Adolph Schwarzenberg
Encyclopedia
Adolph Schwarzenberg was a notable landowner, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was the eldest son of Johann (Czech: Jan) and Therese Schwarzenberg, née Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg. An outspoken opponent of the Nazi regime, his property was stolen by the German Reich and later confiscated by the Czechoslovak government.
family and was educated to eventually take over the management of extensive landholdings, real estate and industry, as well as substantial art collections and extensive archives from his father. The family owned numerous noteworthy houses and residences, amongst them Český Krumlov, Hluboká, and Třeboň in South Bohemia, Schwarzenberg Palace and Salm Palace in Prague, as well as Palais Schwarzenberg
in Vienna.
He completed a law degree at the Czech University in Prague and fought in the First World War; he later served in the Czechoslovak army.
The First World War brought many changes to the Czech Lands. The First Czechoslovak Republic was proclaimed in its wake, on October 28, 1918; it was to last only 20 years, until the Munich Agreement
, which preceded the Second World War and German occupation. As a small successor state to the sprawling Habsburg Empire, Czechoslovakia was home to a variety of ethnicities. The 30 year old Adolph Schwarzenberg seemed better equipped than his father to deal with these new developments. From 1923 onwards, he took over full responsibility for the running of all family business as his father's plenipotentiary. The land reform threatened to completely eradicate the family's estate. Adolph Schwarzenberg negotiated with the state and managed to safeguard a large part of the original property; the remaining estate still covered some 90.000 ha and most of the important real estate.
The couple shared a passion for agriculture, wildlife and botany and spent much of their time at their Stará Obora hunting lodge near Hluboká.
They acquired Mpala Farm in Laikipia, Kenya in 1933. Apart from bringing modern farming methods to the estate, Adolph built a hydroelectric powerstation there (some of the machinery was imported from his native Hluboká) and made exceptional improvements to his workers' living conditions. He also took the protection of wildlife seriously. Adolph later published a report for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
on his activities and experience in Kenya. The farm was sold after his death and today is an important biodiversity conservation research center.
Adolph Schwarzenberg inherited the family estates after his father's death in 1938.
to Český Krumlov
castle, where he gave him breakfast, as well as a million crowns, at the time a very considerable sum, for the defense of Czechoslovakia against Germany. He ordered black flags to be flown over his Vienna Palace during the Anschluss
and, when Vienna's public gardens were closed to Jews, he had "Jews welcome" signs put up in his palace garden.
After the German occupation of the Czech Lands, he refused to receive Hitler at Český Krumlov. Neither did he consent to replace his Czech managers with ethnic Germans. He was considered pro-Czech and anti-German by the Nazi administration. All this inevitably made him a target for persecution and arrest.
Adolph Schwarzenberg left occupied Czechoslovakia and settled temporarily at his house in Bordighera
, Italy. He gave his adoptive son Heinrich responsibility for his property and emigrated via Switzerland to the United States of America.
Heinrich Schwarzenberg, representing his adoptive father, proved no more inclined to the new rulers and on 17 August 1940 the Gestapo
confiscated
all of Adolph Schwarzenberg's property within the reach of the Third Reich. Baldur von Schirach
claimed, in the course of the Nuremberg Trials
, that the confiscation was caused by Schwarzenberg's refusal to take up arms for Hitler; however, other sources point to Adolph Schwarzenberg's general attitude and actions as a decisive factor. Heinrich Schwarzenberg was arrested on direct orders of Heinrich Himmler
and taken to various police prisons before being incarcerated in Buchenwald concentration camp. He was released in 1944 and survived the remainder of the war as a forced labourer
.
The entire Schwarzenberg property was placed under the control of the Gauleiter
of Oberdonau, August Eigruber
. Hermann Göring
was also eager to benefit from the estate; a correspondence concerning the fate of the property ensued between various officials including Martin Bormann
and Hans Heinrich Lammers, head of the Reichskanzlei. Hitler decided in favour of Gauleiter
Eigruber. Eigruber was a major Nazi criminal, who was executed in 1947 for crimes committed at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
.
The Stará Obora hunting lodge was turned into a sanatorium for German officers. Inmates from Terezín concentration camp were forced to work there under horrendous conditions between 13. April and 25. October 1942.
During his stay in the USA, Adolph Schwarzenberg supported the resistance and was an outspoken opponent of the Nazi regime, as confirmed by both Jan Masaryk
and Consul General Karel Hudec. He enrolled at Columbia University
to study for his second doctorate. His dissertation, a biography of Felix, Prince Schwarzenberg, was published in 1946.
Adolph also worked with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
, producing the report mentioned above and carrying out various activities in support of the organisation.
They expected to return to Hluboká nad Vltavou
and their Stará Obora hunting lodge, but were soon disappointed. National administration had been declared over his Czech estates in Adolph Schwarzenberg's absence and all his Czech property had been confiscated under the so called Beneš decrees
of 1945 by letter of 5 October 1945 - notwithstanding the owner's track record of being a loyal Czechoslovak citizen and "passionate anti-Nazi". An appeal against the decree confiscation was lodged by Schwarzenberg's lawyer within the prescribed deadline of two weeks and is still pending after more than 60 years.
This, however, did not deter the Czechoslovak government, increasingly under communist influence, from pocketing the estate without any compensation to the owner. In view of the fact that there was no legal basis for expropriating Adolph Schwarzenberg, on July 10, 1947 the Czechoslovak parliament promulgated a special law, 143/1947, coll., later to be known as Lex Schwarzenberg to secure his business assets for the state without giving a reason or offering compensation. This law has proved to be highly controversial as it is a piece of arbitrary ad hominem legislation. As such it contravenes the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920
, which was in force at the time, as well as the current Constitution of the Czech Republic
. It also contravenes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
.
By the time Lex Schwarzenberg came into effect, however, Czechoslovakia was well on its way to becoming a communist system: Klement Gottwald
, who would become the country's Stalinist dictator, had been Prime Minister since 1946. The Communist Party controlled many of the important ministries, while some of the non-communist members of the government, such as Zdeněk Fierlinger
, were communists in all but name. The ministries of agriculture and the interior were jointly responsible for the decision concerning Adolph Schwarzenberg's appeal file under the provisions of decree No. 12/1945.
On a train journey to Switzerland, he met an acquaintance, the banker Holzer, director of Escompte Bank in Prague, who engaged him in conversation and wanted to know Schwazenberg's motives for leaving the Reich. He explained that since the takeover of the Nazi regime life at home had become an opprobrium, and that he could only live in a free country. He went on to say that Germany would certainly lose the war, and "all that nonsense" of a "New Regime" would finally come to an end; only then would he return to his estates. Holzer promptly reported this conversation to the Sicherheitsdienst
.
While Schwarzenberg's predictions concerning the outcome of the war and the long-term prospects of the Thousand Year Reich were correct, post-war developments proved his optimism regarding his own return to Czechoslovakia to be misguided. The communist takeover of February 1948 put an end to all hope for Adolph Schwarzenberg to return home or seek redress.
He made his last home in Katsch, a small village in Austria, where he and Hilda once more lived in a hunting lodge, and occasionally spent time at his house in Bordighera, Italy, where he died on 27. February, 1950.
Early life
The first of eight children, Adolph was born into the wealthy and influential SchwarzenbergHouse of Schwarzenberg
-History:The family was first mentioned in 1172. A branch of the Seinsheim family was created when Erkinger I of Seinsheim acquired the Franconian barony of Schwarzenberg, the castle Schwarzenberg and the title Baron of Schwarzenberg, in 1405–21. At this time, they also possessed some fiefdoms in...
family and was educated to eventually take over the management of extensive landholdings, real estate and industry, as well as substantial art collections and extensive archives from his father. The family owned numerous noteworthy houses and residences, amongst them Český Krumlov, Hluboká, and Třeboň in South Bohemia, Schwarzenberg Palace and Salm Palace in Prague, as well as Palais Schwarzenberg
Palais Schwarzenberg
Palais Schwarzenberg is a Baroque palace in front of Schwarzenbergplatz, Landstraße, the 3rd district of Vienna, Austria. It is owned by the princely Schwarzenberg family....
in Vienna.
He completed a law degree at the Czech University in Prague and fought in the First World War; he later served in the Czechoslovak army.
The First World War brought many changes to the Czech Lands. The First Czechoslovak Republic was proclaimed in its wake, on October 28, 1918; it was to last only 20 years, until the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
, which preceded the Second World War and German occupation. As a small successor state to the sprawling Habsburg Empire, Czechoslovakia was home to a variety of ethnicities. The 30 year old Adolph Schwarzenberg seemed better equipped than his father to deal with these new developments. From 1923 onwards, he took over full responsibility for the running of all family business as his father's plenipotentiary. The land reform threatened to completely eradicate the family's estate. Adolph Schwarzenberg negotiated with the state and managed to safeguard a large part of the original property; the remaining estate still covered some 90.000 ha and most of the important real estate.
Marriage and family life
Adolph Schwarzenberg married Hilda Princess of Luxemburg and Nassau (15 Feb 1897-8 Sep 1979) in 1930.The couple shared a passion for agriculture, wildlife and botany and spent much of their time at their Stará Obora hunting lodge near Hluboká.
They acquired Mpala Farm in Laikipia, Kenya in 1933. Apart from bringing modern farming methods to the estate, Adolph built a hydroelectric powerstation there (some of the machinery was imported from his native Hluboká) and made exceptional improvements to his workers' living conditions. He also took the protection of wildlife seriously. Adolph later published a report for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign-policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. The organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States...
on his activities and experience in Kenya. The farm was sold after his death and today is an important biodiversity conservation research center.
Adolph Schwarzenberg inherited the family estates after his father's death in 1938.
German occupation and exile
Adolph Schwarzenberg's stance against the Nazis and the Third Reich was clear even before the occupation of the Czech Lands and the outbreak of WWII: in 1937 he invited Edvard BenešEdvard Beneš
Edvard Beneš was a leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the second President of Czechoslovakia. He was known to be a skilled diplomat.- Youth :...
to Český Krumlov
Český Krumlov
Český Krumlov is a small city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, best known for the fine architecture and art of the historic old town and Český Krumlov Castle...
castle, where he gave him breakfast, as well as a million crowns, at the time a very considerable sum, for the defense of Czechoslovakia against Germany. He ordered black flags to be flown over his Vienna Palace during the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
and, when Vienna's public gardens were closed to Jews, he had "Jews welcome" signs put up in his palace garden.
After the German occupation of the Czech Lands, he refused to receive Hitler at Český Krumlov. Neither did he consent to replace his Czech managers with ethnic Germans. He was considered pro-Czech and anti-German by the Nazi administration. All this inevitably made him a target for persecution and arrest.
Adolph Schwarzenberg left occupied Czechoslovakia and settled temporarily at his house in Bordighera
Bordighera
Bordighera is a town and comune in the Province of Imperia, Liguria .-History:The city was founded around the 4th century BC by the Ligures....
, Italy. He gave his adoptive son Heinrich responsibility for his property and emigrated via Switzerland to the United States of America.
Heinrich Schwarzenberg, representing his adoptive father, proved no more inclined to the new rulers and on 17 August 1940 the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
confiscated
Confiscation
Confiscation, from the Latin confiscatio 'joining to the fiscus, i.e. transfer to the treasury' is a legal seizure without compensation by a government or other public authority...
all of Adolph Schwarzenberg's property within the reach of the Third Reich. Baldur von Schirach
Baldur von Schirach
Baldur Benedikt von Schirach was a Nazi youth leader later convicted of being a war criminal. Schirach was the head of the Hitler-Jugend and Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Vienna....
claimed, in the course of the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
, that the confiscation was caused by Schwarzenberg's refusal to take up arms for Hitler; however, other sources point to Adolph Schwarzenberg's general attitude and actions as a decisive factor. Heinrich Schwarzenberg was arrested on direct orders of Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
and taken to various police prisons before being incarcerated in Buchenwald concentration camp. He was released in 1944 and survived the remainder of the war as a forced labourer
Forced labor in Germany during World War II
The use of forced labour in Nazi Germany and throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II took place on an unprecedented scale. It was a vital part of the German economic exploitation of conquered territories. It also contributed to the mass extermination of populations in German-occupied...
.
The entire Schwarzenberg property was placed under the control of the Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
of Oberdonau, August Eigruber
August Eigruber
August Eigruber was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter of Oberdonau and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria, later hanged by the Allies.-Early life and Nazi career:...
. Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
was also eager to benefit from the estate; a correspondence concerning the fate of the property ensued between various officials including Martin Bormann
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
and Hans Heinrich Lammers, head of the Reichskanzlei. Hitler decided in favour of Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
Eigruber. Eigruber was a major Nazi criminal, who was executed in 1947 for crimes committed at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
.
The Stará Obora hunting lodge was turned into a sanatorium for German officers. Inmates from Terezín concentration camp were forced to work there under horrendous conditions between 13. April and 25. October 1942.
During his stay in the USA, Adolph Schwarzenberg supported the resistance and was an outspoken opponent of the Nazi regime, as confirmed by both Jan Masaryk
Jan Masaryk
Jan Garrigue Masaryk was a Czech diplomat and politician and Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1940 to 1948.- Early life :...
and Consul General Karel Hudec. He enrolled at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
to study for his second doctorate. His dissertation, a biography of Felix, Prince Schwarzenberg, was published in 1946.
Adolph also worked with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign-policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. The organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States...
, producing the report mentioned above and carrying out various activities in support of the organisation.
Return to Europe and post-war period
After the end of the Second World War, Adolph and Hilda Schwarzenberg prepared for their return to Europe. They had spent almost five years in the USA.They expected to return to Hluboká nad Vltavou
Hluboká nad Vltavou
Hluboká nad Vltavou ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, near České Budějovice. This town was a favourite of Charles IV, who often visited when residing in České Budějovice...
and their Stará Obora hunting lodge, but were soon disappointed. National administration had been declared over his Czech estates in Adolph Schwarzenberg's absence and all his Czech property had been confiscated under the so called Beneš decrees
Beneš decrees
Decrees of the President of the Republic , more commonly known as the Beneš decrees, were a series of laws that were drafted by the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile in the absence of the Czechoslovak parliament during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II and issued by President...
of 1945 by letter of 5 October 1945 - notwithstanding the owner's track record of being a loyal Czechoslovak citizen and "passionate anti-Nazi". An appeal against the decree confiscation was lodged by Schwarzenberg's lawyer within the prescribed deadline of two weeks and is still pending after more than 60 years.
Legal controversy
In 1946 The Provincial National Committee in Prague compiled a report concerning the question of Adolph Schwarzenberg's property confiscation and stated that the owner could not be considered a traitor or a German and that consequently his property was not subject to the decree in question (No. 12/1945, coll.). Furthermore it ordered that Schwarzenberg be paid 100 000 crowns to cover his expenses while a conclusion of procedures relating to his property was sought.This, however, did not deter the Czechoslovak government, increasingly under communist influence, from pocketing the estate without any compensation to the owner. In view of the fact that there was no legal basis for expropriating Adolph Schwarzenberg, on July 10, 1947 the Czechoslovak parliament promulgated a special law, 143/1947, coll., later to be known as Lex Schwarzenberg to secure his business assets for the state without giving a reason or offering compensation. This law has proved to be highly controversial as it is a piece of arbitrary ad hominem legislation. As such it contravenes the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920
Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920
After World War I, Czechoslovakia established itself and as a republic and democracy with the establishment of the Constitution of 1920. The constitution was adopted by the National Assembly on 29 February 1920 and replaced the provisional constitution adopted on 13 November 1918.The introduction...
, which was in force at the time, as well as the current Constitution of the Czech Republic
Constitution of the Czech Republic
The current Constitution of the Czech Republic was adopted on December 16, 1992. It replaced the constitution of Czechoslovakia , which split into the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic by act of parliament on January 1, 1993, through the so-called Velvet Divorce.The document is organized into...
. It also contravenes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 16, 1966, and in force from March 23, 1976...
.
By the time Lex Schwarzenberg came into effect, however, Czechoslovakia was well on its way to becoming a communist system: Klement Gottwald
Klement Gottwald
Klement Gottwald was a Czechoslovakian Communist politician, longtime leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia , prime minister and president of Czechoslovakia.-Early life:...
, who would become the country's Stalinist dictator, had been Prime Minister since 1946. The Communist Party controlled many of the important ministries, while some of the non-communist members of the government, such as Zdeněk Fierlinger
Zdenek Fierlinger
Zdeněk Fierlinger was Czech politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1944 to 1946, first in the London-based exiled government and later in liberated Czechoslovakia...
, were communists in all but name. The ministries of agriculture and the interior were jointly responsible for the decision concerning Adolph Schwarzenberg's appeal file under the provisions of decree No. 12/1945.
Last years and death of Adolph Schwarzenberg
The Czechoslovak Authorities' behaviour towards him came as a distasteful surprise to Adolph Schwarzenberg, which is best illustrated by a conversation he had as early as January 1940.On a train journey to Switzerland, he met an acquaintance, the banker Holzer, director of Escompte Bank in Prague, who engaged him in conversation and wanted to know Schwazenberg's motives for leaving the Reich. He explained that since the takeover of the Nazi regime life at home had become an opprobrium, and that he could only live in a free country. He went on to say that Germany would certainly lose the war, and "all that nonsense" of a "New Regime" would finally come to an end; only then would he return to his estates. Holzer promptly reported this conversation to the Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
.
While Schwarzenberg's predictions concerning the outcome of the war and the long-term prospects of the Thousand Year Reich were correct, post-war developments proved his optimism regarding his own return to Czechoslovakia to be misguided. The communist takeover of February 1948 put an end to all hope for Adolph Schwarzenberg to return home or seek redress.
He made his last home in Katsch, a small village in Austria, where he and Hilda once more lived in a hunting lodge, and occasionally spent time at his house in Bordighera, Italy, where he died on 27. February, 1950.