Kristina Colloredo-Mansfeld who says that the chateau belongs to her family has asked for the renewal of the case Czechs remember Holocaust victims despite Nazi rally ...
Tens of neo-Nazis gathering in Prague ... pointing to new evidence she had obtained. The daily Mlada fronta Dnes said on Monday, that according to Colloredo-Mansfeld' defence, the new evidence is of such a breakthrough nature that even the Constitutional Court will not be able to question it. The documents confirm, among other things, that the mother of her father Josef Colloredo-Mansfeld was Jewish, that he helped allied pilots who were shot down and that the Nazis perceived him as an enemy of the German Reich during the occupation, MfD wrotes. According to MfD, the defence is prepared to submit the documents proving that count Josef Colloredo-Mansfeld actively fought against the Nazis and that he was of Jewish origin.
The defence hopes that on the basis of the new evidence the court will apply the restitution law to the Opocno case. Countess Colloredo-Mansfeld gained the chateau in restitution, but the Hradec Kralove, east Bohemia, Regional Court said last September that the chateau should be transferred to the state. The Supreme Court upheld the ruling last November. The chateau was confiscated from the Colloredo-Mansfelds by Germans in 1942. After 1945 the state became its owner under the decrees issued by then Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes. The Mansfelds took the case to court, but they emigrated to Austria in 1948 after the Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia. The Renaissance chateau is one of the most visited heritage sights in the Hradec Kralove Region. The Colloredo-Mansfelds heirs have sought the return of the family property since 1995. Besides the chateau, they also claim land, a valuable coach, a collection of paintings and several thousands of pieces of items from the chateau. The National Heritage Institute estimates their value at more than one billion crowns.
(Ceske Noviny)
more info >>
<< Back