English Translation

24 On October 20, 1947, Jaromir Czernin applied by attorney Ludwig Biró for the provision of the present painting in accordance with the Third Provision Act. In the motion, he stated that due to his "enemy attitude towards National Socialism", immediately after the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, he had been declared deprived of his property rights over Marschendorf's rule and expelled from the Sudetengau. In July 1944, he was arrested for political reasons in Linz and released from prison only by efforts of the Austrian resistance movement Bad Aussee, namely a Krassa resistance group. Hans Posse would have cut off his opposition to the sale with the statement that "the German Reich also has other ways at its disposal to get into possession of the picture." Furthermore, Hans Pose "dictated" a "excessive letter of thanks to Hitler. The reserve commission rejected the request with knowledge of the 11th century. In January 1949, the appeal against this finding was dismissed as unfounded, as were the appeals against it to the Superior Restitution Commission with recognition of 11 January 1949 and to the Supreme Restitutio Commission at the Supreme Court with recognition on 14 May 1949. As a result, the courts found that neither Jaromir Czernin nor Alix Czernine were subject to political persecution, that the sale was free of coercion and that it was independent of the seizure of power by National Socialism. A civil action brought by Jaromir Czernin against the Republic of Austria at the Regional Court of ZRS Vienna was dismissed by order of 21 November 1950 for inadmissibility of the proceedings. The appeals against it were also dismissed by orders of the Higher Regional Court in Vienna of 19 December 1950. A further claim against the Republic of Austria, which was based on a claim for damages, was rejected by a decision of the Regional Court of ZRS Vienna dated 29 August 1951, and a recursion against it by the Higher Regional Court Vienna was rejected with a decision dated 3 October 1951. On March 23, 1952, Adolf Hitler's property, consisting of the painting, was declared to be forfeited by the federal government in accordance with the Law on Property Fallout in 1947. An appeal against this decision by the curator appointed for Adolf Hitler was not followed by a resolution of the Higher Regional Court of Vienna dated June 19, 1952. In February 1953, Jaromir Czernin applied for the provision of the present painting to the Republic of Austria under the Second Restitution Act. This application was made by a decision of the Finanzlandesdirektion with regard to the proceedings under the third paragraph of Article 3 of the Decision of the Supreme Restitutio Commission of 14 May 1949 and of 18 December 1953.