A British-born member of the Rothschild family won a preliminary move today to regain part of one of the largest ransoms ever paid–the $20,000,000 paid to Hitler by the Rothschild family in 1939 to obtain freedom for Baron de Rothschild, head of the Austrian branch of the family.
Baroness Clarice de Rothschild, 66-year-old widow of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, succeeded in her preliminary application to the British Foreign Compensation Commission for compensation of about $250,000 for real estate in Poland.
The property, which includes a castle and 670 acres of surrounding estate, was part of the ransom. It was later confiscated by the Polish Government. The commission ruled that the Baroness had established that the real estate was British at the date relevant to her claim, November 27, 1945.
Baron Louis de Rothschild was kept in prison for 13 months by the Nazis before he was released in 1939 following payment of the ransom.
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