Adolph Schwarzenberg
Adolph | |
---|---|
Prince of Schwarzenberg | |
Reign | 1938-1950 |
Predecessor | Johann II Nepomuk |
Successor | Heinrich |
Born | Hluboká nad Vltavou, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary | 18 August 1890
Died | 27 February 1950 Bordighera, Italy | (aged 59)
Spouse | Princess Hilda of Luxembourg |
House | House of Schwarzenberg |
Father | Johann II Nepomuk, 9th Prince of Schwarzenberg |
Mother | Countess Therese of Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg |
Adolph Schwarzenberg (18 August 1890 – 27 February 1950) was a notable
Early life
The first of eight children, Adolph was born into the wealthy and influential Schwarzenberg 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 Castle,[1] Hluboká Castle,[2] and Třeboň[3] in South Bohemia, Schwarzenberg Palace (Prague)[4] 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
Marriage and family life
Adolph Schwarzenberg married[6] Princess Hilda of Luxembourg and Nassau (15 February 1897 – 8 September 1979) in 1930. The couple shared a passion for agriculture, wildlife and botany and spent much of their time at their Stará Obora[7] 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[8] 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.[9]
Adolph Schwarzenberg inherited the family estates after his father's death in 1938.
The couple had no children, and after his death, the remaining family estates would go to his brother's son Joseph.
German occupation and exile
Adolph Schwarzenberg's stance against the
After the German occupation of the Czech Lands, he refused[10] 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.[13] All this inevitably made him a target for persecution and arrest.[14] 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
The entire Schwarzenberg property was placed under the control of the
The Stará Obora hunting lodge was turned into a sanatorium for German officers. Inmates from
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 United States.
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[19] and "passionate anti-Nazi".[18] 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.).[14] 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.[21] 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:
Last years
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 to Switzerland, he met an acquaintance, the banker Holzer, director of Escompte Bank in Prague, who engaged him in conversation and wanted to know his 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.[5] 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 "
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.
Ancestry
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References
- ^ "State Castle Český Krumlov". www.castle.ckrumlov.cz.
- ^ "Hluboká nad Vltavou Castle". www.zamek-hluboka.eu.
- ^ CRnet.cz. "Informační servis města Třeboně". itrebon.cz.
- ^ "Schwarzenberg Palace - Prague.net". www.prague.net.
- ^ a b c d "Oberosterreichische Heimatblatter" (PDF). Ooegeschicte.at. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
- ^ "All sizes - Hochzeitsfoto Hilda von Luxemburg mit Fürst Schwarzenberg - Flickr - Photo Sharing!". www.flickr.com.
- ^ http://ftp.czechtourism.com/np/hluboka/hluboka_monuments.pdf[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Description: A Kenya farmer looks at his colony". 20 July 2011. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011.
- ^ "Mpala: Research Centre and Wildlife Foundation". www.mpala.org.
- ^ a b c d "Waiting for the logical second". 26 May 2003. Archived from the original on 1 May 2006.
- ^ Austrian broadcasting (ORF): Hörbilder spezial, 15. 8. 2003: "In memoriam Georg Chaimovicz" (in German)
- ^ "Wie die Zeit vergeht" by Georg Markus; Vienna: Althea Signum Verlag, 2009 (in German)
- ^ a b "Attempts to achieve restitution and how they were thwarted by public service offices". Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- ^ a b "The Provincial National Committee in Prague, No. 447/1946: Prague, 5 March 1946". Restitution.cz. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
- ^ "Trials of German Major War Criminals: Volume 14". Nizkor.org. Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
- ^ "Swiss Banks Holocaust : Proposal Elisabeth von Pezold 20.1.2004" (PDF). Swissbankclaims.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
- ^ "Außenkommando České Budějovice (Budweis)" (in German). Retrieved 2013-10-29.
- ^ a b "Rehabilitation Denied: The Adolph Schwarzenberg Case | dokuments | Letters". Restitution.cz. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
- ^ a b "Rehabilitation Denied: The Adolph Schwarzenberg Case | dokuments | Letters". Restitution.cz. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
- ^ "Prince Felix zu Schwarzenberg, Prime Minister of Austria 1848-1852" by Adolph Schwarzenberg; New York: Columbia University Press, 1946; reprinted: New York : AMS Press, 1966.
- ^ "Rehabilitation Denied: The Adolph Schwarzenberg Case | dokuments | Laws & Decrees". Restitution.cz. Retrieved 2013-10-29.