Brno will not return the Tugendhat villa to the descendants of the original owners

Source
Lucie Kučerová
Publisher
ČTK
20.03.2007 18:55
Czech Republic

Brno

Brno - The Functionalist villa Tugendhat will not be voluntarily handed over to the descendants of the original owners. The Brno city councilors decided today that they do not agree with its gratuitous transfer, as they claim that the legal conditions for it have not been met. Although the councilors initially recognized the family's claim for the return of the villa and approved that the city should transfer it to the state and then the state would hand it over to the heirs, the state refused to take over the monument. Therefore, today the councilors revised their earlier decision. The lawyer for the Tugendhat siblings disagrees with the decision and admitted that the descendants will seek to reclaim the villa through the courts.
    The legal representative of the Tugendhat siblings, Augustin Kohoutek, disagrees with today's decision of the councilors. He believes that the family's request was submitted in accordance with the law. "Both the municipality and the state missed the opportunity to rectify one of the greatest property injustices that occurred during the Holocaust," said Kohoutek.
    The council's decision is based on the legal interpretation that the villa and the surrounding land cannot be considered an artwork. It is precisely artworks that can be returned to the original owners based on the law on alleviating certain injustices caused by the Holocaust, which the Tugendhats refer to in their request. According to this law, property can only be handed over gratuitously by the Czech Republic, not by municipalities. And the villa was owned by Brno in 2000, when the law came into effect.
    According to the city council, there is also no possibility that Brno would donate the villa, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, to the descendants of the original owners. In transferring the monument to foreign hands, it would have to pay a gift tax of 40 percent on the value of the gift to the state. This would likely amount to hundreds of millions of crowns. Additionally, the Brno leadership claims that any potential return could set a precedent, and other Jewish families whose property was seized in the past could turn to the city.
    Lawyer Kohoutek now intends to propose other ways for the Tugendhats to reclaim their property without Brno having to pay a high gift tax. One possibility would be to transfer the villa into a commercial company, which is exempt from gift tax provided that the city remains in it for at least five years. If the Tugendhats had a majority in the company, the villa would be de facto returned to them, Kohoutek said.
    The possibility that the city would now negotiate with the heirs about other ways of returning was supported today by some councilors. The councilors from the opposition ODS were mainly for the return of the monument. However, Mayor Roman Onderka (CSSD) rejected this in an interview with journalists; according to him, the councilors approved a final solution today. Onderka added that he is prepared to meet with the Tugendhats and explain everything to them. He also wants to take the necessary steps to ensure that the restoration of the monument begins as soon as possible.
    However, the heirs do not believe the promise that Brno will urgently repair the rare house; according to Kohoutek, the city had 16 years to do so, and the house is still deteriorating. If further negotiations with the city about the return of the monument fail, the Tugendhats are determined to turn to the court, he added.
    The Tugendhats requested the return of the house only in December 2006. After several weeks of negotiations, on January 30, 2007, the Brno council instructed the city councilors to hand over the villa to the heirs of the original owners through the state. In the meantime, however, the Tugendhats sold at auction a sculpture that was originally part of the villa's furnishings. Some Brno councilors then began to fear that the family might also sell the returned villa.
    The Tugendhat villa is one of the unique examples of interwar Functionalist architecture. It was designed in 1928 by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 to 1969), who is considered the father of modern architecture of the 20th century. The villa set new standards for modern living; the glass main living area with a winter garden is only hinted at by free walls - the architect breathed life into the idea of an inhabitable continuous space. The building also had original furnishings, solutions for bathrooms, toilets, and heating elements.
    The house is owned by Brno and managed by the Museum of the City of Brno, which has furnished the main living space with replicas of the original furniture. In 2001, the Tugendhat villa was inscribed on the UNESCO list as the only modern architecture monument in the Czech Republic. The museum is now preparing a demanding reconstruction of the building and its statically damaged foundations.
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anais
21.03.07 10:47
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