Information on data processing: Files of the Restitution Commission at the Provincial Court at the Provincial Court for Civil Matters Vienna

Information on the availability of restitution files at the Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna

The files of the Restitution Commission at the Provincial Court for Civil Matters Vienna pursuant to the Third Restitution Act for the years 1947 to 1955 and 1957 were for the most part destroyed and therefore no longer exist.

The data provided in the Findbuch on these files is a copy of the index of names created by the Restitution Commission and is not a representation of the file holdings of the Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna.

Only the following files from 1955 are still held at the archive: 2 Rk 34/55; 2 Rk 70/55; 4 Rk 121/55; 6 Rk 207/55; 6 Rk 247/55; 6 Rk 488/55; 6 Rk 489/55; 6 Rk 490/55; 6 Rk 491/55; 6 Rk 492/55; 6 Rk 493/55; 6 Rk 494/55; 6 Rk 495/55; 7 Rk 78/55.
These can be ordered using the Vienna Archive Information System (WAIS):  
https://www.wien.gv.at/actaproweb2/benutzung/archive.xhtml?id=Ser+++++00008686ma8Invent

Additionally the following files from the years 1947–1954 survive and can be ordered using the Vienna Archive Information System:

  • 1947: 59 Rk 172/47; 60 Rk 728/47; 60 Rk 989/47; 60 Rk 221/47
  • 1948: Rk 8/48 (Klagenfurt); 59 Rk 931/48; 60 Rk 887/48; 60 Rk 966/48; 68 Rk 13/48; 68 Rk 208/48
  • 1949: Rk 30/49; 59 Rk 1/49; 61 Rk 181/49; 61 Rk 192/49
  • 1950: Rk 179/50 (partial file, Krems); 6 Rk 718/50; 61 Rk 449/50
  • 1951: 61 Rk 86/51
  • 1952: 68 Rk 105/52
  • 1953: 61 Rk 38/53

In the detailed view for the file, this data from the index of names is included for your information and is identified as such:

  • The signature field of the detailed view states “no files available ”. The correct signature that is necessary to order the file is only given in the event that the file is actually available.
  • In addition, the remarks field in the detailed view contains the comment “file available”

An alternative source of information to the destroyed files of the Restitution Commission at the Provincial Court Vienna are the files that were created pursuant to the Ordinance on the Notification of Seized Property (VEAV), due to the fact that the outcome of the restitution proceedings was often enclosed with the notifications, such as a (partial) decision by the Restitution Commission or a settlement concluded before the Restitution Commission pursuant to the Third Restitution Act, or a restitution order of the Financial Directorate pursuant to the First or Second Restitution Act.

Information on data processing

Digitization

The data in the Findbuch for Victims of National Socialism on the files pursuant to the Third Restitution Act held at the Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna with the signature 2.3.5.A29 were digitized by the archive on the basis of the register of names 2.3.5.B13 (1955-1959; without the register volume on so-called German Property) and 2.3.5.B14 (1960-1966). The digitized records with the title RkNV 1955–1959 and RkNV 1960–1966 were provided to the General Settlement Fund for Victims of National Socialism in around 2006 as text files.

Processing the digitized data

In principle, only restitution claimants (termed plaintiffs under civil law) can be searched for in the database as the (natural or legal) persons belonging to this group are considered victims of National Socialism. The defendants (termed respondents to the restitution under civil law) can be identified by viewing the files.

Firstly, the text files provided were consolidated in a tabular program. In a second step the data was comprehensively edited in order to align the available information with the structure of the Findbuch’s database:

  • Natural persons were separated from legal persons. The forenames of the natural persons were separated from the surnames and academic titles were attributed to the forenames.
  • Records pertaining to more than one person were separated to create a record for each individual.
  • If separate records clearly referred to the same person, but the surname was spelled differently in each (a reading or typing error) and it was not possible to ascertain which spelling was correct, alternative spellings were inserted in squared brackets
  • Entries that appear twice or more and can be considered largely identical on the basis of the forename and surname of the plaintiff (regardless of the identity of the respondent) and the content and file number of the restitution proceedings were merged and redundant records deleted. Variant spellings of, for example, the surname were inserted in square brackets and small differences summarized in the remarks, whereby specific information is retained in favor of more general information.  Repeated entries were retained if the information contained in the “remarks” notably differed
  • Mistakes that were obviously spelling and typing errors were amended without comment.
  • Information on the restitution object and the person claiming restitution (existence of a last will and testament, name of the decedent, non-specific indications that there are several restitution claimants [“and others”], the existence of a special function in restitution proceedings, e.g. guardianship) were edited for the “remarks” entry field of the detailed view and the spellings were standardized.
  • The annotations of the Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna on missing restitution files were recorded in the remarks field of the detailed view (“no file available”).
  • The spelling of the companies’ legal form, the cadastral district, the register numbers and financial sums were standardized.
  • In order to establish the correct spelling of surnames, forenames, legal persons (e.g. foundations) and properties’ cadastral districts, research was carried out in various sources (Adolph Lehmann's General Address Directory 1938 [“Lehmann 1938”], the Findbuch database, various databases, internet).

During the last phase:

  • any remaining ambiguities in the register volumes regarding the restitution files were examined at the Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna;
  • with regard to Collection Agencies A and B as restitution claimants, if the file numbers of the restitution proceedings matched, the subject of the proceedings and references to the files held at the Austrian State Archives were entered under “remarks”. As a result specific information on the restitution object and other information could be attributed to the proceedings conducted by the Collection Agencies A and B, which often appeared unrelated in terms of object. The basis for this is the information published in the Findbuch database regarding the claims files and equity files of the Collection Agencies A and B.