Liechtenstein takes the Czech Republic to court, seeks a possible return to the Complex Lednice-Valtice!
Due to the controversial Beneš decrees, the governing family of Liechtenstein lost its Czech property in 1945.
Two of the leading tourist spots in the Czech Republic are at the heart of an ownership dispute. The small country of Liechtenstein seeks the return of the forest confiscated in 1945 and will probably search for two chateaux and other more valuable land if this testing case is succeeding. find property qatar
The complaint lodged with the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) concerns a forest in Central Bohemia of 600 hectares. If the country wins, a precedent would be set for reclaiming other properties, including the Chateaux of Lednice and Valtice in Southern Moravia, which since 1996 have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Since the mid-1200s the House of Liechtenstein owned the land and related properties of Southern Moravia.
The property was confiscated in accordance with the Beneš decrees, a controversial policy which destroyed German families from their land in Czechoslovakia at the end of World War II. It labeled Liechtenstein's Royal House and 38 other families in Liechtenstein as German and therefore eligible for property confiscation. The main language is German, and Liechtenstein sits between Germany and Austria.
In accordance with these decrees, property could be taken from Germans and Hungarians who, in the Second World War, were said to cooperate with Germany, while those who have suffered or worked actively to oppose them were exempt.
Liechtenstein's Prince Franz Joseph II was regarded by the post-war Czechoslovak authorities as a Nazi collaborator. During the war, however, Liechtenstein was neutral. The House of Liechtenstein disputes any cooperation.
Liechtenstein has taken its concern to the ECHR in Strasbourg by stating that the Czech Republic, in particular the forest, has shown disregard for its sovereignty.
In 2015, the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation that manages Royal Property of Liechtenstein went to the Czech Court in search of forest return and appealed to the Czech Constitutional Court, where the foundation lost its original property in February 2020. The only way to seek relief in international courts is now.
Diana Temple in Valtice / through Wikimedia Commons SA 3.0 CC
Katrin Eggenberger (Progressive Citizens' Party) Foreign Minister Katrin Eggenberger told the British Financial Times that the country considers the application of the Beneš decrees illegal. "The smaller a country, the more important it is to defend your rights," she said, adding that it's unacceptable to expropriate without compensation.
The Czech press expressed similar sentiments. "The intergovernmental complaint is an effective tool to protect Liechtenstein from another state. We do not have any hostile intentions... But now, if we wish to protect our sovereignty, we do not see any other option," she said.
Czech Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Martin Smolek stated that the ECHR does not have the right to hear the case. The court should only deal with issues arising after the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights was drafted.
Diplomatic relations between the Czech Republic and Liechtenstein were only formally launched in 2009 because of poor blood on Beneš decrees and confiscations.
The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that the ECHR case will not damage relations between the two countries. "The final judgment by the court could, paradoxically, cleanse our relations with Liechtenstein of this historic problem," said Zuzana Štíchová, spokeswoman at the Foreign Ministry.
While the Second World War ended 75 years ago, real estate disputes are not rare. In 2016 the Olomouc Court rejected a claim under the Beneš Decrees from a German religious order to recover Castle of Bouzov. Ownership of smaller properties, such as paintings, is still solved.
As long as 2020, Lednice was the most visited castle under the supervision of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ). Bouzov, also at number seven, is a major tourist attraction.