civilian's clothes, he revoked his waiver in the Feldkircher Manifest. Thence on 3 April, the German-Austrian parliament, on the initiative of Chancellor
Karl Renner
, passed the Habsburg Law.
The law stripped the Habsburgs of their sovereign rights and banished all Habsburgs from Austrian territory. Charles was barred from ever returning to Austria again. Other Habsburgs were only allowed to return if they renounced all dynastic claims and accepted status as private citizens. Those assets of the state that had been under the administration of the imperial court, the so called Hofärar, were placed under the government's management. The private funds and family funds of the House of Habsburg, common family property administered by the respective head of the house, were expropriated and transferred to the state property. Personal private property was preserved.
Also on 3 April, the nobility was abolished in German Austria, with the Law on the Abolition of Nobility.
The family demanded that various endowments and funds be placed at their disposal as personal private property; in response to this, and to clear up ambiguities related to this, the Habsburg Law was amended on 30 October, 1919, retroactively from 3 April, expressly recording which of the claimed funds or endowments in particular were to count as expropriated.
When the Austrian Constitution
came into force in 1920, the Habsburg Law was made a constitutional law. However, the provisions of the Habsburg Law concerning expropriation were expressly not brought into force in Burgenland
in 1922 (as well as the Law on the Abolition of Nobility) when it became part of Austria. This was intended to turn the Burgenland aristocrats (who included members of the Habsburg family) more pro-Austrian, for pragmatic reasons. The abnormity that a constitutional rule would not apply to the whole republic was only "repaired" in 2008, when a federal constitutional law declared that by 1 January 2008 the Habsburg Law in total is valid wherever in Austria.
on the 13th July, 1935 at the time of the Austrofascist
Ständestaat (State of estates) from the status of constitutional law to that of normal law; the ban on certain Habsburgs from entering the country was lifted. The "Family-Provision Fund" of the Habsburg family was restored, and substantial property was returned to the fund.
After the "Anschluss
", Reichsstatthalter
Arthur Seyss-Inquart, head of the "Austrian State Government", enacted the "Law on the cancellation of the transfer of property to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine", on the 14th March, 1939, on the grounds of a personal Führer decree; thus, the property passed without compensation to the "Land Austria", part of the Third Reich
.
The expropriation that occurred in 1939 could not be contested up to now, because the owner of the Habsburg property in 1938 (the fund) is not stated after 1945 in the Foundation and Fund Reorganization Law as a reestablishable fund, so that it could not be established again, and because according to various judgments of the Supreme Court individual members of the family have no claim. Only the not reestablishable fund would have a claim. In 1955, at the explicit request of the USSR the Habsburg law became part of the Austrian State Treaty
.
The Republic of Austria made reservations to numerous international agreements after 1945 (convention of human rights, anti-discrimination arrangement, etc.), so that these agreements are not in full validity in relation on the members of the Habsburg family in Austria.
From 1960 many members of the House Habsburg-Lorraine signed the waiver. In 1961 it was also signed by the head of the family Archduke Otto von Habsburg
. His entry was delayed until 1966 by the Habsburg crisis, in which the legal validity of his declaration was denied. In this connection the National Council
decided to interpret the Habsburg Law authentically, with a majority of the Social Democratic Party
(SPÖ) and the Austrian Freedom Party
(FPÖ). Permission to enter was granted to the last empress, Zita of Bourbon-Parma
, without a waiver, in 1982, because she was a Habsburg only by marriage and could therefore make no claim to the imperial throne.
Members of the Habsburg family and other families, "that have ruled before", have according to article 60, paragraph 3 of the federal constitution, the same rights and possibilities as any other Austrians, except from being unable to serve as Federal President. In 2010, Ulrich Habsburg-Lothringen, living in Carinthia
, unsuccessfully tried to be accepted as a candidate at the federal president's elections. The federal government has admitted the exclusion of Habsburgs from the passive voting rights is not needed any more and could be abandoned in 2011.
However, the family continues to pursue the fight against the Habsburg law: The financial claims (including castles, apartment buildings in Vienna and about 27,000 hectares of land with an estimated total value of 200 million euros) are substantial. Till present, however, they were dismissed for technical reasons or denied, due to the decisions of the Austrian Supreme Court.
From today's view the question stays juridically open whether the expropriation provisions enacted in 1919 have fulfilled their legal purpose with the expropriation of 1919, and therefore have no more validity for further events (juridically: are consumed), or whether they imply a permanent ban on restitution.
In the report of the historian's committee on the property denial during the Nazi era, which has been in office in 1998-2003, a return ban was denied, while the arbitral authority of the general compensation fund saw such a return ban as evident.
The Arbitration Panel of the General Settlement Fund for Victims of National Socialism (decisions 5/2004, 6/2004, 7/2004) has declared that it lacks jurisdiction over applications of the Habsburg family, for reasons of constitutional and international law. In a subsequent complaint of the Habsburg family concerning decisions of the Arbitration Panel, the Austrian constitutional court has likewise declared that it lacks jurisdiction; the president of the constitutional court, Korinek, pointed out to the Habsburg family the possibility of a civil law claim - apparently under the fiction that the Family-Provision Fund did not cease to exist in 1938, did therefore not need to be reestablished, and still exists. The family has not sought the decision of an Austrian authority since then.
Advocates of the return of the family funds argue that the use of the proceeds of the property for war victims, as provided for by the Habsburg law, is out-dated, as no victims of the First World War are alive any more. In addition, they assert that the Habsburg-Lorraine family is not to blame for the war, as it was not a decision of the family. Emperor Franz Joseph I
made this decision without consultation with or agreement of members of the family. Hence, it is a case of collective responsibility, making family members liable for their relatives' actions, something that is frowned upon nowadays; and extremely unequal treatment, since no other Austrian noble family has been expropriated.
German Austria
Republic of German Austria was created following World War I as the initial rump state for areas with a predominantly German-speaking population within what had been the Austro-Hungarian Empire, without the Kingdom of Hungary, which in 1918 had become the Hungarian Democratic Republic.German...
, one of the successor states of dismantled Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, on April 3, 1919, which legally dethroned the House of Habsburg-Lorraine as rulers of the country which had declared itself a republic on November 12, 1918, and confiscated their property. The Habsburg Law was repealed in 1935 and the Habsburg family was given back its property. However, in 1938, following the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
, the Nazis reintroduced the Habsburg Law and again confiscated the Habsburg family's property and banned the family from the country.
The law has been found to violate the human rights, and for this reason, Austria was forced to repeal large parts of it, notably the ban on members of the Habsburg family entering Austria, before being admitted into the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
in the 1990s. After a report by the OSCE criticized Austria of denying members of the Habsburg family running for President of the country, this provision was also withdrawn in June 2011 by the Austrian parliament. Although the law still remains in force, it is considered largely obsolete, with the notable exception of the confiscation of the family's property in force since 1938.
First Republic
On 11 November 1918, EmperorEmperor of Austria
The Emperor of Austria was a hereditary imperial title and position proclaimed in 1804 by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until the last emperor relinquished power in 1918. The emperors retained the title of...
Charles I, counseled by ministers of his last Imperial Royal government as well as by ministers of German Austria
German Austria
Republic of German Austria was created following World War I as the initial rump state for areas with a predominantly German-speaking population within what had been the Austro-Hungarian Empire, without the Kingdom of Hungary, which in 1918 had become the Hungarian Democratic Republic.German...
, issued a proclamation relinquishing his right to take part in Austrian affairs of state. On the following day, the Provisional National Assembly (Provisorische Nationalversammlung) of German Austria, which claimed authority over the German-speaking portions of the western half of the Habsburg realm
Cisleithania
Cisleithania was a name of the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary, the Dual Monarchy created in 1867 and dissolved in 1918. The name was used by politicians and bureaucrats, but it had no official status...
(mostly the Danubian and Alpine provinces) proclaimed Deutschösterreich a republic (and a part of the new German republic).
In the night after his Verzichtserklärung Charles I and his family left stately Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and moved to Eckartsau Castle east of the city, then belonging to the Habsburg Family Funds. There he was visited by a Hungarian delegation and on November 13 signed a similar proclamation for the Kingdom of Hungary. However, Charles did not formally abdicate, intending to retain his freedom of action in case the Austrian people recalled him. The new republican government, uncomfortable with this situation, gave Charles three options: (1) abdicate formally and remain in Austria as a private citizen, (2) leave the country or (3) be interned.
With the help of Lieutenant Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt, a British officer sent by George V of the United Kingdom
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, who was shocked by the fate of his Russian relatives, Charles and his family on 23 March departed from Eckartsau for Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in the former Imperial train, Charles wearing an I & R field marshal's uniform. Before crossing the border on the morning of 24 March, 1919, and changing into civilian's clothes, he revoked his waiver in the Feldkircher Manifest. Thence on 3 April, the German-Austrian parliament, on the initiative of Chancellor
Chancellor of Austria
The Federal Chancellor is the head of government in Austria. Its deputy is the Vice-Chancellor. Before 1918, the equivalent office was the Minister-President of Austria. The Federal Chancellor is considered to be the most powerful political position in Austrian politics.-Appointment:The...
Karl Renner
Karl Renner
Karl Renner was an Austrian politician. He was born in Untertannowitz in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and died in Vienna...
, passed the Habsburg Law.
The law stripped the Habsburgs of their sovereign rights and banished all Habsburgs from Austrian territory. Charles was barred from ever returning to Austria again. Other Habsburgs were only allowed to return if they renounced all dynastic claims and accepted status as private citizens. Those assets of the state that had been under the administration of the imperial court, the so called Hofärar, were placed under the government's management. The private funds and family funds of the House of Habsburg, common family property administered by the respective head of the house, were expropriated and transferred to the state property. Personal private property was preserved.
Also on 3 April, the nobility was abolished in German Austria, with the Law on the Abolition of Nobility.
The family demanded that various endowments and funds be placed at their disposal as personal private property; in response to this, and to clear up ambiguities related to this, the Habsburg Law was amended on 30 October, 1919, retroactively from 3 April, expressly recording which of the claimed funds or endowments in particular were to count as expropriated.
When the Austrian Constitution
Constitution of Austria
The Constitution of Austria is the body of all constitutional law of the Republic of Austria on the federal level. It is split up over many different acts...
came into force in 1920, the Habsburg Law was made a constitutional law. However, the provisions of the Habsburg Law concerning expropriation were expressly not brought into force in Burgenland
Burgenland
Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities. It is 166 km long from north to south but much narrower from west to east...
in 1922 (as well as the Law on the Abolition of Nobility) when it became part of Austria. This was intended to turn the Burgenland aristocrats (who included members of the Habsburg family) more pro-Austrian, for pragmatic reasons. The abnormity that a constitutional rule would not apply to the whole republic was only "repaired" in 2008, when a federal constitutional law declared that by 1 January 2008 the Habsburg Law in total is valid wherever in Austria.
The state of Austria and the Nazi era
The Habsburg Law was downgraded under dictatorial Federal Chancellor Kurt SchuschniggKurt Schuschnigg
Kurt Alois Josef Johann Schuschnigg was Chancellor of the First Austrian Republic, following the assassination of his predecessor, Dr. Engelbert Dollfuss, in July 1934, until Germany’s invasion of Austria, , in March 1938...
on the 13th July, 1935 at the time of the Austrofascist
Austrofascism
Austrofascism is a term which is frequently used by historians to describe the authoritarian rule installed in Austria with the May Constitution of 1934, which ceased with the forcible incorporation of the newly-founded Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938...
Ständestaat (State of estates) from the status of constitutional law to that of normal law; the ban on certain Habsburgs from entering the country was lifted. The "Family-Provision Fund" of the Habsburg family was restored, and substantial property was returned to the fund.
After the "Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
", Reichsstatthalter
Reichsstatthalter
The term Reichsstatthalter was used twice for different offices, in the imperial Hohenzollern dynasty's German Empire and the single-party Nazi Third Reich.- "Statthalter des Reiches" 1879-1918 in Alsace-Lorraine :...
Arthur Seyss-Inquart, head of the "Austrian State Government", enacted the "Law on the cancellation of the transfer of property to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine", on the 14th March, 1939, on the grounds of a personal Führer decree; thus, the property passed without compensation to the "Land Austria", part of the Third Reich
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
.
Second Republic
In 1945, the Second Republic brought into force again the Constitution of 1920/1929 according to its version as of 1933, and with it automatically also the Habsburg Law of 1919. With the Constitution Transition Law, all constitutional laws enacted between 1933 and 1945, and all laws which were not compatible with the constitution that was in force until 1933, were repealed. Thus, the legal situation of the First Republic was restored.The expropriation that occurred in 1939 could not be contested up to now, because the owner of the Habsburg property in 1938 (the fund) is not stated after 1945 in the Foundation and Fund Reorganization Law as a reestablishable fund, so that it could not be established again, and because according to various judgments of the Supreme Court individual members of the family have no claim. Only the not reestablishable fund would have a claim. In 1955, at the explicit request of the USSR the Habsburg law became part of the Austrian State Treaty
Austrian State Treaty
The Austrian State Treaty or Austrian Independence Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on May 15, 1955, in Vienna at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying powers and the Austrian government...
.
The Republic of Austria made reservations to numerous international agreements after 1945 (convention of human rights, anti-discrimination arrangement, etc.), so that these agreements are not in full validity in relation on the members of the Habsburg family in Austria.
From 1960 many members of the House Habsburg-Lorraine signed the waiver. In 1961 it was also signed by the head of the family Archduke Otto von Habsburg
Otto von Habsburg
Otto von Habsburg , also known by his royal name as Archduke Otto of Austria, was the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary from 1916 until the dissolution of the empire in 1918, a realm which comprised modern-day Austria, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia,...
. His entry was delayed until 1966 by the Habsburg crisis, in which the legal validity of his declaration was denied. In this connection the National Council
National Council of Austria
The National Council is one of the two houses of the Austrian parliament. According to the constitution, the National Council and the complementary Federal Council are peers...
decided to interpret the Habsburg Law authentically, with a majority of the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party of Austria
The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...
(SPÖ) and the Austrian Freedom Party
Freedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...
(FPÖ). Permission to enter was granted to the last empress, Zita of Bourbon-Parma
Zita of Bourbon-Parma
Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma was the wife of Emperor Charles of Austria...
, without a waiver, in 1982, because she was a Habsburg only by marriage and could therefore make no claim to the imperial throne.
Members of the Habsburg family and other families, "that have ruled before", have according to article 60, paragraph 3 of the federal constitution, the same rights and possibilities as any other Austrians, except from being unable to serve as Federal President. In 2010, Ulrich Habsburg-Lothringen, living in Carinthia
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
, unsuccessfully tried to be accepted as a candidate at the federal president's elections. The federal government has admitted the exclusion of Habsburgs from the passive voting rights is not needed any more and could be abandoned in 2011.
However, the family continues to pursue the fight against the Habsburg law: The financial claims (including castles, apartment buildings in Vienna and about 27,000 hectares of land with an estimated total value of 200 million euros) are substantial. Till present, however, they were dismissed for technical reasons or denied, due to the decisions of the Austrian Supreme Court.
From today's view the question stays juridically open whether the expropriation provisions enacted in 1919 have fulfilled their legal purpose with the expropriation of 1919, and therefore have no more validity for further events (juridically: are consumed), or whether they imply a permanent ban on restitution.
In the report of the historian's committee on the property denial during the Nazi era, which has been in office in 1998-2003, a return ban was denied, while the arbitral authority of the general compensation fund saw such a return ban as evident.
The Arbitration Panel of the General Settlement Fund for Victims of National Socialism (decisions 5/2004, 6/2004, 7/2004) has declared that it lacks jurisdiction over applications of the Habsburg family, for reasons of constitutional and international law. In a subsequent complaint of the Habsburg family concerning decisions of the Arbitration Panel, the Austrian constitutional court has likewise declared that it lacks jurisdiction; the president of the constitutional court, Korinek, pointed out to the Habsburg family the possibility of a civil law claim - apparently under the fiction that the Family-Provision Fund did not cease to exist in 1938, did therefore not need to be reestablished, and still exists. The family has not sought the decision of an Austrian authority since then.
Discussion
In the discussion on the subject, advocates of the expropriation point out that the Habsburgs were to blame for the First World War. The extracted property is only one symbolic compensation for the damage that resulted from the decision to go to war.Advocates of the return of the family funds argue that the use of the proceeds of the property for war victims, as provided for by the Habsburg law, is out-dated, as no victims of the First World War are alive any more. In addition, they assert that the Habsburg-Lorraine family is not to blame for the war, as it was not a decision of the family. Emperor Franz Joseph I
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
made this decision without consultation with or agreement of members of the family. Hence, it is a case of collective responsibility, making family members liable for their relatives' actions, something that is frowned upon nowadays; and extremely unequal treatment, since no other Austrian noble family has been expropriated.
External links
- Habsburgergesetz vom 3.4.1919 (in German)
- Habsburgergesetz vom 30.10.1919 (in German)
- Ständestaatsgesetz vom 13.7.1935 zur Vermögensrückgabe (in German)
- NS-Gesetz vom 14.3.1939 zur neuerlichen Vermögensentziehung (in German)
- Authentische Auslegung des Habsburgergesetzes durch den Nationalrat vom 4.7.1963 (in German)
- Adelsaufhebungsgesetz (in German)
- Press Release on Decisions No. 5/2004, 6/2004 and 7/2004
- Information on the Habsburg Law (in English and German)