Alfons Maier Rothschild

Born:	02-15-1878
Faculty:	Law School
Category:	Deprivation of academic degree

Alfons Maier ROTHSCHILD (born on February 15th, 1878 in Vienna as son of Salomon Anselm Rothschild (banker), died on September 2nd, 1942 in New York, N.Y./USA), had graduated at the Law School at the University of Vienna on July 18th, 1903 with the academic degree 'Dr. iur.'. He was jurist, owner of a large estate and art collector. After the "Anschluss" 1938 his wealth and his art collections were confiscated. He was deprived of his academic degree on May 8th, 1941 with the racist argument, that he as a Jew was not considered dignified an academic degree of a German university ('eines akademischen Grades einer deutschen Hochschule unwürdig'). It took 62 years since the deprivation - and a very long time since the end of Nazism - until the regranting of the doctorate took finally place on April 10th, 2003 posthumously in a solemn ceremony.
The art collections, which had been looted by the Nazis, were restituted by the republic of Austria not until the widow of Alfons Maier Rothschild was pressed to hand important parts of the collection as "donation" to museums in Vienna. In 2000 these artworks were restituted to his daughter. Lit.: TRENKLER 1999; HEIMANN-JELINEK 1994; MORTON 1992; POSCH/STADLER 2005.